Went out riding on Saturday in the cold and snow. The 4WD was working fine in the morning, switched in and out a couple of times. One time, it did not engage for quite some time, I kept giving it gas, gettting up to 10 or 12 MPH then slowing down, sometimes stopping. Finally it engaged when I gave it heavy throttle to climb a hill. No bad noise or anything, just took a LONG time. When I disengaged it, it clicked right to 2WD. After lunch, we went to go up a very snowy steep trail and I switched it in 4WD and it would not engage again, I tried everything, turning the bars, getting up to 20 MPH and back to a stop, shifting into reverse and moving back a couple feet, switched in and out several time and it would not engage for the rest of the day. Any ideas, where do I start?

I checked the fuses, the KEBC fuse looks fine, when I turn the key on, I hear the "noise" that I think is something getting ready, but not every time I turn it on do I hear this, and when I turn the key off it makes all the noises of doing the system check. Looks quite clean under the machine. I am not sure where the actuator is, I think it is on the right side of the front diff (when sitting on the machine) and is a little black round thing (nice description huh!). I am waiting for my service manual, so can't look there yet. Please help me out.

 

You can take that actuator out and test it with a tester and battery voltage. I will tell you the wires to use when I get home unless someone else tells you first.

But, from memory I believe the red and black are the motor. You could apply 12v + and 12v reverse to it and see if it moves.

The other three wires are for a position sensor, which appears to be a rheostat, variable impedance thingy. You probably would need the manual, or someone with a manual to tell you.

 

I don't think it will try to engage over 12 MPH or so. The servo has to slide one part into another and they must line up. Usually a small amount of rolling will accomplish this. The "noises" which occur after you turn the key off are the Engine Braking Servo Controller reading and storing new values into memory. If you want to see the three-pronged parts that engage the 4wd system, go to the parts diagrams on Kawasaki's website.

 

I find when mine acts up ( once in a while) if I back up it slips right in to 4x4.

 

Monte, how far do you have to back up to get it to engage? I did this but since it was a tight and crowded trail, I only backed up a couple of feet, do I need to go farther?

Prairie633, I have looked at the parts diagram, I can find the actuator, but I am not sure where the 3 pronged parts or the servo are. Do you know the part numbers, I am looking at the front drive shaft diagram.

Nyroc, please let me know the wires to test, and are they the wires running to the actuator? Unfortunately I will have to wait to do much on this till the weekend, it is sitting on the trailer and I don't want to get it off this week, I will get it out on Saturday and do some tinkerin'.

 

It will usually go in in a bike length.

 

when im driving in the snow 4wd wont engage either, i think it has to do something with the rear wheels slipping. because i back up and the rear wheels dont spin and then it engages. is there something on the prairie when the rear wheels are spinning that the 4wd wont engange?

 

if the front wheels arent moving about the same speed as the back it wont shift into 4wd

 

packardbell15: If the rear wheels are spinning to fast and you put it in 4wd, it WILL, destroy the front diff. Do not spin the rear wheels when putting it in 4wd. I don't remember who it was but this happened to someone on this board or the HL board.

 

Scooter650, Go to the "Drive Shaft - Front" diagram and look at parts 13139 and 42034. The servo drive 13139 into 42034(coupler). If you zoom in on 13139, you can see the three triangular-looking tabs sticking out in the direction of part 42034. These have to mesh with the recesses in the coupler and then held there by the servo. You can see how a slight roll is so helpful to allow the servo to mesh. I think you have to be between 1 and 20 kph for the controller to tell the servo to move.(Stated in the service manual somewhere).