Hi gang. Sorry this post is so long.
I hope I can get some insight here. I have been surfing this forum looking at posts and was going to ask your opinions.

Current situation:
I have a 86 Kawasaki Bayou 300 2wd with a Diff lockin.that has a Warn U2000 winch It has been on the machine for a long time. The serial number is in the 800's. Oldie but goodie. I have had my Kaw for 8 years and have ridden it 8 times. Yeah. My friends all said "Yeah get a ATV and we will all get one and go riding" Never happened. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img] I have gone thru the carb and put a liner in the fuel tank, new battery and have a rebuild kit for my fuel petcock is on the way. It has been sitting for about 3 years unstarted and fuel drained. I put some oil in the plug hole, put it in gear and rolled it to get the piston to turn. Also fired it over once, everything sounded good.THe plastic is in really good shape. It has been garaged and kept up by me. I was going to ask between $1500 and $1700.00 obo. I think Im in the ballpark, more towards the $1500. Thats what I really want out of it.. The local want ads for a used machine that year range from 1500 to 2000. I have seen a Bayou 300 at the local Kaw dealer totally beat to he** for 2300.00. Am I in the ballpark for this?

I have 2 questions.

I plan to get either A used Polaris Sportsman 500 HO or 700 with EBS or mabye a Yamaha Kodiak 450, or a Honda Foreman but that is looking pretty bleek right now. . I dont know what one to go with. I want to stick to around $5000. I do not want to sink myself into debt.
I have 2 Yamaha bikes already and they have been wonderful. I found a new group of riders and just went on a ATV ride here a few weeks ago and now want a newer ATV. I have read that the Kodiak is top heavy but the Polaris is just plain a heavy machine. I plan to do trail riding and plow plowing. I want to put a Swisher plow system on it. I did look at the 05 Kodiak and THe frame looked really flimsy. Of course the sales man said its bulletproof.. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

My goals:
I want the power to keep up with the guys and enuf umph to push the snow. I just dont want to get a ATV and have it be underpowered. The guys I went with all had Pol's 500's or 700's. I also want a reliable machine.

THe local paper has had a 2002 500 HO and a 2001 or 2002 Sportsman 700 for $4900.00 I am thinging about going with a 700 just for the power. From what I read the 500 and 700 are the same machine only difference is the engine size.

I want the cush ride and a good machine.. Whats your ideas? Has anyone ridden a Kodiak and Sportsman? I am really leaning towards the Sportsman 700.

ALso what year did the Sportsman go to the deluxe digital displays? Was it in 03 and after?

Also whats your thoughts on buying a atv off of Ebay?

Second part of my question.

The winch. Chances are when I buy my new atv it will have a winch on it. I was thinking about pulling off the U2000 off my Kaw and buying a rear mount for it and having a winch front and rear. anyone done this?

I was thinking about going to Costco or walmart and but ing a cheap $50.00 winch and placing it on the ATV. Are all the mounting holes universal? OR wold i have to drill new ones?

Also will the U2000 accept a remote switch mounted on the handlebars? My U2000 only has a circle rocker on the side.


Sorry for all the questiopns [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Thanks all for your help. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i have a 450 kodiak and have ridden all of the sportsman models. the sportsmans are definetely more cushy and are much heavier-the polarises have way more top heaviness to em-the kodiak has trouble keeping up with the larger sportsmans but is not underpowered, just slower top speed, the kodiak is reliable-i have seen a countless number of polaris problems, i have plowed with my kodiak and as long as ur in low range everythings fine
i wouldnt buy an atv off ebay just cuz you have no idea how the quad runs-not a good idea in my opinion
i think it is the 04 polaris models that started with the digital displays
you could probably mount your old winch to the back of a new quad but you would probably need to drill new holes and maybe custom make a mount cuz i dont know if they make mounts for winches as old as yours
hope some of this helps...............450kodman

 

kodiak would be a solid rear axel i think that really takes away from the plush ride of course some people think that the irs has draw backs. if i was looking at a 2002 i would go with the 500 because that was the first year for the 700 and it had some problems the 500 is proven ...

 

Go with the SP 500, it has plenty of power for trail riding and plowing. It will go everywhere the 700 will and it is a proven bulletproof motor. Also the 500 has the recoil backup the 700 will not have the capability of being pull started.

As far as the winch. I did put a second winch on the back of mine with a custom mount (really easy to do) and have found that I actually use the rear winch alot more than I do the front one.

Hope this helps

Ty

 

Thanks guys for the reply. I actually went out to an Artic Cat dealer and looked at the AC and the Suzuki’s, was not impressed. Then went to a Polaris dealer. Told the owner what I wanted a 2002 500 HO for under 5 grand. Well he had one in on trade. 300 miles on it. I sadly had to let it go. I have 2 toys I have to get rid of first before the Polaris comes. I took a look at a Honda Foreman there also... Man the others just don’t stack up to the Polaris. They look and feel just really cheap... So it looks like its going to be a Polaris all the way...

What brings me to my second question? I may repost this in the Kawasaki section also.

I have an 86 Kaw Bayou 300 ATV. 2 wheel drive with a diff lock in... The history of this is I got it in 97. Got the carb redone in 98 or so the floats were bad. It was flooding out. I don’t remember if the carb was redone totally or not. I think it was thou. Anyways. It sat from 98 to 2002 with the carb drained and with gas in the tank, the gas went bad. Drained the gas tank and bathed in in muratic acid and put a liner in the tank. IT has sat dry since then.

Since the Polaris is on the way in the the Kaw is on the way out. Tonight I just finished installing a fuel petcock rebuild kit. And fired up the Kaw. It took a few tries and a squirt of ether ( I hate using that stuff) But she fired up.

The problem I am having is the ATV will run when 100% choked, 60% minimum it will die. When I turn the choke off it dies. When I hit the throttle when it’s choked it sputters and dies after. I got a full rev out of it once or twice. It will only run when it is choked.

I am a total noob when it comes to carbs. On the back of the carb there is a slide. When I hit the throttle it goes up and down really fast and just dies. The timing between the slide and the sputtering the two match up. I.e. when it sputters the slide is going up and down really fast.

I put some Sea foam thru it and let it run about 10 minutes and still nothing.

What should I do? Do I need to rebuild it? Or take the carb off and douce it with carb cleaner? I get really nervous taking that stuff apart. I did make a printout of how to clean the carbs.

I have a feeling it is the pilot jet, it may need cleaning? What should I do?