BigDog's ATV Clunker Project

[BigDog]

Thanks to all for the positive feedback. I never feel really comfortable starting up in a new forum, but good vibes and supportive comments help one relax and get into the fun of it.

@tt425: Your moma might have picked that saying up from my daddy. That's what he used to say all the time. With my mama, the supreme fixers were chewing gum and Scotch tape....and that reminds me of a funny story....

My daddy was bad to drink when we were little. He eventually gave it up and was sober throughout my grade school and high school years and beyond. But, when he got married to my mama, he was a drinker, going on and off the wagon at regular intervals. One night, after we kids had been long asleep, daddy came home pretty well sloshed. We never saw him, of course, but after he and mother had had a 'discussion', he crashed, face down across the bed in his clothes. The next morning was Sunday, so mama got us fed and off to Sunday School, under the watchful eye of my older sister. You could tell that mama was not happy and had been crying. We asked what was wrong, but got told she had been slicing onions for dinner (noon meal, in the South). The only sound we heard from daddy was loud snoring. When we got back from church, daddy was still asleep, but mama was cheerfully sweeping the kitchen floor with the brand new broom she had bought just a few days before. The broom handle was broken about halfway up the shaft, and had been repaired with Scotch tape. Mama had used an entire roll of Scotch cellophane tape to fix the broom and it was working pretty well. She seemed like she was feeling a lot better, so life went on.

I was in college when I finally heard the true story of what happened that day. As soon as we kids had left for Sunday School, mama extracted her pound of flesh from my passed-out daddy. She was so angry and frustrated with him that she took her new broom into the bedroom and commenced to beat the living crap out of daddy with it. She said that it went on for three or four minutes, circling the bed, whacking him as hard as she could. The more she whacked him, the better she felt; the better she felt, the harder she whacked him, until finally, she felt so good she broke the broom. Daddy never budged. Mama fixed the broom and continued to cook Sunday dinner, her mood drastically improved. Later that afternoon, when daddy finally got up, he commented that he must have been in a bar fight the night before because he was sore from head to foot. Mama just rolled her eyes and looked real innocent. She said that she had never, before or since, gotten as much pure pleasure out of using a broom. She used that broom for another month, before it fell apart and had to be replaced. Then, she sent daddy to the store to get her a new broom and told him to get a heavy duty one that wouldn't break so easily 'next time'. I've often wondered if that incident might have been the turning point that made daddy decide to give up the drinking.

[redrider022002]

lol. thats one hell of story. i have to imagine a broom handle would hurt something fierce!

[tt425]

I don't care who you are? Thats funny!!! I have a visual of this happening. This is a great forum. We have some really good members on here. I try to offer my help when I can. My knowledge is limited to the older models such as 1992-2001 4 strokes. I know very little about a 2 stroke but I help when and if I can. This forum is like having an extended family. I like people like yourself that enjoy things and are not fussing all the time.
Have a great day.
Thanks
Terry

[BigDog]

Thanks guys. It is a pretty funny vision. My daddy was a big man, over 240 lbs. Mother was rather small in comparison. He was good to her, as he was to us, even when he was drinking, but I have to imagine that it was deeply satisfying, after the first few whacks, to realize that he wasn't going to wake up and that you could have as many whacks as you could muster, until you broke the whacker.

[BigDog]

The Clunker ATV Monetary Fund is building again, so it's time to make the final assessment and get a really clear idea of what all this process will entail. I have a pretty good bead on it, but it will help to list everything here, more or less in order of importance and with some speculation as to cost. Getting the right parts will be a whole different question, but we'll address those issues when they come up.

There are major and minor problems with this old 4x4. In the process of getting to and repairing the things on this list, other issues may be uncovered that will also have to be addressed. We'll just have to add them to the list as they arise. So, let's get started:

Major issues:
- -Broken engine mount
- -Alternator does not charge battery
- -Choke cable broken
- -Radiator fan not cooling engine
- -Right front brake line missing
- -Manual pull rope broken
- -Rubber boots broken on rear axle
- -Drive chain loose
- -Check toe-in
- -Check play in steering yoke
- -Investigate hole worn in transmission housing
- -Check wheel play (wheel wobble)
- -Check running lights for repair or replacement

Minor issues:
- -Evaluate transmission housing in lieu of repair or replacement
- -Plastic headlight housing fractured
- -Lug nuts missing from two wheels
- -Seat issues:
- -Seat misaligned due to warped/bent mountings
- -Seat foundation and latch damaged
- -Seat cover worn, damaged, and unsightly
- -Paint issues:
- -Paint wheels black/silver/gray
- -Paint cargo racks black
- -Paint other exposed metalwork
- -Chassis parts missing screws
- -Remove hideous looking stickers

That's it! If we get all that stuff fixed, it will be like new again. Right?

The broken motor mount has not been confirmed, just speculated. The engine runs strong, but seems noisy and rough, plus the whole machine shakes, so several have diagnosed a broken mount. I have no idea what is involved in fixing it.

I understand that replacing the alternator is/can be the most expensive item on the list because you have to open the engine to do it. The part is costly, and the labor/time factor is elevated....or so I am told. I can accept that. If it has to be done, it has to be done. But, the rest of the things on the list seem like they would be considered easy fixes if any one of them was the only thing wrong with the machine. The fact that they all have to be fixed at the same time makes it more of a planning problem and a parts acquisition problem than an overwhelming mission impossible. My feeling is that once we determine the parts we need, and get them, it will come together pretty quickly. It's that 'get them' part that holds all the unknowns.

[tt425]

I have a 1992 and a 1993 350 Trailboss 4x4 that I am selling parts off of. I will have to check some parts out because some of the parts are different. I will be glad to make you a package deal on whatever parts you need. I have a stator,transmission,rectifers, etc. I have pretty much anything you might need. Send me a PM once you find out what all you need.

[BigDog]

Hello Terry (tt425), I had seen on your profile page that you have a list of Polaris machines, and the '92 you had pictures of. I had planned to contact you about parts, seein' as how you are a parts guy after all, but you weighed in first. If you have been following this narrative, you know that I am in the beginning of this process and haven't really established with my mechanic yet. I have met him, but he has not seen my machine, nor has he seen the list of it's ailments. As soon as we have a 'parts list', I'll float it by you and we'll see if you have items we can use. I was looking at the red headlamp housing. Mine has a fracture in it and it is missing the little flip-door that covers the radiator. If you still have it, we might could start there.



I have been trying to imagine what kind of force had to be applied to the headlamp housing to cause such a fracture, and what was the effect of said force on the rest of the machine. The seat doesn't line up correctly on it's mounting place, and has a broken hold down tab insert underneath (sorry, no picture of that). These injuries could have happened in seperate events, but it's pretty obvious that it got whacked or torqued or something...at least once.



Thanks again for the heads-up about your parts. Stay tuned.

Mick

[tt425]

I have that plastic you need with the rad cap cover. Whenever you find out what all you need I will fix you up with a cheap package deal for a nice guy

[BigDog]

OK! It's finally in the shop. It took some rigorous investigation and determined leg-work, but I ultimately got it to the right guy...I think. I'm saying, 'I think' because it is not the same guy I was raving about before, you know, QuadMan. No, that would have been too easy. As it turned out, QuadMan, a middle-aged fellow named Greg, who had said that he would work on it 'since we've been slow lately', didn't really want the job. The trouble started when I handed him my list of the repairs it needed. He read the list in silence, didn't really ask any questions, then said he wanted to take a look at it. He looked at it, poked around a little, then gradually began to give the impression that he wanted to back out of the deal, you know, making negative comments, talking about the difficulties, the limitations, etc. In the end, I asked him point blank, "Would you rather not work on it?" I don't want anyone working on it that really doesn't want to. Bad karma, bad vibes, not good. Believe me, my ears were tuned for his answer. He was supposed to be 'the' guy for a hundred miles around. Staring steadily at my list, he came clean. "No, I really don't. I can do it, but there are a lot of headaches and time consuming problems that come up on older machines. But, I can send you to someone who likes to work on these old machines. Let me call Tony and see if he needs something to do." With that, he whips out his cell phone, while he is sitting on the bike on the back of my truck, and makes a call. Ten minutes later, I'm heading out for Tony's Motorcycle Repair, twenty miles further away from my house. Greg told me that he and Tony had been friends since high school, had been roommates at one point, and had been repairing various types of cycles, together and separately, for years. He was now working out of his home, at his own pace, and most importantly, he liked to work on old quads. Hopefully, he will be the new QuadMan. Don't look like the first QuadMan will be around much anyway. Besides, he declined the title....for me, at least.

Tony was/is an interesting guy. Very friendly, with a quick smile, a firm look-you-in-the-eye handshake, and an engaging manner. I handed him the list, and he was silent for a long time while he studied it. Then, he started to act like he was getting weak in the knees, just like Greg did. At one point, he said, "You need to find someone who likes to work on these things." I said that was why Greg sent me to him, because he liked to work on the older machines. His comment was telling. He said, "I do like to work on them, but I'm not real big on restoring them." Tony accepted the project, though, once he found out that I was not in a rush for it. I am, but I didn't make that a factor. If he will work with me, I will work with him. He said it will take two or three days to do it, referring to his labor time. Says he charges twenty-five dollars an hour, and may get four hours in a day, depending on how many interruptions he has. He will give me a list of parts he will need. I will be procuring all parts. He doesn't own a computer and still uses a flip-phone, so it's too time-consuming and headache-generating for him; plus, it keeps our relationship cleaner and simpler. He will get me serial numbers to make sure the parts are correct. That was it, we struck a deal. I felt I could trust him. I did not sense any anger or other antisocial attitude. He seemed like a simple, honest man, one who will do what he says he will do and won't run a game on you. I hope my character judgement skills prove me right. If they do, then Tony is the answer to a prayer, literally. He is fiscally reasonable, likes to work on old machines, has the highest credentials for the job at hand, is flexible, and is a likeable, trustworthy person, or so my instincts tell me. It took a while to track him down, but I don't think I could have asked for more when it comes to rehabilitating a broke-down, aging off-road machine. Tony said he doesn't see many of the old machines any more, which was one reason he agreed to do the job...a refresher course in old Polaris'. We discussed the Hayne's Manual I had bought for the machine, but he acted as if he would not need it, confident that he could do the entire job from memory. Besides, he has a big book that has detailed manuals on all the old quads, of every make.

Something to add to the list: After we had come to terms about his services, Tony went back to checking things out on the machine. He put a foot on the bottom of the radiator guard and began bouncing the front of the machine up and down. It bounced really easily, indicating to Tony that the shocks were spent. He commented that it was dangerous to ride a machine that had faulty shocks, which makes total sense to me. So, that will also be done.

Both QuadMen were surprised and complimentary about what great shape the machine is in for it's age, referring to the body and general appearance. Most of the old machines are beat up and look as though they've been seriously abused, which I'm sure they probably have. But, it was a point that was validated for me, without me bringing it up. Another point, validated by Greg, was that I had gotten a good looking machine for a very good price. When I told him, at his asking, how much I had given for it, he acted pleasantly surprised, and commented that it was a good buy at the price. I was glad to hear that, though I have always had confidence that it was a good buy.

[BigDog]

@tt425: Thanks Terry. Sounds like a plan. It shouldn't be too long now, as in days instead of weeks, since it is in Old Clunker ATV Hospital now.