Hello,

I'm looking into purchasing an 01 Prairie 400 2wd automatic quad. It's at a good price for a machine like this, and although isn't a garage queen, should fit my needs. I have a lot of experience with an 03 Prairie 360, so I feel confident buying another one.

Anyway I looked at itthis afternoon, it started up nice, ran totally fine. I wasn't able to test drive it since it's in a warehouse, and is 'buried' behind lots of boxes, etc. So when I went up and down a little 10 feet path, I noticed the shifting was very difficult. It was very difficult to go through R, N, H, L and required the shifter to be 'slammed' at times. It was as if the little button on the shifter did nothing. I was turned off by this, but I'm now wondering if this is a huge deal or not? It obviously needs to be tended to, but is it a big fix and something I should be majorly concerned with? I don't mind putting a little time and money into the bike, especially for what I wanna offer for it, but I don't want it to become too expensive and a burden on me.

I read on one forum people with kinda similar problems claiming bent linkage, or just needing to clean and re-lube the shifter. Are these expensive parts to replace?

Any help on the topic would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind spending a little money, and getting my hands dirty to repair the quad. I just don't want to spend a ton of money on it where I put more money into than the quad is actually worth.

Thanks!!!

 

I will guess that if it has a cable to shift that possibly the cable had water in it at some point and is corroded internaly causing the stiff shifting?
Might be able to get away with using a cable oiling tool and oil it.
That is if it doesn't have a mechanical shift linkage.
I bought a 300 Quade Runner last year that was a very low miliage garage queen.
For the first several rides anything higher than 2nd gear you had to stomp on the shifter to get it to change.
Gave it an oil change and after riding the machine a few times it loosend up to work fine.
Maybe yours has been sitting and needs a little riding to loosen up as well.

 

There is no cable in the shifting mechanism of the Prairie 400.
Sometimes just disassembling, cleaning and lubing the shifter assembly improves the shifting as long as there is nothing broken or missing. There are bushings, needle bearing, collar, etc. for such maintenance. The complete shifter assembly is about $400 and the Kawi part number is 132591010.