Posting this to see if anyone else has had this issue, and to see if anyone can explain it to me.

Twice now, while going up hill, I have used my front Differential Lock on my Prairie 650 (only real times I have used the thing, only 70 miles on ATV). Each time, when I pulled the lever, the bike veered fairly sharply to the right. The first time, on a small hill, I was almost at the top, and the bike went to the right off the trail, but I made it over, went through the woods, and got back on the trail.

Saturday, I was going up a fairly steep hill after a Honda 450S had gone up it. I was partway up the hill and decided to pull my diff. lock as I didn't not want to make it up the hill. The bike veered sharply (probably 45 degrees) to the right, taking me off the trail and now at a 45 degree angle to the hill. The hill was steep, and as the front end came around, the bike rolled, over me I might add, and rolled all the way down the hill damaging both me and the bike. I spent three hours in the hospital, have lacerations and stitches on my head, bruised ribs, lots of bruises, stiff neck and shoulders. I did have helmet and goggles, and something must have hit the goggles when I hit the ground, gouging the goggles and riding up under the helmet, causing the stitches. I am stiff and sore, look like hell, but moveing.

The bike didn't fair so well. Both racks bent, front brush guard/bumper bent into headlight, breaking it. Handlebars bent, as is the aluminum steering shaft. Couple of plastic pieces broken as well. I'm hoping that nothing on the frame is bent. Cripes, the thing rolled over soft old me, and the hill and tall grass on the bottom were fairly soft. I was surprised the aluminum steering column bent, rather than just the handle bars bending and absorbing the blow. I hope they didn't make the thing too suseptible to damage by using light parts to make the overall bike light. The bike did get me home, so it runs, but will need lots of parts. Anyone know any good places to buy Kawasaki parts cheaper than my local dealer? This weekend is certainly turning out to be very expensive.

Anyway, getting back to the question, has anyone had any similar experiences with the front differential lock? Why would the bike veer off to the right with it pulled? I used to have welded spiders in a jeep, and the thing would go straight, hardly go to a side at all. I think I could have probably made it up the hill without the thing, (the Honda did) but read how great it works, so decided to try it as I didn't want to fail on a hill. I will certainly be leary to use the thing again, unless I am in the mud. I would appreciate any thoughts as to what happened, if there is a possible problem with the differential lock, or what I should do to make sure this doesn't happen again.

 

Man sorry to hear that happened to you. I just had my Sportsman flipover backwards on me and I broke my leg. I damaged the quad real bad and I will be out for 6 weeks. I have some pictures of mine on my link. Did you get any pictures of your bike?

The wrek is in Telegraph Line Rd. 6-8-02

 

Sorry to here about your accident, useing the diff lock can cause the machine to get a littly tricky to control. In a hill climb situation you have alot of varibles. Gravity, Traction, and speed, alot to handle and to try to control. With the difflock not being used the front tires switch back and forth looking for traction making it easier to control and go straight. With to difflock engaged the front tires are both grabing and will pull you in any direction it chooses. "You most be one with the Prairie" Get well soon and get back up on that pony!

 

Chief, sorry to hear about your accident.

I use the diff lock a lot. For the most part the diff lock should make you go straight. If you have no traction on one front tire, and the rear tires have no traction, you can get a big steering yank. You should always be able to hold the handlebar at least when you are going slow. Polaris quads all disable their all wheel drive system at a certain speed, to keep them from going out of control because they have no front diff, so the axles are always locked. Nope polaris aint true 4x4, the rear wheels have to slip to engage the front, and the front disengages automatically - that's all wheel drive. Yamaha has a rev limiter when you are in true 4x4. When the 650 is in tru 4x4, you have no limiters other than your own common sense.

I hate to be blunt here, but either your 650 is busted, or you made a mistake.

-If your diff lock is busted and pulls you to one side on a flat, you need to go find some fannies to kick with a steel toed boot, get it fixed before you go out again.

-If you were going fast and using the diff lock, you deserve a steel toed boot inserted into fanny (but not busted machine and broke ribs). Kawi manual only says don't use it in a turn or before a turn. I feel they should say don't use it above 8mph (SOMEONE GOT A BETTER NUMBER?). I am glad they did not give us a limiter, cuz I hate those things.

-If you were drinkin and going on terrain like that, your wife, kids, parents and grandparents should all come insert their steel toed boots in your fanny. You should never drive anything faster or more powerful than a chair or couch while drinking.

 

I agree Nyroc, the best time to use diff lock is real slow! No sense of getting more traction if you are already going 15 mph. Used mine this weekend on a steep hill on very soft dirt, it worked amazing, but can sure be tough to steer when the rear is spinning and then one of the front tires let's go, it can be an interesting experience.

 

I agree. 8 mph is a good number. I only use my diff lock when I am getting close to getting stuck (usually 1-3 mph). I sometimes lock out right before coming to a mud hole then give the 650 some gas. But I have never had a pulling problem. Just the other day I was slipping as I tried to go up a wet ditch at an angle. I engaged the lock and up I went without any problems.

Hope you get better soon. FYI! For those of you thinking about rack extenders look at mine in the link. They really look great and I love them for packing. But I need to take them off when not in hunting season. I forsee those things cutting me in half if my 650 ever landed on top of me during some sport riding.

Daryn

 

Hey, thanks for all the information. I am obviously still learning about this machine, and hearing how the lock works for others helps to understand how and when to use the thing.

Nyroc, I agree with you. Don't use these things (or your car) when you have been drinking, and I wasn't. FYI, as my name might imply, I am a Chief of Police, and drinking and driving anything just doesn't cut it with me. It was about 11:00 AM in the morning (yes, I have had a drink by then on occasion) when the accident occured and I was sober as a judge. While alcohol didn't impair my judgement, I, in retrospect, wish someone or myself would have interviened. I may be 40 something, but I still can have a lapse in judgement when out having fun, thinking I NEEDED to climb a hill just because my nephew did. I would have been ultimately better off if I would have watched and then continued on with our trail riding. My wife says something about boys and their toys and how judgement goes out the window when you are having fun!

Now, armed with the information I now have, I may have made a mistake. I'm not afraid of admitting it if it will help someone else. I was not going too fast, although probably more than 8mph. I was going up a 25-30 foot steep hill with just a short (probably 10-15 foot) acceleration before the base of the hill. This was the same run-up that the 450 Honda had. I was probably going more than 8, but certainly not flying. If, as was said, the thing goes generally straight, but can go pretty much anywhere it wants with the lock pulled, and other factors are involved, this may have been what caused the thing to go to the right. I find it strange that it went to the right on both hills though. I read my manual and saw the info about not using it in corners and such, and have engaged it on the flat in semi wet grass to see what it does, (one time pulled to the right, the other fairly straight) but probably didn't understand the fine nuances about when you need it. I also don't remember if I released the lock when things started to go to Sx*# in a hurry. I still believe I would have made it up the hill fine if I had not used the lock at all, as the Honda did.

I will, in the future, try to use the lock only when I am going very slowly and just before getting stuck. As I have said, I am impressed with where the thing will go, and what it will go through, just with 4x4 engaged. I am also going to get the lock checked out further for malfunctions when I get it put back together. I just ordered $500.00 worth of parts, hopefully that is all I will need, other than replacing my helmet and goggles. I didn't order the front fenders as there was only on small crack in that and I think I can seal that. This is a very expensive lesson that I plan on learning from, but no matter the cost, at least I can walk and see.

 

Police Chief? I did not guess by your sign on name. Sorry for the drinking inference. I have never had an alcoholic beverage in my life.

I do dumb things too, I rolled when I got out of control a powerslide. That is not the only dumb thing, but it's the worst.

I hope you heal fast.

 

Hope you get better Chief! We can't afford to have good law officers out of commission. I would definitely have that frontend checked!!!

BTW the $500 for parts...were they for you or the zooter?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Chieftam, from what you have stated, I am of the opinion that there is something wrong with the front end. The other guys that have posted here have made some very good points. From every experience I have had, when you pull the diffy lock lever, your quad will try real hard to go in a straight line, even if you don't want it to. Were you turning while you were climbing the hill or were you going straight up? If you have the handlebars turned and grab that lever, it will try to pull your bars straight. Don't believe me? Try it sometime and see for yourself. If your quad is pulling to the right when you grab that lever, something is wrong in your front diff.