In the last race of the season Sunday, my bloody engine crapped out on me. Turns out my 2nd gear is smoked. The "funny" thing about this is that two other people I race with lost their second gear within the last two weeks - all were '99 400ex's. The word on the track is that this is a fairly common problem.

Anyone else have any experience with this or any recommendations for preventing it?

Regards,

Dennis

 

Do you use the clutch? I have done some hardcore hillclimbing since my quad was new, almost always in second gear. It is still going fine, no funny noises (yet) I have friends who shift without the clutch, but I am 'scared to.

That is a major bummer, did the motor lock up?

 

You can shift without the clutch. The tolerances in the syncronizers are close enough to do it.
I do it all the time and have never grinded a gear. Just don't do it at full throttle(let off, shift; let off, shift)
Understand?

It's too much like work to use the clutch

 

Yeah, it was abouth half way through the race when it the back tires just locked up and it shut down. It really sucked because I knew it was going to happen. I had been talking to the guy who had blown his up the race before and he was telling me how it had started ticking loudly in second gear just before it locked up. Mine started ticking in second gear after about 10 minutes of riding and crapped out about 30-40 minutes later. I just couldn't believe it - just my bloody luck!

And yes I do occaisionally shift without the clutch but I'm not convinced that contributed much to the problem. I think it was simply two years of very hard riding/racing.

Dennis

 

hey im wondering if anyone has figured out the problem with the 400ex locking up in second....i work on atvs quite a bit ...and i have never seen this before....i have put this guys 400 back together twice...the first time it locked up and he brought it to me and i fixed it and he took it home and rode it maybe five minutes and it did it again...i took it back apart...checked everything ...cleaned it very good and checked the parts with a magnifying glass because i am 44...the eyes are going lol.....i replaced anything that looked the least bit wore.....and i rode it for a few minutes and lugged it and rode wheelies and it did fine ....he came to get it and rode it for a few minutes it and it locked up again.....it makes me feel bad and i know it not his fault .....if anybody knows of something that im doind wrong please let me know....this is becoming frustrating and expensive for me and him