Hello All
Can anyone give me the "goods" and "bads" of an 04 kodiak 450. I just bought one off my neighbour for an amazing deal! Could not pass it up. I did not do any research on these machines. It has 350kms, mudlites with ITP rims, 50" plow , rear box storage, and has never seen any mud. Only used for plowing. I am interested in hearing your experiences with this bike. I will post pics when i pick it up
thank you

 

They can be a bit tippy when driven aggressivly. The back brake likes to squeek. The rear differential has a way of burping the fluid out, and on to the exhaust maifold. Just keep an eye on the rear diff fluid levels.

Exhaust sound is good, motor is strong, and if the differentials dont get high centered, itll go thru lots. It has a high tow rating and strong brakes.
It has all the features of a grizz, (except the motor and the bad fuel milage and irs.) Its an all around good choice for an automatic 4wd ute.

 

I've had mine for about a year and a half now and i have had no problems at all with it. I would'nt say I ride it really hard but I sure don't take it easy on it. I've had it in all conditions from deep mud to deep snow and it performs well. I have had water get in my front diff and in my belt casing but only in over the racks, keep up the maintenance often and you should have no problems with this bike. I change my oil often and always run winter and summer oil, and also check my diff fluids often to see if it is milky. I put a UNI air filter in mine and it seems to run smoother than before. I would recomend one of these to anyone with any type of bike.

 

As long as you weren't expecting to win allot of races, I don't think you'll be disapointed.

Keep an eye on your fluids, and it'll last you a long time.

 

Back brake squeaking is a very common occurance for them. The easiest fix is to just drill a few small holes in the roter... We did it with my ol man's and it hasn't squeaked since. Talked to yamaha about it... they said they didn't do it by default because they wanted to avoid mud getting lodged in there and causing possible failure. As long as you use just a few however, you're fine. I've taken it thru the mud tons of times and never had an issue.

 

If you want to stop the squeeking replace the brakes with after market brakes.They won't squeek any more.The reason for the squeek is because the brakes have small cuts in them and the dirts gets in there.I have a 2005 with 3000Km of hard running with 26" mud bug and no pboblems yet.

enjoy your ATV
Rocknroll