I picked up a '04 Kodiak 450 about 3 months ago and love it! It's an awesome quad and for what you will be doing, it fits perfectly. I've had mine in water up close to the racks and it runs like a champ and doesn't take on water till you get to the plastic (where the intakes are). Go w/ the Kodiak 450.

 

is the handle bar thing still a problem with the 04's, and is there any other little problems like this. Is the tranny better than the honda AT's, i believe the honda uses hydraulics and actually doesnt have a low range but has a low ratio which makes it have more low end punch than the kodiak 450, that is what i heard on the honda forum.

THanks

 

The handlebar thing? By this do you mean a loose handlebar? I haven't heard of any '04s having it, but all it takes to fix is a simple nyloc nut. About $0.30 and 2 minutes to replace. I wouldn't give the Kodiak the boot b/c of this.

I have heard the trans intake hose comes loose where it's connected to the trans. I checked mine and it's as tight as it was the day I bought it. All that is req'd to 'fix' this is to tighten up the hose clamp that holds the tube on. Another simple fix.

I'm not sure about the Honda transmissions. I thought they were gear driven. The Kodiak uses a belt, which I HATED the idea of when I was deciding on the Kodiak or Foreman. I've had mine in water close to the racks and it hasn't sucked water in and the belt hasn't slipped. The low range on the Kodiak 450s is really low. It's got a TON of pulling power and is too low for normal riding. The only time I use it is when climbing a really steep hill, pulling heavy loads, or if I'm in really deep mud and want to have some fun [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Hope this helps.

 

The Kodiak has way more power, I have a 2003 400 Kodiak and we tied up a foreman 450 and see who pulled who, I hardly moved him but I won, and I know the Kodiak 450 will beat a honda rancher 400