87 rebuild Q's

[counterpart]

Hello all. New here. We have an 87 warrior that is my step moms and im going to rebuild it for her because im bored. Its pretty beat but has potential. I was planning on just stripping it to bare frame and painting and cleaning and whatnot but dont know for sure. (This is going to be a long post BTW) I took about 50+ pics today because the quad is still in the trailer and i wanted to get a better idea of what im working with.

First off the thing runs pretty shitty. When starting it just makes all kinds of loud noises(Sounds like starter or gears that go to it) but it does usually start fairly easily. After its started it takes a while to warm up which is expected. But once you get going it does fine at low throttle but once you really try to get on it, it just wants to fall off and usually does... What could this be? Jetting?

Next... The clutch pull is horrible.. could this be mostly cable or do you think its most likely the clutch itself?

Also.. ive seen people put on the Raptor 250 shifter... is that because the warriors is just so aqward? I kinda got that feeling after ridingg it. Does it come out more and farther away from the pull starter/ whatever is on the newer models?

After looking at pics, the pipe is pretty beat and the muffler actually has like holes in it.. and the rest of the pipe is like rusted or corroded or something. Whats a good pipe thats simple and cheep. I was thinking FMF Q4 cause its quite and can get it 40% off because i know people(Cops.) Would a full system be good or should i just clean of the header and mid and get a slip-on?

Plastics are in pretty bad condition but not to bad i guess. How well does plastic renew work and would it be worth it?

Needs wheels and tires. My dad just got a Raptor 700 and was thinking about throwing his set on it and getting new ones for his. Would they fit? And would tire size be good? i believe they are stock size. His was the actual one featured in Dirt Wheels up against the lt400.

Either the Rear axle or the rims/hubs are bent... riding behind it shows wobbles. How would i tell which it is? And if it is axle whats a good/cheap replacement? and would a +2in be a good idea for a calmly riden desert bike. I was thinking it would just make it a little more stable.

Just has stock headlights, is there really much of a benefit of having better lights? not really riden at night much at all.

Any other common sense mods to do to it? Just want to keep it simple and easy to ride. What else should I check? suspension? Bearings atleast check and maybe re-grease if you can. Shocks? Should i get them surviced? There not going to be riden hard so im not to worried.

Honestly this bike isnt going to be ridden much and when it is its just going to be cruising... So we dont want to put to much money into it. Paid $400 for it so its still a good deal for sure. Im an MX guy so quads are a little different for me. I can try to put those pics up on photobucket so you guys can see them if you want. Just ask.

Thanks and sorry for the long ass post...
Sparky

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

the best way ive found to tell if its the axle, hub, or rim is to take both rear rim/tire off and rest the quad on a jack stand. then put in neutral and slowly spin the axle while watching for bent tabs on the hubs or for lack of a better term any unusual movement out of the axle. if that looks all straight, im pretty sure your dads 700 rims will fit, put them on and take it for a ride and see if the wobble is still there.

on the carb it could just need a good cleanin, while u have it apart take the accelorator pump spring out and replace it with one out of a pen. the pen spring is stronger and doent let the accelerator plunger stick.

 

[beastlywarrior228]

and thats a yz250 shifter

 

[counterpart]

oh yeah. Haha i knew that. I always get our bikes confused. And ill deff. try out his wheels to see. I also found a full set of front and rear with G-force wheels and kenda Klaws for about $400. Is this a good deal? Especially if the ones on ours are bent? And i also found a G-force +2 axle for $200. Is that a good idea or should i check ebay? Has anyone ever heard of G-force? I never have but the reviews sounded pretty good.

Also read on here that the e brake block off might help with the dieing feeling! Is this a good idea and which is prolly the best? The Tusk one is $8 on Rockymountain.

Thanks again, Sparky

 

[beastlywarrior228]

the axle sounds good but i spent 400 on my razrs and douglas wheels

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

the ebrake thing is the electrical connection to the ebrake. if it is sticking it will think the ebrake is on and not let it go past a certain rpm then it hits a rev limiter

 

[counterpart]

Yeah. What rims were they? Thinking about just using stock rims, painting them black and throwing some fresh meat on them. And just bend back all the little minor bends on the stocks.

 

[beastlywarrior228]

that would work out well

 

[counterpart]

the ebrake thing is the electrical connection to the ebrake. if it is sticking it will think the ebrake is on and not let it go past a certain rpm then it hits a rev limiter

Yeah. If i got an E brake block off would it possibly help with the cutting out?

 

[counterpart]

that would work out well

Yeah. Whats a good bumper? I kinda like the look of the AC one.

I have a cart on Rockymountain thats over $1000. But i can take off the rims probably and if the axle isnt bent or not bent bad enough then that can be taken off. And theres $150 to take off the pipe... Is the Primary drive steel kit fairly good?

Thanks, Sparky

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

yes and no the main problem is the sensor for the ebrake is what is sticking. bypassing the sensor is free to do so always the best way to fiqure out if that is wrong. im not sure how to bypass it cause mine was already done when i got it and ive never looked to see how.

 

[counterpart]

Ok thanks man. Ill try and find a tutorial.

 

[drtfn]

All I did to bypass the switch on mine is twist the wires together. I made sure everything worked alright and then taped the hell out of it. I then zip it tied it to the harness under the hood. I did the same thing to the clutch switch also and have never had a problem with ever since and that was 3yrs ago.

 

[counterpart]

Oh nice. Is it pretty obvious which wires go to it? Like i said its still in the trailer

 

[drtfn]

It's not bad, the sensor housing broke from when it fell off a hill into a creek bed. So after I put new handle bars on it and saw the sensor and that it was broke I said the hell with it and twisted those wires together and got lucky it worked. I believe the parking brake sensor is the one closest to the handle bars and the other one is the clutch switch.

 

[yamarider]

Just unplug the sensor from the wiring harness to eliminate it, twisting the wires together will make it so the limiter is always set, not bypass it. If you follow the 2 black wires from the clutch perch down under the hood where they connect to the harness you'll see a single plastic connector on one of the wires, that's the pb switch, just unplug it and it's bypassed.

I doubt that's your problem though, it sets the limit at around 2,000 rpm so it would be pretty much unridable at any speed.

Your problem sounds like a carb issue, either a clogged main jet or an air leak. Check the manifold between the carb and head for cracks, they're a known problem area, i replaced 2 on mine in 4 years.

 

[counterpart]

Ok sounds good. Ill look at the manifold when i get the bike out. This project might be delayed a little because i still need to rebuild the blaster so it can be sold. But i still need info on this stuffs to.

 

[yamarider]

The noise at startup is probably a worn out starter clutch. You can fix it now, or wait until it craps out completely. Costs about $200 for new parts.

The hard clutch pull is probably a combination of a worn, dried out cable, worn clutch perch, and bad design. They're always hard to pull on warriors but the raptor 350 clutch release parts will solve this problem.

The stock shifters are more than just awkward, with the linkage they can get extremely sloppy, which makes it difficult to shift quickly, find neutral, etc. The yz shifter is a direct link, so no free play in the shifter, just all around tighter, quicker, better.

The stock headpipe is good as long as it's not rusted through, not really much of a point in getting an aftermarket one for a budget build. There are a lot of good pipes out there, but most are loud. The FMF Q series are among my favorites now because they do keep the sound levels down pretty good compared to everything else, even though i'm not a fan of the way FMF's pipes seem to hold up in the long run.

Plastic renew works... kinda... for a while. It's pretty much the equivalent of sanding down your plastics and clearcoating them, except in the case of plastic renew, the clearcoat is shitty and flakes off a little bit at a time. It starts out looking great but over time it'll probably end up looking worse than when you started. It's a lot of work but you can use plastic polish to remove oxidation and bring some life back into them unless they're really faded out.

Not really much of a reason to replace the stock headlights if you don't ride in the dark, unless you just don't like the way they look and want to use a smaller light or eliminate them completely.

I didn't see you mention anything about an air filter. That's one of the first things I do to any quad I get. On yamahas I always ditch the stock filter setup in lieu of a billet adapter and clamp-on k&n filter with outerwear prefilter. If you look at the way everything is designed, Yamaha had good intentions of making the filter quick to change, but it's seriously flawed. It relies on a foam donut to seal the filter to the airbox, and relies on the lid to hold the filter in place. If everything isn't lined up perfect and if the gasket isn't in like-new condition it'll let dirt into the engine. Pro Design's Pro-flow kit is a good one, I would advise you to stay away from modquad's kit for the warrior, the one I got wasn't even close to fitting right, had to modify the airbox AND get a different air filter, total bullshit.

The Raptor 700 wheels and tires should bolt right up to the warrior. The stock raptor tires are actually pretty good, mine lasted me almost 2 years on the 700 and that's all hard, rough riding. They'd last forever on a warrior and perform pretty well all-around.

The best/quickest way to check if it's your wheels or axle that is causing the wobble is to remove the back wheels, sit the back end up on a jack or block, start it up and put it in 2nd or 3rd gear to get the axle spinning. You'll see it if the axle has any wobble. There's a good chance that at your quad's age, both the axle and wheels are bent. Wouldn't be a surprise, they get pretty abused on quads, I bent 3 of my wheels and the axle on my raptor 700 during my 2nd trip to the track.

If you're going to be riding in rocky terrain consider getting skid plates for it, especially the swingarm skid. It doesn't take much for a rock to destroy the $80 brake rotor or bend the sprocket and knock the chain loose. And if the chain jumps off the sprockets there's a chance that it'll get thrown into the engine case and crack it. A simple $80 skid plate can really pay for itself in a couple rocky trail rides. The stock ones are garbage, by the way, they're just there for looks. The first time they really hit something they'll be rubbing the rotor and sprocket.

The primary drive sprockets are good for the money, all steel sprockets on the market minus a few no-namers are about the same quality. Get either an o-ring or x-ring chain, in any riding conditions they will outlast a non-ring chain 5 to 10 times.

 

[counterpart]

Wow thanks for the post.
Well if its that much ill just leave it for now and if it dies theres still the pull starter.

Im planning on replacing atleast the cable if not check the plates and replace if necessary. Aswell as the lever and clean and lube the perch.

Yeah i dont know if the shifter will really be necessary because the quad will not be riden hard at all.

Yeah the header is pretty beat. I dont know about rusted through or not but I think itll be good to replace. And the muffler is needed for sure. Its got holes and crap all in it.

Yeah i was just looking into headlights because i thought ours were pretty beat from memmoery but after looking more there not bad and really cosmeticaly dont look too bad.

I didnt mention an Air Filter because it already has a UNI one that we put in recently that seems to be doing good.

Yeah thats good theyll fit and ill prolly use them to test if the wheels are bent or the axle. But we'll probably end up getting new tires and just painting the rims... as long as there not bent to badly.

I really dont think it will be ridden hard enough to need a skid plate but ill check into them. And where we ride usually isnt to rocky but there deffinately still there.

And sounds good about the sprockets and chain. Ill be sure to get atleast an o ring one and if x rings are to much more than one of them.
Thanks,
Sparky

 

[DeadLastRacing]

G Damn, all you guys are making my job easy. What YAMA said, I agree. Hahahha and G-Force wheels? I had no idea there were in the rim business. I run a g-force +2/+4 axle and coulden't be happier. Good buy and worth it if yous ends up being bent. Enjoy the rebuild.