Hello, John Talley here with partzilla.com. So let me guess:
went over to a buddy's house last night, saw a four wheeler sitting in his yard,
been sitting there for a while. Well, you in your friend exchanged a
little bit of money all of a sudden it's in your garage the next morning. So now
what do you do? Well it's a simple process you can go through to evaluate
if it's really worth saving or not. Chances are, it probably is. So what are
the signs you need to look for to let it guide you through this roadmap to get it
running again? The absolute first thing you need to do is go ahead and change
the oil in it, and when you're doing this really pay attention to what's coming
out of it and hopefully, maybe it has a magnetic drain plug. That's going to give
you an indication as to well, what's going on inside of that engine. Now as
you're doing this do more than just change the oil. Go ahead and replace the
oil filter as well. Believe me, we've got plenty of oil filters in stock. So I
guarantee you we've got one for your unit. And if you need a little help
figuring out how to do it, well chances are if we've probably done an oil change
video on that particular unit as well. If not, send us a message. Maybe
we'll get that on our playlist. Next thing you need to consider and look at
is the fuel system. Well, just unscrew the gas cap and just take a smell. I mean if
it smells like turpentine, you're gonna have some work to do. Now whether it be a
carburetor or a fuel injector, guess what? We also have how-to videos on that topic
as well. Now if it turns out that your fuel system does need to be cleaned out
and you have a fuel injection system? We have a tool from Motion Pro that can
actually do that. So come check out our site, find the adapter that's going to
work for your situation, and we'll get it shipped out to you. Now, if yours is a
carbureted unit, well then we have kits already packaged up and ready to go that
have all the pieces that are typically replaced in a gummed up carburetor. Makes
life a lot easier. Now we want to look at the electrical system. One of the best
tools you can use to do this is a digital voltmeter. If you need one,
believe me, we've got plenty in stock. Also as you're going through you want to
do a visual inspection of the wiring harness itself. Now if it's been stored
in a barn, well you're gonna need to really take a hard visual look at the
wiring harness because chances are something has been chewing on it,
and the last thing you want to do is put in a brand new battery on a damaged
wiring harness. Now while you're doing that inspection of the wiring harness,
that is a great time to multitask and just look over the condition of the
frame. You want to look for any areas where there's paint missing like it's
been chipped off. That is usually an indicator that the frame has been bent.
You also need to look at your suspension components: the control arms, the knuckles,
the steering controls, does the steering have any play in it.
All those little movements that you feel in your garage? They're gonna be
amplified out on the trail, and the last thing you want to do is have a machine
that's hard to control at 40 plus miles an hour in the woods. Not a good idea.
Now if you've acquired a motorcycle instead, and it doesn't matter if it's on
or off-road, there's a couple of other things you're gonna need to look at and
that's going to be the forks. We want to see if they're loose or leaking or
actually have a smooth fluid feel to them. Same applies for the rear shock,
whatever type system that the machine is using. Now if you suspect that the frame
has been tweaked, that's when you get out the tape measure. Go ahead and do some
cross measurements to see just how far out of whack it is. Can a frame withstand
just a little bit of a tweak and still be used on the trail? Yes, but there's a
point where it becomes dangerous and you do need to replace the frame. The last
thing we really need to look at is going to be the wheels and the bearings. The
best way to do this is to actually lift the entire machine up, that way you've
got easy access to rock the wheels back and forth, make sure the bearings aren't
completely worn out. And at that point you really need to take a very close
look at the condition of the tires. I mean are they completely bald? And you also
want to look at the sidewalls on the inside and the outside and what you're
looking for is any cracking that has actually happened. If that is occurring,
well that means the rubber is old and it's starting to break down and it will
fail on you. Now as we're talking about tires, if you happen to be looking at a
motorcycle you have an advantage there, because motorcycle tires actually have a
manufacturing date stamped into the side of it. That's going to be a very clear
indication if you need to go ahead and get those off the machines so you'll be
safe either out on the trail or on the road. Here at partzilla.com,
we are dedicated to fixing it up, getting it running, and then keeping it running.
So whatever help you need, come to us that is what we are here for. Listen, we
just want to say thank you for shopping here with us at partzilla.com, and if you
have any questions or comments, leave them in the section below and we're gonna find
out the answer for you. Now if you like what you see, why don't you go ahead and
hit that subscribe button. That way you can keep up with whatever I'm working on
next. Just want to say thanks for watching, and we will see you in the next
video. Y'all have a great day.