Help me save this old 3wheeler!

[Mike213]

Hey everyone, New guy here from RI.
Looking for any info you guys are willing to share with me to bring this trike back to life.
Yamaha Tri-Moto 175 (supposed to have been bored to a 200, not sure how to confirm or deny this) also the year, I'll explain that more below (vin). from reading it seems these trimotos arent the favorite of many, but I'd still like to save the thing, it deserves to run again.

I was trying to fix a boat navigation equip. problem for a friend of mine and I seen this poor old trike sitting under a bunch of gutters, rugs, plywood and you name it all in a shed. I asked him whats up with it and he said he bought it to fix but never got around too, was not sure what or if anything was wrong with it. long story short, he said $50 and I grabbed it off him for 35 bucks.. I was willing to pay more just to get the poor thing out of that shed, but was happy when he agreed to $35 haha.

Soo, He believed it to be a 1984, but after a little looking online it seems they didn't make a 175 in '84. also while checking for the frame ID number, I noticed it must be PRE-1982 as well since it's only a 9 didgit number (2 OE OO9782) can anyone decode this for me and figure out the year? the engine has same number so engine is original to the frame.

Anyways, I cleaned out the carb as well as air blasted it. carb is pretty clean now there was some pretty nasty stuff in there. I cleaned out what looks like a external fuel pumping diaphram between the tank and carb. all seems clean. seens like the external oil tank was removed so I hope the person who had it running last mixed the fuel with oil! its getting decent spark, could be better but seems like enough to crank it over.

I've had alot of quads and motorcycles but never a 4wheeler or a 175 style engine, Im pretty mechanicaly inclinced but I would love any feedback of what to look for before attempting to start this oldy.. anything I should do in general besides what I mentioned before starting it, since its been sitting so long? how much oil, should it be 10w30 motorcycle oil for wet clutch, or regular car motor oil?

Thanks and sorry for the long first post. rather not make several threads so I figured I'd post them all here, any help or info is greatly appreciated.

-Mike

[Mike213]

couple of pics taken from my phone so sorry for the bad quality, I'll get some better ones on here later.

Its definetly seen better days! I cleaned it up a little after these pics, frame is solid, no headlight, tires are great one seems to have a slow leak(goes flat after about 2 days), going to try tire slime and hope it fixes it. body fairings are decent aside from one of the rear sides is cracked up, If I get it running well I plan to fiberglass or look for newer rear fairing. seat is in decent shape it needs to be streched back over the foam but otherwise not too bad.

brakes work but are loose and overall a rusty mess, should be fun! clutch pedal is loose but seems to shift decent and rolls freely in Nuetral. pull starts and has good compression (only by thumb test, havent guage tested it yet) like I said the spark is decent blue. hopefully you guys can help me bring it back to life! would be fun in the snow, sold all my quads and bought a 600 gsxR so I needed another winter toy! I've ridden these back when I was younger and know they arent a joke and to be careful and always with a helmet.

[MTS]

Looks not Bad! Esp for 35 bucks, Other than what you mentioned, Check the air-filter...10-40 Bike oil or 70-80w Motorcycle trans oil will work fine....Might need to Put some pre-mix down the plug hole to get the Fuel pump primed up...Sounds like it should fire up, Make sure the Oil injection Ports are plugged off if its not in use anymore, Its been a while since i had one , cant remember if it Injects into the carb or the Intake...Either way should be able to see the Un-used Fitting on either if its not plugged allredy., Make sure your throttle cable is lubed up...Dont need that sticking!....Otherwise GIVER!!

[Mike213]

Thanks for the reply! about the oil pump, I actually completely forgot to ask.. I'll have to take a pic tomorrow to better explain but theres 2 lines that start at the oil pump and go up into the engine somewhere, cant see where they end or connect to, it's pretty weird actually most oil pumps i've worked with went directly to the carb, not sure if i should just pull those 2 lines and cap em off without knowing where they end? also yes i lubed the trottle cable and put a new spring with the carb slide. the choke cable is pretty damn stuck, tried soaking it in PB blaster for a day.. it loosened a tad but not enough to put the choke on to assist in starting, any tips on ideas to choke the carb out a tad while starting untill i can get the cable working freely?

last question, haha.. what amout of pre-mix should i put into the cylinder, I can honestly say I was always too afraid to do that to any of my quads! I'm thinking a small soda cap full? or less..

Thanks again.. I'll definetly bring better pictures tomorrow.

Mike

[84honda200s]

wow man not a bad deal for 35.00 ... im not too sure on the specs for your engine but when i was getting my yt125 engine to fire i sprayd a lil bit of carb cleaned down the thought of the carb. . . you could try that if you trying to get it fired.

[Mike213]

Thanks for the reply! I'll definetly give that a try.. I tried it before but I think I put way too much! I have tomorrow afternoon off so I'd like to get it going! whats the default settings on mixture/idle screws... 1 1/2 - 2 turns out?

[bobotech]

Clutch cable? I don't think the 175 has a clutch cable at all. As far as I know, the left handle is for the rear brake and the right handle is for the front brake.

Still, a great deal for 35 dollars!

[Vealmonkey]

It looks like an 82 yt175. Whatever you do, don't use synthetic oil in it. Alot of the old type clutch fibers don't work well with synthetic oil. If you look on the right side of the engine, you will see where to add the engine oil. To the front of that about an inch or 2 and slightly below, you will see a bolt, that is the level bolt for your oil. You pull the bolt or plug out and fill the oil level till it runs out of there. Also try and do a search as there are several threads on here about what the different lines are for on the carb and the oil pump. Premix ratio can be slightly different depending on the maker of the oil. Check the back of the bottle for recommendations. Use a 2 cycle oil for motorcycles. Some people try and use weed wacker 2 stroke oil and I really wouldn't recommend it. Try spraying some wd40, or kroil or pb blaster down the choke cable from the top and that should help alot. It might take several days of spraying to get it all the way down the cable. A new spark plug would be highly recommended. Make sure you lubricate your brake cables as well. You have to open up the right side of your engine to adjust your clutch. I also highly recommend downloading a shop manual or picking one up, they are invaluable. Make sure to run with the airbox lid on or you'll get a real lean condition and the trike will try and death rev on you. If it death revs, super high rev, you will have to pull the spark plug wire. Have fun with your new project. Try and do some searches for yt175 info, but beware, the search feature on here sucks.

[Motorious]

That's the most fun $35 can buy! Awesome find man. I recently sold an '83 YT (Tri-Moto) 175 with an '82 engine for only $300. It ran great, although the frame was a little bent and it pulled to one side a little. It was a bit of a project as well; I ended up buying a parts trike (actually traded a nitro RC helicopter for it) and building one running trike from the two. Surprisingly powerful little 3 wheeler. Here's my thread:http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...rms&highlight=

Here is a video of my YT 175 running (was smoking too much because I added some oil-too much it turned out-to the fuel because I thought my pre-mix system wasn't adding enough oil):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTJ963Mxu-c

The YT 175 was only made 2 years: 1982-83. '82 had this serial #: 5V700 '83 had this serial #: 20E00

The fuel pump (mounted on frame underneath gas tank near petcock if I remember correctly) has a vacuum hose that attaches to a barb coming off the reed valve cage. The two oil lines coming off the oil injection pump: one goes to the 2 stroke oil tank, the other goes to a barb on the right side of the carb intake throat (if you're sitting on the trike). You have to bleed the oil pump every time you reconnect after an oil hose is disconnected. There is a small phillips head screw on the oil pump underneath the front right engine cover that you remove to bleed the oil pump. Oil will trickle out this screw hole; wait until all the air bubbles disappear from the oil trickle, then re-install screw. The oil pump is now bled.

I still have most of the parts trike, including a decent set of rear fenders (no cracks or breaks), however the color is faded, and it could stand to be painted. I need to get rid of 'em, so let me know if your interested, I'll sell cheap.

Vealmonkey's the man when it comes to the YT 175; might want to check out his thread on his Pro-Tec Tri-Moto 175 (there's a kit to convert the YT 175 to rear suspension):http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...-175-Beginning

Good luck fixing it, keep us posted.