skills4lou

We finally got the brake actuator pin removed, cleaned up greased yesterday. Then it was just a matter of reassembling all the rear end parts. Overall the process wasn't too bad removing the rear axle. In the future if anyone is reading this and wondering, a 1-5/8" wrench will suffice for the big axle nuts. Anyhoo, once we got the rear end back together we took it outside and gave it a good scrubbing. Then I did some plastic welding on the fenders before we got those put back in place. We also did some troubleshooting on the lighting, and discovered the handlebar hi/low switch had a broken spring for pushing the contacts together, causing poor/no connection. I replaced that spring with a custom one (made from a retractable pen), cleaned up the contacts and reassembled the switch. That solved the power issue, but the headlight bulb is burnt out so I'll have to pick up one this next week. I still need to adjust the valves, but that's going to wait until the next oil change. It's running great now, the brakes work well all the way around, and I'll have the lights working soon. All in all it's been a fun little project and my son is excited to have his quad back in operation.

AC 400 motor is actually made by Suzuki. It's a great motor EXCEPT for the OEM flywheel. The bonding they used to attache the magnets to the flywheel did NOT last. It's an easy fix, just have to remove the left side of the engine to access. The replacement flywheel uses a different method to attach/capture the magnets and solves the problem. I happen to have the flywheel removal tool.

Made some more progress today, the axle has been removed and cleanup has begun.

OK, I stand corrected (now that I have 10 posts). The FSM procedure is indeed to remove the axle. After 35 yrs, what's the chance those big nuts are gonna come off without mangling them? I'm confident I can remove them, but re-use might be the key in this situation. I guess I'll find replacement before I go too crazy on removal.

I have an '85 parts bike with a good frame and engine. It might be easier to swap good parts from yours. Use two to make one good one. Besides, three wheelers are only fun when you're on two wheels.

Let's try this: Oh, Can-am uses numbers to identify parts based on the diagram at the beginning of the chapter. For chapter 03-08, here's the diagram:

While I'm waiting for the new o-rings/seals to arrive I figured I could update one brake situation: Front brake adjusters where all but seized, so those were removed, cleaned/polished and regreased, everything was cleaned up and reassembled. It took a fair bit of adjustment fiddling to get everything happy again, but the front brakes now work as well as drum brakes ever will. The rear brake..I'm still trying to figure out how the heck the factory intended to service that. I just can't imagine having to remove the entire axle to expose the pads, but at this point it's the only thing I can see that will move the drum away from the shoes. And, I knew the rear end was beefy on this thing but after spending more time around that...crikey! I'm pretty sure I could put that behind the 800 v-twin in my red Outlander and it woudn't even bat an eye at the added hp. Of course suspension travel is a bit limited ;).

Thanks Dion, that's very helpful! Finnforest, no worries.

Question: does the rear axle have to come completely out of the rear end to replace the rear brake shoes? I can't see any way to remove the drum from the right side. We got the sheet metal cover off and found some oil in the brake dust so I've got a seal to replace as well. BUT...if I have to tear down the whole rear end I may put off that work until next winter. Thanks

Typically that's a faulty ground. If you can download the wiring diagram, trace from the kill switch/key switch to ground, find and clean that.

The oil strainer is on the very bottom of the case, just above the frame member. It can be removed/cleaned without engine removal but you DO have to unbolt the engine mounts, remove the exhaust pipe from the head, and very carefully lift it up. The strainer has 5 bolts (8mm socket). I would also VERY highly recommend removing the decompression weight/spring/pin from the end of the camshaft if that hasn't been done. It's a ticking time bomb, and well known over on the can-am specific (only can-am) forum. I just finished getting mine back up and running. It's easy to tell if that has been done, just remove the valve cover and its right there on the right side (behind the cam chain/gear).

Who doesn’t like pictures? 😀 we have a couple of projects going on at the same time. The front brakes on the Suzuki just needed cleaned and adjusted. If I can get the master cylinder screws to release then I’ll bleed the front too, but as is typical the screws are seized.

Howdy. New to the forum, just thought I'd start a thread. We own an 87 LTF230 (utility) quad. My son loves riding it, but decided it was time to refurbish it. I'd FAR rather have him out wrenching than staring at screens so it's up on the lift in the shop right now. We have all the plastics off, and yesterday I cleaned the carb up to see if it needed new parts. Thankfully all it needed was just a little sediment removed from the float bowl and adjust the pilot. It's running great again. Next up is the valve adjustment. I'm 100% certain I'll need new 0-rings once I take the caps off, but so far I haven't found the specs for what the valves lash should be. Can anyone provide that? As a newb on here I can't dowload the FSM just yet. Other things that definitely need work: Right rear hub splines are pretty worn out so we'll have to replace that, maybe a few bearings, brakes all the way around, sort out some intermittent headlight issues, and he wants to clean up and paint the racks. I may also get out the plastic welder and see what I can do for some of the plastics. Thanks in advance for any assistance. GH

Hi all, new guy from Montana here. Mostly looking to get some service information for my old '87 Suzuki LTF230. I've been riding motorbikes/3/4-wheelers since before I could ride a bicycle, so I'm definitely not new to toys. Current list includes my '85 XR350, an '85 TRX250, the LTF230, an '04 Outlander 400, an '08 Outlander 800, and I'm sure something else in a shed. Anyhoo, my son decided it was time to tear down the LTF230 a bit and clean things up. It needs a new rear hub, the lights recently quit working most of the time, brakes, maybe a few bearings etc. This quad was purchased new by his grandpa for the ranch, and has had a typical hard life ranching.