First ever made ATV brought back to life Avenger 400
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- Опубліковано 24 жов 2017
- First 4 wheeler ever made! A sad neglected ATV gets a second chance to get used and abused.
Items I talk about/use in the video:
Favorite Spark Tester: amzn.to/2h7AVCw
Tire Ject: amzn.to/2h7zxjn
Tire Ject MY Video: • Permanently Fix Flat A...
Polisher: amzn.to/2yMmkFS
Polishing Compound: amzn.to/2gBY53p
1983 Avenger 400 with a 318cc Kohler k181 8hp and a Comet F-N-R gear transmission with a infinite gear ratio CVT transmission.
HISTORY (from what I could find)
Adventure Vehicles, Inc., 114 Melvyn Drive, Monroe, La. 71203
Late 70's-early 80's they had the "Avenger Big Foot", then the "Avenger 300" a 3 wheeler as well as the "1/4T" a 3 wheel utility vehicle (modeled like a Cushman of the era). In 1980-81ish they used the same rear frame setup and engineered the first commercially available "4 wheeler"; the Avenger 400 (msrp guesstimate $2100($5000 today's money)). In 1984 they were also first to released the first 4 wheel drive ATV the HONCHO which sold new for $2500(todays money $6000) compared to a Honda, Suzuki or similar that sold new for $1200-2300 ($2800-$5500 today). They catered to farmers(Honda was doing the same) and were great for farm work due to 4wheel stability and a forced air cooled engine unlike Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki. Their shop in Monroe burned down sometime in the mid 80's and they relocated but never recouped, especially with the fierce competition in the ATV world.
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-Letter from DEALER in Idaho of Adventure Vehicles (dated 2009)
"Adventure Vehicles was the first manufacturer of quad ATV's. They started making a three wheeler and offered a quad front end for Honda three wheelers.They added the Avenger 400 quad soon after. Honda noticed their quad and came out with the Suzuki Quad. Honda built a test track in Monroe, LA and started factory design and testing for a full size Honda model. The rest is history. Just like when Honda destroyed the US minibike industry in the early 1970's with the Honda MiniTrail, Honda's put Adventure Vehicles out of the manufacturing of ATV with their Quads. Their Avenger 400 was a ride on top ATV with ridgid suspension. Although it was a very stable vehicle, it had lousy steering geometry and was a fight on rough trails. With its wide track and ridgid suspension, I could race it around my asphalt parking lot and power slide the corners. I still have one that I rebuilt the front end on for better steering geometry. One of the original markets was the agriculture industry. The forced air cooling made it a better vehicle for a farmer. The Honda 3 wheeler had a tendency to overheat if left idling while parked.
Mark in Idaho"
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HAVE MORE HISTORY TO ADD? Send me a message and I would love to correct or add what I already have here.
Neat vintage magazine articles on them
1984 Honcho- www.farmshow.com/a_article.ph...
1984 Avenger 400 & Mower- www.farmshow.com/a_article.ph...
Rock Angel by Joakim Karud / joakimkarud Creative Commons - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported- CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b... - Навчання та стиль
I bought my Avenger 400 when I was just 13 years old from a dealership in Goodrich, TX. I'd wanted a 3-wheeler since 10 years old but my parents wouldn't let me buy one of them, then we saw these brand new 4-wheeled ATV's as we were driving thru Goodrich 1 day and I had to have one! Still have it today in fact, thought I probably had the last surviving 1 I was shocked to see you found one to restore! :-O
I grew up in that factory. My step father helped open up the company and designed those bad boys (including the ugly rack, haha). He was chief welder and fiberglasser. He designed some of the first climbing stands, too. Everything we owned was made out of the metal from those bikes. The Adventure 3 wheeler was the first ATV with reverse and electric start, I believe. It was cutting edge in some ways and very old school in other ways. It also focused its design on farm work instead of fun. That's where the Honda killed it. The Adventure was too slow and too heavy for younger people. It was also terribly unreliable at first when it had Tecumseh engines in them.
We recently came across a Manco we are trying to rebuild. Could you possibly be able to help us ?
That thing is freekin awesome and I'm super jealous. Love the old school 80's stuff! You did a great job bringing that back, looks terrific!
Thanks. It looked horrendous when it was pulled from the horse stable. I figured I could pull the engine off worse case but I have a soft spot for anything old. I'm sure it'll have some good times with me.
So, do I. Hopefully we can catch some riding videos of it. Keep up the cool stuff.
What a great find, that baby cleaned up really well thanks to your hard work. Great video Brother.
I was not expecting it to look that shinny.
Great find. Congrats. I'm pretty sure that most of the worse driving experiences are caused by too old, not round and dried out tires.
Wow. That brings back some memories. As a pre-teen to young teen I use to ride one of those all day in the summer during the late 80's thru early 90's when I'd visit my Grandfather. that was some good old days.
That's great. Though it's not up the technological advances of today, it still can bring a lot of fun.
Man that is a cool bit of retro machine. I can’t believe it cleaned up so nice!
Thanks. Yeah, so many times you put a lot of effort into something and it still doesn't look that good. I was impressed how well it glossed up.
DANG, that come out looking great ! Can't believe how that fiberglass polished up, never would have thought it.
AND it runs, a nice bonus!
You done a heck of a good job on that, I love seeing things like that brought back to life.
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Luckily it was stored out of the sun so the gel coat/fiberglass didn't get all cracked. I was shocked when I started polishing it.
sixtyfiveford
Yeah, that explains a lot of it. Still, being that old I'm surprised.
Awesome video! Great drone shots, and I could watch these kinds of videos all day, bringing something back from the dead, cleaning it up very nicely and it's like a new machine!
Thanks. It's always a long project, but very rewarding to stand back and see the final results. Glad I could share it online. -Moe
Nice work on a cool vehicle. I remember test riding one of those back in '85, we had a Honda Big Red three wheeler we kept at a hunting camp and my dad wanted to replace it with a quad. We ended up buying a Honda FourTrax 250 which I still have. Overall I thought the Avenger was a decent vehicle, though crudely built. The lack of suspension was the deciding issue, my mom had broken her wrist rolling the three wheeler and the Avenger seemed less stable than the FourTrax. Price wise the Honda was considerably more expensive, but that could have been due to high demand for them or the Avenger dealer (who primarily sold boats) looking to move inventory.
All the MSRP pricing I found shows they were originally more than the Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha models. Supposedly the 4x4 model was double the price of entry level Asian models and $500 more than the top of the line Honda. I think they went out of business(fire and sales) around '84-'85 so they were probably trying to liquidate them. They couldn't compete with build quality for price you got from cheap Asian manufactures. It's a piece of history and fun to show off, but not an engineering marvel for sure.
Very cool ole ATV Moe! Unbelievable how nice that fiberglass cleaned up. That ole Kohler sounds great too.
I didn't expect much from the fiberglass and thought I could get a little gloss, but not as much as it did. I was going to steal the Kohler off of it originally, but it grew on me and I couldn't chop it up.
That came up real nice, my old Howard's rotovator has that type of Kohler engine on it. The frame and steering on that quad looked very primitive , but they had to start some where, nice old classic there. I had a Honda big red I think 1995 that was a nice machine and well made. Good vid thanks.
Thanks, those Kohlers are a great motor.
Awesome job !! Very impressive work . Im blown away by your knowledge and skill ! Keep up the great work!
Wow, Thanks Jeff!
Just picked up an Avenger 400!!! Can’t wait to get started. Thanks for posting your video!
Awesome. Question for you. I've looked all over my frame for a serial number and can't find one. So I don't know if it was just a decal or metal plate riveted on. Does yours have one and if so where, so I can look at mine?
I’ll take a look at it and get back to you.
Wow that thing is like new after your repair. I am surprised at the prices back then. I remember my dad bought a brand new Datsun B210 for $3000 in I think, 1976. That wasn't that much more than the price of this quad a few years later.
I had to see how much that was in today's dollars. Looks like $3000 1976 = $13,000 2017. Hard to buy a basic new truck for less than $20-30,000+ these days. I do wish they would offer a simpler vehicle sometimes. That's what made Datsun and the Toyota's of the day popular. They were cheap and basic, which equaled reliable.
Very cool!!! looking for a nice old project myself. that shine on the fibreglass turned out sweet. Glad it went well for ya!
Project like these are a lot of fun. They just take a massive amount of man hours.
My dad bought me a brand new one of those in 1982, I still have it today. I have it covered up in one of my shops with all the original paperwork. I have always been interested in anything with a motor. It is in connoisseur condition, my dad always said I was going to wash the paint off. Now I own several show cars. That four wheeler is a great little machine.
That's awesome.
Question for you about the shift lever. Am I missing a bracket or is it just like I have with a knob?
sixtyfiveford I don't know how to get a picture to you, but it's a 5/16 rod with a red rubber end on it. It does not extend out past the rear fender.
Jeff Schoenthaler
Hey everyone I’d like you to come join our Facebook group “Honcho USA Made 4x4 quad enthusiasts page”. We’re just starting out & hoping for more members interested in sharing enthusiasm for these including buying or selling too.
A relic from the past and very basic but it was fun to follow along and see what it took to get it running. Looking good too.
It's neat to see stuff built with off the shelf parts.
Great video with lots of information . Thanks for your time and effort!
Thanks, it was a fun project.
Awesome find, I never heard of that brand atc/atv. learn something new everyday. Reminds me of the old Suzuki Lt 3 wheelers, then 4 wheelers. Anyhow it turned out pretty good for you, thanks for sharing.
Thanks. Yeah, I have one of the first 4wheel models Suzuki as well(84 lt 230 kick start only). The Suzuki is definitely a more refined machine and shows why American made products lost against cheap Japanese toys.
I spent some time getting the Kohler 181 in my late 70's Wheelhorse B-80 last week. The intake valve was stuck open, and someone left the ignition on at some point and fried the coil/points... Nice engine to work on though; a lot nicer than the Tecumsehs I'm used to.
I don't work on them very often, but do enjoy how much automotive influence they use in their functionality.
Wow!! Talk about a diamond in the rough. I always love your videos. Makes me want to did out my old 86 Q-sport, I know it will never look as good though.
Thanks. I knew it would run again, but didn't think it would shine up so nice.
Wish you would post more content. Love the edit on this. Keep up the quality work!
Thanks Mark. I need to do less time consuming projects so I can fit more in. Customer projects have been keeping me pretty busy the last few months.
An outstanding job. It looks just shy of new again. It's awesome to bring an item back to life or just give it a new one.
I started polishing it and I couldn't believe the instant shine it took.
Also the original knobby tires it came with weren't curved across the tread they were almost completely flat from one side wall to the other. I've seen identical tires to the original's at Tractor Supply for about $65 each.
You make great video's! Very detailed descriptions of what your working on,you go above and beyond man!! Peace out!!
Thanks for watching.
I get a kick out of the lack of good steering on many 70' and 80's "things". I restored a McKee Roughrider 6x6 once and thought the engineering was pure genius... until I drove it!! It steered the opposite direction depending on whether you were ON or OFF the throttle, LOL.
That makes them fun!
Great find and a great restoration.
Cheers
Martin
Thanks Martin. It's not a derelict mower, but probably the worst ATV I've ever come across.
Nice job! That’s actually pretty cool having a regular old kohler engine on that thing, easy to work on.
Oh the good old days!
Thanks.
You could buy hard parts anywhere. I live close to where they were made. Somewhere I have a new brochure from the dealer.
Nice Find. Good Watch and I have worked on one of those in Wisconsin many years ago and we have seen a lot of weird ones around here.
Thanks.
WOW! That machine turned out like brand new. Nice job. Good drone footage.
Thanks. I tried to ride a wheelie and either I or the machine don't have the balls.
Save that for a motorcycle barn find.
Great job on a nice piece of history, Moe!
Thanks. It was a fun project.
This is first time I saw a centrifugal clutch working and now I realized how it works!
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
Great drone video. I just got a kawasaki 185 bayou atv and got it running somewhat well. Nice video.
Thanks. The old Kawasakis are fun... Well they're all fun until they break down.
Though Honda would become the most popular ATV brand later on, the very first ATV was actually developed in 1961 in Toronto, Canada and called the Jiger. The Jiger was a 5 1/2 horsepower, 200 pound, 6-wheeled amphibious ATV, meaning the vehicle could travel on land and water. The first Jigers built for sale were all built to order.
how cool is that thing, kinda a dune buggy atv,
Odd ball vehicles are always a lot of fun.
Great job Moe! When I was watching the drone footage of you riding down the street I thought to myself, Wheres the dog?? Great to see you two at the end! haha I like working on 'old crap' no doubt. The challenge of making something useful again.
Thanks Glen. Yeah, the dog goes crazy in the house if I don't let her have a ride and knows I am.
What a transformation! Always enjoy your videos.
I was surprised it shined up so nice. Thanks.
Great video! The quad looks so unique!
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
Amazing how good the brakes work, good job should be able to make a few skins on that when you sell it, one thumbs down must be the previous owner !
Thanks. Yeah some people hate on everything.
easily one of the best channels on youtube!
Thanks Man.
Now the Avenger 400 is rear-wheel drive only, but they did make some that were 4-wheel drive using chain that ran from the rear axle up to the front end to drive the front wheels. Looked pretty hokey at the time, never wanted that model and don't think they sold many of them. I found that a little toe-in on the front wheels makes the steering ok, and don't over-inflate those tires they should only carry about 5 psi in each tire max! Other than that there is no "give" to the suspension of course, if 1 front tire rolls over a large ant-mound the entire front end is going to come up both sides... these machines were very simple construction.
Turned out looking awesome nice find nice work
Thanks Shaun. -Moe
Drive pulley like an MTD flex pulley. Good for you. Fun stuff. Great drone footage.
Thanks Bruce. New toys are always fun and break up the monotony of mower carb cleaning.
I sometimes wonder if I clean to many carbs o You Tube. But the mowers are different and the carbs are different (sometimes) and they seem to be watched. Amazing.
Nice vid bro! It's always fun saving old stuff
Thanks.
Boy, it cleaned up good. Nice job Moe.
A little elbow grease and it shined up nice. Thanks.
Originally, it did have a pull-start as well as the electric start. Mine still has the original pull-start on the side of the engine.
Nice job Moe, sure buffed out great!
Thanks. Yeah, it's amazing how well it took a shine.
Did you get a new drone? :) And do you watch off the ranch. I totally got the feel of that from your drone footage. I do love your videos. It's awesome when an almost 14 minute video only feels like it was 5. Boredom level zero! Keep up the good work.
Thanks. I've bumped into Off the Ranch videos 2-3 times. I've had a drone for almost a year, just never an opportunity to use it like it's intended.
I got my first dui on a 3 wheeler:(
Where about in ohio are you?
fuzzy wuzzy sounds like you got more afterwards?
Evil from evilution yea i got 2 of them, both before i was 21. I was a real weekend warrior back in the day. I don't drink anymore though it's been about 2 years since I had anything
fuzzy wuzzy another awesome video, thanks for posting!!
Same hahaha
Great video as always!! You make that old buggy good as new!!
Thanks Walt. -Moe
Actually Suzuki came out with a 125 in 1982 then Honda came out with their 4wheeler in 1984. This is not the first atv, but cool to see. I remember the first Suzuki 125, it was too light in the front end and it was hard to climb anything without the front end lifting skyward
These came out in a roughly 80-81 and actually made 4 wheel conversions for most other brands.
Very cool machine and simple can't be better. Good find.
Thanks. I couldn't pass it up from the auction with the Kohler. Thought I would use the Kohler for a random project, but these eclectic things start growing on me and I couldn't chop her up.
They once made a 90 HP "drag" vehicle to take to races. I think it was the 3 wheeler version. It had a wheelie bar and all! I wonder where that one is today!
That would be neat to see.
Nice job. It looks brand new.
Thanks. Yeah, I was surprised it shined up so nice.
It did clean up nice. It should be fairly reliable. Stock up on parts for that kohler because they are hard to find. Oh yeh, one more thing, reduce the sir pressure to 3 to 3.5 psi and it will have some suspension! LOL Again.....great job!
Yeah, lower pressure is on my list.
Nice rig, sounds meaty.
I was thinking the same thing. It thumps pretty good.
Holy it looks like brand new now. I wounder if my Terra jet will shine like that again.
I was thinking of seeing if my TerraJet would take a gloss like this.
Very nice. She runs well and looks purdy. The steering is quite atrocious, but I doubt you're going to beat that vintage thing on the trail anyways
Yeah, she'll be a slow putt around toy for sure.
Looks so nice dude I'm getting one today
I JUST GOT ONE TO DAY IT NEEDS WORK CANT GET IT STARTED YET THAT WAS COOL LOOKS GOOD
my first 4 wheeler i had was in the very early 90's like 92 and it was a mid 80's model not sure what year but was a suzuki 250 quad no suspension in the rear rough ride but fun being a kid
Any thing that revs is a blast as a kid.
Like your style, glad I subscribed to the channel. Nice job on the wheeler too
Thanks man. -Moe.
Now go back and watch all of his previous videos.
Oh,I've been subscribed for a while now!
I just got one from stone mountain GA hope to get it running soon
NICE WORK on this!
Thanks. It was a fun little project.
Score! But is does look pretty unstable in sharp turns. Good job.
Thanks. It'll keep you clenching the hand grips for sure.
I like it.....Great job...That was a fun project.....solid metal suspension like a mini tank....make sure you wear full football pads and mouth guard on if you take where you take the truck....LOL
Yeah, for sure. Thanks.
Nice ride-- well done!
Hey Thanks. It was a fun project and always great when they clean up so nice.
Yes .....
We used to have 25 machines and 4 different models M-5. S-model. J-5 and the bombi. My dad had a rental business. I still use 1 unit it has a blade and I have a backhoe,Post pounder and I built a log splitter for it.
That's neat. I knew they made attachments but wouldn't have guess a backhoe.
sixtyfiveford/ all the attachments I have added myself. There usage is unlimited. I'm lucky to have one. They sure help out around the farm or acreage.
Wow that shined up nice!
I really didn't expect anything near how well it shined up.
Very nice work. Love it.
Hey Thanks.
Nice work as always !!!
Hey Thanks.
LOL just notice the engine's name KOHLER a good engine for many things like a snowmobile or wood sawing outfit,or gravel conveyor or even a gen set.They are one tough motor.
Yeah, these old cast iron Kohlers are tanks.
Geez that came out nice hey , Pretty basic quad like polaris make a hell of a go-cart.
Thanks. It's pretty much just a go cart with the engine between your legs.
Dude I searched all over the internet for one of these 😂 couldn’t find any of these this thing is rare asf
Yeah, not much out there on them.
great video... and great info....
Thanks Man.
wow, not much to it; hard on the ole back I would say . Brings back memories and back still aching. Sounds good though!
Yeah, one dirt road and you'll be in pain.
Easily one of your best videos yet!
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
Holy smokes that thing turned out well, great job!
Hey Thanks.
Where did you get that?! Awesome find. I was shocked when I saw the finished product. Shinned up real nice!! Great job
Just a random barn find from an estate auction. I was originally going to just pull the motor out and use it for another project.
Wow, dunno how much you paid for it but I think you got a sweet deal! Congrats!
She was very cheap. Those are generally the ones that come home with me. Thanks.
Someone got them selves a Drone! Awesome save there Moe! And you know I like working on "Old Crap"!!! lol Keep on keepin on my Friend! Zip~
I don't play with Kohlers much, so that is one of the main reasons I picked it up.
That is sweet. Lower the pressure in the tires a bit to improve the ride and handling..
That was the intention. But months ago when I put the Tireject in I pumped them up to 10ish psi and expected them to loose a little air as the Tireject sealed them up. Nope, they have not lost a drop.
sixtyfiveford
Glad you brought that up. I told a friend about how you done that and he tried it..... worked out great! 👌
I'm still an innertube man whenever possible. I think I already told you about pulling my Grandpa's old 1950's riding mower out of a pile of scrap, where it had been for 30+ years. And noticed that unlike my own mower, it's tires were still pumped up. I thought what the hello?!? It had innertubes....
I run innertubes in my garden tractors when the holes are big big. I've even needed to put in backer rubber so the tube won't bulge out :). I've used gallons of the slime type sealants (I buy it in 5 gallon buckets) with great success and it saves me from pulling a bunch of tires and buying/installing tubes. Tubes are great but drive me crazy when I do get a puncture or rip the stem off and have to pull the entire tire. TireJect is my new go too though as I've never had any seal up as good or fast.
awesome video cool that you brought that old 4 wheeler back from the dead. it looks nice now what are you going to do with it?
I'll keep it around for a while so it can work off all the hours of labor I put into it. Then it will probably find a new owner.
Awesome video!!!! Good job
Thanks man.
First atv was the jiger made in canada in 1961 it was a 6 wheel amphibious atv. The first 4 wheel atv was the suzuki quadrunner 125 introduced in 1982.
This was introduced before the Suzuki
Very cool , Looks great Moe .. ! Thumbs up man..
Thanks Man.
That's pretty cool man. I was loling at your dog watching u on the four wheeler
Thanks Man.
hey I just have one question, does anyone know what kind of belt this takes? I have one myself and am trying to revive it but I don't have a belt for it
Nice work!
Thanks Man.
Nice job!
Thanks. It was a fun little project.
Amazing. It looks almost like new.
I was surprised how well it shined up.
You are now the envy of the other lads in the neighborhood.
really cool man. Nice simple quality utility 4 wheeler. You're very good. You using the Teletubbies on acid music struck me funny :))
They have to pay their bills as well. Thanks.
Yeah, being on acid is no excuse man.
Sweet machine and a nice save.
Thanks, it was a fun little project.
You're welcome.
I looked at a lot of fuel pumps i don't know if it has a arm on it or if it is a flush mount i don't have no numbers on the frame at all i don't no what motor i have it looks like yours
The motor should be a Kohler k181 and should have a name tag on the engine shroud.
Wow amazing job
Thanks. It's fun to stand back and look at something you fixed up.
I think the VERY FIRST QUAD BIKE is the Royal Enfield Quadricycle from 1893, but i don't know very much about this one
Hey buddy. You said you didn't use anything to restore the shine to the fiberglass but it looks like you have maybe a 3M product in the video. It also looks like some kind of haze the polisher is working. Did you have something you put on there or was it a dry buff? Maybe it was just a cleaner wax of some sort?
Thanks for another interesting, motivating and inspiring video.
I used 3m polishing compound but no waxes.
Ok, thanks Moe. I have a fiberglass shower I am getting ready to attack so this was part of why I was curious. I have some 3M Marine Fiberglass Restorer and Wax that I got at a thrift store that I am going to try. I already tried it on some bath fixtures just for fun and it definatly left some wax. And without scratching. I've learned a lot of good stuff from your videos. Thanks.
That is so cool , l never seen one before.
Thanks. Neither had I.
Great Job!
Thanks Wayne. It shined up really nice. -Moe