Got the new Cooper Dicoverer At3 XLT's installed. 275/70/R18's. Good ole Amazon sent the wrong Bilsteins. I'll have to rethink leveling it until after our Mississippi trip in October.
What did you do to your other vehicle today?
- Thread starter Zorba
- Start date
I got myself a FREE ATV from my Dad. Dad got it last year for six bennies. All he did to it was top up the coolant. At 88 years old, he finally decided he was too old for trail riding and gave it to me after trying to sell it for a few months. It's a 1997 Polaris Sportsman 4x4. 2 smoke. The little turd scoots. So, I decided to do a complete service on it. Christ, if I ever find the ham fisted prick that worked on it before Dad bought it... These are just the pics I took when my hands were kind if clean.
Inner brake pads missing on both front calipers. Actually, the inner pads were cut out. The pistons were acting as the inner brake pads. If I'd known this, I would not have pushed the damn thing to 60mph.
Thought I had a leaking shaft seal on the transmission. Nope. Ham Fist struck again.
Vent hoses routed across muffler.
Other stuff I found; front drive hubs are supposed to have approx. 50cc of Type F ATF each, there was nothing.
I spent an hour trying to get a bolt out of the center chain guard because Ham Fist used an impact and spun the riv-nut. Normally not too bad if you have access. I had none. Ended up replacing the riv-nit with a larger one because the riv-nuts from almost 30 years ago had thicker walls.
I spent another hour trying to figure out how to remove the skid plate before I realized the damn thing wasn't even there.
The brake calipers are FUBAR. New ones here tomorrow. I learned that after buying a new set of pads. The DOT 3 is also starting to gel.
Counter shaft is supposed to have about 75cc of 10-30 in its reservoir. There was maybe 5cc in there.
There are almost 20 grease zerks on this damn thing. 2 tried their damnedest to hide from me but I found the little pricks.
It does run great, at least, and the front and center drive chain adjustment was spot on. So there is that. I won't know about the rear chain until I get this thing off the stands.
I will not let this thing kick my ass, though I am now five days into a two hour job. I'm still kind of glad that Dad gave it to me instead of selling it. I can't imagine the shitshow if he did manage to sell it and someone had an accident because of the front brakes.
Inner brake pads missing on both front calipers. Actually, the inner pads were cut out. The pistons were acting as the inner brake pads. If I'd known this, I would not have pushed the damn thing to 60mph.
Thought I had a leaking shaft seal on the transmission. Nope. Ham Fist struck again.
Vent hoses routed across muffler.
Other stuff I found; front drive hubs are supposed to have approx. 50cc of Type F ATF each, there was nothing.
I spent an hour trying to get a bolt out of the center chain guard because Ham Fist used an impact and spun the riv-nut. Normally not too bad if you have access. I had none. Ended up replacing the riv-nit with a larger one because the riv-nuts from almost 30 years ago had thicker walls.
I spent another hour trying to figure out how to remove the skid plate before I realized the damn thing wasn't even there.
The brake calipers are FUBAR. New ones here tomorrow. I learned that after buying a new set of pads. The DOT 3 is also starting to gel.
Counter shaft is supposed to have about 75cc of 10-30 in its reservoir. There was maybe 5cc in there.
There are almost 20 grease zerks on this damn thing. 2 tried their damnedest to hide from me but I found the little pricks.
It does run great, at least, and the front and center drive chain adjustment was spot on. So there is that. I won't know about the rear chain until I get this thing off the stands.
I will not let this thing kick my ass, though I am now five days into a two hour job. I'm still kind of glad that Dad gave it to me instead of selling it. I can't imagine the shitshow if he did manage to sell it and someone had an accident because of the front brakes.
My experience with working on Polaris ATV’s is they use way too many different size fasteners and wrenches.
Yup. And a 97 is also like an 80's Ford as there is a mix of metric and SAE. Though that's divided by the frame(SAE) and engine(metric). Still a pain in the ass.
Yep, tore apart a 400 scrambler X of that vintage for a buddy and it was 10x the work of my Banshee. I hated working on that Scrambler.
When I find the half assed crap done on this Sportsman, I question if it was done at our factory. The stories I could tell.
I got the turd back together.
All I wanted to do was a fluid change, add a tach, and heated grips. Four hours, tops. Not forty.
The final headache was the bleeder snapped off the rear caliper. I didn’t put any pressure on the wrench, it just came off. I dicked with that for a few hours then decided to replace the caliper. There’s nothing available in aftermarket, and if you can find even used OEM, it’s a left nut. So, bleeder repair kit It is.
At least it frickin’ done. Just in time for the LJ to start acting up.
All I wanted to do was a fluid change, add a tach, and heated grips. Four hours, tops. Not forty.
The final headache was the bleeder snapped off the rear caliper. I didn’t put any pressure on the wrench, it just came off. I dicked with that for a few hours then decided to replace the caliper. There’s nothing available in aftermarket, and if you can find even used OEM, it’s a left nut. So, bleeder repair kit It is.
At least it frickin’ done. Just in time for the LJ to start acting up.
Not today, but Saturday, got it started and drove it.
I have a company vehicle for work and I honestly never drive it. If we're doing something as a family we take the wife's GC Trailhawk or now the TJ. I love driving the TJ (and it's still new to me) so I tend to take it on errands.
We recently took a trip for 8 days and then I went straight to work when we got back, and the truck was dead! The worst part is it's a new battery this past year. My brother-in-law (an electrician) is supposed to add an outlet to the outside of the garage where I park so I can throw a tender on it.
I have a company vehicle for work and I honestly never drive it. If we're doing something as a family we take the wife's GC Trailhawk or now the TJ. I love driving the TJ (and it's still new to me) so I tend to take it on errands.
We recently took a trip for 8 days and then I went straight to work when we got back, and the truck was dead! The worst part is it's a new battery this past year. My brother-in-law (an electrician) is supposed to add an outlet to the outside of the garage where I park so I can throw a tender on it.
Added Dumbo ears. I missed having a small convex mirror. And even though our camper is only 15', it was impossible to see the sides of it going down the road or backing into places.
took care of two recalls and a dying battery in our 22 Honda Odessy, can’t wait to get out of this electronic monstrosity.
I added full feature towing mirrors to my 2015 GMC 1500. I love them. You just have to get used to the idea there is a huge blind spot behind the mirrors at a 4 way stop or other times but rolling down the road and backing with or without a trailer is awesome.
They do. Stocks were 14.5" from the door. These are 18" collapsed. Fully extended they're 21.5"
It's taken a minute to get used to that. But in the same process I've eliminated the blindspot behind me. I really like them, pulling the camper tomorrow night and excited to see how much I've gained visually
OP
Between getting this house back together from the re-plumb project AND the hot as balls weather, I haven't done much to anything outside. The trailer project has just been sitting there - I needed to add brackets for rear sidelites similar to the brackets already in place for front sidelites. So fucking hot, but it was chickenshit enough of a task that I was able to get it done despite that GLARING SUN! I wish we'd moved to Crescent City - but that's in Kommiefornia, so that was out...
Existing front sidelite brackets:
New rear sidelite brackets:
If I can get some cloud cover without it raining, I could get the bottom of this thing painted black...
Existing front sidelite brackets:
New rear sidelite brackets:
If I can get some cloud cover without it raining, I could get the bottom of this thing painted black...
Changed the axle nut and washer on my chevy volt for the new design. Easy job, but my torque wrench only goes to 150 and this needed 185. So I used a cheater bar, tape measure, and a soft shackle that @NashvilleTJ sent me for precision. Calibrated weight with the bathroom scale.
