There seem to be a lot of posts regarding the BF and various issues that it has. I figured I would save some trouble by combining all of them into ONE post that people could refer to. And yes, I have one and I'm quite familiar with the unit. Heres the list:

1. LOOSE BOLTS - Seems fairly common and is related to break in since the first few heat cycles loosen things up. Check the following areas: header bolts, heat shield bolts, A-arm bolts, muffler heat shield bolts. I went over my entire machine and basically tightened up quite a few bolts. Not a biggy, just something your should periodically do anyways. If you hear a rattle, it's 99.9% prolly a bolt.

2. LOW SPEED MISS - This is the front carb needle which needs to be replaced with the same needle as the rear carb to richen things up. This will cure almost all low speed miss issues. I also had my mechanic richen the pilot screws while he was "in there". My bike runs better than ever. You need to have your dealer do this and it's all FREE. It is not a recall, just ask about it and go to a dealer that cares and it will get taken care of. Here is the part number for the needle you need: 16187-0156 <<<< Thanks to BF2005750 for this number!

3. RUNNING HOT / PIPE GLOW - This is related to item #2. I never actually had the glowing pipe, but others have reported it. It is running hot and the needle and miles will take care of most of this. My quad had 700++ miles on it and it runs cool, no pipe glow, and the fan only comes on ocassionally. Again, richen the mixture and break the unit in and this will mostly go away.

4. TIE-ROD PROBLEMS - I have had NO trouble with this but it has been reported. I *wonder* if this is a usage issue. If you are jumping the Brute or dirving like a madman through extremely rough terrain then that's your problem. Otherwise, just keep an eye on them. Some have argued that "My Honda whatever jumps just fine but the Brute cant handle it". Good, then go buy a Honda....????

5. WHEELCAPS MISSING - The stock rims lose wheelcaps like Democrats lose elections. Not much you can do except order new ones whioch are cheap, or get aftermarket wheels and tires which you should do anyways.

6. WATER IN THE AIRBOX - This is another "some have it, some don't" issue. If you hit deep water fast, then the Brute *seems* to take water into the airbox sometimes. Many have reported driving in water up to the racks with no problem and others claim that 6 inches of water cuases water to get in the airbox. I say it is a case by case thing. The big time "mudders" have snorkled their units to avoid this. I will not be doing this since I tend to approach water with caution especially if I do not know how deep it is. I've gone through some nasty deep mud with no trouble at all. Some guys enjoy tearing through mud at high speed. Adjust to your own riding style. Do a search for "snorkle" on this site and read up on bbertram's website as he has done this and has had success.

7. A-ARM BOLT RECALL - Some bikes are affected by a loose a-arm bolt. Mine went in the dealer but was not affected. Yours may be and since it's a known recall, you have no reason not to do it. Don't just wiggle yours and assume that it's ok. Take it in and then there will be a record of the service in case any other issue arise and Kawi tries to blame you for not doin it.

8. TRANNY INDICATOR LIGHTS - Some owners have reported that while in Neutral, the neutral light isn't going on even though they are in fact in neutral. Others hve had the same isue with Reverse and the Reverse lights not coming on. Well, my own BF had to have the shifter adjusted because my neutral light would not come on. Apparently the shift rod is adjustable and I had my dealer make a small adjustment and now everything is cool. Bring yours in if your seeing this problem, it's not a biggy but it's hard to get at the shifter adjustment screws/bolts without some painful dis-assembly.... let the delear do it!

Whew....I hope that's it and I covered all of the major issues. Overall, IMO, The Brute is a beast and it gets better with use. Just take care of it and you will be rewarded with a happy friend. Also, use common sense...it is a quad and it IS made for all terrain, just don't expect it to take abuse day after day without problems arising.

Mike

 

BUMP

 

you might want to add to your post the correct needle part number is 16187-0156 and that the a-arm problem is a recall.

 

The A-arm recall is for more than just loose bolts (actually – bolt; I was told that only the left side has this issue). They are also checking for excess clearance between the A-arm and the mounting point. If there is too much clearance they add shims as necessary. Since my machine had already lost the nut that holds the bolt on (I had gone on an aggressive 100 mile ride on the Sunday before I took it in for the recall) they did some extra work on mine (fortunately the bolt had not fallen out yet!); they welded on a threaded piece of metal so that the bolt now screws into place after it passes through the A-arm. The standard nut is then added to the protruding part of the bolt that sticks out past this metal support.

I did lose one of my heat shield bolts during my recent 4 ½ day Hatfield McCoy ride (so it now rattles due to the missing bolt) however I’ll be going to the dealer this weekend to get a replacement (and will secure it with some Loc-Tite)...

 

so they did weld on that recall? that explains how my computer brain box got fried, they probably didn't ground it good. I was wondering what could have fried it since I wasn't riding it.

 

Yes they did weld, as that new piece was attached directly to the A-arm mount point. When the bolt was screwed through, there wasn't even enough bolt left (using the stock bolt) to engage all of the threads of the original nut (when I got it back home I took the nut off and applied some loc-tite on it just in case before reapplying it).

You might be able to get an idea of what they did by looking at this photo (shows the bolt going through before the nut was applied). The following photo (click on the "next" link) shows the bolt after the nut was reapplied...

 

This is a great post. I'm trying to decide which quad to buy, and it's nice to see a straight up post about a machine without having to read about how immensely superior someone's machine is compared to the competition.

I'd love to read a post similar to this summarizing issues with other machines from people who actually know and can post honest evaluations.

Great work!

 

s2mikey,
Good post!

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I just talked to my dealer and he said they don't even have a welder at the shop, definitely did not weld on my bike for the recall (wether they were supposed to or not), so I don't know what made my actuator controller module go bad. The part is on backorder which leads me to believe it's happening to a lot of other Brutes. I have seen posts on here that 3 other people have had this same problem with the KEBC actuator motor continuing to run like it's trying to return to "home" position after the key is off.

 

I don't think that support piece they welded on for me was part of the standard fix. They handled me as a special case because when I brought mine in for the recall and when they discovered the nut was missing, they also noticed that wheel had an excessive amount of play in it (you could shake the wheel several inches side to side - and for some reason I hadn't noticed it). Thankfully the entire bolt didn't come out on me which would cause the A-arm to come off (almost certainly a crash would have resulted). It must have come off during the course of that 100 mile ride I was on. I hadn't ridden it again since then until I loaded onto the trailer on the following weekend to take it to the dealer for the recall inspection. Anyway because of the wheel slop they wanted to wait & talk to Kawasaki about it (which is why the dealer ended up keeping it for about a week) and sometime during the course of things they decided to weld that threaded reinforcing piece on (no complaints from me!).

About the KBEC acutator that you mentioned, my Brute will sometimes make an electronic sound (kind of a buzzing / whirring sound) just after I turn it off (sounds like it's coming from the front end) but so far I've only noticed it happening once each time after turning the key off...