Hi.

I have a Kodiak 450 2004.

I bought it as a bit of a project just to mess with. The engine is sweet and everything else is fine but I have little/no drive. It will select gears and this will show on the screen but when you rev it will hardly move. It will move very slowly if on perfect level ground with no rider but apart from that nothing. It does this in all gears.

When the bike is not running and you put it in gear and try and push it you can feel the gears have engaged so not quite sure why there is no drive.

I have looked into the problem a little and had the side cover off to check the belt and this is fine and I am pretty sure its not electrical. I think it could be the clutch but when I rev there is no slipping or any sound to indicate this so I cant be sure.

Just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas what might be the cause and anything I could try before I strip down the drive and transmission etc to have a good look.

Thanks in advance

 

The Yamaha Ultramatic actually has 2 clutches, the first is a wet centrifical clutch that is behind the primary drive belt clutch. You have to remove the belt, remove the primary clutch, then I believe the secondary as well to access the bolts for the wet clutch, you need to remove the inner belt housing, but I may be wrong on that one. More than likely, the reason it wont move is either the primary clutch is all gummed up and the sheave wont move, or the pads on the clutch shoes on the internal wet clutch are so worn they won't grab any more, former owner probably burned them up towing or mudding in hi range all the time. Dealership charges a lot for clutch shoes, try to google a replacement part online, might save a bunch of money. Without the wet clutch to spin the primary, you wont go anywhere, moving a little on flat ground tells me the shoes are almost gone. Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

I would guess the primary is gummed up, They need to be cleaned and re-greased every so often. For me it is about every 2-3 years. Also check the specs on the belt. Cleaning and regreasing the primary isn't hard but it is a pain the first time as they have gorilla's torque the nut on
Search the forums, there r videos that show u step y step
Good luck and have lots of rags handy!

 

With the belt cover off, and tranny in neutral, rev it up and see if the primary clutch spins, if it spins up, but the sheave does not close in on the belt, the primary is gummed up. If you rev it up and the primary doesnt turn much, then the wet clutch is shot and will need to be removed and the shoes replaced.

 

Thanks for the response guys.

I have been looking at it this over the last week and I can confirm a gorilla was also left to torque up the nuts.

The good news though is the belt and everything spin fine in neutral when the engine revs so I am hoping a good clean is all she needs. I think the shoes are a bit low but will see how much drive I get from cleaning the primary but probably just do them whilst I have it stripped down.

Thanks for all the help everyone.


UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION

I don't think a dirty primary is the only issue. As I couldn't remove the nut I thought I would cheat and give it a knock with the hammer and spray some oil in to try and loosen everything thing up. After a bit of going up and down the revs in neutral I have managed to get the primary to pull in and pull down on the secondary. (Good idea about the videos) It still doesn't to move as quickly as others I have seen in videos but should be plenty enough to give me some drive.

Now I put it in gear expecting to have some nice forward motion but still nothing just slightly better. In High gear on flat even ground with no rider the belts will all spin but not nearly fast enough to pull the primary in. With a rider or anything stopping the quad moving then the primary stops spinning.

From 95wolv has said if it doesn't spin in neutral then the wet clutch is shot. I assume this applies to being in gear as well.

So looks I need to get it in my workshop and get the wet clutch out, clean it and fit some new shoes.

Would people agree with this or would the symptoms I am having lead to another problem rather than the wet clutch?.

Thanks again for all the help everyone.

 

Deffinatly agree with 95wolv you need to look at the wet clutch and check the fibers.

 

Wet clutch is completely shot

Pretty sure it needs a completely new assembly which obviously isnt cheap from Yamaha (£300+)

I have seen an old Kodiak 400 Wet clutch assembly cheap and wonder if this may fit? I am going to do some research on this myself but does anyone know if this would work or things to check fitment wise?

Thanks again for the help everyone

 

Sorry to hear that. See if you can get Yamaha part numbers for both and see if it is the same part, though I doubt it will be exactly the same, but it cant hurt to check.

 

Check Ebay - I always see Kodiak 450's being parted out! Much cheaper than new!

 

Hi everyone

Been away these last few weeks so not been able to confirm my earlier diagnosis.

The wet clutch is well messed up and needs replacing but this is where I am a bit confused. The carrier itself is fine no damage it just the shoe type things that are completely work and burnt. On the Yamaha parts catalog the parts it lists are the springs and full carrier assembley which cost £300. It does'nt however list the shoes seperately?? In the service manual it states check the shoes dimension, if worn replace. This suggest you can buy the shoes seperately.

Is it possible to order these shoes seperatly or can you simply only get the full assembly?.

Any ideas or help would be great.

Thanks