98 Big Bear Project

2146 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by thrashingcows, Feb 12, 2018

rsthomas34

Discussion Starter · Feb 9, 2018

New to the forum and new to these yamaha utilities but have had several honda sport quads. Recently purchased a 98 Big Bear 350 4x4 pretty much sight unseen for a good price for a "running and driving quad". Previous owner said it had a new starter and solenoid but couldnt get it to crank. Recoil starter was missing so he pulled it off and the throttle was stuck wide open and instead of turning the key off he bailed and rolled it. Only damage was a broken front left brake lever. Got it home and every throttle adjustment was way out and the throttle cable sheath was stuck going into the carb, fixed all these problems and ordered a used recoil starter. Tried jumping the starter solenoid and the starter spun but not the motor. Pulled the starter and ofcourse the starter idler gears were missing. After researching i saw these are famous for breaking the shaft mounts so i assume all the gears have been removed. When i got the recoil starter after googling, a sore back, shoulder, and bleeding knuckles, i figured out how to pull start it and it fired right up. Idled great after a few adjustments but wouldnt take any throttle. Check the a/f screw and it was about 4 turns out, turned in 2 rounds and not much improvement. Eventually gas started pouring out of the overflow. Removed the carb assuming the float was stuck and found out it was a zoom zoom carb and not factory. Sorry for the long back story but on to my questions. I cant find a rebuild kit specifically for the zoom zoom carb, any recommendations? Also, after what i thought was 40$ for a new zoom zoom replacement carb realized the 2wd and 4wd carbs are different and 4wd carbs are about 3x as much. I have searched the for sale section on here without much luck on a used carb. What all yamaha carbs with work on this bike and what jets are supposed to be in it?

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rsthomas34

Discussion Starter · #2 · Feb 9, 2018

Also should add the bike had ZERO brakes. Ordered new shoes for the rear, they were completely worn, a new master cylinder for the fronts, the pads seemed decent. I have bled the fronts till no more air was in the lines and have tried to adjust the pads out but still there is very little front brake. The cylinders are corroded and the adjuster is stuck on one of them but it doesnt seem as if any of them move very much. Is it worth rebuilding the front drums or switching them to disk?

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thrashingcows

· #3 · Feb 10, 2018

Welcome....I have a 97 Big Bear I picked up a few months ago and it too had the starter idler gear breakage, mine were still in the motor and doing damage....so I am re/re the engine cases and stator cover.

I bought a new OEM style carb for my 04 Bruin through out of China, was only a few bucks more then a rebuild kit so took a chance....took a while to get here but it was exactly the same and functions perfectly right out of the box.

I'm new to quads in general but been wrenching on old cars for close to 30 years. I would try pulling apart the wheel cylinder and see if you can clean them up and get them working again, not sure if there are rebuild kits for the wheel cylinders or not? But I have pulled apart old wheel cylinders, cleaned all the parts, slight hone to the cylinder bore and re-install all the old parts....no problems with leaking and function either.

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rsthomas34

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 12, 2018

I took the drums apart completely this weekend cleaned all the pistons and freed up all the adjusters and put on new pads. Put everything back together and bled the breaks thoroughly, still very little movement in the pistons. Got everything back together and tried to pull start the bike, no luck firing up. 95% of the time it fires up on the first pull but if it doesnt its near impossible to start without pulling it off. The bike idles great and will take full throttle and has good response in neutral but when i got it out to take for a quick spin to check the brakes anything over about quarter throttle it fell on its face and wouldnt pick back up till i let off the throttle. Did you buy the carb off ebay? Im hesitant to buy a rebuild kit since i cant find one specifically for the zoom zoom and am leaning more towards gambling on an ebay special.

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thrashingcows

· #5 · Feb 12, 2018

I got the carb through Amazon. Here is the title to the carb from amazon....

FLYPIG Carb For Yamaha Big Bear Wolverine Kodiak Grizzly 350 400 450 Carburetor

My guess on the quad not starting is that the needle and seat are leaking and the cylinder is getting flooded with fuel....my bruin was doing that. I had to shut the fuel off every time I stopped or it would flood out the the motor and it was a PITA to get started again. Now with the new carb it sparks up effortlessly.

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