coupedehille

River Ranch

they work great. they fit perfectly on the prairie. a little loose on the big bear and foremans, but a little bit of electrical tape and they were snug. no more water in the diffs!

Turns out the service manager who told us what the problem was didn't exactly have the story straight. he said there was water "in" the carburetor. I was thinking he meant where the fuel is. it was in fact a problem with the linkage. the inside of the carb was fine. (he gave me the old carb) looks like we've been doing a satisfactory job of draining the water out and keeping it clean. the little side cover where the idle adjustment screw and throttle spring and such are enclosed had water inside and was rusted. the choke was stuck and that was the main problem. looks like I'll need to remove that cover after each ride and hose it down with some WD-40 as well as the choke. 3 screws, that's no biggie. my buddy had the same problem on a honda foreman. so if you ride water, remove the outer covers on your carb that house the mechanical parts of it on a regular basis, you could be holding water in places you don't realize.

very nice! thanks a bunch for the info. I can take a motor apart and put it back together but I have never messed with carbs. when we do have an accident and swamp it, we've gotten pretty good about shutting the bike off or at least letting off of the throttle so that water doesn't make it all the way into the chamber. we immediately drain the airbox, then dry out the air filter as much as possible on the trail, then drain the carb, then check the oil and make sure there isn't any water in there. if there is water in the oil, we don't even attempt to turn it over. someone's getting towed back to camp for an oil change. (we all have extended the crank case breather hose and made loops around the air filter and that has saved our butts from getting water in the oil about 75% of the time.) however, despite this routine the carb must be holding water that doesn't drain and is not being held in a place that is crucial to performance. because in less than a year we're replacing the carb due to rust. so would turning the bike up on the back rack help to dump the water back into the airbox until we can get back home and do the maintenance you spoke of, or would it make no difference?

called a service center because we have an extended warranty and they said they'd try to get it covered, or bill for something to cover it. it turns out the choke was rusted. they had to replace the whole carb. warranty covered $170 and we had to pay $160 out of pocket. could have been much worse. so my next question is how should I go about getting all of the water out of the carb after we swamp it? obviously draining it doesn't cut it. if we turn it up on the rear rack would that dump it all into the airbox? do I need to blow it out with air or vacuum it out after we get home? suggestions... other than the obvious "don't get water in the carb."

Got the bike brand new in July of 2009. ran great, snorkeled it and tuned the snorkel so no mixture adjustment was necessary. it wasn't long before the bike was difficult to start. it will not start now without hitting the gas. even after the motor is nice and hot it won't start without getting on the throttle. then it idles rough once it starts. it sounds like the timing is off. There's a very faint black smoke from the exhaust, and the plug was black, so it appears as though it has been running rich. HOWEVER, I can take the airbox lid off and take the air filter out and it makes no difference. still has that black smoke and sputtering idle. it runs perfectly when you're riding it. no sputtering, no lack of power, nothing. side notes: the idle adjustment screw got really hard to turn, I have to use pliers now. the idle is sporadic, it's either about to stall or it's revving at 3000rpm. the choke only seems to work about half the time. could the choke be sticking and causing a rich condition at the carb?

yeah, we put the bikes on an incline and spend about a half hour pressure washing each one after every ride. I'll have to pay more attention to the brakes during that cleaning from now on.

I've got 8 of them on the way. 4 for two honda foremans, 2 for a big bear and 2 for a prairie. I'll let you know how they work out after our next ride when we have a chance to test them in the water all day long and see if any water gets in. the can am part number is 705400352, it's called a SOUFFLET BELLOW. I believe the same part number is used on all can ams. how do you like your king quad? do you have anything negative to say about it?

2008 yamaha big bear 400 4x4 and 2006 kawasaki prairie 360 4x4. I got a lot of feedback from friends and from other forums about mud wearing pads down fast and the aftermarket pads only giving you a few more weeks of use in addition to wearing your rotors down since their made of harder material. I'll stick with the oem pads and just try to do a better job of keeping them clean.

Has anyone replaced their differential vent lines with the bellows used on Can Ams or Arctic Cats? I have ridden around with balloons on the end of my vent lines just to see how much pressure is generated from the diffs getting hot and it's practically none. I'm going to get a couple of these and try them out, I found them for $5 a piece. It's worth a shot and if it works it will save me a lot of fluid changes.

Do aftermarket pads such as the sintered ones make that much of a difference in wear/life if you do a lot of mud and water riding? My girl and I both just went through our front brake pads in about 6 months and we only ride about once per month. We rarely ever use our front brakes because we both have the sealed wet rear brake which is more reliable and we do a thorough pressure washing after every ride. Just riding around with mud caked in there wore them down, I guess. I can't believe our pads are gone already.

thanks for the help, I'll check them out.

I've got a 2006 prairie 360 that I'd like to get some more top end speed out of. I've got 26" 589's on it. I know you guys can suggest what springs I should try. I can almost hit mud holes in high gear. seems like the primary isn't throwing in early enough.

my 2006 prairie 360 had a warn 2.5 on it when I bought it used about 6 months ago. a plastic seal was worn and the thing was actually busted open because the idiot who owned it let the cable pile up. I replaced the seal and the cable and that thing is a champ. never fails me. I greased it up good when it was apart and I take the line out and pressure wash it as good as possible after every ride. I hear people talk bad about warns all of the time, but like anything else, if you use it practically and maintain it, you probably won't have any problems. my buddy bought a gorilla 4000lb for his foreman a few months ago and has had constant problems with it. first the terminals melted inside, they sent new terminals and then the motor housing was holding water (when it's supposed to be water proof,) so they replaced the whole thing for him,. then his new one was holding water too and draining the battery down after a few days. so he's got a third one on the way. the thing is strong as hell when it's working, but he has worked on the winch more than it has worked for him.