1998 honda Foreman 450s

First ever brake down that required a tow out of the woods

This past weekend I was travelling down an abandoned railbed that crosses our province, I hit a small birm giving a little throttle like I always do to land flat and smooth. When I did I heard a bang followed by more bangs and noticed the motor twisting in its mounts!!!

Turns out that Either the U-joint or the coupler that holds the U-joint in the rear drive shaft failed which is what made the noise and stopped forward travel of the machine. (I have a warn 424 installed and was operating in 2wd at the time).

To get a good look at the problem and to see if I could clear the broken pieces to drive home in Front Wheel Drive, I noticed that the output shaft of the motor was severely bent and had cracked the rear engine case spilling most of the motor oil. Since the motor would not hold oil I had to be towed to the nearest road crossing and have a frieind with a pick up truck pick me up.

Funny that such a small and (relatively) inexpensive part could cause so much carnage. Bike is 11 years old with over 10,000 km on the clock.

 

Man that sucks. I have had this happen in a truck and it destroyed the transfer case.

 

Sorry to here about your bad luck..

 

Well I've been doing alot of research and have come up with a plan for repairs. After checking prices on parts at my dealer, I went to the local ATV used parts shop and discovered that they had a full working engine there that I could bolt into mine. Even better they had a full bottom end there that I purchased for 1/4 the price of the first (saving me $600) giving me all the parts to repair my damaged output shaft and cracked engine case.

After researching what work was involved in swapping shafts I decided that i will be removing the engine from my bike and bringing it (and my parts engine) to the local Honda Dealer to have them do this work. You have to completly dissasemble the engine and split the cases to do this so I want it done right the first time, so the few extra $$$ for a professional assembly will be worth it.

Other then that I will need a new coupler/u-joint assembly and a new boot and I will be ready to quickly reassemble and get back on the trails!!!