AlanN

My good buddy has a 230 and it is what he uses in the small trails when we go north. I rode it half way around Little O and it was great. The centrifugal clutch made it a dream to drive. He recently found a 250 with the sport clutch and it is an upgrade.

I still believe a good King Quad is the way to go for bulletproof, but no rack room for hunting. If your pulling a trailer it won't matter. Find a good condition 500EFI Polaris, maintain it, and drive it. It will do all you need. Over it's life you will replace some suspension parts, but they are cheap. The used quads are usually either rode hard and put away wet, or ones with low miles and garage queens. We have both quads and they have both been very dependable. I personally would not own a newer Polaris though. The 500 is a 2006. Be patient, the right quad will make itself known.

I could have written that better. Basically the large OEM's use them because they don't suck! The large OEM's use Kymco because they work. Meet the requirements given to them for production. Honda would not use them, they are too picky. I have dealt with them when at my time with Bosch.

I never word a ring when I was a mechanic, but I now wear a silicone ring all the time except on special occasions and then I put my good one on. At one of the car dealerships I worked at a young guy got married. When he came into the shop after the honeymoon, he had on a gorgeous ring. I told him to remove it for safety reasons, but he said "I will never take if off because it is a token of the commitment to my wife". To make a long story short, before the week was out he accidentally grounded a wrench (which was touching his ring) between the terminals of a battery and destroyed the ring and give himself a third degree burn. I had a neighbor farmer who pulled the end off his finger when getting his rind caught on a through bolt on the bed of a grain truck when he jumped off the side. Ladies and Gentlemen, your spouse would rather you not wear the ring doing certain things than you having no finger to put it on.

If you want dependable, choose the King Quad. I asked two different large dealers which sold most the brands ( Honda, CanAM, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki), both said the only thing the King Quad came into the shop for was oil changes. I have owned Polaris in the past and my son rides an injected 500 Sportsman, which has been flawless, but my friends with any Polaris other than a 500 have put a lot of money in them. I personally would never jump an utility quad, but to each his own. I personally own a 750 KQ and it has been flawless over four years.

A friend suggested I go to a off road "church camp" up in Michigan with my son as a way to bond. That was over five years ago and we are still going. We also go to the Ironman race in Indiana together. I never grew up with any toys, so I am a LATE bloomer. We do have a lot of fun, and I have a plow for one when we get snow.

The large OEM"s do not use Kymco as a supplier because they suck. A good friend had a 300cc Kymco scooter he drove to work and back for years. He never had any issue outside of maintenance. If I remember right the last time I talked with him he had over 25k miles on it.

Christian, Reading your description, I believe you are talking a fuel problem. If so, Part A is what has worked for me on many vehicles and tractors. I help a lot of older farmers and work on their old tractors and things that sit a lot. Also help locals with mechanical issues. Part A: Put some Seafoam in the fuel and run it. Old fuel with alcohol is hard on these carbs. The corrosion will partially plug up the circuits, especially the low speed one. If you are going to let it sit, turn off the fuel and run the carb out before storing. I used to own a 2000 500 also. I had it act similar one time when I forgot to empty the carb. I put in 1 gallon of fresh fuel with 6 ounces (rich) of seafoam and let it run at a high idle for almost an hour. I could hear the engine "clean up" every so often and the engine speed would raise. I would readjust the idle speed and let it keep running. I then put one more ounce of seafoam in the tank and filled it. I always put one ounce of seafoam in every tank after that and never had another problem. It would start in any weather almost faster than I could get my thumb of the switch. Part B: If it actually takes 1/4+ throttle to move and it is not because of the engine performance itself, Like those before, it could be the belt and or clutch have an issue. Wish you the best in getting your ride back together!

spray "breakaway" or something similar between the cv and the transmission case Don't be bashful, spray it all the way around. It will work its way down to the splines. Let it sit overnight, hit it again with the spray and let is sit through the day. That evening, with just a little prying it should come out. If removing second side just hit a drift on the end of the second axle by going through the splines where the other axle was. I use a 18" bronze drift. If replacing both, I just remove the "easy" one and worry about the other second.

spray breakaway type solvent behind CV joint day before removing. Spray a lot, it will creep into the splines.

Try some seafoam for a tank of fuel and see if it helps, if not, will probably need carb cleaned

http://www.vin-decoder.org/

http://www.vin-decoder.org/

Would love to find one in the Northern Indiana area!