Hey folks who read this newbie thread… probably mostly mods I’m guessing. I’m Mike, I’ve been riding anything with a motor and wheels since I was a kid as much as I could get away with it. I’ve been riding a dual sport for about 15 years on the highways and light off road and have always wanted a quad since my neighbor got an old 4×4 honda when I was little. I just finally got my first quad as a steal of a deal on facebook (surprising, I know).

Picked up a 2003 Kodiak that had been dissassembled, had the front clutch pulley pulled off it, zero bolts holding any plastics anywhere (literally), radiator not connected or mounted, just sitting there in the frame, some stripped wires, it had been hotwired with a switch, plastics crappily repainted and peeled/marked/scarred, slightly bent lower A-arm, etc. I managed to see through all that and before buying I put a shot of ether through the air box, put a jump pack to the disconnected battery wires and it immediately tried to run, so I put a little gas in the tank and it immediately idled nice and tried to move even without the outer clutch disk installed! So I had to buy it. I figured a running motor and trans was worth $400! without even including the 4 extra 80% tread tires included with the originals, the paintable plastics, etc.

I took an afternoon and poured over it for everything wrong I could find and made a 2 page list of little things, most of which were nuts and bolts (literally missing nuts and bolts, i think someone stole the hardware to fix another bike?) and only found the following issues of substance. Bad front wheel bearings, needs a battery, a dripping petcock, no rear brake function (seems maybe the cables are too stretched?), the bent tie rod, a few worn bushings, a pitnum arm with a bit of play, no reverse, bad front shocks, and it appears the temp sensor is disconnected and that the connector for the 2 wires going to the sensor was actually ripped off? I still rode it withing 45 minute of testing in forward only by regreasing the outer pulley and reassembling it. The clutch has wear marks from being driven dry/ungreased but it moves nicely regreased and will burn out in loose gravel.

A small adjustment to the rod fixed reverse (the only non-functioning thing that scared me in the slightest). Now for $400 I own a worked 4×4 400 kodiak that starts immediately, idles nice, works in forward and reverse and scoots around pretty good despite the bad clutch. Ill replace it but wanted to test things further before committing real money to my project! The radiator gets hot so the coolant is cycling, but the fan doesn’t come on presumably because of the temp sensor being disconnected.

Joined the forum to get advise from the guys that already know on some of the issues. Looking forward to being a part of another community (already on KTM Talk, thumper talk, and Kawasaki forums)

Hey folks who read this newbie thread… probably mostly mods I’m guessing. I’m Mike, I’ve been riding anything with a motor and wheels since I was a kid as much as I could get away with it. I’ve been riding a dual sport for about 15 years on the highways and light off road and have always wanted a quad since my neighbor got an old 4×4 honda when I was little. I just finally got my first quad as a steal of a deal on facebook (surprising, I know).

Picked up a 2003 Kodiak that had been dissassembled, had the front clutch pulley pulled off it, zero bolts holding any plastics anywhere (literally), radiator not connected or mounted, just sitting there in the frame, some stripped wires, it had been hotwired with a switch, plastics crappily repainted and peeled/marked/scarred, slightly bent lower A-arm, etc. I managed to see through all that and before buying I put a shot of ether through the air box, put a jump pack to the disconnected battery wires and it immediately tried to run, so I put a little gas in the tank and it immediately idled nice and tried to move even without the outer clutch disk installed! So I had to buy it. I figured a running motor and trans was worth $400! without even including the 4 extra 80% tread tires included with the originals, the paintable plastics, etc.

I took an afternoon and poured over it for everything wrong I could find and made a 2 page list of little things, most of which were nuts and bolts (literally missing nuts and bolts, i think someone stole the hardware to fix another bike?) and only found the following issues of substance. Bad front wheel bearings, needs a battery, a dripping petcock, no rear brake function (seems maybe the cables are too stretched?), the bent tie rod, a few worn bushings, a pitnum arm with a bit of play, no reverse, bad front shocks, and it appears the temp sensor is disconnected and that the connector for the 2 wires going to the sensor was actually ripped off? I still rode it withing 45 minute of testing in forward only by regreasing the outer pulley and reassembling it. The clutch has wear marks from being driven dry/ungreased but it moves nicely regreased and will burn out in loose gravel.

A small adjustment to the rod fixed reverse (the only non-functioning thing that scared me in the slightest). Now for $400 I own a worked 4×4 400 kodiak that starts immediately, idles nice, works in forward and reverse and scoots around pretty good despite the bad clutch. Ill replace it but wanted to test things further before committing real money to my project! The radiator gets hot so the coolant is cycling, but the fan doesn’t come on presumably because of the temp sensor being disconnected.

Joined the forum to get advise from the guys that already know on some of the issues. Looking forward to being a part of another community (already on KTM Talk, thumper talk, and Kawasaki forums)