Finally talked my parents into getting into the atv scene. They started with a prairie 360 due to the fact that they like my 650.

We did not test drive it, got it home and now has 10 hours on it over the last three weeks.

Impressions..
Very loud compared to other machines in its class.
Vibration is almost intolerable. hands and feet go numb after about an hour.
Belt drive makes loud knocking noise unlike the 650... Took back to dealer, and all the 360's there did this.
Underpowered compared to other machines in its class

I feel Kawasaki dropped the ball on this machine, mainly because of the vibration and noise.

Why not add a better couterbalancer or thicker rubber motor bushings? Maybe this machine was rushed?

Before a dealer tells you all single air cooled engines vibrate this way, Hop on suzuki's new eiger, same size engine, air cooled, and less vibration than My TWIN!!!!

Just my thoughts and opinions for all that are looking at this machine.

 

Thanks Grizz,

That is something I am definately glad to know before I buy!!

I'll make sure and test ride it well.

 

Sounds like you just got a bad machine , I ride with a 360 every week , it is an awesome machine , has TONs of torgue , because of the low gearing , he as a Rancher also , the 360 pulls much better , it is quiter than my 650 and of course has the best designed brakes in the industry.
Engine breaking is also great , my wife a 400 kodiak , and the 360 will go through mud lots better than our Kodiak. The only thing I was not impressed with was the slow top end speed , but if you ride trails that is not a concern anyway. Sorry you don't like yours.

 

I did ride the 360 as well as the 300 and 400 Prairie and the number one reason I bought the 650 and the Eiger was the vibration of all of the Kawasaki singles. I didn't feel like an all day ride on something that shook as bad as the 360 would be a doable thing. Supposedly this is a counterbalanced engine but you sure couldn't tell it!

 

Try out a Magnum 325. Very nice machines. Comfy, decent power and can go through lots of tough terrain.
It has a snorkle coming out of the airbox that can be removed for a noticable difference in power. With it in, it feels to raspy and with it out, much more torque.

 

for me, it MUST be 4x4 and have a low range!

I'm not kidding when I'm talking about STEEP rocky hills.

literally, ones you can not physically walk up!

 

Jeffro31:

Its not a bum machine, We have another couple that goes that got a 360 the same time. He also has the 650, it is also the same power /vibration issues.

This is not a bad machine, just could have done a little more test riding before they sent it out.

I noticed Yamaha singles seem to vibrate more as well... We used to have a kodiak and it had some vibration. I wonder what Suzuki and Polaris are doing to make their machines run so smooth?

Its funny I was sold on the 360 on paper, I hated the eigers looks, but after one ride... I love that thing!!!

Can someone explaine how a counterbalancer works?

CEROF:
The eiger does have low range, and the manual has two ranges also.. Very good idea. And the manual version is super easy to drive (wife drives it better than most of my guy frinds on the auto's)[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I do know the front diff is superior on the 360, but on the flip side the sterring is easier on the eiger, even in 4x4 mode... Plus its cheaper!!!

The 360 seems quieter from another riders perspective, but if you are driving it it is loud ??? Not sure how to explain it, almost like its always at the rev limiter.. Any way my MOM likes it so thats all that counts in the end.

 

The counter balance is at the opposite side of the piston stroke so you don't have all the weight at one end of the stroke its like balancing a tire if it is off balance the tire will shake real bad. If the tire balance then it doesn't shake same theory applies for the counter balance in the engine.

 

So Monte,

are you saying that the some of the 360's just might not be balanced right and need more or less weight? As in a factory oversight/defect right out of the box on some units?

 

I studied this in school. Crank shafts on some engines have a counterweight opposite the connecting rod.

This weight opposes the piston and rod mass at TDC and BDC, but the piston and rod do not oppose the counterweight halfway up the stroke, which makes big shaking forces. So, engineers design these counterweights a little small, to minimize the maximum shaking force through the entire revolution, and create the minimum shake. So, the counterweight would be less than needed to oppose the piston ant rod at TDC, and a little heavy to oppose the crank pin (and part of the mass of the rod) at halway up the stroke. I very seriously doubt that kawasaki did this wrong on any of their single cylinder motors. I have never designed a motor, but I guarantee you that I would easily get this part right with a few quick equations in mathcad. The real guys I am sure have more sophisticated tools. The reason I believe some motors shake less than others is they have an additional shaft, called a counterbalancing shaft, or rubber mounts, or water cooling, or even frame design can affect how you feel it.

1 and some 2 cylinder inline motors shake a lot. My 90 degree vtwin doesn't shake much, because it is primarily in balance. Primary balancing means there is no large shaking force that occurs once per rev. Secondary balance means there are no large shaking forces twice per rev. Secondary shaking forces are always much smaller than primary ones. Engineers usually ignore the tertiary stuff. My professor told me it was so small, other things like manufacturing tolerance of the component mass and combustion pulses would always completely overshadow any of the tertiary stuff.

Inline 6 and V8 engines are primarily and secondarily in balance, I don't know what motors smaller than I6 and V8 are secondarily in balance. I do know that most V6 and all inline 4's are not secondarily balanced (without an additional shaft).

I hope you aren't bored yet, because the another very important point here is that some single cylinder engines have a counterbalancing shaft that turns twice per rev to get rid of the shaking forces. I do not know if this makes the engine primarily balanced, it would take me too long to dig up the math for it, but it reduces the shaking forces.