One of the problems we have with Honda ATVs are the front brakes. Only now have they started putting disk brakes on the newer bike. The old ones still have the old style drum brake. Sure they have changed them to a triple seal bla bla bla but they still leak. They might not on the first couple of rides but trust me, if you ride in the mud or water they will.

  To solve this problem you can pull off your stock drum brakes and bolt on a set of disk brakes. In my opinion, Xtreme products ( http://www.xpatv.com/ ) has  the best conversion kits on the market today. I have installed many different kits and this is by far the best kit.

  We called up Joe at Xtreme Products and ordered their conversion kit. In a couple of days the kit was ready to be installed. The kit came with all the hardware and directions needed for the install.

After lifting the bike in the air and pulling the tires off we were ready to get started

The drums were the first to come off. As you can see, the stock drums had started leaking and mud had started to cake onto the brake parts

The axle nut was then removed so we could remove the hub

The four inner bolts were then removed holding the drum brake assembly onto the spindle. The backing plate was then moved to the side leaving the brake line connected to the plate. This is to prevent excess air from getting into the brake lines

The new disk brake backing plate was then bolted up to the spindle. This will be the backbone to all the new parts we will add later.

With the hub removed, we needed to remove the stock studs. This is needed because they are too short. You can press these out using a press or vise or you can do it the wrong way by beating them out with a big hammer. We went the cheap way because we did not have a press or a vise. With a big socket placed under the back side of the stud we hit the front end squarely on the tip. After a couple of hits the studs popped out. If you beat on your studs like we did there is a chance of bending the studs. Once bent it is going to be very hard to remove. This is your call. I'm just showing you the cheapest way.

With the stock studs out we could assemble the disk brakes. The new studs attach the rotor, bolt spacers, hub, and wheel spacers all together.

The hub is then reinstalled back on the bike

The caliper is then bolted to the backing plate

These calipers are floating calipers. This means that if the hub flexes in any way, due to wheel Barings going bad or the rotor warping, the caliper will follow the rotor. This is the same technology in all auto disk brakes. On other kits the calipers are not floating and when Barings go bad the brake pads will wear very fast.

Once the caliper was bolted up we could connect the brake line. Acting fast we unbolted the line from the stock backing plate and bolted it to the caliper using the provided new crush washers. These washers keep the line from leaking and are very important to your brake system.

The stock backing plate could then be removed from the bike by clipping the factory vent line. This will not be needed on the disk brakes

With the line tight we could start bleeding all the air out of the lines. There is a couple of ways you can do this. The directions recommends the gravity method. Remove the top of the master cylinder reservoir so that you can check the fluid levels during the process. With everything tight, pump the brakes a couple of times to increase the line pressure going to the new calipers. Loosen one of the calipers bleeder screws to allow the unwanted air to come out. Leave the screw loose for a few seconds to allow the fluid to leak out. DO NOT PUMP ON THE BRAKES WHILE THE BLEEDER SCREW IS LOOSE. Fill the reservoir back full and do the same process on the other side. We did this a couple of times to be sure all the air was clear from the lines. The brakes should now be working. Place the lid back on the reservoir being sure not to damage the heads of the screws.

Last we reattached the brake lines to the A-Arms using the provided brackets. We did have to modify the lower bracket to clear the stock rims. All we did was drill a hole in the center of the provided plate. This gave us enough room to clear. After market rims are going to have more clearance.

To check your clearance, turn your wheels all the way and see if the rim rubs the brake line.

Now we have better brakes and we don't have to clean the drums after every other ride. We love them and have installed them on 2 other MUDandDIRT Hondas. They are the best aftermarket brakes out.

MaD