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Adventure Quad

5K views 34 replies 11 participants last post by  mikesova 
#1 ·
My truck was slow to sell, so I traded it for a 2003 Honda TRX400EX.



It's pretty clean, but I'm going to get it tip top this winter for my wife to ride in the spring. I think it will be more fun for her locally than her TTR, since the Gladwin ORV trails are basically sand traps.

The suspension is kind of squeaky, so I think I need to grease the suspension. I'll change the oil, air filter, lube the chain, etc.


I'm adding some hand guards and replacing the bushings holding the seat down that were missing.

It was missing one of the bolts that held the spark arrestor in place, so I started removing the other two and broke one off, turns out that was the problem with the one that was missing. So, I'll have to drill those out and probably re-tap the hole.

Anything else I should do while I'm playing in the garage?
 
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#4 ·
Nice! I love quads.

In my Hondas I changed fluids (oil & diff), plugs, and cleaned carbs out. I prefer the iridium plugs. Really no different than bikes.

Im a fan of Uni air filters.

Make sure to use oil suited for wet clutches.

Gladwin is a fun trail system on a quad.
 
#5 ·
I ordered a few factory fasteners on cheapcycleparts yesterday, so I just tacked on a Moose Racing air filter... I don't have a differential, so yup, it's pretty much like a bike.

Pat, if you'd like to go for a ride this coming year, I'd be all over it. Let me know.
 
#6 ·
Couldn't leave it alone, the other two muffler bolts have been drilled out and re-tapped. Ready for new bolts.
 
#10 ·
I thought there was no point in having a bike over 250CC?
Did I say that?

I ended up wanting more, not necessarily more power, but just more possibilities. I wanted to be able to carry more things with me and there wasn't really a good setup for any of the smaller bikes. For the FZ6 I was able to get a whole givi setup. I wanted fuel injection. I wanted a slightly (physically) larger bike for more comfort. I'm a bigger guy and with the bigger engine bike, I'm not getting that much worse MPG vs. the 250.

The FZ6 has way more power than I will ever need, if Yamaha made a smaller engine FZ, say an FZ4.5, I probably would have considered it, but in America they don't really make anything in between. :thumb:
 
#11 ·
Yep well said. No real middle weight bikes here anymore. We have an 07 for my wife and it hauls me around just fine just not much leg room for a big/tall guy. But we both like the upright seating.



Digitized from my thumbs to your screen with the help of my Droid X and tapatalk 2
 
#12 ·
I love the thing. The things that really sold me were the 26,000 mile valve checks, fuel injection, and the center stand.
 
#13 ·
So, the quad's start button was missing when I got it. It just had the square plastic pin sticking out. So I pulled the "escape" key off of a junk keyboard and with a little modifying, I glued it on there. It's drying now. Hopefully it will stay put.

 
#14 ·
Snow Day!

So far today I lubed up the a-arms to get rid of the squeak,



Repainted the exhaust, there were some spots that the paint had come off,



and re-purposed a waterproof box for a tool/stuff holder since the factory toolbox was removed before I got it,



.

I kind of want to take it out in the snow, but I'm pretty sure I'd just end up tearing up my yard.
 
#19 ·
#22 ·
Nice. I really like the sturdiness of those grips. However, my buddy has acerbis hand guards and I think they are way too flimsy compared to these tusk guards for like 2 or 3x the cost. I've been down on them countless time on the KLX and have never come close to bending them.

Quick question to everybody, I would like to use this a little bit in the snow/ice, would tire chains be worthwhile or should the knobbies do ok on their own? I know it's not going to do deep snow.
 
#29 ·
I had a couple boxes waiting on my step when I got home today. :)

I bought a used stock 450r bumper. It seems to be of nicer quality than the 400ex bumper. I pulled the old air filter out and replaced it with the moose racing one I had ordered. It looks to be pretty much the same as the stock one. The last time I tried to clean a factory honda air filter, it fell apart in my hands, which is why I replaced it. I also installed the seat bushings that make it fit a lot tighter and better.



 
#30 ·
I took this out in the yard today and man is it fun. I can't wait until the lakes freeze. :)
 
#31 · (Edited)
So, the other night, my wife was asking me about taking the MSF test this spring. Needless to say, I signed us up for a weekend class in May and I'm interested in selling/trading the 400ex. The thing is ready to go. The oil is changed, the air filter is new, the chain is lubed, it's clean from top to bottom, brand new hand guards, etc.. I'd put the value of the quad around 2600$. I'd be interested in trading for a TW200, XT225, XT250, DR200SE, CRF230L or M. Equal value trade or cash could be added with the bike.









I'm kind of bummed to get rid of it, I haven't even gotten much of a chance to use it, but the idea of my wife and I being able to do some street legal back road adventures is just too awesome.
 
#32 ·
Ok, 2 weekends ago, I took the quad down to my parents house where there is quite a bit of property to play around on. We had a few inches of snow. It was a freaking blast.

I tried to go out in my yard a little bit ago with about 10 + inches of snow. I wasn't going anywhere. So, as long as you don't have snow touching the rear skidplate, you're golden. ;)
 
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