i have an 2008 kawasaki prarie 360 and i love it best atv i have ever had you will love it

 

Hay Computerg185 whch one did you get???

 

Yes, I work on quads for living and play with them for fun.

 

I know the prairie 360 is rated better than the grizzly 350 if that makes any difference

 

its the camo 4x4

 

Hayashi
I'm glad to know your willing to give your expert advise. I always take the sores of advise into consideration when deciding on a course of action. Knowing you work on these for a living places your advise in very high regard in my book.

nickmon3
It seems every thing I'm reading on the internet about the Prairie 360 says it's a great quad. It is very well balanced both ergonomically and technologically. Of course I didn't know any of that before I bought mine. I saw it in the show room sat on it and it just felt right.

Computerg185
That's the one I got too.

 

I have the '07 Prairie and other than a few electrical annoyances the bike is bullet proof. I lug into a hunt camp...way in. Terrible northern Canadian terrain and wet because it's in the fall. I have the smallest engine in our group of about 15 men. We all haul trailers in. Last year they loaded my trailer up with a few of the large 4 foot tall propane tanks fully tanked up....wicked load for such slop terrain. I use chains on the rears. I never stopped pulling....never got stuck, where as alot of these guys on the bigger bikes of every make an model got stuck 3 times on average inbound. Alot of that might have to do with the ability to ride and the use of controlled momentum. I've rode bike and snowmobiles all my life but I was totally happy with the little 360 pulling that load. I'm the only Kawi in the group and I'll tell you that they were impressed.
BTW like Hayashi said, don't even think about towing in anything other than 'low'. I burned my first belt right away towing an empty trailer. Now I pull full sized 4 x 8 trailer heaped with hardwood up an hill many times per year and my new replacement belt is in fine shape....use 'low' for any towing. One other slight drawback has to do with our cold climate up north. She's a cold blooded machine, which is what you really want when the weather heats up, but both my neighbour and I plow our large driveways and his Honda is ready and willing within 30 seconds but the Kawi wants alot more warmup.
All in all a good purchase.
BTW I think that you might have mentioned a front loader in you previous posts. I've never seen one of these but I have to wonder if the front end suspension is even close to being up to the task considering the leverage of any loader. Even picking up my snow plow with the winch causes the bike to slump...I can't imagine the designers ever built with a front loader in mind.

 

Wow harry1 that story is just the kind of thing I was hoping to here. It really lets me know I picked a good one. I live in Southern MD; I’ve got relatives in North East PA and South Central KY. I don’t think any of those places will put my Prairie through what you’ve described but it’s good to know it will do it if needed.

I know what you mean by driver skill. In 30 years of driving I’ve gotten a lot of vehicles stuck in mud and snow and have learned the hard way that forward momentum can be your best friend or worst enemy in those conditions. It’s been pretty wet down here; I don’t think we’ve had more than about a 3 day stretch at a time with out rain for the past month. I’ve done a little trail riding and hit a couple of mud puddles, nothing above the hubs yet, and 4WD or 2WD it just goes no problem.

For front end loaders these are the two I’m looking at the Swisher Quick Switch Mount Dump Bucket and the Concord Equipment Ground Hog ATV Loader. I like the Ground Hog over the Swisher because it’s an actual hydraulic front end loader where the Swisher is an adaptation of a snow plow mount and doesn’t lift as high. The Ground Hog comes with front shock clamps so the ATV dosn't squat under a load. I’ll probably have to wait till next year for the loader and price will probably be the deciding factor, 2 grand for the Ground Hog vs 5 bills for Swisher. If anyone has any info about either of these I would appreciate hearing it.

 

Also... alot of the new bikes don't have a manual pull start recoil. The P360 does. Last year one of the new bikes had a solenoid starter problem and every time he shut it off there was a hassle to restart it. I constantly use the manual starter recoil on my P360 just keep the mechanism working and to spare the starter motor every once in awhile. You will not find an easier pull start motor!!! One easy slow pull and the 360 barks to life. I've never had a motor pull start so easily. Just watch that you don't catch your fingernails in the plastic on the upstroke of the pull start when your sitting on the bike, a real bugger when that happens!

 

My little Prairie 300 pull starts easier than most lawnmowers, once you pull the compression release! I pull start it a couple times a riding season, just to keep the mechanism 'excercised'. I used to do it with my SP500HO too, and it wasn't too bad, but nowhere as easy as the prairie. I'm actally happy the 850 doesn't have a recoil start... I wouldn't want to try it. I used to crank start my 1937 John Deere Model L, and there was a definite technique to it, or you got dislocated thumbs... or worse.

I am constantly surprised by what that little, 2WD Kawi will go thru. Admittedly rider skill makes a huge difference, and my 15 year old daughter Haley rides harder than most of the guys we ride with. But still those smaller displacement quads really are a great deal, and very capable for their size. More fun (and way easier) to ride thru tight woods trails than my 850 too. The 250-400cc smaller chassis machines might be the best deals in ATVing. (I still love my big bore though.)