Buying a new quad! need help desciding.

we bought a new Suzuki King Quad 700 in '05. Still got it. No major trouble other than a few torn cv boots. Was called in on a bunch of recalls to replace the computer, something like 4 times. After the last one it was actually harder to start after that. Perhaps we should have just said to hell with the recall, but who knew! Also a recall to change the reverse gear idler shaft bushing to swap it to a bearing. We disconnected the hinder-some rev limiters. Installed 26 inch Mud Lights on fancy rims. Got Tatou tracks for it when new and only used them for part of the first winter. They are still here stored indoors and I'd be willing to sell them. We have the long arm and the short arm attachments for the front blade. My youngest son has since bought an '08 Honda Rincon 680. Man, I love that automatic trans and torque convertor! Sadly, the shift dogs turned to chite and now it sits awaiting repair. Some research suggests getting shift dogs for a Big Red and do a little mods on them. Supposabley, they will work much better. Was at the Dealer the other day for ice scratchers for my sled and saw a brand new Rincon on the floor. Just under 10K before taxes. Oh God, I wish I could!
 
My 2008 Honda FourTrax 420cc does not have a back up pull or kick start... It's EFI and if the battery is totally dead, you need a boost...

What year/model do you have to go back to for the back up starter options?

Cheers
Jay
 
The Honda Rincon does have a pull start. However, I've never been able to start the engine with it because the compression makes it way too stiff to pull. Or, I'm just out of shape.... :D
Also, somebody chimed in with the info that pull start doesn't work with EFI engines. So I guess, if my battery dies, I need a boost.
 
My 2008 Honda FourTrax 420cc does not have a back up pull or kick start... It's EFI and if the battery is totally dead, you need a boost...

What year/model do you have to go back to for the back up starter options?

Cheers
Jay

I bought back up starter for 2012 arctic cat. you need the battery to run the efi but if you don't hazve enough juice for the starter it might help you out or thats my theory
 
I carry jumper cables with me and always turn off (550 polaris sportsman) with the key. Using the shutoff will kill the battery in no time if the key is still turned on because the computer stays on and draws the battery down. It is a failing in design IMO as it is a trap that could be a major screwup if you are alone and way out there.
 
I carry jumper cables with me and always turn off (550 polaris sportsman) with the key. Using the shutoff will kill the battery in no time if the key is still turned on because the computer stays on and draws the battery down. It is a failing in design IMO as it is a trap that could be a major screwup if you are alone and way out there.

Anything with electric start and a battery should be turned off with the key. The kill switch is for emergencies. Even my '83 Honda 3 wheeler would have a dead battery after a few days if the key was left on.
 
Anything with EFI that looses it`s charging system is dead in the water. If the battery cannot be charged the EFI system will not get the power it needs to operate. We got stuck 60 kilometers from camp on a pleasure ride with a Can Am 650 HO a Honda 400 and 2 Rubicon 500`s. The Can Am`s charging system failed, we boosted it, ran ok for about 10 minutes. We did a battery swap and ran for about 15 minutes. We kept doing this with a battery swap on the other bikes to get the Can Am back to a small town (about 20k). The Can am ran ok as long as the battery was strong enough to run the EFI.
Jay as for your question,I`m not sure but that`s why I stick to carb`ed machines. They will run with no charging system and a dead battery. I have done it on my 400 and on an old 92 300 4 trax that is now in Newfoundland being enjoyed by my parents. FYI the Stater that came out of the Can Am was as black as Tar is was burnt so bad. Now the guy has a 1000 Can Am and it did the same thing plus the fuel line under the seat blew apart at the y joint. That was a fun fix on the trails. My honda dies I may go to a Yammi 700 but LOVE the 400 and 500 Honda.
 
Hmmm...I wonder if that chart was created by Polaris. *note the fancy Polaris name where the others are plain...

The highest number of sales most definitely does not mean it's the best or most reliable brand, which is what it's all about. Number of sales is a mute point when discussing quality and reliability. I'd like to see a chart showing owner satisfaction and machines experiencing mechanical issues in percentages.


BTW...ever since I added your 2" lift to the Grizzly, riding has been way easier and a few people I know have followed suit. You making them for the 660's yet? I have a "Got Mud" fairlead too and made it look faaaaar better than stock by adding black epoxy in the letters to make the words really stick out and make people notice it...

Glad you are happy with the kit on your 700 Grizz, and the fairleadsounds pretty cool, I did something similar on the Skull fairlead on my 850. Sorry, no plans for a 660 lift kit, they dont even like it if you flip the hubs to gain a 1/2" of added GC.

As for that chart, Polaris probably did put out the graph, but they DO have the highest sales lately.
As for a chart showing "owner satisfaction" the chart would be all over the map, the hunting, farming old guys would be all over the Hondas, the "on a budget" guys would be all over the Cats, the "must win every mud bog" guys would be all about the can am's (cant deny they take most of, if not all the trophies at most mud b0gs), the guys looking for the most comfort and best 4x4 would probably be the polaris customers. So basically most of the top OEM's have their own niche in the broad broad market.

All in all, they all break down when they are ridden the way some of us ride the crap out of them, and some will get 20'000 km's on them with little to no work other than regular maintenance, the thing of it is this, the guy with 20'000 kms didnt have nearly as much fun as someone with a big repair bill LOL.
 
As a professional mechanic I will tell you this, all things being equal, tire size, lifts, loaded with gear, driving styles, terrain, etc etc, the Yamaha's will eat less parts than the others when treated the same. But if nothing else at least stay with any of the brand names as you will always be able to get parts and they will still be worth something when its time to sell or trade, those other brands are cheap for a reason.
 
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If you keep your Yam with stock rims and tire sizes you will be fine.
Put on big over sized tires and rims and your bearings and CV joints wont last.
I suspect most brands will be the same for that.
I own 2 Kodiaks, and 3 other family members have Grizzly's, all have stock rims and no oversized tires,
and most have 6-8k kms on them with no major issues with any of them.
2 people I know have Artic Cats, both have had several if not all of the wheel bearings changed on them at least once, some twice.
 
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