I have been riding my '85 bayou 185 nearly every day now, out on very rough terrain, and somehow get a ton of oil on my left leg while riding. I could't figure it out. I had oil all over the left side of my seat, too, but my oil level remained the same; the top mark on the viewing port. And, since I am missing the gear that goes between the starter and the starter clutch gear (anyone have one I can buy?), I am limited to pull start. Then today while starting it, I watched where the rope goes ( I sit on it when I start it). It rubbed right against the seat. My starter rope it full of oil. I took the cover off and some oil came out. I am not concerned about that. I think how it got there is that since the oil is at the top mark, it was sloshing around when I was going over rough terrain and came out of the crankcase around the bearings or something for the recoil starter. But, now to my main question, how can I get the oil out of the rope? I am considering taking it out and soaking it in gas, but I really don't want to take the rope out, either. Other than that, the thing runs great!

 

the oil is only supposed to be half way in that sight glass...that is what's causing problems...at least in Mojave's it's only supposed to be half ...other wise you will get oil coming out of the breather

 

Well, 2 marks are molded around the sight glass thing. A high and low mark. It is nearly at the high mark now. I think it came from riding it too fast on too rough of terrain. But, I fixed the oily rope by taking some paper towels and clamping the starter in a vise and pulling the cord in and out while holding the paper towel around it. It is now cleaner than when I got it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I did pick up 2 back racks for unkown atv's at a flea market for $5, and the bigger one is almost like it was made for it. It of course is not the one for it, but I think it may be for a Kawasaki, judging by how well it went. If I wouldn't have cut off a piece I needed with the sawzall, there would have been no welding involved. Just some angle iron brackets and bolts. The only reason I used the angle iron was because if I didn't move the rack back about an inch, I couldn't get the seat on. I want to build a trimmer trap that can detach from the rack to hold my brushcutters, and a chainsaw bracket.