I just picked up a Kodiak se last week and have a couple questions about it. First off the steering shaft has a lot of play is there a bushing in there somewhere. Secondly the winch, I believe that it may be an aftermarket one because I dont see any markings as to what make it is, and also where does it connect to, mine is connected dirrectly to the battery- is that where its supposed to be cause its deffinatley not factory wireing. Next is, there is a noise that sounds as if the winch is running (gear noise) but I dont believe it is. A little history about me- I have been riding a Timberwolf 250 2x4 for the past 3 years and has been a complete blast, its very easy to wheelie and jump , the Kodiak on the other hand is a complete Tank, I realy didnt know what to expect from it, it runs great its quick it climbs great and all the rest of it but it just isnt as fun as my 250, I have only been out once so far so its a little to soon to judge, I wasnt really looking for this bike but the deal came along so I went for it, what I really wanted was a 2001 Wolverine, I have never ridden one of those but it does look a lot light than the Kodiak. For the most part I ride local trails nothing too crazy but I plan on expnading that to doing some major trails and all day rides thats why I wanted to upgrade.

 

The winch is connected to the battery, but is there a solenoid in between? there should be, and it should have a small switch to turn it on, I would never wire a winch in direct, this could cause fires.
I've owned both, Wolverine and Kodiak, and yes I can say the Wolverine is a fun quad, especially if you have the Warn un-locker(2wd/4wd selector). The Wolverine was faster but the Kodiak had the power for mud and climbing hills. You wont be disappointed with the Kodiak, they are great quads, you just have to get use to it. The belt system is one of the best if not the best. You say you're going to use it for long trails, the Auto on the Kodiak will make your trail riding fun, you wont make yourself tired from shifting gears all the time. Going from a T-wolf 2wd to a Kodiak is quite a step, you might not be able to jump it like the T-wolf but the power is what you will notice.

 

There's nothing more fun than a light quad with SRA and gears to shift.

But the Kodiak is a very capable all terrain quad.

I have a Bear Tracker 250 and it's a blast to drive, but my Kodiak 450 is very good quad for playing in the dirt. It's smaller than the big bore 660 and 700 but big enough for most people.

 

Well like I said, I ve only had it out once and was not used to it. I will give it a few more rides to get used to befor I decide what to do. I just dumped the oil and it was very watery and black, I can see why I got a good deal on it now, looks like this bike was beat on pretty good. I took the pull start off because it didnt recoil and now Im screwed because its unravel and in pieces.

 

Towards the top off the steering column you will see where it is secured to the frame. There are two identical clamps. Inside them are what they call oil seals. They will wear out after time. I developed some forward and backward play and replaced those two seals. Good as new!. Make sure to clean that area real good and don't be bashful with the lithium grease. You'll be good.

 

Well its good to know that this a common problem, I dont feel as bad, this bike is obviously suffering from lack of maintanence.

 

A great site to get OEM parts is www.ronnies.com. They have a fiche for your bike and their service is fantastic! I think those seals were like $2 something a piece. You need two.