Messages

1

Suspension and Chassis / Materials Q for you Mechanical Engineers out there

« on: February 24, 2017, 12:45:24 PM »

You are correct - 1" O.D. tube, but with a 0.850" I.D. that would make my tube 0.150" in thickness. Your example above would have your Laeger's tube at 0.250" wall thickness (or 1/4") . Most standard tube wall thickness is 0.095" and 0.120" for DOM. Looks like Chrome-Moly - 4130 in the 1" O.D. comes in: 0.049, 0.058, 0.065, 0.083, 0.095, 0.120, 0.158, 0.188 & 0.250. I am guessing that since yours are the 0.250" wall, I may have the 0.158" wall since the seller of these A-arms had them on a dune machine. I seem to recall years back that you could buy standard or HD arms, then light-weight dune arms.  The nephew is currently making me some bushings out of the UHMW material. I also looked at Laeger's website for grins and see that they now offer what they are calling a Honda Pro Series bushing kit that is actually a retro-fit of installing a sleeve with a bearing in it in place of the bushings. Not sure if I'll put out the $250 for that kit.

2

Suspension and Chassis / Materials Q for you Mechanical Engineers out there

« on: February 08, 2017, 12:31:49 PM »

I got a chance finally to take a set of calipers to the Laeger's A-arms and the Derlin bushings. Seems the majority of the wear was actually between the A-arm tube and the O.D. of the busing. Anyway, the tube measures out at a I.D. 0.850" The O.D. of the crush sleeves is: 0.625". So if anyone can tell from these dimensions if I do indeed have a set of arms that are not 250R, let me know.

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Suspension and Chassis / Materials Q for you Mechanical Engineers out there

« on: February 03, 2017, 12:41:37 PM »

Thanks for all the replies guys!Thesmith87250r - I agree with you that things should last longer, but unlike stock A-arms that have bearings in them, these are older model Laeger's with only the Derlin bushings and no grease zerks. However, each winter I did pull the front-end off and hand smear grease on the bolts, sleeves and bushings. Also the terrain that I ride is mostly woods trails, but once a year my group travels out of state to some kind of extreme ORV park or area. Was out in Moab, UT this past September and the front end took some really hard hits on the rocks (why I need new tie rod ends). My typical riding season is: 1 Saturday afternoon on a MX track, 4 ~ 5 week-ends of trails in northern Michigan, 1 - three day ride in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and 3 days at an out of state location (usually mountains and rocks). Yes, the replacement bushings were direct from Larger's and were sloppier than the ones that came with the arms when I bought them used. As for the sleeves - I used the ones that came with the arms, as well as the ones that I got from Laeger's. I had the nephew make the Delrin bushings so there was a little interference fit on the A-arm tube and a very nice slide-through fit between the sleeve and the bushing. You know, how bushings should fit. Where as the stuff from Laeger's had about a 0.035" clearance on the sleeve to bushing and about 0.100" clearance on bushing to tube.The nephew actually recommended UHMW instead of the Delrin.As for if they are 400EX arms vs. 250R arms - I don't know. There are no identifying marks on these arms other than the Laeger's stickers. Are there dimensions that could be checked to determine what I have?

4

Suspension and Chassis / Materials Q for you Mechanical Engineers out there

« on: January 31, 2017, 12:47:51 PM »

I did not want to hijack bronken1's thread asking about alternatives for Laeger's A-arm bushings, so I'll start my own:Years back I picked up a set of Laeger's +2 +1 A-arms and Elka shocks from a member on the ATV Riders formum. Great transaction, great seller. I install the parts on my 250R and I immediately notice how loose the bushings are at the frame. OK, no big deal, must be the seller rode his machine more than he advertised, I'll just get a new set of bushings from Laeger's. Horrible sales experience with Lager's, then when the new bushings show up, I install them and my front-end is even sloppier than with the stuff the arms came with! So I took a bunch of measurements, went to the local industrial materials supply house and bought a chunk of Derlin. I then took it all to my nephew and he machined me 2 sets of Derlin bushings to the correct tolerances. That was 2009 and I've worn through those 2 sets of Derlin bushings and 1 set of the bolt sleeves. Time for new ones.So here is what my post is about: when I get the next set made, I do not want to make them from Derlin again. I would like to use a more suitable material for the application - I.E. something that will wear better than - last longer than 3 yrs? I'm not a materials guy, so I do not know where to start researching this. Thought there might be a Materials Engineer or Mechanical Engineer among the group here that could help?Thanks in advance!

5

For Sale - Parts / Huge parts Post little bit of everything

« on: January 30, 2017, 12:31:54 PM »

Do you still have the black clutch side cover with water pump shaft available? If not, would you happen to have a good water pump shaft and impeller? Rebuilding the nephew's '87 engine and found a screwed-up water pump in it.

6

Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: September 26, 2016, 01:02:36 PM »

I did not get around to following up with this post as to how I fixed my ignition issue: I finally got it diagnosed down to the igniter coil is what went "bad" on me. I swapped out my stator/igniter from my nephew's '87 and my machine would fire on the first kick. So I ended up buying a used stock stator/igniter off e-bay and it has performed flawlessly since. I'm planning on buying one of the re-pop igniter coils and attaching it to my original coil assembly as a back-up in the future. Again, thank you guys for all your replies and insight!

7

Lounge / Places to ride in wisconsin/MN/U.P. of Mchigan

« on: January 05, 2016, 12:42:05 PM »

I do not know of specific places, but the western U.P. and north-eastern Wisconsin have a lot of snowmobile trails and Rail to Trails that run through both states. I'm assuming from your comment of "wide open spaces" you are not interested in tight woods trails? The rail to trail stuff might interest you, for the trail is the entire railroad bed. So flat and about 12 ft. wide. The snowmobile trails are a little narrower, but for the most part still around 8 ft. wide. If you google Wisconsin ORV trails, Michigan DNR - ORV trails or MITrails you will find maps.  I rode that area 2 years ago and along the snowmobile trails there were many sand "pits" to play in. I don't have exact locations, but they are there. Otherwise, only real sand pit I know to point you towards is Silver Lake Dunes.

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Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: October 19, 2015, 12:19:30 PM »

OK, I did a bunch of research over the week-end and I think I am just going to buy a new igniter coil. The CR ignition sounds great for performance and reliability, but no lighting coil. Now I read a few posts by folks on this side at other sites from over the years and seen the ideas for small battery packs/batteries, rectifiers and other wiring gizmos to get lights, but I like the simplistic system that my machine came with. So the $300 ~ $600 price tag to switch to a CR ignition, then another $100 or less to get lights again, I'm just going to fix what I currently have. Thanks for all the input guys! You helped me make a decision on this.

9

Lounge / Everyone's profession

« on: October 14, 2015, 12:27:47 PM »

Originally a trained automotive technician, went into the Navy as a Construction Mechanic. Got out and went to college for more mechanic training but stuck around a couple more years and got a specialized automotive management degree. Started out as a dealership service advisor, went to a assistant service manager at a Navistar garage, then to Oldsmobile as a dealer technical assistance advisor. Oldsmobile folded-up, so into GM Service Operations as a service manual author, then advanced service engineer. Left GM when there were a lot of changes happening in '99 & 2000, ended up at a Tier 1 supplier 5 miles from my house as their test lab engineer. Been doing that for 15 years now.

10

Lounge / What happened to James Lucky ATV?

« on: October 12, 2015, 12:29:49 PM »

I guess that explains why their adds in Dirt Wheels disappeared? I've got issues back to 1982 and there was always a 2-page add in there every month for JLATV. Maybe James wanted to retire and his daughters did not want to continue on with the business? Too bad, I too bought a lot of lt80 parts and ATC200X parts from them over the years.

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Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: October 12, 2015, 12:18:42 PM »

Thanks for the input guys! You really have me leaning to the CR set-up now. hickwheeler - PM coming at ya! So, can you tell me now, what is the common way to get a CR set-up? Is it to buy all the OEM Honda parts from a dealer, then just the adaptor plate from ESR? Or does someone out there offer up a "kit" of some form?

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Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: October 09, 2015, 12:29:23 PM »

My one worry about going with the CR ignition is I've read and been told that with the smaller flywheel, my engine will struggle some on the bottom end? I say this for I do a lot of slow-speed technical riding, so if the smaller flywheel is going to cause more stalling on me, I'd rather stick with stock. Tell me if I'm wrong on that or not. I like the idea of everything else that the CR ignition offers though. What is the best way to do this conversion? Order all OEM Honda parts then the adaptor plate from ESR? What is the true difference with the CR set-up? Is it just the digital CDI? Or are other parts way different/better than stock TRX?

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Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: October 08, 2015, 12:31:07 PM »

Thanks for the replies guys! Yes, there is a Ricky Stator that has been around for a lot of years as well as there is a Rick's Electronics. The Rick's I have only seen popping-up on searches for about 4 - 5 years now. One of those not sure what to do, for I called Ricky Stator's shop number about 2 weeks ago, no one answered, left 2 voice messages and have yet to get a return call. Out-going message says to order parts, use the website. If they cannot return a call, not sure if I want to try the website? How about anyone else? Who else out there makes a stator / igniter worth spending money on?

14

Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: October 06, 2015, 12:32:35 PM »

Hey guys, my ignition problem came back! However, this time was a total failure so I was able to find the root cause of the problem: the igniter coil. So, to my knowledge, this part is the original one. Back in 1997, I had the stator quit on me, so I sent it out to a shop in Massachusetts and had it re-wound, but I believe they did nothing with the igniter. I've been looking around on the web for a replacement and I am finding the stator/igniter assemblies, but not just an igniter. Have any of you ever replaced just the igniter? Or are these 2 parts always replaced together, with the idea of they are electrical parts, so if one fails, the other is not usually far behind? My next question is what is anyone's experience with an aftermarket stator/igniter assembly? It looks like Ricky Stator has a good product, as well as I can remember that name from back in the 80's. Give me some input guys. Thanks!

15

Engine and Bottom End / Ignition Problem - Opinions on CDI boxes

« on: June 30, 2015, 12:31:03 PM »

Hurley250R- actually your suggestion was something I came across last year when this problem came up. Last year I pulled the stator cover and found not only corrosion but water inside the cover! So after a thorough cleaning, it got a new gasket with a little Honda-bond on it. But yes, I did pull the cover and flywheel again this time and no water or corrosion found.   OK, so last Friday night, I have the nephew's '87 running, so one piece at a time I take off of my '86 and put on the '87 and fire it up - CDI, coil, voltage regulator. All my stuff works fine on his machine. I then put it all back on mine and when I check for spark, I now have a nice thick blue spark! I don't get it? My '86 now fires and runs on the 2nd kick! Now, everyone reading this will probably think it was a bad connection at the parts because unplugging them and re-connecting them fixed it. But, I had those parts unhooked several times prior to Friday, as well as cleaning all the connector ends! This reminds me of the occasional problem I have at work with our testing equipment- every so often a computer will have a bunch of problems, so I disconnect it from the test equipment and take it to our IT dept. They of course find nothing wrong with it. So I take it back to the lab and reconnect it and it works fine. The IT guys say that "the computer just wanted to go for a walk". Must be my ignition parts just wanted the same thing! Thanks for the replies everyone.