frown;

Last Saturday I was out riding with a group of buds and my three kids. At a steep and rough section of the trail, I shifted into low range and locked in my difflock. I attacked the hill with a bit of authority and about mid-way up, my 2003 grizzly "popped" out of gear with a loud bang! The quad instantly went down hill backwards. The tranny made a ratcheting noise as I descended. Because I was standing up at the time, and sort of fell on the bars, it took me some time to gather my faculties and stop the quad. I was very fortunate to keep it together, and came away unscathed. Has this happened to anyone out there? Anybody know how to fix this?
Also for those Yamaha riders who experience the rev limiter sounding sputters when riding through deep mud or water; on this same ride, 4 grizzlies and 1 Kodiak all sputtered but mine did not. I was the only machine with the “cut white wire”. I guess it works. I think I found the info on this forum, but not sure. My dealership says, they have not heard anyone have this trouble. (the sputter) I find it odd that 6 guys who all ride together and are even related, (cousins & brothers) are the only ones with this problem.
I am not sure that I would recommend a Yamaha ATV to someone right now. Not sure what I’d rate as being better though. I think the yams have a good product, but they definitely have some problems. My Dad rides a Polaris 700 and he has not had one issue with his machine. None of the Yamaha’s have broken down, but they’ve all had some “things”. IE: heat kit recall, headlight bulbs. Our dealer was very good about repairs at no cost.
Appreciate any feedback.

 

Havent heard of poping out of gear, sounds scary though. Just when you need it to be in gear..its goes to nuetral. Thats a bit nerve racking, going downhill backwards, and not in gear. Were you getting alot of traction when it happened, or were the tires spinning?Is it possible the linkage, from the shifter needs adjusting?Might have been right at the phyical limit of travel in low, and all it took was a bump to move it out?
Havent heard about the white wire either...was this fixed for 04 by adding the override button?What does cutting the white wire do...eliminate the rev limiter in locked?and reverse?
So far Ive been happy with the Kodiak,just a few adjustments, like the toe alinement, and the mixture screw. The engine and tranny seem to be rock solid.

 

My grizzly did it to me (although its a 600 not a 660)
My results where slightly bent rear rack and a tail-light gone. there is a shift linkage running from the shift **** to the motor, and it has a couple of jam-nuts on it. sometimes it'll come out of adjustment and not stay in gear enough to hold it there, just adjust it (im not sure of the right length) until you hve it right.

 

Yes I had good traction at the time and was progressing forward at a good clip. The crazy part of it is, that the gear selector was still in the low position, and by the time I had stopped the quad, was again engaged in low! Anyway, alls well that ends well.
The white wire apparently disconnects whatever the devise is in the front end that tells the ignition to misfire after I think 18 KMH (12 MPH) when in diff-lock mode. This happens in either low or high range and is a safety devise like the one that happens in reverse. I don’t think snipping this wire effects reverse. The only side effect is that the reverse indicator light blinks after you go over the speed limit. I plan to connect the wire to a toggle switch just so the blinking light quits. Some of the guys I was riding with had ‘04 models and 1 guy’s is an ‘05 and they all misfired. The water/mud barely came over the running boards; hardly extreme conditions, and very embarrassing when a kid on a 400 Foreman came through with no problems. The thingamajig misfires right down to barely idling speed, so the machine is hardly pulling itself; zero wheel spin etc. Again I stress not overly deep, no big roost of mud, just put, put, put through the hole and once back on dry ground it clears right up again and all is well. If you want more info to do the same thing let me know and I’ll snap a pic for you to show which wire. I’ll be off line until the weekend as I’m traveling on biz.

 

I have had my 04 grizz up to almost the top of the fenders several times and it never so much as sputtered. As far as popping out of gear the linkage may be adjusted just enough that it will stay in gear under a light load, But isn't in enough to hold it under a larger load meaning it is only partially engauged if that is possible. or something inside that holds it in gear broke.

 

About the sputtering problem...theres a couple of things to try. Put dielectric grease, on the inside of the spark plug boot, to help prevent shorting the spark when wet. A try running thru the puddles, with the side covers off. Seems to me, there was an issue with, steam rising, from the splashing water, on the hot motor, and going in the air intake, and causing misfires. I believe there was a fix, or recall, to vent the side covers.