I just bought another 04 Prairie 700 (this one for my wife) and it makes a horrible noise especially at low speed when just taking off from a stop. It almost sounds like a bad bearing or gear in the rearend. It is loud enough that it can be plainly heard 100-200 feet behind the machine. It was making this noise when it had only 1 mile on it. We rode about 10 miles that day and MAYBE it seemed to get a little better towards the end of the day. I took it back to the dealer and they took the rear axle and driveshaft out, the belt cover and belt off, and enough of the left side of the engine to see the transmission clearly. They drained the rearend oil and engine oil into clean containers and could find no metal particles. They could not find anything wrong. I checked it out also and I couldn't find anything wrong. All of the bearings felt smooth and everything looked great. They put it back together and said ride it. It now has 40 miles on it and the noise is worse. What the he@#???

They want to split the case now. I really am not fond of that idea. Has anyone else experienced anything like this or have any suggestions? It gets worse as it gets warmed up. It's loudest when starting to move from a dead stop up to maybe 3-5 mph. It seems to be coming from somewhere between the rearend and the back of the engine.

They didn't disassemble the rearend, they just drained the oil and removed it as an assembly from the back of the machine. Should I ask them to tear down the rearend before going any farther?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

That is weird! Sorry to hear about the problems. I would try my best to get a complete new One and let the dealer work it out with Kawasaki. Does your state have titles on 4 wheelers and do they have a lemon law?

 

I would be screaming for a new quad. The longer you wait the more difficult it would be to exchange it. Threaten to call Kawasaki and everyone else you can think of.

 

I know the dealer really well. My father-in-law is over the loan dept. at the bank that does all of their financing and I have known the dealer personally for probably 20 years. I am sure that I could play hard ball and get another machine, but I would be just as happy if they could find something simple but weird wrong with it and fix it. We would all be a little wiser also. I just don't want them to split the case. I have both machines washed and loaded on the trailer now. Maybe I will take both of them up there tomorrow and have them swap the rearends between the two machines. If the noise follows the rearend, then tear down that rearend and fix it. If the noise stays with her machine and they want to split the case, then I want a new machine.

 

I undersdand the relationship you have at the dealer and I can respect it. However, you paid alot of $ for the machine and it should be correct. Splitting the case it not as big of a deal as some think it is. I would still ask for a new one and then have them tell me what was wrong later. just my 2 cents.

 

My dealer had to replace my cases. It wasn't that big of a deal had it back in like 4 weeks. Glad I didn't have to pay for it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Has anyone had any trouble out of the rearend on these machines? Bearings? Gears?

 

Did they run the quad with the drive shaft out? Could something be hitting the driveshaft? Bad u-joint/coupler?

What ever it is let us know.

 

Do what you planned, switch rear ends with the two quads, if it follows, simple fix. If it stays then say you are worried about the quad and would like to exchange it with another one. Its still brand new, Kawi will be taking the hit not the dealer.

When I bought my V-Force they said they checked it and it ran good on the phone, all preped to go. yah right. I got there, signed the papers, pushed the quad outside, started her up and what a terrible pinging sound. Some aluminum was at the top of the cylinder bouncing around. I asked for another one and they gave me another one, many hours later. That was a long day, I had to drive 5 hours one way for it.

 

Put the bike on a jack stand, have them take the drive shaft off, turn the rear wheels by hand as fast as you can, you'll probably hear the noise,

if not put it in 4 wheel drive and try it, (with the drive shaft still off) should answer your question.

My guess is there the pinion gear shims or the backlash shims are missing or wrong size, making the gears mesh to hard.

Just a guess, Good luck.