Hi all I have a 2014 Tgb blade 425cc 4x4 quad, every time I try select gear it either grinds or jumps into gear and stalls, the bike has sat for some time, is it possible the clutch could be seized? Are there any common issues with these bikes? Thanks

 

We have avoided TGB for over ten years but assuming it is the same as 2008 TGB 425s, the belt provides the clutch as well as the gearing, so I would guess your belt has deformed itself into the shape it was left in and is grabbing, though the variator pulleys could be sticking. Worth putting a new belt on, though the belt will get better on its own as it is forced to flex in use.

We were going to be TGB dealers as the UK importer was only 15 miles away, so bought a 250 and a 425 to try them. The 250 was chain drive, and farmers won't buy chain drive because they need constant maintenance. The 425 gave endless bother with eating starter clutches. I suspect ignition timing was a bit too advanced but you can't change that. Also suspect, on later TGBs, that would be fixed, ours was one of the first to be made. More problematic was the front diff came loose, this caused cascading faults. Firstly it broke the front UJs, these were replaced, but it had also broken the 4WD cable, which was unavailable, so we ran it without the cable. Big mistake, the front diff exploded, on stripping it I found the 4WD selector shaft had poked far enough into the diff to catch the bolt heads holding the crownwheel on. This tried to spin them anti-clockwise with every rev of the crownwheel, and eventually some had loosened enough to catch the case, jacking it apart, fairly spectacularly. With the cable attached the shaft couldn't get far enough forward to catch, so it had been the lack of cable causing the problem. The importers had moved to over 100miles away and with all the problems, we decided we didn't want to be TGB dealers any more.

 

Yeah a few things on this bike are pretty questionable just looking at it, I managed to adjust the gear selector and it shifts fine now and adjusted the carby as it was idling so high and now it’s mint, I’ve also found it’s almost impossible to get parts in Australia at a reasonable price for them but other then that it seems okay, I haven’t taken it out for a good ride yet as I only picked it up a few days ago but I have a few other Chinese bikes and this one seems to be the better quality one out of the lot

 

Taiwanese stuff is usually fairly well made and Taiwan Golden Bee are one of the best. Our problem was, they obviously hadn't done the development and testing. I don't recall spares being all that expensive, and we assumed the problems of getting them were due to it being a new model. It turned out that a few parts were "Chinese copies" of Suzuki stuff, fairly sure the long awaited 4WD cable was Eiger and the front prop shaft looked suspiciously close to Eiger as well. Suzukis do have a separate centrifugal clutch though, so the engine wasn't an exact copy of a Suzuki.

 

I don’t suppose you’d have a diagram as to what wires go where on the starter solenoid? , I have ignition just no crank

 

Sorry to be a bit slow, the workshop manual was at work and it has been weekend. Not entirely sure this is accurate, and don't forget the gear lever has to be in neutral, or brake on, to start.

 

Thanks for the reply! I’ve got 12v across all 4 wires at the solenoid but as I push the starter button in there’s no drop in voltage as there should be, it’s got a brand new starter switch so I’m assuming there’s meant to be a ground somewhere that’s got a bad connection or missing

 

I've been looking at the main wiring diagram and it is nothing like the one shown above, there is no start button in the one I put up, so it wouldn't work. Trouble is the main diagram in the book is so small print that I can't read it, even with my new glasses, so I doubt if putting it up on here will work. Looks like the main fuse is on the solenoid, so battery thick red powers the fuse, two main power leads to rectifier and ignition come from the fuse, a red/white and a blue. The black goes to earth and the black/blue to another relay, this feeds power from the start button to the solenoid when you press the start button, so black to earth and blue/black live with start button pressed, makes the solenoid click in.