Well friday I finshed my rear end up. All I have to do now is bolt the right rear on. I wasn't sure about HL's lift kit so I gave them a call and found a flaw in there directions. IT says both brackets should point backwards, this is not possible with out alot of bending or cutting.

IT turns out that the left side should be the opposite of the right side. The L-bracket should point forward on the left side that is.

After I did this I pulled off my right rear wheel(I put the lift kit with the tires on, but it's easier if you take them off) so I could change my rear brakes. Well I found out that I waited alittle too long to change them. My inner pad wore down to the bare metal and scared up my disc alittle. The outer pad is ok, but it wore out unevenly too. I MIGHT replace the disc or get it turned down if I have problems with it in the future, but I can't as of now. While I was at it I went ahead and removed my mechanical foot brake. I never use it any way. I was gonna remove it totally intack but it was getting dark any my I was in a rush so I went ahead and cut the cable. Not like I'm gonna reinstall it any way.

The lift kit should take you less than an hour with air tools to lossen it all up. I did it all with hand tools and I had one hell of a time lossening the right shock bolt, it was realy stuck but I got it. I recommend you do both sides at one time. If you don't you will have one hell of a time getting the bolts in and out of the 4 link suspension to get the suport brackets on. With the rear axle level it was perfect tho.


Here is what I used( had to imprevise cause of a lack of tools):

1 Excovator(no jack)
1 chain(tied ATV to Excovator's bucket)
1 hand truck/dolly( I used it as a jack to lift the axle to line up the bolts with the shock holes)
4 cement blocks(no jack stands)
1 $30 buck Allied tool kit(I need an impack{even if it's 12 volt} and an air rachet wrench thingy)


Oh yea, while I had all 4 tires off the ground I tested the front diff. It's VERY VERY WEIRED on mine. ON the left side I put my foot on a claw of my tires and slowly gave the gas-- it would not pull but I could feel it pulse like every rotation of the other tires. When I varried the throttle by tapping the gas it riped lose and pulled all 4 no matter how much I tired to stop it. Same thing happen with a slight tap of the brakes.

On the right side it seems to pull even harder than the left side. It seemed to stop pulling if I REALY put my weight into holding the tire, but in 2nd gear high range it would still spin lose if it was above 1/4 throttle. Only problem is that when I would let go of the tire and it was not spining it would spin backwards untill the others almost stoped completly.

Do you guys think that the bearings on my left spindle could be causeing this?? There is alot of play in the front end cause of the bearings. I need to change them asap. I will do the right side even tho it is in pretty good shape. I think it;s better to do it now while it is down than haveing to put it down again.

ps-- I start or my Front lift kit Monday after school-- I have a busy weekend.

 

I love it! Using an excavator as a jack, with chain-awesome! Would like to have seen that, sounds like you improvised very nicely there due to the lack of standard tools. Good thinking! Also, good review of the lift installation and tips-there's some good info there that I'm sure somebody can use for installing a lift in the near future. I wonder why High Lifter didn't notice that bit about the left bracket facing forward, instead of bacwards? Good think you noticed that.

Did you try the front diff in reverse at all? I remember a while back somebody else had the same thing with their 'Cat. The left tire wouldn't move very much at all with all four suspended, but the right would break loose in a heart beat, spin like mad. They also said that in reverse, all tires were spinning, you couldn't hold one at all. In a truck, usually reverse is your lowest gear, I wonder if the same is true on the 'Cat's, or if it's the way the diff is setup?

Anyway, good post, let us know how the front end goes, what you think of it when you're done too. Hey, post some new pics when finished, if you get the chance too, I'd like to see it with all the new improvements. Oh, I think it would be wise to change both sets of bearings up front as well, since you'll be in there doing the left side anyway, might as well do the right. That way you know for sure they're both in good shape, and you won't end up with uneven wear, end up having to re-do the right side a month or two later.

Mike

 

I'll do the diff test some more tomorrow.

Reverse on Honda's is the lowest gear, on cats first gear is. I know this for a fact for 2 reasons, it goes faster in reverse than 1st gear AND I have read it in my Service manual. It list all the gear ratios. Reverse is between 1st and second gear numeracally. It feels like 2nd gear tho.

I talked to HL about the lift kit and they told me why. Mike designs the lift kits, but Greg writes the directions down. Another reason is that if you put it together off of the bike the rears look ABSOLUTELY the same. The difference is that you have to turn the left side around. So if you put the lift kits together in advance(finger tighen the nuts and put it together to see if you have any parts missing), you should note this about the rear lift. I'll start the front end tomorrow and see what I come up with.

I'm gonna get some more pictures of it tomorrow. I have already taken pictures of it with just the spacers and claws. NOw I will take pics of it with the lift, spacers, and claws.

 

Boner:
How many miles do you have on your bike? I didn't think it was that old, so I was surprised to hear that you are already changing brakes and bearings.
Do you think the bigger tires could have contributed to the bearing wear?

 

I have a 1999 Cat which I bought in June of 99. I have about 2700 (VERY HARD) miles on the bike. SO the brakes have lasted a good while. My Bearings were kinda lose before I installed my tires, but in the few miles(100 miles) with them they have gotten about 3 times worse. I expect this cause of my riding style(jumping, 2 wheeling, and just flat out rough on my bike).

 

Well, I still have not done my front lift kit. With the cold weather and no indoor's way of doing my lift I have left it alone. I did take the front tires off so I don't have to do that when I do get a chance to start on my front lift kit.

I will get to it asap if the weather is ok. I'm not a winter type of person. I MUCH rather being hot than cold. So, with that cold weather I don't do much outside stuff, even if it's to do with my cat.

 

Well I installed the rest of my lift kit and changed my front brakes too. As soon as put my factory tires back on(with my spacers in the rear) I went to the front and saw a HUGE toe in affect. I mean BIG TIME. I didn't mess with the toe in tho. I decided to ride it first. So I went for a ride after airing up my flat tires to 20 psi. At low speeds I started turning my bars and noticed that it handled ALOT quicker and I loved it. Then as I picked up the pace on asphalt I almost lost control. I thoughy my tires were unbalance by slime that had possibly frozen but it wasn't that kinda handleing that was being affected. In stead of my tires trying to jump off the ground like they were unbalanced the handle bars were trying to rip them selves on of my hands and the quad was jumping side to side. This was due to the huge toe in. The bike don't know which way to go.

So I will be adjusting my toe in next time I get a chance, I need to do it before thursday cause my freind The_law is gonna be breaking in his new 355 big bore and needs my help. We are planing to do a few drag races after the break in is over with.

Who do you guy think will win? He has a 355 big bore, HL power kit, HL lift kit, Rancher stock tires and wheels, a locker, no front rack, and thats about it.

I have stock tires and a lift kit.

 

He will win. My 89 300 honda can hold its own with my AC500 to a certain extent. All of the engine work and the small stock tires should have a major advantage over a 500 lugging around 4 27x12" mud tires.

If you are having handling problems at high speeds, it could just as easily be your tire pressure. 20lbs. is just too much for anything other than straight mud riding. At any high speeds, mine would buck you around pretty good when they had 9lbs. in them. Thats why they only had that pressure for about 20 minutes (thus being the pressure that was in there when I got them back from being mounted).

As far as your drags, you could probably still get him on the top end. I think he will have the acceleration easily though. Cilliberti said that he lost a couple mph on top with his old 97 300 when he put the big bore kit on. He also said that he had the punch to keep up with anything he rode with though. That included the quads he had at the time, those being his 98 Suzuki 500 and his 97 Prarie 400.

 

Well, seeing has how you think I will get smoked from what you hear.....I guess I may as well not show up. Boner you also forgot my cam, HL Daylight Kit, and whatever else...I dont remember anymore. With only a Cam and Power Kit for power...and still having 25/26 Biclaws, I would eat a Recon alive in a drag race from gears 2-5. Well seeing has how I would be even quicker just from the tires, I forgot to mention the power boost from the head work and Big Bore Kit.......So I guess that still makes me slow?

 

I'm guessing that you are talking to Boner seeing that I just said the 300 would win the drag. I don't see the Honda gaining much top end though. Maybe it will, but I'm going by what some other guy said so I really don't know much about it. The 300 should be able to out accelerate the 500 with all of the modifications.

Come to think of it, I remember you now. You are the guy that lists all that crap at the end of each post. I see that its mainly modifications and stuff now, rather than tie down straps and every set of tires that you own. Much better.

Whoa!! I take that one back. Seems you have taken the time to go back and include all that other bothersome Sh@t. What a waste of freakin space. I am glad for one thing that its all on a honda, and mostly stays in the honda forum. I'd hate to have to scroll through all that mess in every thread on the AC forum. Hmmmm..... I wonder what will be next. Possibly a post in all of the topics here with a signature full of boasting about rack bags and whip flags?