[supermanwv]

Newbie Question....

How jerky should the bike be when switching gears?

I've only had the bike a few months now, and when switching from 1st to 2cd and so on, the bike jerks pretty good...and its not fun when going up hill....front end wants to come up..even in 4wd. Is there a certain way I should be switching gears with my 450 that I'm not aware of? Is there something I should be doing with the brakes or throttle when switching...?

Thanks for any info you can give.

Clark

 

[dirty4man]

There should be no jerking at all. just let off the throttle when shifting and everything will flow along just fine.

 

[supermanwv]

That is how I normally do it, but it continues to jerk like that each time I change gears....at least up to 3rd, after that it is not as noticeable.

If the RPMs are up high in 1st and 2cd when I change gears...could that be the cause of it. Should I keep the RPMs low when shifting?

Clark

 

[dirty4man]

does the throttle fall back to idle pretty quicky or does hesitate for alittle while before dropping? Also make sure its not idled to high. Does it jump when put in gear at idle, if so try adjusting the throttle down alittle and see what she does. Its also possible the carb may be sticking and needs cleaned or maybe some fine tuning.

 

[Sparkey]

I was a little rough shifting mine until I got a few hours of experience.

practice makes perfect. Check the Idle speed also it may be too high.

 

[supermanwv]

How do I adjust the idle speed, and how fast should it idle? It doesn't have a tachometer, so how would I adjust it...what should I listen for as far as idle speed?
I put some carb cleaner in my last tank of gas hopeing to clean out the lines and carb....didn't know if it had ever been done before since I bought it used. It does seem to run a little smoother, but have not rode it hard since putting the cleaner in the gas. Just putting around the yard.

Clark

 

[lagernuts]

old post

I know this is an old post, but I'm having the same problem. It seems as though it shifts too hard (and backfires if I left off the gas too quickly). I have been playing with the air/fuel screw and have a replacement screw with new o-rings waiting. I also bought a new gasket set and am thinking my muffler might be shot since I bought it used and there was 6-8 ounces of water that drained out of the muffler when I opened the spark arrestor plug. I had my engine rebuilt by honda and have replaced the oil, oil filter, air filter, gas, and spark plug. my spark plug looks about right compared to the manual, but it seems to be running lean. I pulled the air/fuel screw and cleaned off almost all the carbon and lightley screwed it in and backed it out 2.5 turns. It seemed to run lean, so I backed it out about a half turn. It is still backfiring when I let off the gas. I tired to drain the carb, but the drain crew is almost stripped, so I flooded it a little before I ran it initially to try to get the gas out. Do Foremans usually shift a little rough? Mine seems to hesitate/flood when I shift.

 

[Crass]

if your muffler is shot that can make you run lean thus the backfire when you come off the gass.
you shift them just like a normal standard trany come off the gas . the rpm will fall press the shift button then come on the gas. once you get good at it you can hardly feel it shift..

 

[lagernuts]

muffler

If the muffler is shot (sounds alright) can I just back out my air fuel screw more and be fine? Or should I spring for a new muffler and take the carb off to replace the jet and clean everything out? I just dropped a ton of money on this quad and don't want to drive it like it i if it is going to cause problems down the road.

 

[Crass]

the screw is only a fine adjust ..
what may work is weld up your muffler. worked for me for a year
your can re-jet the carb your dont need to remove the carb to do it , and only it takes a few mins to do.
or your can replace the muffler. exsound is a cheap after market
or you can brake the bank and go fancy

to sum it up it is a fine balance between , air in , air out and fuel.
even your allitude can play a role. so mufflers and intake mods like snorkels need re jetting normaly.