One of my friends had me ride his 300 4x4 to "feel" what his brakes were doing. This is a completely stock machine. When you are riding along (less than 10mph) and slowly pull in the left brake lever, you can feel something that makes the lever "oscillate". My lame description--it feels like a cylinder is turning and a deep slot or notch is in it at some point, and some part of the braking mechanism "drops off" into this slot. When it occurs, it is very sudden and the lever "kicks back" into your fingers. There is one sudden "pop". It does not continue. If you pull the lever very slowly and very lightly, you can feel the lever moving back and forth. If you ride around and make it pop several times, it seems to stop doing it. It does not occur with the right lever or the foot lever. This noise seems to come from the left side at the front. But, this may be a wrong perception.
If anyone has any ideas, let me know what it may be and what he can do to fix it.

 

If you're pulling in the left brake lever then the problem must be in the rear. The front brakes are operated by the right lever. I would take apart the back brake housing and inspect the brake shoes and drum. I've had brake shoes come apart in the drum before. This problem could be a number of things. You might also check the rear axle bearings by jacking up the back of the quad and moving the axle back and forth to see if there is excessive play, etc. I don't think it is a common problem and should probably be checked into before the problem gets worse.

 

TX; In one of the stranger incidents I've ever run across with brakes. I had a Honda 300 2x4 that the owner was complaining of a "pulsing" brake on the rear of the machine. I rode it and to tell you the truth he had very little brake on the rear at that time and the pulsing was very obvious. Anyway upon disasembly I found that the brake drum had somehow gotten out of round it was to an extent "Egg Shapped" . It was also worn very thin as this was a high milage machine. I figured that maybe he had ridden the Quad into water after he had gotten the brakes really hot and the contraction process that happened when he hit the water caused the already badly worn drum to warp. Thats just my theory but the drum was out of round, may want to check that. By the way I finally saw the 28" Vampires that you E-mailed me about and I'll tell you, I think that may be the hot setup on the new rubicon, If you try it when you get your Rubicon let me know how it works out. I'd like to know how it affects the wheel horsepower and how the fender clearance is when turning, thanks.

------------------
Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

Thanks for the help. I will get to ride this bike again this weekend. He had new bearing put on one side, but I ddon't know which. It has braking ability that seems ok, it is just that pulsing feel to the lever. The "egg-shape" is exactly what I was trying to descirbe, I just did did not know what part was not round-you said the drum. We'll look and see. Thanks again.
Kagey-any opinion or wait and see-regarding too much tire for any drivetrain to handle (the 28's). Do you think the 28's are going to tear up something, besides the ground, on an atv?

 

TX; I guess its just wait and see on the 28's. Maybe highlifter will Guinea pig with someones Rubicon before they market a wheel and tire set for it but after seeing the specs on both the tires and the Rubicon I think it will be capable of pulling the 28's if thats what you want.

------------------
Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

I stopped by my friend's house and rode his 300 again. It is definitely in the rear. I also pressed slowly on the foot brake pedal and it does or causes the same thing as the left hand lever. The manual says what you did, Kagey, that the left hand lever and foot brake operate the rear brake---But---there is a sticker on the gas tank in front of the seat that says something to the effect of "activation of any brake lever will cause brake application at both front and rear of the atv for all four wheel drive models". But, in reality, that is not what is occurring?
Highlifter says they are running the 28's on the 450 (I think it is 432cc's), so we'll see what happens to it also.
Thanks again. We are gonna take the repair manual and disassemble the brake this weekend, it time allows. Have a good weekend.

 

TxDoc2, out-of-round drum (if so, can possibly be turned true) or loose (e.g., unpinned) shoes may be the cause of the problem; let us know what you find when you pull the hub.

Regarding the braking effect both front and rear from applying either brake lever, this condition arises because the Honda 300 4X4 is a "full-time" 4x4; the front and rear wheels are physically linked through the drivetrain; thus, retarding any wheel retards them all.

Tree Farmer

 

Scott has the 28's in the front of his 550 (not a typo) Foreman and he has some realy pumped up 27x12's in the back because He likes the 12s in the back.

 

Boner, are you certain this topic is one you had in mind for your post above?

Tree Farmer

 

I appreciate all of the helpful posts. Finally got the word on what the problem was. The drum itself turned out to be okay. The other parts were the source of the problem. New brake shoe set fixed everything.