Mech

The terms people use to describe problems varies, and is always a source for confusion when trying to diagnose things remotely.. that and varying degrees of experience actually working on machinery make it tricky helping online. What might be obvious immediately to an experienced rider or repairer, can go right off track in here.. Good work Hagbard on fixing his bike, and posting the cure..a good lesson/reminder for all of us..

Dang ! Well anyone that checks vacuum must be pretty on to it, and probably doesn't need advice from me, but.. have you tried moving the needle in it's slide.. that's what controls the mixture through most of it's range. And aftermarket carbys are often not setup right, though I'd expect a mikuni to be set pretty good. I'd compare all it's jets, including the emulsion tube and air bleed jets, and the slide needle, are all the same as the original.. and if they aren't, I'd swap them all for the old jets.

So are you saying the starter and lights etc aren't working ? Then I'd suspect there's a problem with the wiring, or fuses.. If the lights and starter are working then I suggest you check it has plenty of fuel still, and that you check it has a spark at the spark plug to start with.. Let us know what you find there and I can suggest the next steps to take.

Is the shaft a bit tight in the housing ? Gear-shafts get bent sometimes... or it could be an end-float issue.. gasket missing or wrong shim. That would have changed when you pulled the cover and so could have been missed. If the shaft is free then you'd think the return spring for the shaft is not working..

Ha.. good one. You have dealt with cv s before then, and know the tricks, a gentle lever and then a light tap with a hammer on the opposite side, or a sharp wrench straight out after having turned it while pulling gently to centralize the circlip.. If the circlip is stuck or damaged though.. then it's all on. And I do believe I have seen a picture of diffs with the sides torn off... it does happen. Good luck with that one.

No trouble.. Glad to be of help.

Looking up the ball joint part number I see them on Amazon for $23. And the hub.. https://www.megazip.net/zapchasti-dlya/kawasaki/knuckle-lh-391867503?q=39186-7503

Ok... There's a 360 Prairie and there's a 360 Prairie Advantage Classic.. The 360 prairie has that other sort of suspension, and your's looks like the adantage classic. https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/owner-center/parts/145929/2003/KVF360-C1?cm_re=PARTSLISTING:2003Prairie3604X4AdvantageClassic-_-FINDDIAGRAM-_-PARTBUCKET

Doh... Ok, so I'd look at different markets, or years.

The 02 300cc looks like what you are talking about...

I don't like the sound of that advice Dave.. Transmission fluid is nothing like engine or gear oil.. Gear oils and engine oils are two totally different things too..

https://lucasoil.com/pdf/TDS_SXS_Transmission_Fluid.pdf

Oh no.. I see the starter tries to operate, but grinds.. so the solenoid is working. Starter cables, earths, or starter motor then... You could use jumpers and put an earth on the starter and straight to the battery's earth, and another jumper straight to the starter from the battery and see if it operates.

Does it have a neutral switch ? Most things won't operate the starter if they think they are in gear.

Ha.. good story Bro..

Yeah, if you can return the start lever by hand ok, and it works again, probably just the spring.

You could also try wriggling the wiring with the lights on and see if it causes the fuse to blow.. It may just be as simple as a worn/chafed wire.

Yeah good though Gwbarm.. Might be a good idea to check the current drain at the fuse. And yeah Clinej, it could be, and probably is, a coincident.. There are symptoms, and their are circumstances, and we need to take careful note of each when we are diagnosing problems. And, if we can, we should try and confirm what the one thing is that always causes the problem, eliminating the coincidences, and the contributing but not cause factors. Then we can carry out the certain to cause the problem routine, to confirm that the problem is definitely fixed. Might be a good idea to go for a longer faster ride sometime when it's not wet or snowing and see if it does it..

I'm not familiar with that bike but if you follow the oil lines from the oil tank down to the motor, you will I think find an oil pump, under a cover, but pretty easy to access for bleeding. Most of the pumps are controlled by a cable, and if you pull the cable a little it should increase the amount of oil going in, and make more smoke. There's also likely to be a scribe mark on the cable's wheel to be used to adjust the pump to the throttle setting. Best read the manual to check what that mark is meant to line up with, and whether it's at full throttle or idle.

The colour !

The workshop manual will tell you exactly where and which way each gear should be on it's shaft, with spacers etc, and which shift fork goes where. The cases don't have a gasket, just sealer, and I'd highly recommend you buy a tube of loctite master gasket and use.. It's clean to use and doesn't leave long strands of squeezed out silicon inside the engine to block the filters.. It doesn't really matter what gear it's in as you assemble the cases(if that was the question). As for the gear shift, I'd put the center cases together temporarily and try every gear change by turning the shift barrel from in the side case, whilst turning the two gear shafts. It would be good to have the lever and wheel in the side case that rubs on the shift barrel and holds it in each gear. That wheel both holds it in a gear once selected, but also makes sure the shift travels all the way into gear if you don't move the shift lever full travel. The shift barrel may be a little tight to turn if it's all dry in there, but you should be able to turn it with your fingers as long as you turn the shafts enough. Sometimes you will need to turn the shafts quite a few turns to allow the cogs to line up and engage, but they should all slip nicely from one gear to the next with enough turning of one or both shafts. Be patient, test it carefully up and down through all the gears. If you can get all the gears at that point, it suggests the problem is in the outer/side case, something in the shift mechanism before it gets to the shift barrel. Possibly the return spring on the lever, or the spring on the ratchet mechanism, or the ratchet mechanism itself. Post photos if it's easier than trying to describe things, or, get the manual or look things up in an online parts place, and describe parts as the book does.

It's a bit strange that water could blow a fuse. Normally it takes quite a bit of current to do that, and water doesn't conduct much current. Are you sure it's the water causing it, not something else associated with the water, like the big drop into the river say ? If you are sure it is water causing it, use a garden hose and carefully wet one bit of the electricals at a time, allowing time for it to sink in, till the fuse blows ?

If it has an oil pump and auto lube then, you can probably move the oil injection pump's control a little and check the smoke increases as you rev it a bit. The pump probably has a bleed screw/bolt too for bleeding the system if it's been dry. You could undo that and check the oil's getting through. And the last and best way is to drive it and look back every so often and check there is smoke..haha.. More smoke after a bit of boosting and less when it's just ticking along.

It sounds like shift, or worn engagement dogs on the gears. I've never seen shift forks so worn they allowed changes to occur though, but worn drive dogs under load eject themselves out of one gear, and into another.. often.. If the engagement dogs are worn it will be effected by throttle quite a bit, it'll jump out of one gear and into the next with a crash/bang under load, generally throttle loads, but also sometimes heavy overrun loads. But if it's dodgy shifters it's as likely to just rattle into the wrong gear because you cornered or were driving along with no load and things could move. Not necessarily the shift forks, but the shift drum or shift linkages. You don't actually say that heavy throttle causes the problems, and it could be that when you are driving briskly you just don't change as carefully, but I'd guess the engagement dogs have rounded shoulders, and that it's heavy throttle that's causing a gear to be spat out, causing it to slide into another gear. Either way, whatever causes the changes under load, the shoulders on the cogs will soon be rounded anyway, or could be now. I'd drain the oil and dredge through it with a magnet looking for bits of steel. If there is steel shards then it sounds like a strip down, but if the oil is pretty clean, noting but metal dust in the oil, then I'd pull the side case and inspect the shifter mechanism and the shift drum/barrel for end float.

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