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geezer99

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Everything posted by geezer99

  1. I had an old Yamaha 250 dirt bike that had the stator crap out. Dealer wanted $300 for it. I couldn't afford that, so I rewound it myself for about $20. I just bought a spool of the same diameter wire, made a jig to attach the part to my wife's sewing machine flywheel, began winding on wire to get the same fill. Worked fine. tom (cheap bastard)
  2. When I was a kid, one of my chores was to polish my Dad's shoes. I always liked the picture of the Kiwi bird on the can of polish. tom
  3. I can confirm that is was a flat six. Mine was the dual carbureted model. A friend had a fancier version with a turbo charger. That was a fast auto. It should be noted that to save $15 per car GM left out an anti-sway bar in the early days. This caused a tendency to roll over in aggressive turns. Ralph Nader wrote a whole book on the topic. GM finally made the required changes, but the car was soon dropped. My buddies car cornered very well. I guess it was an newer model. In my case, I guess it's better to be lucky than smart. tom Here's wikipedia article on the history of the song. https://americansongwriter.com/meaning-of-yankee-doodle-song-lyrics/ Apparently it was written by the British to insult the colonists, but was taken up by the Yanks as a taunt to the Brits. tom
  4. Regarding changing to a higher quality oil after a life of lower quality: Back in 1970 (newly married, and little money) I traded an old farm truck for a early 60s Corvair. I was driving it on the freeway, and a huge bang sound and no drive power. Pulled over, popped the hood, and found a rod poking put of the crankcase. I had recently changed oil. My go to oil was Rotella T, a high detergentcy oil. I later found out that the previous owner had been using a very basic oil with few detergent additives. My take was the higher detergentcy oil loosed some chunks of deposits that then clogged up an oil passage to the failed rod. This is all anecdotal, and I could be way off base, but I would be wary of changing types of oil on an old vehicle. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. tom
  5. I'm with you on testing one thing (connection) at a time. But, I'm impatient. So did 'em all. I figured if the symptom comes back, I'll use the systematic approach. I did examine each connector as I went, but did not see any obvious problem. If the saga continues, I'll update this post. Thanks for the reply, your advise is great. tom
  6. Almost a year on the Lowes-Axis 500. It was dying at idle unless I gave it some throttle. That made shifting into gear result in a big lurching clunk. This problem was intermittent. I first checked the fuel injector. I removed it and let it spray into a coffee can. It made a nice even spray. I used a magnifying lens to examine the nozzle. It had no signs of contamination nor poor geometry. The coil measured a reasonable resistance, and banging it with a screwdriver handle made no difference in coil resistance. Neither did flexing the wires make any change. So I reinstalled the injector and unplgged and repluged every electrical connector in sight of the engine compartment. Yahoo. For over a month now it has been running fine. As an avid tinkerer and builder of electronic projects, I have noticed how many faults turn out to be poor electrical connections. I guess the moral of this story is that before replacing electrically driven parts, check all connections that are remotely related to the system under suspicion. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. tom
  7. Just did y first engine oil change. It was a messy pain in the as*. Access to oil drain is through a small opening in the belly pan. While I like the concept of underside protection, this pan has many holes of varying sizes. There is no way to avoid a gush of oil onto the hand or tool unscrewing the drain plug. Even if you use a really big oil drain pan, it runs out many holes and makes a big mess. The oil filter is even worse. It is located horizontally, near the top of the engine, in a valley. There is no good way to remove it without a mess to clean up. tom
  8. I used to have a 1981 Honda 250 dirt bike. Instead of an oil filter, it had a centrifugal oil separator that caught particles in the oil. You had to remove one of the big case covers to do this. I did it when I first got the bike, (2000), and there was probably a table spoon of debris. It looked like the sludge was mostly clutch lining wear particles with a few metal flakes for decoration. I cleaned it, replaced the side cover, new oil, and rode it another 20 years before I sold it. I don't know if Honda still uses this technique on newer machines. That's why I always like to get the service manual for anything with an engine. tom
  9. Howdy, I'm a mechanical engineer that has been working on, breaking, fiddling with, building, and reading about just about anything with mechanical parts. I have done all my own fixing of stuff since I built my first motor scooter in 7th grade. I was born in 1949, same as my 8N Ford tractor. Consequently I have enjoyed the evolution of technology in so many areas. At 74 I am still having fun learning new things, so this forum will be a great source. tom
  10. My Axis 500 has a solid spool rear end. That gives great traction for hills and pulling, but it tears up a wet lawn on sharp corners. I wonder if a true limited slip differential or a lockable differential is available in the after market? I googled with no results. Thanks, tom
  11. Yes they will. The backside of the dam for our little pond is about 30 degrees, and from a standing start in low range, Axis 500 will zip right up it. If muddy it will require a running start, but that is more a function of tires than drive train. tom
  12. I've been cleaning carburetors for the last 60 years. Compressed air and broom straw following a soak in carb cleaner are my goto methods. I have never had gunk so stuck in an orifice that it needed a gas welding tip cleaner or a drill. The tip cleaning kit you show would work fine, but you will need to be careful not to over-do it for risk of enlarging the orifice. I have used drills to enlarge jets, mostly with poor results. Most engines seem to run best with the factory size jets. Hopped up engines are a whole different story. I have been satisfied with factory performance, but I respect the folks who like to hot-rod their equipment. I knew a guy that built sand rails back in the early 70s. He souped up everything, and nobody could come close. I remember he rebuilt a rear end out in the dunes at sand lake on the Oregon coast. He practically had a service station in his trailer. tom
  13. Geeze, I'm 74 and people are still telling me to "grow up". tom
  14. Well, it's been three months since I bought the Axis 500. I've got about 60 miles on it in approximately 40 uses. No problems to report. There are some things that annoy me though: Worst is the gear noise. I reported that last time, but it doesn't seem to be changing. The safety inter locks are also annoying. I leave the seat belts clipped together all the time except when I take my grand-kids on a ride. Gotta be a good example, you know. In order to change between H, L, R, you have to step on the brakes hard, or it won't shift. I really like the dump box for the stuff I do. I used the winch to pull a log off one of my trails. The winch seems to be a realistic size, and can skid all four tire. No need for a bigger one. Chores I used to use a wheelbarrow for, I use the buggy. I need a better name for it. whoopy, buggy, quad, ATV, whatever? tom
  15. Here's an update to my Axis 500 experience: There is an annoying amount of gear noise any time the engine is pulling or using engine braking. It reminds me of an old late 40s vintage truck in low gear I drove working for a dairy in the 60s. I don't know if it comes from front or rear axle gear boxes, or the transmission. I checked all for proper fill and they were correct. I am not experienced with the CVT transmission. It annoys me that I have to rev the crap out of the engine to "git 'er going". After reaching desired speed, I can back off the throttle and cruise with a reasonable engine RPM. Tools that came with it included a special wrench to adjust the stiffness of the springs. It is stamped from soft steel, and rounded off the knobs that engage the spring adjusters on first use. On the front suspension I got the job done with a big-as* water pump pliers. But that won't work on the rear, and I need to find or make a descent tool for long term use. I've only got about 6 hours on it so far. The little beauty is filling it's role well so far. Will keep you posted on developments. tom
  16. Well, I bought the Axis 500 sold at Lowes for $8999 a couple days ago. This post will be about my impressions as I use, fix, and abuse the machine. I will add to the post as I gain experience with it. Thanks to other posters on this site warning of new machines with loose hardware, one of my first actions was to crawl all over it checking fluids and connections. Zirks were all freshly greased, fluids in engine, and gear boxes were up to level. One of the little gas struts that help lift the bed to dump was dangling with only one end connected, and the other strut had not been fully tightened. Here are some things I don't like: The rear gearbox does not have a differential in it. It is essentially a solid axle. Tight turns on lawn will leave tracks, and turns are not as tight on pavement. In my case this won't matter much, but if you plan to use it on a lawn, this will create tracks on turns. To check engine oil you need to remove both front seats and a plastic cover. This according to the manual. I'm pretty sure it can be checked with that stuff in place, either from under or above, but that remains to be seen. I am not used to a CVT transmission. I am used to a clutch and multiple gears. This one requires giving it plenty of gas out of the hole and then backing off to get it to shift up. I'm sure I will get used to it, but I'd like to be able to take off quietly if I want to. The doors have bungie cords to act as springs to close them. I removed the driver door so I would not need to fight the constant pressure to close. Problem solved. I will leave the passenger door as is. Gotta keep the grandkids safe. The status display is hard to read if the sun is on it. Here is some stuff I like: I was concerned about there being enough torque to slowly climb a steep hill. There is. I will elaborate more on this when I've had it on my steeper trails. The display has dedicated lights to indicate status of gear position, low oil pressure, over temp, and a bunch of other stuff. This helps a beginner with feedback that an action taken was successful. The sparsity of knobs on the tires dig in well on most surfaces. I bet they wear out fast on pavement. The tilt bed has a tail gate that is easy to operate. Much like early Japan pickups. Steering is responsive and little slack. Remains to be seen how long to get loose since the u-joints are operating at quite sharp angles. Seats are pretty nice. Will be interesting to see how long it will take me to poke a screw driver though them. Seat belts are included to hold grand kids in. Won't go over 5 mph if both aren't buckled. Yeah, it works to buckle them empty. Doing this leaves the belt high on back, so you don't have to sit on it. Hauling it home, my trailer wheel wells were too close together to clear the tires of the UTV. This required driving it off center a bit, with one set of tires inside the wells and one side driving over the wheel well. Creeping over the one well required climbing a 10 inch vertical well. The ability to lock the front axle differential kept both front wheels pulling as I drove the one side up and over the wheel well. The guys at Lowes were impressed. They won't touch any but an unobstructed flat trailer loading. As I gain more experience I will add to this topic, tom
  17. I've been interested in these as well. Reading the manual, it is claimed that they should only climb 15 degree hills. That is nothing. I bet they will do much better. What experience have others had. To me, this warning sounds like lawyer talk to limit there liability if rolled. Will thes machines spin all wheels on dry grass? thanks, tom
  18. Thank you both for your thoughts. I have been gravitating towards a quad for the reasons you have mentioned. Our property is quite hilly. My 250 beater dirt bike will go anywhere even when wet. My old Ford 8N tractor will, too. With simple all season tires, My 4x4 pickup would slide sideways on some of the hills and end up in the creek. In the winter we seldom get snow, but we do get plenty of mud. So my thinking is whatever I get it will need aggressive tires and decent ground clearance. One thing that bugs me about quads is they seem top-heavy. Any thoughts along those lines? thanks again, tom
  19. Howdy from Oregon! I'm wanting a SxS for operating on my own property. I would use it to haul chainsaw, cables, axe, machete and other stuff to maintain several miles of foot paths. Also I would use it to make the daily 1 mile round trip to the mail box. I expect I would use it a hundred hours per year. I am grossed out by the price of new machines, and after reading the service manual of a Polaris RZR 400, I am not happy with the maintenance required either. It seems a used machine has quite a number of areas that would be potential problems if a used machine wasn't kept up properly with maintenance. 4x4 quads seem a lot cheaper, and simpler to maintain, but have the drawbacks of no "bed" and maybe? side-hill stability. Your thoughts, please? tom
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