I just bought a 1997 KVF-400 4x4, and discovered something that may shed some light on the poor steering issues discussed on this forum.

The dealer had two identical machines that they sold new a couple of years ago to two guys that just traded in for identical '99's.

One steered atrociously (sorry, didn't take measurements) and one steered okay, about 4 feet larger outside diameter than the 91 Big Bear I was trading in.

We discovered that one of the machines had steering stops on the frame up just below the handlebars. There are two bolts with plastic caps which limit the steering travel. The second machine had the bolts turned all the way in and the plastic caps removed.

Because I was at a Yamaha dealer, we made some calls to a Kawasaki dealer, and were told that the stops were added, some at the factory, some at delivery, and some as an add-on during warranty work, due to 'issues' which remain unknown.

I ended up buying the machine with the stops. I will remove the caps and turn the stops in, since I could not find any problems with the other one (ball joints and tie-rods were all okay). I don't beleive there will be a problem, as long as extended operation at full steering lock is avoided.

BTW I paid $1100 plus my 91 Big Bear for a 1997 Prairie 4x4 with 1900 miles and in excellent shape. I put 100 miles on it this weekend and so far really like the machine.

Thanks to Gordon Banks and others for their comments on this machine, which were a lot of the reason I bought it. I was leery of the lousy turning radius until I got to comapre them with the Big Bear and then found out about the stops.


Raul