Hey "Just Randy"

Will you please share with me the details on the KQ 700 Caster/Camber fix?

Where can I obtain info, the parts, etc.

An aquaintances wife was just seriously injured in a "same-o". Dumont Dunes, down hill, either suddenly backed off or hit the brakes, weight transfer forward, "lock to lock" to the left.... OH ****!! Of course, you guessed it, she rolled it.

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Take the minute to respond.

Thanks, Steve F. (GoldFinder)

This fotum or:

E-Mail: Steve Foster
slffoster@sbcglobal.net


Telephone: 1-702-501-4494

 

My buddy owns the quad, not me, but I almost flipped it once before and will only drive it like a tractor now. He still hasn't done the mod, but sent me pics a while back of the procedure and we got into this big discusion of caster that lasted for days. Anyway, the idea is to imagine the front wheels on a shopping cart. No matter which way you push it, the wheels always rotate to the back... like it should be. But suzuki, for some reason I can only guess at, decided to turn the shopping cart wheels around and expect you to be able to hold them that way with the handlebars.... Against the force of 700-800lbs of quad! So, the solution is to rotate the spindle back such that the center of the wheel bearings are BEHIND the axis of rotation of the balljoints and not in front of it. The most popular way to do that has become known on some forums as "the caster mod" and guys have it in their sig. I can't remember exactly, but it has something to do with machining either the rear of the top a-arm bearings and putting washers at the front, or machining the front of the bottom a-arm bearings and putting washers at the rear, or both if you want. I'm sure a search on google will turn something up. If not, let me know and I will ask my friend for the details. Anway, I'm not getting back on his unless its just to move it out of the way until he does that mod. Its a death trap.

 

I thought someone had installed some sort of "stabilizer" that attactched to the steering stem and had settings to it to overcome this problem. Not sure if it was on this forum or another. Try http://www.nyrocatv.com. Alot of King quad info there.
Hope this helps.
Buck

 

A steering stabilizer would be a bandaid,,, if that. If the forces of the quad become greater than what the stabilizer can deal with, then you can still get hurt. Its just a bad design. The only reasons I can think of why they did that was so driving on an off-camber hill the front wheels will always steer up the hill. Also, if there is a crosswind, the front wheels will steer into the wind. Adjusting the caster is the only safe way to go.

Try these links http://www.nyrocatv.com/techti...ewcat=11&viewtopic=17

http://www.nyrocatv.com/forum....ewcat=4&viewtopic=2561

 

Another link http://atv.dnsalias.com/forum....ewcat=4&viewtopic=7764 . This looks like the way I'll go if need be. A little expensive and takes about 5 weeks but sounds the best to me.
Buck

 

Should work. I have no problems with the bushings though. But then again, I have no problem taking a-arms off and hacking them all to bits and welding it back together either (ie, see pics).

 

Hey everyone! New to the website and I wanted to comment on the original post. I was probably one of the first people 'in line' waiting to buy a King Quad in 05' when they came out so I will try to keep my opinions un-bias.

Im not a big fan on racing my Kq simply because I don't want to beat it up and dump preventable monies into it. Although I do play around with my two buddies and their Raptor 600s. At the top end they all hang together, but off the line...don't even consider being able to keep up with them. The Kq is a little top heavy in corners too. I have rolled 3 times in the life of the Kq from taking corners too sharp and also one of those times was descending a hill then needing to make an immediate right turn up hill. I was really trying to push the law of gravity then, so i deserved that roll over.

I live in Michigan where there are only about 6-8 months of good trail riding and the rest of the year is snowy and hunting season. when I am trail riding I do run into one problem a lot. Its a HUGE *** machine! Sometimes you just won't make it between the trees on the trails like the smaller sport quads can. When you are running up hill, whether it is loose sand, gravel, mud, dirt...name it; the kq will go up. I have driven uphill on 50-60 degree steep hills covered in snow with no problem. Not even kidding. Crazy power!

In the winter, I hunt all of the time. My father and I typically bring a small pop up trailer with us when we hunt. Because the terrain is so unlevel and hard to push the camper, we just hook it up to the Kq and pull it to where we need to go...its a breeze. The trailer weighs about 2,300 lbs and the motor doesn't even grunt/strain.

Over all, I think this is a GREAT machine through all type of riding styles. For the price...you can't beat it!