Greetings. Back in mid '03 I bought a new Honda Foreman Rubicon 500 and took it directly to southern Baja where it was treated with TLC until the end of this past August. At that time thieves stole my baby and it was missing until last week. I had put a total of 3,400 miles on it and in 4 months the theives put 1,500 miles more on it!!!

The good news is that a week ago I spotted my ATV in a neighboring town while it was being transported from a town an hour away to another town another hour away the other way!! This was simply a lucky lightening strike. Karma.

So, I got my ATV back and I have been doing all the normal maintenance on it, oil/filter, gear case/differential oil change, air filter replacement, etc. My tires are worn nearly bald and need to be replaced. The machine pulls rather hard to the left. And I am hoping that by following the shop manual I can realign the front end.

My question to you is what else should I be looking to repair/replace?? I will change the spark plug but don't have a socket that will fit. What is the average life of the suspension system?? Virtually all of the miles have been on a wash board dirt road.

I almost forgot, we are in a very rural place, no dealers, etc. Virtually everything has to be done by me or friends. Sorry to be so wordy, but I am anxious to put this ATV back into good condition. Thanks, Floatflyer

 

im glad you got your mechine back!!! coudnt imagine the feeling, but i bet its great. the pull could be the tire out of allignment, or it could need a new tire.

check the wheel bearings! jack it up and shake the tire, see if there is some slop. if there is any slop in the wheel you may need new bearings.

as far as the suspention, check out the shocks. press one end of the ATV down as far as you can go, then release. if it ether wont go down, wont come up after a second, or sharply springs back too firmly; your scocks are shot. idealy the shocks will debound in 1second or less with no mush in them.

i would WD-40 any/all suspention and steering joints you can get to. it wont hurt anything and chances are regular maintinance was not preformed...

it would not hurt to do a valve adjustment ether!

hope there is nothing majorly wrong with the bake, and good luck!

 

Cherokee 99: thank you for the reply. Everything you mentioned I will do, good suggestions. Many of the things you suggested I hadn't even thought of. My poor machine could use a trip to a good dealer but that is a 2 day drive! I will just try and muddle thru.

 

Floatflyer
Sounds like you need to start a Honda Dealership. Sounds like a good place to begin a business! Good luck on your renewed project.

 

Goto Honda web site, type in you zip and look for dealers you may not know about.

 

TIC: Good idea IF I lived in the USA but I spend the winters in Southern Baja, 1,000 miles below the border. La Paz and Cabo San Lucas have some ATV shops but nothing like you find in the states. I am about a 2 hr drive to either of those cities as well.

I have another " tool kit" coming down with some friends in a couple of weeks. I am hopeful I can replace the sparkplug then. On second thought I will go to the Honda site and see what they have for international dealers. Thanks.

 

Phase II is being entered. I have done most of the suggested things you kind people have suggested. Today I tried to cure the left "pulling" tendencies of the quad. I did my best to center the handlebars and then looked at the relationship between the front tires and the rear ones. I then loosened the tie rods and turned them until the front tires appeared to be parallel.

I then took it for a short ride on my usual washboard dirt road. It appeared to track reasonably straight but it would sort of "shift" one way or the other now and then??? Something still isn't right.

Your comments and suggestions is again appreciated.

Still waiting for Tuesday and the arrival of my replacement tool kit.

 

Glad you got your machine back.

Sometimes worn and/or tires that are not inflated properly will cause the bike to pull to onside.

 

Hopefully the dirtbag thief got arrested?

Anyway, in additon to the stuff you mentioned, adjust the valves, change the coolant (should be every 2 years), change the gear oil in the front and rear differentials. It wouldn't hurt anything to put in fresh brake fluid.

I believe alignment spec is 1 3/16" toed out (wider in the front). It is very difficult to eyeball that. If you don't have an alignment gauge, you can C clamp two carpenter's squares. Clamp the two long sides together so it forms a U about the width of the center of the tires. Slip that under the machine and lean it up so the short ends are agaist the tread of the back tires. Use a pen to mark both tires at the edges of the squares. Then pull your squares out from under the machine, roll it forward until the marks you made on the tires are now at the front. Set your squares on the ground with the short ends against the tires, lining up one side with the mark on the tire. Then measure on the other tire how much wider (hopefully) the marks are...

 

PS, you mentioned it needs tires. I presume you are in mostly dry and/or rocky conditions?

I'd suggest Bighorn radials. I just got back from riding around Yuma on a Rubicon that had Bighorns on it. They improve handling, and do great on the rocks and decent in sand. They were a really popular tire among the other riders there, and it appears they are good for about 8,000 miles in those conditions (that generally trash stock tires in less than 1500 miles).