About half the Honda 350 to 500 owners we service machines for, changed to King Quads over the last few years. The boss refused to sell Honda 500 manuals after every one he sold in 2006 needed a complete stripdown and new gears fitting within the first three years. We persuaded most to go for 450KQs. We then had the frames crack badly on them, but this is an easy fix compared to a gearbox rebuild. The old Honda 420 was rightly regarded as "a bit light for towing" so many 350 Honda owners changed to 400KQs.

Now Honda have a new range some are going back to Honda, we sold a 420auto last week, to someone who had changed to a manual 400KQ last time, he'd had the bad luck to get a faulty gearbox on the KQ, not a common fault, and fixable with engine in frame on a KQ.

 

so the grizz gained a cyclops, and then the KQ loses it. not good.

 

Just had the second 500KQ frame crack, so Suzuki haven't solved the problem. It also sheared it's anti roll bar. The roll bar is a big puzzle to me as, when they first came out on cars, they were made of spring steel and worked as a torsion bar, allowing one side suspension to move indepedently to the other, but giving some resistance to doing so. Suzuki's anti roll bar is tube, which doesn't bend in torsion, so turns the lower suspension arms into swinging arm suspension, and not independent at all.

 

I will one-up that. I bought a 450 with 40miles on it and the frame welds are rusted, and the racks are literally flaking off the coating and rusting below. yes it sat in florida under cover open air style. I bought a 750 with 10hrs on it and the coating is flaking off the racks already. Suzuki opted to spray the coating because it was faster than powder coating and baking. Honda racks make me DROOL!

 

Yamaha racks are pretty nice too. At least they are still steel and not plastic like the Can-Am(except the L models) and Polaris. I know they won't bend or rust but I prefer rugged steel racks that you can actually grab hold of and can easily bungy things to if needed.

 

I don't know of any brand that powdercoats.

 

Most old model Honda 420s had the paint come off the frame welds by the first service. I have seen less paint flaking on Suzukis, particularly the old Eiger, many of them still have frames like new. Powder coating is nothing special, it can be applied by less skilled labour, but if corrosion gets into it, it comes off in large flakes.

 

off topic but i know i'm asking the right guy. close to 1st service on 2015 KQ400. can i do it myself without voiding warranty? if yes what should the service include?

 

We do it for free if the owner has bought from us. The dealer may try to wriggle out of a costly warranty claim if they haven't done the service, so it is probably worth paying for it. We carry out the standard service, except we don't change the plug, or check clutch adjustment on a manual model.

Jack rear up, check wheel bearings. Check brake for dragging, the cam gets to sticking, usually corrosion round the outer O ring makes it tighten onto the shaft. Make sure footbrake lever pivot isn't sticking, oil rear brake adjusters and tighten if needed, the parking brake should be fairly easy to click on, so don't overdo it. Check the rear prop shaft UJ for play. Check oil level in rear diff, the level plug is an M6 screw. Move to front and jack up, check wheel bearings, ball joints, track rod ends and steering column for play. Put 4WD lever in and out and check the front wheels can spin easily with it out, but won't turn the same way with 4WD engaged. Remove the front wheels and note how much brake pad you have left, if worn to less than 1/8" change them, checking that the caliper sliders are sliding properly, if not, free off. Check oil level in front diff, again an M6 level plug below the filler plug. Check both front prop shaft UJs are OK, and all four CV boots for splits. Change engine oil and oil filter, making sure new filter is tight as they can loosen off and leak.

 

when does a valve adjustment get done?