his first post said the FRONT wheels..not the rear wheels.yup, my guess is your rear axle splines are stripped, but when in reverse there is a little more edge to grab but forward is gone
this is a known weak link on all tubed rear axle honda 4x4 atv's
the issue is , the left rear wheel has just one bearing and seal and the right side had two
the left seal lets water in as slop develops, and then that water gets in and rusts out the splines on the axle,
and BOOM, NO more rear drive(front is a limited slip, so thus one wheel only)
SO< get all 4 wheels up off the ground and see how much slop ins in your wheel bearings, adds are again, the rear left is bad(or was and damage was already done and its just took a while to rust them splines off
Good news is, a whole new rear axle is NOT that costly, and its a rather easy job with basic tools and simple repair skills!
I know this as I have a 1999 model and it happened to me
I now inspect and repair bearings way more often!, bearings are WAY cheaper than a whole new axle!
Only 1 wheel engages in forward gears
I have a 1997 trx400fw and it's been sitting a while now but I am hoping to get it set up to plow this winter! After a good carb clean and starter rebuild I have her purring like a kitten but when I tried to take it for a rip I was only getting the front left wheel to engage....put it in reverse and she will drive over anything but not in the forward gears! Finally got it to the road and went through all the gears and it's now only engaging the front right wheel but still has great reverse traction! Any ideas??
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his first post said the FRONT wheels..not the rear wheels.
@ op, how's the front differential gear oil level ?. cj joints good ?. hub splines stripped at hub ?.
I will agree with mrb, limited slip on atvs will always allow one wheel to spin at times, while the other side does not.
no worries bro, your very correct in saying limited slip, hats off ta yawell the way I read things was he is ONLY getting one front wheel to grab(move under power, the rest of them are NOT being powered,
so as such, is why I gave the info I did
on a limited slip diff, many times only ONE wheel will grab
and if the read diff or axle splines are GONE< then, you left with only 1 front wheel turning under power
splines on rear axle if stripped or worn, may have more BITE On things when in reverse, thus, why again, I said, what I said, he might have enough splines to grab going backwards, but NOT forward
I am sure I could be wrong, but that was what I got out of his first post LOL
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