Have had the JM for about a week now and my son has about an hour or so of riding on it. I will call John Monday but was wondering if someone had any ideas about this. The rear end has developed a noise, like something catching or clanking. I have lifted the rear end and spin the wheels and every so often it catches and makes a clanking/crunching sound, coming from the rear end in the vicinity of the spocket. Any ideas?
Thanks

 

Could be the chain... See if it is in line with the spocket..

 

You may want to check the chain tension. You may even want to inspect your rear axle bearings. Make sure there is no free play in the axle. Check the axle nuts make sure they are tight.

Will it make the noise if you spin the wheels slowly?

When you spin the axle, does it spin smoothly until it hits its clanking/crunching sound?

Can the axle make a full revolution smoothly spinning the wheels slowly?

Does it happen under a load, at high speed, or will it do it under any condition?

SB.

 

The chain tension seens to be the same as it always was. The rear wheels spin smoothly unitl it "catches" and It makes a clank sound. Happens both for slow spin and fast. Happens at any speed and also when I lift the rear end and spin the rear wheels manually. When I spin the wheels by hand I can feel resistance when the sound occurs. Seems like its coming from inside the center rear axle housing. Whats inside this that could cause this?

 

There are bearings inside the axle housing. If it were a bad bearing the axle would not spin smoothly. But again anything is possible. The axle is splined so the sprocket assembly and brake rotor do not spin freely on the axle. You may want to inspect these areas too. Inspect the chain and sprockets for any damage or deformities.

I'm sure there may be something I missed. Wait for more responses. There may be others who have had a similar problem with their quad. They may know of other areas to look.

Keep us posted once you locate the problem, also post what was done for the remedy so others will have a detailed reference.

Good Luck.

SB.

 

OK Ive pretty much verified that it is the rear bearings. I loosened the rear assembly, removed the chain and sprocket. When I spin the axel, it binds and makes the sound.
What is involved in replacing bearings in the housing? Will the axel slide out of the housing and can the bearings be replaced? If the bearings are pressed in (dont have a bearing press) do I need a new housing? Also, Im wondering if the bearing problems have scarred up the axel.
Seems strange that a kid riding around in a parking lot could cause this problem. Are defective bearings common in these ATVs?
Thanks!

 

Since you have gotten that far remove the four axle nuts. Then remove the sprocket and brake rotor assemblies. At this point you should be able to slide the axle from the housing. Inspect the axle for any damage. If there are hub seals carefully remove them. Once you get to the inside of the axle hub you will be able to tell if the bearings are pressed in or not.

Unfortunately you may have received a quad with bad axle bearings or they were installed incorrectly. Bearings do not normally fail that soon, but things do happen.

At least you purchased the quad from Raceway. John will fix you right up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

If you find the bad bearing(s), see if you can tell why the bearing went bad. This information will be good for future reference. Not only that I am ready to purchase my 250 and would like the info myself. This will be an area to look at when assembling the quad.

Good Luck.

SB.

 

Sounds like you may have the wrong sprocket... Turn the back wheels and watch the chain, and see if it jumps a tooth...

 

No, the sprocket and chain are just fine. Its the rear bearings/axle that is the problem.

 

Outofline,
I can't offer much in the way of comparisons since I have never owned a quad from the big 4, but I do like this quad. I would not have been able to buy a similar size big 4 quad because they run $4000-$5000, way more than I wanted to spend. My impression is that it is put together very well, but in certain areas is not up to Honda, etc,,, quality. Overall my biggest complaint would be the welds, they are not very pretty, and typical of stuff from China, eventhough they are probably strong, they just are not done with care. The rest of the quad has really impressed me, particularly the engine, it really runs nice and has very good power. Yes I have an issue now with the rear bearings, hopefully this wont be typical of the rest of the quad. I will see how Raceway deals with this before I really offer an opinion. Overall I think that to buy one of these you have to be willing to work on them. Its not like buying a honda from the shop down the street, when something goes wrong you just take it back.
To diagnose my problem and to fix it I will need to take the entire rear end apart and put it back together. If this intimidates you then these quads I not for you. Heck I don't like doing this myself, but that is the price you pay for saving the 2-3K on the purchase price.
Irrespective of the comparison with the big 4 the real question is it worth the price. In my opinion yes, but if reliability continues to be a problem then I may change my mind.
Hope this helps...