Thursday 8 March 2012

ALL DONE!

Everything is back together! Took it out for a test drive last night and everything seems to be working properly. Aside from one burnt out headlight, I shouldn't have to do anything else to it for a while. I guess this blog is finished now. If there are any further repairs or upgrades I'll be sure to post them. Thanks for following. And thank you Eric for your advice and expertise throughout this project. It's always nice having a second opinion.

I should also add a couple of notes about some issues mentioned earlier. The smoky exhaust is gone now and the issue with the timing being slightly off hasn't seemed to affect anything. So it looks like we're good to go!
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9 comments:

  1. Jack Lucas8 March 2012 at 16:36

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Jack Lucas8 March 2012 at 16:37

    Congratulations! I've enjoyed reading this!

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    1. Aaron9 March 2012 at 05:07

      Thanks Jack. You'll have to come over for a ride some time.

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  3. Unknown21 October 2014 at 13:57

    I have just purchased a 97 big bear with a busted casting like yours and I am in the process of fixing it the very same way , is yours still working ?

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    1. Aaron22 October 2014 at 06:00

      Hey Wally, did you receive my reply? For some reason it didn't show up on here. (?)

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    2. Aaron22 October 2014 at 06:13

      Weird, that reply showed up. OK, I'll write my first reply again.

      I sold the 97 a few months ago and it was still working at that point. Having said that, I bought a 98 that had the exact same problem and I repaired it the same way, and it only lasted about a year. This time the boss broke off further back and now there is not enough material to do the same repair again. If you can figure out a way to reinforce the boss and/or rib along with this repair that would be even better. This seems to be a major design flaw with these Big Bears. The aluminum bosses aren't strong enough for all the force coming through the starter gears. Anyway, it's worth a try since it's a fairly easy repair. Good luck!

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    3. Unknown22 October 2014 at 09:16

      I did reinforce the inside boss because I think it has the greater load we will see if it works, but now that it is back together I have no spark , I am guessing a piece of aluminum went between the flywheel and the pickup coil and damaged it

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    4. Aaron22 October 2014 at 10:08

      You're probably right about the pickup coil. At least they're cheap.

      Just curious, how did you reinforce the boss? Did you TIG weld something in there? Or maybe stick something in with JB weld? I wish I would have somehow made mine stronger. When the shaft broke out of the inside boss it also made a big crack in the cover. The boss inside the cover cracked right at the base. Maybe you want to make that side stronger too if you can. (?)

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  4. Unknown22 October 2014 at 10:33

    I made two 1/2 square blocks of aluminum one on top of the web and one under the web one drilled and taped 8-32 thd. the other c'bored for #8 socket hd. screw
    wit a radius on both ends to support between the 12mm shaft and the big boss below then tightened the bolt to clamp it on the remaining web then added some jb weld for good measure.
    I have a picture but not sure how to send it

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