Bought a Yamaha Terrapro

[The kid]

Ealier this week I drove to west Tennessee and bought a somewhat unique ATV. A 1988 YMP350U Yamaha Terrapro with a finish mower. I'm going to restore it back to it's grandure. The FM48 mower is in sad shape and will need a total going over. The ATV is amazing in good shape. It needs carburator work. The finish is badly faded but that's an easy fix. Here's a few picture of them both. This is the only known ATV that has a 10hp PTO on it. Yamaha also sold several implements for it. All are obsolete and rare as hens teeth.

 

[kevinwak]

I remember seeing one of those new at the dealer when I was a kid. I wanted it so badly.

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[HHR]

Neighbor has had one since new. Works pretty well but gets stuck easily when mowing uneven ground.

 

[foreman Etexas]

Never seen one but was only 9 in 88,looks good,thanks for the pictures ...

 

[The kid]

I found a clogged needle valve in the float bowl. The gas that came out of it looked like red wine and it lost most of the gas smell. Nasty. Cleaned it out. The next day i put the seat and gas tank back on and drove it around in the driveway. I bought it for less that half of the going price of a running one in average shape.

Next, I've pull all the flaring off it and going to refurbish the finish. It's barely blue in color. Going start wet sanding at 320 and work my way up to 2000, then polish it. I have a new set of decals coming for it. Going to recover the seat from blue to dark grey. The one on it has a small tear. -kid

 

[The kid]

The throttle jet was remarkably clean, but the lower end was gummed up pretty bad.

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After getting the engine running next on the agenda was the front brakes. I won an auction on eBay to what looked like the same brake cable that was missing on the left front wheel to the double to single cable point. It came with two cables. One was in poor shape and one was in really good shape. I dismantled it and put it on the make assembly. Fit like a grove. Best twelve dollars spent. I new cable with a wheel hardware would have set me back 50 to 100 bucks.

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Another unique feature besides it having a PTO is it also was a fan cooled engine. Because of being able to gear down to a granny gear while using the PTO with high RPMs. Yamaha put a belt driven fan to blow across the head to keep the engine cool. Neat. Hmmm shades of a Chevy Corvair or a VW Beetle. I pulled the wire screen off to check the belt and it looked new and snug. I decided to give the cover a cosmetic make over while I had it apart.

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Next on the list was getting all the plastic looking good. I sanded down the tank and polished it. It's ready for decals. The rear fender was a mess. Badly faded. I used a razor to remove the excess oxidation. Then I took a heat gun and carefully heated the plastic to lay it all down and bring out the fresh blue color. I'll sand it down in three or four stages and give it good polishing Here's a picture of the rear and tank cover sitting on the Terrapro.

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I've got some left over vinyl from a hotrod project and going to recover the seat. I just don't like a blue seat.

Next on the list to refurbish the front fender. Stay tuned.

 

[foggy1111]

Interesting project. Seems like a noble cause. Good luck with it.

I recently looked at a Polaris Brutus machine…..which has a front PTO. Thought it might be a neat machine…..but was really surprised about the size and heft of this unit….as well as the price. Guess it's intended for commercial markets. I think this concept is really cool…..and hope someday a manufacturer will again find the right combination of ATV/UTV - with a PTO.

 

[The kid]

Finally got both front and rear color brought back to life. I was missing the batter cover which is located under the rear fender rack. I hooked up with a guy in west Tennessee that's got the cover and a ton of parts for this machine. I'm going to try to buy everything he's got.

 

[94BULLITT]

My neighbor had one with a mower on the back.

 

[The kid]

I wanted to recover the seat on the Terrapro with some left over marine grade Naugahyde I had left over from a hotrod project. I had a old Arrow stapler and a Harbour Freight electric one. Neither would push the 1/4" T-10 staples into the nylon seat frame. So I bought a pheumatic Superbond stapler online. I knew it should set those staples with ease. It did.

I stripped off the old vinyl off the seat which had tears and holes. I thought about making a pattern and frankly the seat is too simple so no pattern was needed.

I put the Nagahyde in the dryer for about five minutes to warm it up so it would stretch easier. The seat closer to the front has a saddle curve and the vinyl had to be stretched at that point. I took the locking bar off the seat to give clearance as I shot staples all the way around. After stapling it all the way around I took a razor and trimmed the excess vinyl off then shot a second row of staples all the way around. I shot extra staples in the front corners to secure it and tighty it up.

A first for me, but turned out quite nice. Local upholstry shop wanted $75 to do it. They might have done a bit neater work but I'm satisfied.

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The finished product
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[2458n]

I remember when they were on the market. Went with the black and gold 1100 midnight special instead. The unit that I looked at a hyd. chainsaw attachment.

 

[The kid]

I remember when they were on the market. Went with the black and gold 1100 midnight special instead. The unit that I looked at a hyd. chainsaw attachment.

They made a hydraulic attachment to tow behind the Terrapro. Where one could use a post hole digger or whatever. I've only seen pictures of it.I saw one recently for sale for around $600

 

[The kid]

Starting to put some finishing touches on my Terrapro. I was working on the front brakes and the union cable snapped. So now I'm waiting for that cable to arrive before finishing puting the front end back together. I put some of the decals on and it's starting to look snazzy.

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[94BULLITT]

It looks good.

My neighbor had a mower for his. I remember he put a new belt on it every year. He said it made a bunch of sharp bends and if he did not replace it would snap or throw it, I can't remember. It is something you may want to watch out for. We also have better belts than what we had when the Terrapo was new so it may not be a issue now.

Did you know Yamaha also made lawn mowers? I have a customer that has one.

https://www.google.com/search?q=yamaha+lawn+mower&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=cP6bUuKxIeLgsATeyIKYBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1454&bih=725&dpr=1.1#es_sm=122&espv=210&q=yamaha+yt3600&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

 

[foreman Etexas]

It is looking really good...

 

[The kid]

It looks good.

My neighbor had a mower for his. I remember he put a new belt on it every year. He said it made a bunch of sharp bends and if he did not replace it would snap or throw it, I can't remember. It is something you may want to watch out for. We also have better belts than what we had when the Terrapo was new so it may not be a issue now.

Did you know Yamaha also made lawn mowers? I have a customer that has one.

Roger, I just bought a new belt for the FM48 finish mower and will install it when I get thru going thru it and put new paint on it. I still have to find someone to make me some decals for it. The belt has to twist 3/4 turn at one point the twist another direction. It's unique that it drives all three blades with just on 124" belt. If not install correctly I've been told the belt won't last long at all. Yes I did see that Yamaha made lawn equipment when doing Googles for parts. Most of the parts for this bad boy are obsolete and at the mercy of salvage yards. I have discovered some of the cableing is the same at the Moto 4 and Big Bear which helps.

 

[DT86]

I still have to find someone to make me some decals for it.

Looks to me like the ones on it are new and there are more new decals setting on the seat in a bag. :confused3:

 

[The kid]

Looks to me like the ones on it are new and there are more new decals setting on the seat in a bag. :confused3:

The ones in the bag are yet to be put on the left side. There are quite a few decals that goes on it.

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[DT86]

The ones in the bag are yet to be put on the left side. There are quite a few decals that goes on it.

What did they end up costing? Our "friend" hasn't called back and I may end up having to restore mine to get what I need back out of it, got too much $$ in it apparently.

 

[The kid]

The decals where $79 for the set. He cuts them apart and mails them in a smaller envelope. I got the rest of them on today as well as the grill and front bumper. It's pretty much done except for fine tuning a few levers where I replaced cables. Looks like I got to do a bit more work on the carb. It's missing a bit. Next is the mower tear down.

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