Jason: I've never tested one on the bench but was told the proper way is on the machine with everything attached. Hoser may be able to explain why. I found it easy enough to do so I never really thought about why.

Cali guy: wait until you pull some hills in your Odyssey. They'll climb some crazy shit. I'm a fat guy so I never liked doing hills on quads. Front end always feels light. Not at all on the Odyssey. Just point it and go have lost traction a couple times but I'd just stop and back down the hill and try again. I think this was due to my tires. They're not aggressive at all. I figured with my weight and how good I got at snapping axles they'd serve me better. With aggressive tires I couldn't imagine what could be climbed.

I've rolled a blaster before going up a hill
I like having a cadge around me Havnt rolled the Odyssey yet those works suck up all the crap

I have watched some youtube videos of the FL350 taking on hills I would never have imagined that a two wheel drive vehicle could go up. That is partially what impressed me enough to take on this project and allow the "ugly" old FL350 into my herd of Yamahas. That and when I was younger my neighbor had a FL250 that they used to abuse the living crap out of and it just kept running. It was a blast to drive on the flats but hit a pothole wrong and that thing would send you flying.

yeah but those have no rear suspension so they suck for pot holes

I personally have never have liked those Blasters (no offense to any Blaster riders who might be on here) the front ends are just too light for my preference and the wheel base is very short compared to the Warrior (which has it's flaws also).

I have definitely been wondering what it will be like to be "commited" into a full cage and harness riding the FL350.
You can't exactly just hit the eject button like you would on a quad or dirt bike when things go wrong.

Sorry for the horrible quality, these videos were shot by a good friend of mine back in 2008.
Both of my buddies who were riding Blasters that rolled (one is in the middle and one is towards the end).


Another video we shot back in 2007 with a Blaster flipping backwards on a hill climb we were punching in.


And one last video from 2007 where the Blaster flips over and rolls backwards on a hill climb.


90% of the time on my Warrior if I don't think I am gonna make it up a hill I can throw my front end down and kill it then stand up on the pegs and lean way forward but then some hills are just too steep and your only choice is to hit the eject button and try to keep your baby from tumbling back down the hill lol.

It was gay IMO Traded it for an shifter Katy

Here's a couple for ya boys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwyY2uMIqJM" ."..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RneXOi1lRQo" ."..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTOOkg3p9no

Rand

The nukem double front flip is one of my favorite odyssey video's. the commentator is great to. Seems he's done a few endo's in his day! I hope to never ride one of those out.

Cali guy- buy a nice 3" harness and enjoy. Might save you the wounds dune dart picked up.

Is that a Tecate 4 in the last video?

I rolled my buddy's TRX 450r backwards down the hill this ditrtbike climbs. I started fish tailing like half way up and Stayed in it. When I got all the way to the top I hit the left tire on the hill and it stood straight up. I grabbed the center of the handlebars and the front bumper and slid like halfway back down on my back. My whole back was stabbed for over a month. No damage to the machine though. Did leak all the gas out on me while waiting for help. Takes a while for people to run half way up that big mf. Biggest crash I ever had. I had no business even trying that hill. Was getting called a ((Bad Word)) though. Now I just say alright. Let me use your quad. That shuts them up.

http://youtu.be/tl92jh_APYs

#2 = Camera got jarred so bad it freaked out and showed old footage? Weird.

#3 = Nice, guy rolls over on his wheels and just keeps riding.

No Tecates in those videos... if you are talking about the "Green Lizard" that is a bored out Suzuki LT250.

New Progressive front shocks came today (pic below). I went cheap on the front shocks in case I ever want to convert to long travel since I would need to buy new shocks again at that point anyhow.

New cheapo 4 wire chinese ignition switch came last night so I can eliminate the screwdrivered model I have now.

Talked a buddy into bringing his compression tester over tonight and I have a 12 volt battery charging because now it seems like the starter is not engaging the way it should be.
She turns over for just a second but then just spins, not sure if that is a problem with the starter or the fact I was just trying to use jumper cables to start it with no battery hooked in and there is not enough juice. I see eBay has starter rebuild kits for about 30 bucks, anyone use one of those with good results?

This is what my Odyssey starter sounds like right now when I turn it over.
Remember now it ran last week when I bought it.
I have the FL350 jumpered to a 12 volt deep cycle battery sitting on the ground below.

Charge up the regular battery and see what happens. Also could be full of oil. Has it had the vent mod done? Look on the front of the Engine where the balance goes. Is there something besides the dipstick?

Read through this. Nukem has a great list of mods.



viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8828&hilit=porting+carb+pipe

Doesn't sound like the starter is spinning fast enough to thrown the drive gears into the fly wheel.

What happens to these starters is that the armature and all of the brushes slowly get coated in oil because of the way the counter balance vent is configured. The vent is on the stator side of the Engine's bottom end and the oil that travels through the vent is flung onto the flywheel and starter gear and then directly into the starter. When this happens, the starter will start to slow down until it either does what your is doing or it will completely quit all together.

Starter is probably full of oil.....I'd bet money on it! A sure way to tell is to remove the pull starter cover and look to see how much oil is in there. The teeth of the starter gears are normally dry but they will be coated in dirty oil because of this design flaw.

Rand

Did you get the Odyssey keyswitch with gas cap? Or just a keyed ignition switch? If you got the cheapo Chinese keyed ignition on evilBay, it's prob the same one I put on a Suzuki LT500R last summer. It lasted about 2-months and the POS quit working. It was stuck open (no ground), but the key would turn. JUNK. Replaced it with a stock unit.

I do just so happen to have a complete stock oem cap ignition and key if you are in need of one down the road. Hopefully the one you bought will last you but just in case..

I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE CHEAP CHINESE IGNITIONS YET

Rand, Hey I really appreciate this tip. Tonight we are taking the starter off for a closer inspection.
So once the starter is full of oil can you normally just drain it out or do I need to tear the starter itself apart to clear all the residual oil off the brushes and everything?

Cheapo chinese evilbay model, didn't see keyswitch with gas cap or would have sprung for that as my gas cap is all whacked.

How much u pick her up for?

13.50 shipped. Sorry it came from Amazon, not eBay.
I went with this one because it looks like it has the key with the rubber housing over it to keep water and junk out.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XM ... 01_s00_i00" ."..

I ment the Fl350

$1500

That's an good price especially for up here

You'll need to tear the starter down and do a rebuild or purchase a new starter. I have tried to just clean them up but they generally need a rebuild kit. You can find rebuild kits on ebay for around 30 bucks.

Don't forget you will need to do the modification to the vent system to prevent it from happening again.

Rand