Lining a Fuel Tank with Kreem Tank Liner

Kreem tank liner kit

Kreem tank liner kit

This is sort of a combo how to and product review. I will admit that my review is a little biased because I have been using this product for over 20 years and have always been satisfied with the results. I wont repeat the instructions word for word but I will give you a few tips to help you get better results. First empty your tank and remove the petcock and filler cap if it is bolted to the tank.

Remove the Kawasaki locking fuel cap

Remove the Ninja’s locking fuel cap

The next step is critical to getting good results especially if working with the tank from a 2 stroke engine. You must completely degrease the inside of the tank with a good industrial degreaser. Do not use dish liquid because it often contains oils to protect skin. Be prepared to wash it more than twice if needed to get the oil out.

Wash & degrease tank thougoughly

Wash & degrease tank thoroughly

Now open up the kit and get out the bottle labeled “A” wash & cleaner. Use duct tape or a blocking plate to block all of the holes in the bottom of your tank. I like to use a piece of metalized tape first and then cover it with duct tape.

Kreem Kit Part A

Kreem Kit Part A Use proper precautions for mild acid.

The instructions say to use warm water and I agree it does help the acid work much faster. Please note the standard kit shown here is for smaller tanks. Normally for a 5 gallon tank like this I would buy the larger size, but I had some left over from a previously restored tank, that I added in after using this up according to the instructions. The cleaner part A can be saved and re-used a time or two.

Warm water is reccomended to mix with cleaner

Warm water is recommended to mix with cleaner

After the tank is full seal off the top and let it sit for at least the minimum time given in the instructions. Since this was an old tank with some rust inside I let it sit overnight. At this stage some people will put in rocks or nuts & bolts and shake the tank to help remove thick rust. If you need to do this I recommend that you use steel nuts & bolts so that you can retrieve them easily with a magnet. Some fuel tank designs make it difficult to remove rocks after you are finished cleaning out the rust.

Next remove all tape from the openings rinse the tank well until the water comes out clean. and then thoroughly dry the tank on the inside. Since I had plenty of time I placed the tank in a hot sunny location to air dry. In the winter time or if you are in a hurry use a hair dryer or a hot air gun to speed up the process.

<ninja fuel tank drying in the sun>

fuel tank drying in the sun

I do need to warn you about one thing if you are trying to fix a tank with a nice paint job or if you are coating a new tank as a preventative measure you want to be very careful with this stuff, especially in the next two steps.

Seal up all the holes again and get out part “B” the conditioner. This bottle contains MEK which can remove paint faster than tequila removes panties. If you have a nice paint job & spill this on it, you wont have a nice paint job anymore, so be careful. I am re-painting this tank so I don’t really care if I spill some. After sealing the tank back up shake all around the inside of the tank & the carefully drain it out protecting your paint as needed.

Kreem Part B final rinse

This is highly flammable & can destroy paint so be careful.

Since the petcock on this one bolts into place before going to the next step I put two screws in the bolt holes to keep the threads clear. To me this is just much easier than cleaning out the holes afterward.

petcock screw holes

I like to put bolts in these holes to keep them clear

Now you are ready for the bottle of fuel tank liner. All the same warnings about paint damage apply to this bottle as well.

Kreem Part C liner

Kreem Part C liner

Here is a shot of how I use the metal tape first & then cover it with duct tape to seal the openings in the tank. It works well for me, but I make no garuntee that it will work this well for everyone.

<handymans best friend>

Red Green is absolutely right about this stuff! (Duct tape that is)

Then pour in the whole bottle of liner, and then seal up the filler hole as I did in the next picture.

pour in Kreem Tank Liner

pour in Kreem Tank Liner

then seal up the filler hole

then seal up the filler hole with duct tape

Then spend the next 30 minutes or so slowly rotating the tank end over end and sideways until you are 100% certain that the entire inside of the tank has been covered with sealant. Next (and this is very important) open the tank back up and drain the excess sealant back into its original bottle. Do not leave it in the tank as it will greatly increase drying time. If too thick it may skin over on the top and take nearly forever to dry all the way through, causing you to have problems later. I usually save the excess to use on the next project. I am usually able to do a lawnmower tank or two with the leftovers.

Like I said if you follow the instructions in the kit and the hints that I gave here you should be able to tackle this job yourself at home. Just give yourself a couple of days if your tank is rusty, and be sure you drain the excess sealant out of the tank and give it time to dry really well. This stuff aint cheap at approximately $50 a pop (November 2012 price) so you want it to work right the first time. I have used other tank sealers with varying degrees of success, but I always come back to the original Kreem brand. Plus it is usually in stock on the shelves in most motorcycle dealerships. Besides have you priced a new gas tank lately? It’ll give you a coronary!

Peace Y’all

Factory Punch Marks Another Random Tech Tip

This tech tip is for all of the people who are just starting to wrench on their own motorcycles, although I have met a few old timers who may not know it. All of the big four makers do this on most of their machines. I don’t know about HD or the current European brands but all of the top Japanese motorcycle companies do it. They put punch marks on the various components that mount to shafts with splines. Shift lever, decompression levers, drum brake levers etc. almost always have punch marks indicating the correct  alignment of the part to the shaft. Here is an example below from a Honda drum brake.

So now you know one more thing to look for when you start to tear into your own machine, and should your atv or motorcycle not have punch marks like this you can always add them before taking it apart if you need to. After all anything that makes it easier to reassemble your parts and get your machine running in top form is a great thing.

Dirtbike Carb 101 Part 3 Lets Put It Back Together!

If you are just joining this class and would like to read lesson 1 it can be found here.

Here is an exploded view of the carburetor with all of the key parts labeled. Everything has been cleaned or replaced and is now ready to be re-assembled!

motorcycle carb exploded view
The red lines indicate which hole the various parts go in.

The first thing you want to do when you pull the carburetor body out of the parts washer is to take a compressed air gun or a can of spray carb cleaner and blow out all of the  holes and passages in carburetor body. In general if you spray cleaner into any port on the body it should come out somewhere else. This is to get all of the passages completely clear. Do wear some eye protection while you are doing this.

motorcycle dirtbike mixture screw, main jet & idle jet
mixture screw, main jet & idle jet

In this picture I have already re-installed the needle jet, main jet holder & jet, and the idle or slow jet as some like to call it. The mixture adjustment screw is leaning up against the carb so you can see how the spring, washer, and o-ring fit over it in that order. This screw goes into the large hole on the right side of this picture. To install it pick up the carb with one hand, and hold it upright, with your other hand take the assembled mixture screw components and place them up into the hole and turn the screw until it has engaged the threads and will stay in. Return it to the workbench and turn the screw all the way in until it just touches the bottom. Do not tighten it! Do you remember how many turns you have to back it out to reach it’s original position that it was in before you removed it? I told you to write it down in lesson 2. If not check your service manual for the initial starting position, and be prepared to tweak it a little til you get a smooth transition from idle to accelerating.

Now it is time to re-install the float. There is usually a small wire retainer over the float valve that slides over a matching tab between the floats. Holding it together place the float valve into the brass ringed hole shown on the left side of the picture above. Then you should be able to slide the retainer pin in from one side to hold it into place, like this.

Honda xr 100 carb floats installed
carburetor floats installed

 

Don’t forget to put the little plastic shroud back on in the same way it came off.

Normally I wish vile and unspeakable torture on people whom make the mistake of using any type of gasket sealers on any type of fuel system assembly, but there is always an exception to every rule. In this case the fit of the float bowl o-ring into its groove on the float bowl was just not good enough to hold it into place so I applied a very thin film of  a gasoline resistant, Permatex product. A small amount of Permatex 1 or similar product. Use just barely enough to hold the gasket in place. After all you don’t want it squeezing out and stopping up your nice clean carburetor do you?

dirt bike carb float bowl gasket
carburetor float bowl gasket

Of course if the gasket will stay in place by itself long enough to get the float bowl screwed back into place I never put any kind of adhesive on it. but sometimes life just doesn’t work that way.

Once you have the float bowl back on it’s time to reassemble the slide. If you are replacing the needle  aka the metering rod, be sure you put the tiny little e clip on it in the same groove that the original one was in on the old needle. Push the needle in through the hole in the center and instal the retainer as shown.

metering rod & slide
metering rod & slide
retainer clip and needle nose pliers
retainer clip and needle nose pliers

 

This picture shows the retainer installed in the slide, exact positioning is not important just be sure you don’t block the slot on the side that the throttle cable goes through.

motorcycle metering rod retainer installed
motorcycle jet needle (metering rod) retainer installed

 

Now go bolt the carburetor back to the engine (remove the plug from the intake first if you used one), hook up the air cleaner hoses, new gas filter etc. This is the time to be sure the air filter is clean also.

Now back to the slide it only fits into the carb one way so if it does not smoothly slide all the way to the bottom something is wrong. This shot shows how the slide has a notch for the idle speed adjustment screw.

Honda xr 100 carb slide and spring
xr100 carburetor slide and spring

Now reverse the steps from lesson one to reinstall the slide to the end of the throttle cable under the top of the carburetor and then slide it into place and tighten the cap down by hand. Guess what? It is time to re-connect the gas tank and fill it with fresh fuel. I consider installing a new fuel filter mandatory and so should you.

motorcycle fuel filter
motorcycle fuel filter on Honda XR

 

Once you have the engine up and running you may need to set the idle speed using the idle speed screw as indicated here.

dirtbike idle speed adjustment
XR100 idle speed adjustment screw

Let the engine warm up thoroughly for a few minutes before making any final adjustments to either the idle speed screw or the pilot mixture screw. If you need to adjust anything make changes in very small increments.

Now go have some fun!

Dirtbike Carburetor 101 Part Two!

Welcome back everyone,

At the end of the last class we ended with the carb sitting on the bench and the intake port in the head plugged to keep out dirt & small critters. Now let’s pull off the vent hoses and turn it upside down on the bench like this.

Take note of the pilot mixture adjustment screw that I have labeled here for you. I will be giving you a tip about it later in the lesson so be ready to refer back to this picture if you need to. Please remember these are not in the same place on all carburetors. I have seen them on the top and on the side depending upon the make and model. Some late model machines have them hidden under aluminum caps to keep you from tampering with them, but if you have a real problem you can remove the caps to repair it. Just be sure to replace them especially if you have to pass emissions inspections in your state. As usual I recommend you consult your handy dandy service manual for your motorcycle just to be on the safe side, because some carbs have more than one aluminum plug and you don’t want to remove the wrong one. Trust me I know….

Of course this bike has none of those annoying issues so let’s go ahead and take the screws out of the float bowl and look inside.

EWWW!

Now I am a fairly environmentally conscious guy, I grow organic veggies, the shop that I work in is powered by solar electricity, drive reasonably efficient vehicles etc. but you will never convince me in a million years that today’s gasoline is good for the environment. Once the lead was removed there really was not that much left to improve. There is no way  fuel that will rapidly break down into this toxic and corrosive sludge as fast as the fuel made in this day and time, can possibly be good for the environment. Just think of what it is doing to your vehicles as they sit in the driveway right now.

Let me get out of rant mode and get on with the lesson; here’s a shot of it with the float removed. You should be able to push the pin out to one side with a small punch and lift the float and float needle (float valve) out of the bottom of the carb.

So when someone tells you the float is sticking this is what they are talking about. Sticking floats are usually caused by either a piece of trash getting under the point of the float valve, or if the motor has been sitting by gasoline evaporating, and gluing it into place with a coat of gunk like you see here.

In this next shot I have removed the jets and the mixture adjustment screw. Even if you have a service manual handy, before removing the mixture screw, turn it all the way in slowly and count how many turns it takes to go all the way in. Write the number down somewhere, and then remove the screw along with the spring the washer and the o-ring that are in the hole under it.

You’ll probably have to dig for the o-ring using a piece of wire or a small pick like I did above.

At this point all of the metal parts are ready for a good long soak in the parts washer or carburetor cleaner until tomorrow. In fact the longer the better. Gather up some supplies.

If you have an air compressor and a parts washer you may not need the spray carb cleaner. If you don’t have a compressor it is mandatory even with a parts washer or a dip bucket of carburetor cleaner. For this bike I did pick up a carburetor overhaul kit. If your o-rings are all still in good shape and you can get all of your jets spotless you may not need it, but it is often difficult to clean the idle jet good enough to work again even with all of the right tools. If it’s my own bike, and I am broke that week, I might chance it, cause hey it’s part of the price I pay for this hobby. If it is your bike, you are getting new parts, because if it does not work, then I would be working on it for free and that would just piss me off. You would probably be upset at me too.

Here’s a teaser shot of everything laid out on the bench after cleaning, be sure to come back for the next lesson!

exploded view!

Click here to continue this lesson!

Dirt Bike Carburetor 101 Part 1 (how to clean a single cylinder motorcycle or atv carb)

Hello everyone and welcome to this multi-part lesson on the basics of carburetor  cleaning for single cylinder motorcycles. The cadaver we will be resuscitating in this lab is an 02 Honda XR100.

“barn fresh” xr100

Believe it or not this bike would still run with the choke on even with the dead gas and clogged jets, gotta love a Honda! This will be a general step by step guide to repairing carbs, so I will not be giving you the actual specifications as they vary so much from year to year on some bikes. As I’ve said before you need to obtain the specific information for your exact bike from a reputable source like say a service manual. For this first post let me show you how to remove the carburetor from this bike.

First let me say that it is possible to pull the carb from an XR100 without removing the bodywork, but A; you need to clean or replace the air filter and B; if it’s been sitting long enough to need the carburetor cleaned you need dispose of any fuel in the tank and clean it out before re-starting the bike after you finish the carb.

Now take off the side covers. This picture shows the location of the air filter cover on the XR100

Next look under the rear fender and remove the 2 nuts holding the seat on. Then pull it up and rearward to remove it.

I like to put the nuts and any spacers back on the studs like this so they will not get lost. In fact whenever possible I do this for all nuts and bolts as it keeps them from disappearing.

Now go the the fuel switch, valve or petcock, whichever terminology you use for it and turn off the flow of gas to the carburetor and disconnect the fuel line. Be prepared to cut it off with a knife and replace it if necessary.

Remove the rubber strap that holds down on the rear of the fuel tank and the two bolts at the front of the tank.

It is not required that you remove the shrouds like I did for this photo, I simply removed them so that I could show you the location of the bolts at the front of the gas tank.

After setting the gas tank aside in a safe location it is time to disconnect the throttle cable. On some models it attaches to an arm on the side of the carb but on simpler ones like this it is attached directly to the carb slide. Unscrew the cap as indicated by the screwdriver and pull the slide out.

This next shot is a little fuzzy but it indicates how the throttle cable is retained in the slide, and the following picture shows the slot in the side of the slide that allows you to remove it from the cable.

Now all you have to do is to compress the spring and push the end of the cable out of its hole, past the end of the slide, pull it out through the slot and then through the big hole at the top.

Here’s the removed and disassembled slide, jet needle, and return spring laid out for you to see.

Loosen the clamp holding the rubber hose from the air box to the carb and then remove the bolts attaching it to the engine and pull it out.

Yes I’m using the obstruction wrenches again. Two tools that I feel are must haves for any serious cycle mechanic are obstruction wrenches of decent quality and some extra long screwdrivers of the finest quality money can buy (i.e. Snap On etc.) Inexpensive wrenches are often okay but cheap screwdrivers will drive you bleeping crazy, by stripping out the soft metal heads on Japanese motorcycle screws.

Here’s a shot of the carburetor on the workbench. I like to use the red toolbox tray shown to help me organize the parts as I disassemble the carb, and to keep the parts from disappearing into the wormhole that exists behind my workbench. No part that falls back there is ever seen again, so I try to keep them from rolling of of the back edge. No dear reader I am not going to move the bench to look for them either. In my shop I coexist peacefully with all matter of snakes and spiders both harmless and venomous, and that is their territory and I stay out of it.

Don’t’ forget to protect the engine by plugging the intake hole while the carburetor is off.

I’ll show you the rest later, don’t forget to bookmark this page or to sign up for the email notification of updates on the right side of this page. Click here for part two!

Peace Y’all

Seriously Y’all, Replace Those Cotter Pins

ATV wheel with brand new cotter pin

 

The slightly dark picture above shows an ATV that I recently re-installed the hub on. With a new cotter pin in the castle nut. Do yourself a big favor, and no matter what never ever re-use a cotter pin on any thing. Whether is a motorcycle, ATV, automobile, or any other application. They are there to prevent the sudden disastrous failure that could result from a nut coming loose on a critical component. If you really must perform an emergency road or trail side repair and re-use one to get home do not forget to change it ASAP before using the vehicle again. Isn’t your ass worth the small amount of pocket change these things cost?

Yes I practice what I preach, here is the cotter pin assortment that I keep on hand, a couple of sizes need refilling but that’s okay the piece of mind is worth it.

 

Motorcycling and ATV riding is risky business anyway, but if you insist on having a gnarly bone grinding crash, at least let it be because you were doing something stupid and fun, and not that the wheel fell of because you were too cheap to replace a 39 cent cotter pin.

Peace Y’all
‘Psyco

Let’s Split! (engine cases that is.)

Hello once again Ladies, Gentlemen and Russell,
When last I posted the engine was sitting on the bench with the top end and most of it’s accessories removed. The next thing I did was to remove one of the piston pin circlips and push the pin out far enough to remove the piston from the connecting rod.

If you don’t have an impact wrench available you should probably remove the alternator rotor before removing the top end. This is one job that really does require the factory special rotor puller. Fortunately they are not expensive and like the service manual worth every penny.

To remove the camshaft and timing chain first remove the camshaft bearing retainer and rotate the engine until the crankshaft is at top dead center and the timing marks on the cam sprocket and the crankcase line up. Now you can slide the camshaft out while working the cam chain off of the crankshaft. For the picture below I stuck the camshaft bearing retainer back into place after removing the camshaft so you could see how it fits.

Now it’s time to split the cases first remove all of the bolts and gently tap on the small projection around the cases and they should begin to come apart. If they do not easily come apart double to be sure that you have not missed any bolts like the one in this picture, that is inside of the engine where you might miss it.

With a TRX250 Recon engine I like to place it front side down on a workbench that allows me to place the protruding shafts through the bench so that it sits level. Then gently lift up on the rear case while tapping down on the transmission output shaft until it pops free. If you need to pry on the case to move it remember that you should never pry on any of the gasket sealing surfaces or around the cylinder hole. The outside of the engine mounting lugs is okay and there is on small place in between the lifter holes that can be used.
Just remember that if it requires any kind of force to remove something may be wrong and you should re-check everything before proceeding.

Here’s another shot of the transmission innards.

As you pull the pieces out of the transmission and lay them out on the bench like this be sure that you keep track of every single piece, all the washers bearings etc. and where they go in the assembly. I like to re-assemble them all back to their respective shafts as fast as possible. Keeping these parts in order is critical because just 1 misplaced or omitted washer can destroy the transmission and maybe the engine itself.

Here’s a picture of the failed gear so far I have only found one of the lugs that snapped off of it. The others probably drained out with the oil.

One last shot of the nearly empty crankcase, only the crankshaft and bearings remain.

Now I have to clean everything up good and order the required parts so it may be a week or two before you see this engine again.
If you really want to keep up with how this is going please be sure to subscribe to this page via the link on the upper right side of the page.
Peace Y’all

Recon 250 Into the Engine!

At the end of my last post about this the engine was sitting on the bench, so let’s pull it apart now. Start with the external accessories such as the starter motor, rope starter, etc.

On a full tear down like this I prefer to remove the clutches from the engine before removing the cylinder and head. That way there’s not any damage to the connecting rod or piston should I accidentally spin the crankshaft around too fast.

Of course the best way to remove the clutch nuts is with an impact wrench, but if you do not have one wedge something good and solid in the clutch gears to hold it still, and don’t forget the centrifugal clutch nut is reverse threaded.

You’ll need a steering wheel puller to get the centrifugal clutch out. It’s possible you could get lucky and break it loose with a rubber hammer, but I doubt it. Don’t try it because you can damage either the clutch, the crankshaft or both by hammering on the clutch.

Now you can see the timing and oil pump drive chain, along with the shifter meachnism in the front of the shifter drum.

After pulling all the little parts off the front making sure to not exactly where all of the thrust washers go, it’s now time to move up top and unbolt the rocker box.

Now set the pushrods off to one side and unbolt the head an pull it straight up to remove and then do the same thing with the cylinder

Here you can see me using the magnet to remove the lifters from their holes.

Next I popped the rear cover off after unbolting it. The magnets in the alternator will make it feel like it is sticking together so be careful.

In these lat 2 pics for the day you can see the alternator parts, the stator is in the top one and the rotor is in the bottom picture. Next time we’ll split the cases!


Peace Y’all

Honda Recon 250 pg.2

The next order of business is to dis-connect the negative cable from the battery as shown here.

Remember any time you are working with any vehicle with a negative ground system (which is practically everything) always dis-connect the negative battery cable first and re-connect it last when you are working on the electrics.
The next 2 pics will show how I use the door panel tool to remove the plastic retainers from the bodywork. First you wedge up the sliding pin in the center enough to get the forks of the tool started under it.

Afterwards you can slide the tool into place as shown and pull the clip right out.
Of course you can just use a couple of screwdrivers or a pair of wire cutters to remove the clips. Don’t forget to look for clips or screws in hidden places like this.

To get the fuel tank out you first need to remove the handle for the fuel switch.

Once you have the tank out be sure to note the position of the various vent hoses and take note of the routing. If you pinch them closed during re-assembly your four wheeler may not run correctly, or may stall going up hill.

Once all the plastic is off it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. Now remove the foot pegs. This will save you lots of needless foul language and bleeding. Plus on some models you can’t get the engine out with them in the way.

Remove the foot brake and shifter after you get the pegs off and then drain the oil so it won’t be sloshing out all over the place when you lift the engine. It’ll take some weight off too.

Do take a little time now to put some penetrating oil on all of the exhaust system nuts and bolt that you can reach and let them soak a few minutes.

Then remove the plastic covers from the sides of the engine and the muffler & header as well. While I was doing this the head of one of the screws stripped out so I got out my extractor set to remove it. Normally I am a fan of inexpensive tools especially for the hobbyist but there are 2 things that I recommend that you buy the absolute best in the world even if you have to save up for it. The first is a good set of screw extractors and the other is a Phillips screwdriver set.

85% of the time I don’t even have to use the extractor because the left handed drill bit will walk the broken screw right out.
Back to our engine now it’s time to remove the carburetor and then unhook all of the other cables going into the engine. Leave the throttle and choke cables attached to the carburetor unless you plan to remove it to work on it also,

Be sure to loosen the clamps over the drive shaft boot!
The last item to get to is the reverse lock out cable located at the bottom rear of the engine under this little metal cover.

Now unbolt the 2 motor mounts on either side, carefully remove the spacers and slide the engine forward and tilt it as need to make the frame look like this.

Finally here’s a shot of the engine sitting on the workbench waiting to be completely disassembled… starting tomorrow.
Peace Y’all

Honda Recon 250 Tear Down pg.1

Hey Everybody welcome back!
I am going to step away from the pedal powered world for a little bit and start posting a few things to help you out with the care & feeding of your ATVs & motorcycles as the mood strikes me (and as people bring me guinea pigs to feature) Yes, I reserve the right to write about anything I please but this new category for repair and maintenance will be a continuing work.
The first patient will be this 2005 Honda Recon 250. Recons are my favorite ATV. They are big enough to do a little work, but small enough to fit down a tight trail. Plus they are tough, reliable, and simple.

It doesn’t look all that bad but has had a lot basic service work deferred until now. 5th gear is stripped out. Since the transmission is inside the engine that means a complete engine overhaul is needed to fix it. I have decided to document the process here on my blog for you. This will not be a complete step by step but I give you a lot of useful information that will be helpful for simpler regular maintenance chores.
Since none of the brakes were operational at all the first order of business was to adjust the rear brake cable adjusters shown here.
Neither the owner of this atv or his 16 year old son whom is the main rider were aware that as the rear brake shoes wear down you can adjust the wing nuts shown in the picture to maintain brake operation until the shoes are fully worn. Instead they just rode it without any brakes at all. Not cool…
If you have to do any kind of major work on any powersport vehicle you should have a lift table or some safe means of raising it up high enough to save your back while working on it. Not having a lift table I use my engine hoist to pick it up and set it on stacked 6 x 4 timbers to place it at a comfortable working height.

Once it was up and secure with the parking brake locked. I set up a clean table and laid out a few basic tools that will handle most of the work and took some pics for you.

Here you see some Motion Pro tee handle wrenches, a couple of screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches, WD40, and a door panel removal tool.
Okay the door panel tool is optional but it works really well to get the plastic bodywork retainers off of a Honda ATV.
Two other recommended tools are a parts washer and a telescoping magnetic pick up tool. No explanation needed for these two I hope.

There is one more tool that you should have if you are contemplating any kind of service work on any type of motorcycle or ATV, a good service manual, preferably a factory one if you can afford it. If I did not already own one for this model of four wheeler I’d be buying one. Regardless of what anyone tells you a good service manual is absolutely essential to performing any major service to any motorcycle or ATV.
Tomorrow we’ll start removing the body work and gas tank in preparation to remove the engine.
Peace Y’all