Mech

Yup, good point Gw.. the shinny or matt black is an indicator of whether it's oil or fuel burning.. The spark plug, yeah I thought of suggesting changing it but they hadn't mentioned misfiring.. but a different heat range would perhaps keep the plug cleaner.. You could check what heat range the plug is meant to be Sandy.. It will be in the manual or a bike shop will tell you.. or anyone that sells spark plugs really.. And, I'd suggest you buy an NGK plug.. they seem to last longer than any other make in japanese bikes It would probably be a good idea to check the aircleaner isn't dirty, or over oiled, and it might pay to check the valve clearances too. If they are too tight they might be preventing a valve from fully closing once it gets really hot.

I'm not sure about the stretch Randy.. some modern synthetics, especially if it's braid cored braid, are pretty near non stretch. It's hard to see if the trucks cable/cord is stretching in use. And whiplash... even a chain or steel cable will flick back if they break under strain, and they are a lot harder and heavier, so the damage from the synthetic might be less than a steel cable breaking.. Those snags that get your hands though would be enough to put me off these days..

Only three months wouldn't wash over here. Here, things have to be fit for purpose and give reasonable life.. manufacturers can't get out of it by imposing a short warranty. I'm surprised they can get away with that. I don't know whether they make small batteries, but I have Trojan batteries in my off grid home.. they are absolutely amazing.. Really good performance, good durability, long lived.. Check Trojan.. American company. And as for agm, flooded or lithium.. old fashioned lead acid flooded are known to be the most tolerant of cold, heat, over and undercharging, followed by agm then lithium last. Agm and lithium can stand vibration, and lithium they say holds more power, but that's only true until the first time it's flattened too far, or over charged slightly, or gets too cold. Lead batteries are also the most recyclable.. if that's any consideration..

Ok. There's petroleum product stuff they sell to swell seals to stop leaks, perhaps the synthetic oil doesn't have enough of that in it(whatever it is), and seals shrink after the synthetics put in. Maybe.. Can't say I've noticed oil leaks though, but then I only ever put it in modern, newish, cars. Oils are so complicated these days.. Agricultural oils especially.. Some machines are really insistent on the right oil too, or they do all sorts of strange things.

The flat braid looks like good stuff.. it's easy on the hands.. Non rust, non snag, light, flexible, could be tied in a knot if the hook broke off or anything.. might not like sunlight I guess.. but it's probably cheap and easy to change. I use a thing we call a wire strainer. It's for tightening wire fences, and it operates on a chain. I pull small stumps with that and have used it before to drag things around and lift motors out.. More effort than a winch, but that's why I'm so damn fit and healthy for an old guy.. Haha. I like work, and reckon getting in a sweat is good for us.. No gyms here in the country. And I use wedges for felling trees.. That way they don't fall on your bike. Your dump trailer sounds good. I could use something like that on my driveway.

The boys work truck has a rope cable, which is sort of like a braid but without a center core to it. It lays flat on the drum, which presumably means you can get more on there, and that the number of layers of cable on the drum don't reduce the pulling power like a nearly full drum of steel cable suffers from.. All second hand experience though.. I've never owned a winch.. I try to avoid getting stuck. And, I just use ropes and levers and simple stuff like that if I do occasionally want to move something heavy.

"changing from Dino to synthetic I seem to get leakage where I didn't have a leak before. ".. That's interesting Gw. Is this on oil seals ? I think the synthetics have their place in modern engines, but in something with a wet clutch, or sharing the oil with the gearbox, I don't really see them being used to their full advantage probably and so something of an extravagance.

So you do say a long one is better.. I knew that was what it was.. Boys !!

Yeah it's only when you're going fast over uneven terrain that the wide tyres play up and try to throw you around.. Slow speeds or flat ground and they don't make much difference.. I think that most of us that drive standard sorts of quads, not the motocross versions, mainly do just take things easy.. Well quietly anyway if not easy.. haha. Easy's no fun.

Yeah good point... A short cable could be really annoying sometimes. I suppose then that the rope cables are better for that.. Especially the flat web type ones seem to have long cables.

Well that smoke when it starts could be the cause. Oil, even clean oil, burns black. But, since it runs bad after an hour, it probably means you need to adjust the idle mixture. The idle mixture might need adjusting because there are other problems in the carby, which may need attention, but you should try adjusting it first to hopefully cure the black sparkplug, and also to check that the idle does adjust as it should. If the idle doesn't adjust properly it's a sign of carby problems. When you adjust the idle mixture, you should do it at as lower idle speed as possible, then adjust the speed and mixture in turns getting the idle speed as low as possible, with the mixture set half way between the point where it starts to slow because it's getting too rich, and the point where it starts to slow because it's getting too lean.. The thing to take note of, which indicates other work being needed, is how far you turn the idle mixture screw before the speed starts to drop. If the carby is all good the idle mixture screw should not need turning more than about a half a turn between too rich and too lean. I'd adjust the idle, and then see whether the spark plug starts to clean itself after a few hours use. .

Why do people need such hugely powerful winches on quads that only weight a few hundred kilo.. My sons have 4000 Lb winches on their utes, and only a 7000 Lb winch on the work trucks, which have tons of honey onboard . They never even strain their winches.. And yeah, they get stuck to the hubs in mud, and go up steep hills, and haul the trucks around sideways sometimes.. Is this some bragging rites thing, or perhaps pe*** envy..haha.. "well my winch is bigger than yours at least"..

Can you not put the chain on the other side of the bike, so the lever is on the outside ? I don't like wide flat tyres because they upset the handling, by making the wheel base wider while the length stays the same.. So we end up with a short wide wheelbase.. and bad handling.. I wouldn't like spacers for the same reason.

It's probably because the mixture is too rich.. How's the quad running ? It could also be oil burning.. Does it smoke or use oil ?

The boot is to keep dirt away from the drive shaft as Gw says.. It doesn't have oil in it. There may be oil leaking from the engine right near it though, through an oil seal. To find and confirm oil leaks you should give the bike a wash to get all the oil off, then go for a short ride and have a good look for the first signs of oil leaking. It could be where a shaft comes out, or where two cases fit together, or at the oil filter or oil drain bung which might just need a new washer on it.. Best to have a good look though before tearing things apart. If after the short ride, oil is splashed everywhere or run down so you can't tell where it's starting from, then clean it off again and go for a shorter ride, just a hundred yards. For the lights you should probably check fuses, inspect the wiring as best you can looking for broken wires or badly chafed wiring, then get a manual and have a read how to test the switch that operates the lights. Someone that's familiar with yamaha will probably have some ideas for you. If you let me know the exact model designation, yfm400***, either FR, FAR, FPR, I can have a look at the wiring diagram.

Kenda are a good make..

I like the round cross section tyres with the small square bumps, what around here would be called a sand tyre. They are what most of the bikes used to come with standard. The bikes track and behave better with tyre contact only down the centre line, rather than the swapping contact point you get with wide flatter cross section tyres. The wide flat tyres also chew everything up as you say. The fixed back axle alone is enough to cause slipping between left and right, without it being compounded by slippage between the inner and outer side of each tyre. Those wide flat tyrs also put more strain on the wheel bearings and suspension, which a round tyre which has it's contact point right below the steering point doesn't.

Yeah that is strange.. If the cap comes off the end of the sparkplug lead I'd take that off and check it's resistance.. those play up.

You could undo the drain screw on the bottom of the carb and that will show if there is plenty of fuel getting into the carb, and, it might drain out a bit of water which could be causing your intermittent miss.

If the oil made no difference then it points to the valves.. Sticky in the guides, badly worn cam, play in the cam bearings, play in the timing chain, carboned up valve heads(except that doesn't happen these days), something blocking the exhaust, like a flap of rusty pipe inside, It is sort of normal for compression readings to climb on each compression stroke, up to about four or maybe five strokes, then after that you might get an extra five pounds if you are lucky.. But you've done plenty of tests, and know that one right, and this is different in that it doesn't build up if you just keep your finger on the button. You have to let it get another breath between cranks.. Right ? I'm just trying to get this clear.. Not enough lift on the inlet valve.. ??

A compression that climbed over a succession of compression strokes used to be attributed to weak rings. If you have a vacuum gauge you could check the readings.. If you put about a teaspoon of engine oil down the sparkplug hole then check the compression it should go up quite a lot.. Sticky or leaking valves don't get improved by oil down the bore, rings do.

It's worth trying to get that choke plunger out and saving the cable.. and carby If you disconnect the cable at the handlebars it will give you a bit of extra cable which will let you slide the rubber cap and plastic nut along so you can see down into the choke slide. If you use a tiny screwdriver very carefully you might get that plunger to rotate, then pull out. The plungers are soft and distort out of shape easily so you need a real tiny screwdriver that will go down deep into the slot in the plunger. If you lever near the top the plunger will flare out a little.. but then you can use long nosed pliers to tweak them back in.. very carefully.. The plungers are so soft they can be squeezed in too much..If you put some wd40 or crc in there and tap the aluminum, before trying to turn the plunger it helps. There is I think a bit of tube looking aluminium where the plunger goes in, if you tap along there it helps vibrate the oil in and expands the tube.. If you get the plunger out even if it's damaged and needs the kit, it saves the carburetor and the cable. I'd fix the choke and do a standard sort of tune and then see what to do next. Check the valves, sparkplug, airfilter, exhaust condition. The aftermarket carbies are generic tune. They probably sell the same carby as fitting some big street bike. They don't suit every bike or market. They nearly always need some adjustments. I'd recommend fixing the one you have. I like the sound of your place there Ironworker.. Kids and all. Dirt driveways are a never ending job.. and the trees just keep growing too.. Have fun.

And if it is just the plastic nut broken, those are the same on a lot of makes, and some makes sell the nut separately. They are $11 Aussie for a suzuki one.

Good point Gw. I'd forgotten about those plastic ones..

That part has probably damaged the threads in the aluminium where it screws in. There's a nut which you should be able to see, if you undo that all the other pieces inside should pull straight out.. The inner most part does have a habit of seizing in the aluminium though. Probably best to have a go at getting it apart and seeing if the aluminium's ok, and whether the choke plunger is seized in, then deciding on a course of action. If the choke can be repaired then a carby clean is probably the best option. Genuine carbies are a terrible price and aftermarket ones almost always need playing with/tuning to get right for the bike..