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Anyone with experience with 1991 Honda Fourtrax TRX300FW??

M

moose eater

Sounds like some projects, 'hawk.

I'm currently getting a fair bit of satisfaction from fixing up my stuff in anticipation of my spine getting back into the game.

In that regard, the down-time is good.
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
moose eater said:
I'm perpetually outa' rep these days. ;^>)

Sorry to hear about your pop. The circle of life exempts none of us, but despite knowing that, it's harsh for the stragglers left behind.

I've looked at the machines here that I've taken great lengths to keep functional and reliable. Way off the beaten path in the bush is a poor place to find you missed something.

I've tried to sort out what should go to which of my children, or my wife. Who was involved in this sort of expedition with me, or that type of outing, while trying to be fair, also trying to make sure the estate gifting addresses a meaningful memory.

I've ice fished in the mountains with both sons, dip-netted salmon with all 3 kids, especially my daughter, who is a fish-clubbing maniac once she cuts loose. Frightened me a bit, in fact, when I stopped netting one day, years ago, and looked over to see her clubbing salmon in the rocks. Jesus!! She seemed to be ENJOYING it!! YIKES!!!! ;^>)

Boating in remote areas has been with my younger boy, and he's been a God-send when making up for my inabilities as my spine condition worsened over the last couple years, going out of his way to help set camp, taking over firewood duty, and much more.

All of those memories are precious, and will be expressed in individual gifts that may not equal each other in money/value, but will directly relate to stories and memories that matter.

I hope your Honda is the same..
Click to expand...


Thanks yes it was very unexpected. Every day is precious unfortunately it's something I didn't realise when I was younger. I'm thankful we got to spend a good few years working together at the end.
Aside from the sentimental value I just like these quads because they're good things. They get very little use these days so they'll last forever especially considering we have 6 quads in total. I've got a Kawasaki 300 4WD with a spray unit on the back as well that's our dedicated blackberry destroyer. :)
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
One thing I have done which might save you some money is wire in a plug on the back of the quad to the battery. We have a $10 5W Ebay solar panel for each bike on the roof of the shed. When we're done riding them we park them and plug them in to keep them charged. Before I did this we were replacing batteries every year and they aren't cheap. Since then I can't remember the last time I replaced one.
 
M

moose eater

I try to bring all of my batteries, whether for boats, 4-wheeler, snowmobiles, etc. either indoors, or trickle charge them regularly in place, during what ever season they're not being used.

Here, for the sno-gos, the solar option would be fine. They're mostly in the barn, and a small panel could feed a number of them. For a part of the summer, it's light most or all of the night.

Unfortunately, in the winter time, the 4-wheeler would likely go without if left to solar, as our shortest day is all of 3'40" of actual visible sun.

But I have a number of battery chargers here, including a tiny little tender that cranks out (I think) 1 amp, and was meant to be mounted on top of a fender well in a car or truck engine compartment.

We often mount such things with screws inside cargo compartments, etc.

Batteries have been costing me between $85 & $120 for decent stuff for the vehicles, either sealed acid, or acid glass, though not always priced according to quality or cold cranking amps.
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
Wow 3 and a half hours light? Yeah that's not going to work. I forget and think everyone has a climate like ours. Our shortest day of the year is 9 hours 22 mins. That was only a week ago actually
 
M

moose eater

As a younger person, when constant change was like a drug, and there are days when we're losing or gaining 7" of light per day, it was cool.

These days, with moderating weather, cooler summers, more rain, warmer winters (84" of snow in our 'Arctic Desert' climate in Fairbanks this last winter), etc., some of the extremes are gone, but some of the change is still cool.

We go from bare trees to green blossoms and buds on the trees in a 72-hour period. Presto change-o!!! ;^>)

That part will never get old.

The passing of June 21st, and the acknowledgement that this means shortening days, and winter around the corner, well, that doesn't bring the nonchalant or excited attitude it once did. More of a mildly depressed "Ahhhh, shiiiiit..." kind of a thing. ;^>)

But right now, even though we're past June 21, we're still light all night, and the garden outdoors is finally going ape-shit in the light, in spite of the late/slow start resulting from the very much cooler spring and early summer we're having this year..

I've considered getting around to viewing the Country you're from. Have made some friends from your neck of the woods, and seen some beautiful shots of the SW area, on the Coast. Nice stuff. Longer growing season, more temperate in some ways. Hotter than hell in some places, though.

Considered land outside Invercargill near the South tip of the South Island in New Zealand years ago; moderate weather, coast line nearby, seafood, fruit trees, foothills of the mountains, etc. And back then it was a buyer's market, our currency was strong (pre-Iraq invasion), and NZ immigration had invited my wife and I to take the next step. We never did.

I think my wife's content with that, but I look back and think about what might have been. Dreamers express or experience such things in different ways.
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
It's hard for me to imagine living with that although I have traveled. Our climate really is very mild year round even in the south. Our maximum temperatures range from about 10 degrees celcius to about 40 in summer. Our cold isn't really cold by world standards. We never have to deal with snow unless you live in an alpine area.
 
M

moose eater

That was what I noted about Invercargill area, as stated; foothills, fruit trees, considerably longer growing season, mountains in the background with snow caps, less extreme temps, less involvement in other nations' business, gentleman farms/'lifestyle estates' that at that time were very reasonably priced. And the older British-influenced architecture with the very tall walls, curving into the ceilings, and small glass panes around the tops of the walls for passive lighting. I dug it!!

But my wife is more stuck on our presence here than I have been recently, and despite green grasses calling to me in numerous places, to include past roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where my father's buried, and where I helped a Vietnam vet and his family farm when they took me in as a young man, here is where we'll likely stay.

Maybe venture down your way when the projects are finished, etc. Hit NZ on the same run, maybe.

So you really use your sprayer on your Honda to KILL blackberries? Or were you being facetious? Good blackberries are awesome. What we often get in the store, whether frozen or fresh, are more disappointment than not.

We've got plentiful raspberries on our property; both domestic and wild, as well as a cross in a giant arbor that produces them like nobody's business. I tell folks they're the tastiest, most aggressive weed I know of; constantly intruding into my potato field, put my Quinault strawberries on the run years ago, and took over that space, etc.

My wife makes a concentrate with them, pressed through cheese cloth, then simmered into the most tart, deep red liquid.

I use it in milkshakes, flavoring in frostings, drizzled on cheese cake, diluted into seltzer water, etc. but more enjoy heading outside when they're ripe, and eating them for snacks straight off the bush.

Currently up late boiling eggs for breakfast for a faster get-away in the early morning. Staples in my back come out tomorrow, a good drive away from home. Ready to stop feeling like I had surgery done at Office Max. ;^>)

My wife now calls me 'zipper man,' for the stainless staples running up my spine, and their visual appearance.
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
moose eater said:
That was what I noted about Invercargill area, as stated; foothills, fruit trees, considerably longer growing season, mountains in the background with snow caps, less extreme temps, less involvement in other nations' business, gentleman farms/'lifestyle estates' that at that time were very reasonably priced. And the older British-influenced architecture with the very tall walls, curving into the ceilings, and small glass panes around the tops of the walls for passive lighting. I dug it!!

But my wife is more stuck on our presence here than I have been recently, and despite green grasses calling to me in numerous places, to include past roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where my father's buried, and where I helped a Vietnam vet and his family farm when they took me in as a young man, here is where we'll likely stay.

Maybe venture down your way when the projects are finished, etc. Hit NZ on the same run, maybe.

So you really use your sprayer on your Honda to KILL blackberries? Or were you being facetious? Good blackberries are awesome. What we often get in the store, whether frozen or fresh, are more disappointment than not.

We've got plentiful raspberries on our property; both domestic and wild, as well as a cross in a giant arbor that produces them like nobody's business. I tell folks they're the tastiest, most aggressive weed I know of; constantly intruding into my potato field, put my Quinault strawberries on the run years ago, and took over that space, etc.

My wife makes a concentrate with them, pressed through cheese cloth, then simmered into the most tart, deep red liquid.

I use it in milkshakes, flavoring in frostings, drizzled on cheese cake, diluted into seltzer water, etc. but more enjoy heading outside when they're ripe, and eating them for snacks straight off the bush.

Currently up late boiling eggs for breakfast for a faster get-away in the early morning. Staples in my back come out tomorrow, a good drive away from home. Ready to stop feeling like I had surgery done at Office Max. ;^>)

My wife now calls me 'zipper man,' for the stainless staples running up my spine, and their visual appearance.
Click to expand...


Yes NZ is very nice too but I can understand wanting to stay where your roots are. I spent 14 weeks working in the states in 1998 and I really liked it. I think it would be easy for an Australian to move there and fit right in and vice versa. Very similar cultures.


Yes I really do kill blackberries. They are an absolute PITA here, they're everywhere. If you don't poison them they take over and they are hard to kill. Normal weed killer doesn't do much I have to use special expensive stuff.
I have plenty of patches near the river that haven't been poisoned which we pick to make jam which I love.



That will feel good to get the staples out. Hope you recover quickly.
 
M

moose eater

Thanks.

Sounds like raspberries and blackberries may be related. Both incognito, sent here to blend in as sweet berries, but really incorrigible, aggressive weeds. ;^>)

I'm off to the staple-pulling event!! Sounds kind of rodeo-ish, really.
 
M

moose eater

Fan motor from Ohio was a mirage; no such critter available there at the moment.

The greater promise in Oregon was shipped yesterday, $50 for the fan, and all of $16 freight and handling; $66 total. The way business ought to be, in my opinion.

Treat people fairly, and they will come back. Pry as much as you can get out of their pocket in one move, and while you may be successful, you may never see them again for any repeat business, and they'll likely talk about you for what and who you are.

Rep and karma matter.

So when the box gets here this next week, we'll see if my and the sender's vision and definitions come from the same books and abilities.

Meanwhile the older, troubled fan has been 'rebuilt,' to the extent of the outrageously shortened wires being extended some, and the outlet for them being well-sealed. At best it will be a spare, or a paper-weight, or a heavy sinker for fishing. ;^>)

Additional parts coming from Florida will be sealed in the deal on Monday, and here later next week, or over the following week-end or so. They include a warning buzzer switch that is obsolete, and otherwise not available ANYWHERE, so I was very fortunate to find a place that had multiple copies of it, all new. And one is on the way; the fan motor above is connected to that very switch, apparently closing the circuit to activate the fan motor when the oil temp light (and previously existent but no longer present buzzer?) are about to get 'lit.

And all was at least temporarily right in Oz again...

Crests and troughs, life's waves, up and down.

And my back/spine is staple-free again. I like paper-clips more and more..

"And so it goes..."
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
That's a good deal for $66. I wasn't aware there was supposed to be a warning buzzer. Either mine doesn't work or it's never got hot enough. Where is this buzzer located?
 
M

moose eater

No clue of where a buzzer is supposed to be. Don't know that I saw a separate buzzer drawn or labeled on any parts sheets.

It's possible that the enclosed and sealed buzzer/warning switch is something that was used on more than one model?

That I know of, this one, nor any of the others I've used, have ever made any noise in re. to anything, whether over-heating, or anything else. Thus my best guess expressed above.

But when I searched the part # for the switch/relay the fan is apparently wired into, per the diagrams, a number of parts descriptions referenced the 'warning buzzer switch' in their header.

Probably need to find a retired engineer from that vintage at Honda to get a definitive answer on it.

Or just chalk it up to the mysterious names parts acquire in the land of well-paid engineers, microfiche, and parts diagrams, where all the really obvious, applicable, or pertinent labels were already used, so they just got creative? ;^>)
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
It's strange. I wouldn't have thought a buzzer would be much use when the motor is running and you're wearing a helmet. I don't think I'll worry about it. It does have an oil temperature light I think but I've never seen that come on.
 
M

moose eater

Helmets??! What do they look like? ;^>)

The oil temp light ignites on this one if it sits idling with the fan non-functioning. Don't know if that's typical or not, as few I've ridden didn't have a functioning fan on them.

The fellow at the salvage yard in S. Carolina said he'd never seen one in his yard (hard to believe, frankly), and he's in warmer country for a longer period of the year than I a have.

As far as I can tell/guess, when the circuit closes, or half-closes on the Honda Fourtrax, it simply lights up the fan motor, and if it passes a second circuit, then it lights the oil temp light on the dash. That's my best guess.

Mixing up some newer and improved organic 'soilless' mix, for a final-final. Then we'll wet it shortly, let it sit until my next trip to town, and get a soil analysis to see if it indeed got dialed in finally.

It will be marvelous if the pointers and advice of a very kind and helpful person here sprouts the specific levels of all things amendment in ways predicted.

Anyway, back to work.

The Honda parts thus far ordered, should all be here this week, though the synching of the deal tomorrow may not bear fruit until Friday or so.
 
M

moose eater

All previously referenced parts are en route now.

OEM source in Michigan had apparently misspoken; coil-over shocks and struts for this critter are 'no longer available.' Something I don't buy used, short of a dire emergency.

So I'm trying to work some more magic via after-market searches, maybe even name-brand after-market with adjustable tension, to make this thing more ready to haul serious meat and fish loads.

The trail of keeping old, tried and proven things alive and functional continues.

"It's not as job, it's an adventure."
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
moose eater said:
Helmets??! What do they look like? ;^>)

The oil temp light ignites on this one if it sits idling with the fan non-functioning. Don't know if that's typical or not, as few I've ridden didn't have a functioning fan on them.

The fellow at the salvage yard in S. Carolina said he'd never seen one in his yard (hard to believe, frankly), and he's in warmer country for a longer period of the year than I a have.

As far as I can tell/guess, when the circuit closes, or half-closes on the Honda Fourtrax, it simply lights up the fan motor, and if it passes a second circuit, then it lights the oil temp light on the dash. That's my best guess.

Mixing up some newer and improved organic 'soilless' mix, for a final-final. Then we'll wet it shortly, let it sit until my next trip to town, and get a soil analysis to see if it indeed got dialed in finally.

It will be marvelous if the pointers and advice of a very kind and helpful person here sprouts the specific levels of all things amendment in ways predicted.

Anyway, back to work.

The Honda parts thus far ordered, should all be here this week, though the synching of the deal tomorrow may not bear fruit until Friday or so.
Click to expand...


Haha I never wear a helmet either but there are labels all over the thing telling you to wear one. If that's the case it seems pointless to me to install a buzzer unless it's very loud.


the explanation about how the warning system works sounds right to me I just haven't ever seen the light come on. I'm going to have to check mine now you've got me intrigued. :)
 
M

moose eater

In between my other tasks today, I found ONE coil spring for the rear shock, at a Nat'l distributor, who had ONE of them, made by High Lifter. HL makes some decent parts, but I'll have to call them directly, tomorrow, skipping the distributor, and see what they have on hand for the various suspension parts. The search engine at their site was not agreeing with my connection AT ALL.

If that falls through, someone else thought they might get a set of front coil-over shocks (aftermarket), complete, for a TRX400 (from the same year as mine) to work, but I think they're deluding themselves.. I could/would be happily wrong, but I don't think so.

That leaves ebay, and I looked at a couple of sets of rusty coil-overs there today off 1988 TRX300 models, and a set off a 1992 TRX300 model. All potentially applicable to my machine. The appearance of none of them impressed me. Someone else's trash, and at high dollar, too.

A final solution where the shocks are concerned would be, in absence of any suitable fix of a new equipment variety, to take a number of extra bushings the size of the shock tubes, and stack them between the coil springs and the retainer platform, boosting the springs a bit, and increasing the tension. It'd work, but wouldn't fix any weakened seals inside the shocks themselves.

Not the best fix, but 'best fixes' don't seem to be falling off the trees at the moment.

There's also a place in Los anchorage that make custom coils, or used to be years ago, anyway. If I can send them the original specs, to include diameter, tension, length, etc., they MIGHT be able to just cut me a proper coil, and use the shock tubes I have until they completely disintegrate.

Bottom line; not bringing home any more white elephant projects, or wounded puppies.. unless they're really cute... and well behaved. ;^>)

Too much hassle, even when I can put these things together fairly inexpensively, as has been the case thus far. Just too much scouting involved, and too many dead-ends. Getting too old for that amount of frustration.
 
insomniac_AU

insomniac_AU

Active member
As far as I'm aware the frame and front suspension changed around 1993. I think the shocks are about the same length but the later one has wider bushings. Maybe you could get someone to measure this to confirm. If that's the case perhaps you could cut the bushes on the later model shocks?
I don't think the rear ever changed much so any model TRX300 rear shock would probably work. How much are you thinking of lifting it? I'd just be a bit concerned what effect it would have on front suspension geometry and rear universal life if it has to drive at more of an angle.
 
M

moose eater

No real lift above the original height. Just enough to make the camber and caster correct on the front end.

I believe the springs have sagged enough on the front that the springs are responsible for the additional span between the bottoms of the two front tires, where they're wider at the bottom than at the top, between the 2.

In the rear, I assume the sag is similar, and while I don't want to actually lift it much above stock, I'd like to have it be so that when I lay 100-130 lbs. of moose meat on the front rack, and similar weight on the rear rack, with another +/- 400 lbs. in a meat trailer, the thing isn't sitting squat on the ground for it.

That'd be an average load for a successful moose hunt, though in absence of a trailer, we'd simply load that same weight as referenced on the front and rear racks, but several times/trips.

Fishing would involve coolers full of either gear or fish, potentially weighing over 80 lbs. per rack, though mostly on the front rack for gear going in, as there's a steep hill on the way into the canyon, going uphill at that point, and I try to keep weight forward for climbing that bugger.
 
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