what's with the Yamaha numbers?

[mga]

what's the difference between YFM400FMC or,YFM400FM, or YFM400FHRC?

[Mech]

if you look on partzilla parts online they use the common names and the model suffix, so you can figure out what it all means. If you look the bikes up in Babbits spares it has pictures of all the parts diagrams right in the first page for that bike. That page can be enlarged slightly in your screen(by holding shift and scrolling the wheel possibly), then once you have several bikes opening pages with all the diagrams showing at the same enlargement rate, you will find the pages click down so you can have each page as you click to it, lined up. Then you jump back and forwards from one bike page to another and you see the changed items in the diagrams because they flicker and catch your eye. Then you scroll down each bikes page by three clicks and jump from another page again watching for the flicker of something in those new diagrams that's changed.

There is one complication though, a certain letter in some position in a suffix one year, might not be the same meaning in that same place, or some other place, in a suffix another year. F generally means 4WD and has done so for years. 2WDs have used different suffix in different years. All the other letters it's best to just check in the relevant year.

[Mech]

This is quite a good site for sussing the model year differences.. though it might be a little americancentric.

https://www.autoevolution.com/moto/yamaha/

[mga]

is there a sticker or something that tells me which one i have? I believe its a YFM400F

[Mech]

There are stickers, mostly on the top frame rail I think on yamaha, and there's a frame or vin number which incorporates some information about the specs, but that doesn't directly translate to the suffix they apply to the common name of the model. If you look in a manual it tells you where the vin and model sticker is.

There are, and I have, long lists of vin and model numbers online, but they don't include every bike. I've got just over four-hundred model designations for yamaha quads. I got them online from various places. The model number tells us what the common name and suffix is, but it still doesn't spell out what that exactly means.

The manufacturers also use suffix letters or numbers to indicate the bike was made, but the different manufacturers all use different letters and they don't follow the vin convention. The year digit in a vin is nearly never the same as the year digit in a suffix. Yamaha model codes are something like 3GDG in the VIN and 3GD on the model sticker.

The best way to verify what it means is to follow that process looking at parts diagrams I suggested. Try it and you will see it works really well once you have the different models all enlarged to the same amount so the diagrams overlay one other as you flip from tab to tab on your browser.

Edited February 4 by Mech

[Mech]

Use that autoevolution site and figure which year range you have, then go to babbits and start looking at the options, then check the differences against your bike. Air-cleaner ducting varies, headlights vary, carbs vary, cdi units vary, body colours vary.. lots of things vary. Most of the mechanical procedures stay the same and apart from carb setup and ignition and charging systems you can just follow any close manual.

If you look at a wiring diagram of the bike you think you have, and compare that to your bike, it generally is the most accurate way to match up the model I think. They change wire colours and wiring plug colours and shapes a lot. They change them because they change the cdi and way they are wired a lot.. but that is more difficult to figure out. If you find a diagram with all the right shaped plugs and wire colours in a manual near your model it will probably be the bike you have. That will identify what international market your bike was made for.

If you give us the vin number I can try and tell you roughly what bike you have, but you'll have to confirm it's exact specs by figuring it out.. Or.. go ask a yamaha dealer.

[Gwbarm]

I found no sticker on mine to tell me which one i had ,so i did one of the internet vin# searches and it came back same as yours, YFM400F or YFM400FH Buckmaster, so i figured since mine wasnt camalflaged in color it was the YFM400F. I have just been playing like that was it, still not positively sure.

[Mech]

Could you understand what I was saying in #2 about looking at babbits photos Gw ? I ask because it was hard to explain and I wasn't sure I'd made it clear ?

It's the quickest way I've found to zoom in on the year and model.

Then the wiring seems to really pinpoint the market and exact model.

 

[mga]

VIN: 5Y4AH06WXYA008015

So, checking VIN look up sites, one says mine is a YFM400 and another says it's a YFM400FWN

Edited February 5 by mga

[Gwbarm]

Yes Mech thats the way i figured out if i was looking at the correct diagram , i would compare it to my bike to make sure wire colors were the same, although they were pretty much the same with all the 400 series of that year, and check to make sure all the componets were there in the diagram and on my bike. I still wasnt exactly sure but they did seem to match up. Just noticing there is no FWN for the 2000 model listed what year is yours. I do remember the YFM400 were the same numbers for the Kodiak and Big Bear and the other letters after specified what model.

[Mech]

The yfm400 isn't any model Mga. It has to have a suffix. Look here.. https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/c/yamaha_atv_2000/parts

If it's a 4WD it will have F as the first suffix digit, and in that year it will have either an M or an A as the first digit, depending  on the model, to indicate it's 2WD.

As Gw has suggested, the H normally indicates it's a hunter model with camo bodywork. So I'll ignore that one.

When I open up the five likely models in babbits, and scroll down four clicks on each page, and then click from tab to tab to see each page, the first thing I notice is that three of the models are belt drive and two are manual transmission. And the three belt drives all have A as their second suffix digit and the manuals all have M as their second suffix digit. A for auto and M for manual I would imagine.

So, depending on whether your bike is belt or manual transmission you could eliminate some of the babbit pages and carry on scrolling down and clicking from tab to tab watching for the flicker that indicates one of the diagrams has changed, and then checking your bike to see which of that change is like your bike. I can't do that for you.. You need to do that.

Once you have found the model and it's suffix, then you down load a or several service manuals(because some manuals are printed for specific markets) and start comparing carbs specs or wiring diagrams. The wiring diagrams are the most variable and you need to check the colours of the wires, which as Gw has said do tend to be common a lot of the time, but if the manual has the shape and colour of the connecting plugs that will indicate which model you have. They change the plugs if they change the cdi or regulators or stators with another one with the same colour wires. The colours of the wires alone can catch us out, but the combination of colours of wires, and colour and shape of the connector plugs will only match one model. Check the cdi and stator plugs and wires.

If you go through checking what's fitted to your bike you will figure the model with suffix, and what market it was made.

Edited February 5 by Mech

[Gwbarm]

3 hours ago, Mech said:

So, depending on whether your bike is belt or manual transmission you could eliminate some of the babbit pages and carry on scrolling down and clicking from tab to tab watching for the flicker that indicates one of the diagrams has changed

All Big Bears were manual , and all Kodiaks were automatics, they were so close to the same, if you wanted a manual shift you got a big bear and if you wanted an Automatic you got a Kodiak, and the Big Bears were 4 wheel drive all the time, i think they changed that on some of the later models, the Kodiaks could go to two wheel drive, or 4 wheel drive.

[Mech]

Oh ok.

I  generally look in partzilla. They always have the common names with suffix, though I think it's the american market and so not always the same model changes or years or names to elsewhere.

[mga]

good information guys.  then i'm going to say mine is a YFM400FM...since it's 4x4 and manual shift.

[Mech]

Ok then, it's a big bear then. But in some makes and models, depending where you are, it could be american, californial or canadian... or euro, GB, sweden, jap, kiwi, aussie, african, asian. They have subtle differences in the carbs, cdi and wiring sometimes. For working on those parts or for ordering parts in general, it's good to figure which you have by reading right through the service manual taking note which country variables they have. They mostly say early on in the manual what country versions there are. The carbs specs and the wiring diagrams also say what market or model they are for.

Edited February 6 by Mech

[Gwbarm]

Good point! Never really understood why they do that unless to pass strict safety requirements from the different countries

[Mech]

Different fuels, different exhausts(spark arrestor), different emission requirements, climate considerations, usage considerations, demands from the customers, safety requirements(like daytime running lights), servicing considerations. As far as vehicles in general go, the market makes a lot of difference in some makes and models.

The LT suzukis we get here are exclusive to N.Z. Then, N.Z practically invented quads ! And two wheeler farm bikes.