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