olddude

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.

Around here they don't take kindly to riding on any hard road. If you have to cross a hard road you better be pushing it. Having said that some folks can get away with just about anything. There was a kid up the street that used to ride his blaster up and down the road all the time but then one day he flew by and just a little bit later the car with the blue lights went by in hot pusuit. I ain't seen that kid or the 4 wheeler since.

Mixing two weights isn't a real problem but if you have pure synthetic oil in there it's not a good idea to mix in carbon based oil. There is however a synthetic blend oil that you could possibly mix without problems between changes. Oil is oil and some oil is a far cry better than no oil.

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?

Awh yeah, Fleebay was my friend when we were racing I bought and sold on there pretty much daily. That was before they got so money hungry. I don't know how those guys make any money selling on there now the way it is. I'm sure those really big sellers get a better deal than someone like me selling five or six parts a week. I tried one of those stores one time and by the time they finish with you with all the charges for this or that it would cost you six bucks to sell a four dollar part. I closed the store and once I settled up with them I almost broke even. And about a month later they sent me a note saying I had a $15.00 refund comming my way.......that was 16 years ago and I still haven't been able to figure out how to get it.

Thanks, and I think that would be a very good Idea, the list I mean. It's been quite awhile since we were racing and I have lost all my old part suppliers. I was running Yamahas then and at the time I was a Yamaha dealer so I got spoiled being able to buy parts at cost with free shipping and most of the time they were there the next day. I was never scared to use Weisco I never ever had a problem with a piston kit or a crank kit I got from them. I never worried too much about gaskets or seals either because most of the time they didn't stay on the engine that long because those bikes stayed fresh all the time. Two races was about the limit on a piston kit and the bottom end's were refreshed once a season or sometimes twice depending on haw many classes we decided to do that year. I had a spare engine that was ready to go and I have been known to change a whole engine between motos once or twice when it was a real important race and doing a top end between motos usually happened about once monthly. Some of the tracks were brutal on those 125's especially the real long long tracks like Birch Creek. Running three classes four laps each and by the last lap those bikes were running on a prayer and trust me I was very religous back in the day.LOL

Just wondering where you guy's an Gal's get your parts. I love buying OEM stuff but sometimes they just cost to darn much for what they are. I know, I know everybody needs to make a living but dang! $ 97.00 for brake pads on one side of the front of my KingQuad. There has got to be a better way.

I somewhat agree with Mech somewhat. What I found with a lot of customers is no matter how much talking you do is they only hear what they want to hear. They bring you a boat motor, lawn mower, motor bike or what ever for an oil change. You ask is that all you need? They say yeah that's it. You change the oil and filter then call them to tell them it's done. They say great I'll be by to pick it up later. Three or four weeks later they roll in and haul it out. Thirty minutes later they call back fussing, you changed my oil and now my mower blades are dull and I want to know what you plan on doing about it. You explain that they were offered the three different plans we had to offer and you chose the basic plan that only covered the oil change, They don't ever seem to remember you offering them the super duper plan with the oil change that covered a basic check over, a deck cleaning, blade sharpening if needed, new spark plug and a compression check for $49.95 all the remembered was the $9.95. Oh, they remembered all those other things you mentioned in the super duper plan they just forgot about the $49.95 part. That's one thing I don't mind missing out on by not being in business anymore.LOL

Hey....New guy here from Richmond VA. area. We raced Moto X with 125's and 250's (bikes) for years but got a little to old for that.LOL I had a bunch of ATV's over the years and I just bought an old beater Suzuki King Quad for hunting and playing in the woods. It needs a lot of TLC As the two last owners had little regard for anything but just riding the pure living heck out of it. I knew what I had bought and it didn't bother me because I have been a mechanic of some sort all my life and getting a little grease on my hands has never bothered me. You guy's have a fun day.