I have a mystery King Quad....

[olddude]

I just bought a KingQuad and it seems I am the third owner. The guy I got it from said it was a 2008, 400. When I first looked at it I could tell the machine had, had a pretty rough life. The plastics were all wire tied together and a lot of it was missing all together. I wasn't to worried about the plastic, that is until I checked the prices on that stuff.LOL I was more worried about the nuts and bolts than the plastic. Actually the bike was in pretty good shape mechanically and I could tell the original owner, although he ran the pure living crap out of it he did replace stuff when it broke. I could see that all the CV shafts had been replaced and both drive shafts had new boots on them. The suspention was all tight and according to the guy I bought it from the guy told him that he had gone through the motor. I drove it around his yard and everything worked but the brakes, there was none at all, but it had plenty of pep and no smoke so I pulled out 28 hunnard dollar bills and waved them before his eyes and he forgot all about the $3200.00 he was asking and away I went.

He gave me a box of parts the guy gave him that had a new CV shaft, a tie rod shaft, a oil filter and two sets of brake pads which was a plus. Oh and I also liked the fairly new wheels and mud tires that were on it. When I got home the first thing I did was to make a list of some things I wanted to replace. I especially didn't like the front fender and the side plastic pieces and also I wanted to get a service manual. I got on line and found a 2008 400 manual and I bought it for $22.00. AS soon as I downloaded the manual I knew something was wrong. First was the rear brakes. The 400's had brake shoe's and this bike has that newer brake system that's on the front of the rear differential. Also there was no FI on the 08 400 So I got to looking some more and I saw that there was a 450 that was a limited addition that year which had that braking system so I ordered one of those.

Once I downloaded that one I could see there were more things that were different so I'm back to square one. Then I decided to try and find the serial no, which I probably should have done to start with but you know how it is. The guy I got it from said he didn't use it but a couple times to pull deer out of the woods but where he was at there was some of the worst mud I have ever seen......Oh did I mention that he said he never did anything to it but put gas in it, that I truly believe. I took it out side and started to get the mud off so I could find the serial number. Three hours later of scraping, brushing and finally pressure washing the frame I could see paint. The number wasn't where I was told it would be and another hour gone with a magnafying glass I finally found the number. It was close to where it was supposed to be but I couldn't see it. I finally took a tooth brush and rubbed the area and finally I found it. 

Did I mention that before that a nice guy over on another site told me it might be a 500 because they did have a 500 FI in 08 so I got one of those too but it too was off a little. Well I wrote the number down an went in to do a search and the first one came up serial not found. The next one the same thing so back out to look again and what I looked at was right so back to the house to try again. The third check came back a 2011 500 x something. I tried several more search sites and they all came up with the same thing. Now the next thing that I'm wondering and probably worries me the most........How in the hell could someone rebuild an engine that was supposed to be a 400 when it's actually a 500.

I checked the air filter and that was one of the first things that I found strange. The 400's had a front mounted foam filter and this one was top mounted. When I finally found it it looked to me that it had never been cleaned lor replaced I guess everybody was looking for a foam filter and never looked in the filter box on top. I ordered a K&N filter but that thing don't seem to fit right. when the filter screw is all the way tight there is a small gap at the top and the filter can be moved side to side and you can grab it on top and the whole thing will turn. Let's see three service manuals and a $60..00 air filter and I still don't have anything, what have I done?

 

[Mech]

The best way to identify your bike, if the number tag is missing, is look up an online parts site that has photos, and a feature that allows you to check what any part you look up, fits, other than the model you are looking at.

This site is good.  https://www.mickhone.com.au/

Once you have a part identified, such as that rear brake, you click an arrow over on the right of the parts list and it will show you what other models it fits. Then check some of those models and compare the fuel systems, emission controls, body etc..  After a bit you'll know your bike inside out..haha

[olddude]

10 hours ago, Mech said:

The best way to identify your bike, if the number tag is missing, is look up an online parts site that has photos, and a feature that allows you to check what any part you look up, fits, other than the model you are looking at.

This site is good.  https://www.mickhone.com.au/

Once you have a part identified, such as that rear brake, you click an arrow over on the right of the parts list and it will show you what other models it fits. Then check some of those models and compare the fuel systems, emission controls, body etc..  After a bit you'll know your bike inside out..haha

I found the serial # that is stamped into one of the vertical risers on the left front. A check of that number says it's a 2011, AT-500 LT. I've been all over the web comparing parts. That's how I figured it out that it wasn't a 400 like the guy told me it was. I was just wondering how someone could rebuild an engine like that, there is a lot of difference between a 400 and a 500. My first thought that someone had changed out the frame for some reason.  I'm trying to figure out really what this engine is when I don't have a bike to compare them with. I hate to tear down the engine to see what's in there.  There was a 450 fi limited addition late that year in 08. Those two engines share a lot of the same parts but there are some differences also. There has got to be some way to tell without having to tear down the engine. Right now I'm going with the 500 only because that's what the serial says but it's still a mystery why they called it a 400.

Someone told me that there is a number stamped into the case that tells the story but when I put in that number nothing comes up, nor do I see anything on any of the parts sites that makes reference to any number like that. 

Yesterday I finally got the front wheels off the bike and I put new brake pads on. I had to get a special socket to get the lug nuts off. I was also able to adjust the rear brake so now I have brakes on both ends. One problem though I now have a sticky caliper on the left side which is most likely why the pads were worn down to bare metal. I'm thinking there shoudn't be too much diffference between the two models and hopefully I can get caliper rebuild kits and rebuild them both. 

I also got the winch working but I had to rob the control wiring from another new winch I had already. I had to switch the control wires from the way they were. The way it was it had the longer wires went to the battery with the shorter ones going to the winch. I switched them around so that I could put the controller under the seat rather than having the box right at the winch.  That's what happened to the old controller, water got to it and fried the solenoid. Hopefully I can get out into the woods this weekend to really see what I have.

Theres still a few more things I want to address but I'm going to wait until I know for sure just what I have.