Hey everyone, long-time Brute Force owner here. Had my ’07 650i since new and love it dearly but it’s hit the point at which it’s causing more problems than it’s worth. I fix things after every trip, and it’s taking a lot of the joy out of riding in stressing over repairing it and never knowing if it will start or not. It’s been a good quad, and I’ve done some amazing trips on it, but now it’s more of a PITA than I can put up with. As such, it may be time for the Brute to go.

I don’t ride as much as I used to (maybe ~10-15 trips/year now) so justifying an expensive machine is pretty difficult to do. Thus, I’m pretty interested in the Kodiak; it seems to have most of everything I want at a price that’s the most reasonable of any big-bore out there. Obviously coming from the Brute I’d like more power than the Kodiak has, but you can’t have everything (especially with a super tight budget).

From what I’ve read, the only difference between the Kodiak and Grizzly in terms of power/speed is the clutching. Sounds like they use different clutch weights to make the power come on differently. My question is this: Would swapping in the Grizzly’s clutch weights make the Kodiak on par with the Grizz? I know the Grizzly still isn’t a power monster but it sounds like for the trails, the Kodiak definitely leaves something to be desired. Worried I’ll miss this punch of the Brute, but wondering where to start should I go the Kodiak route.

Other quick question: locking diff is only available on the SE version, correct? If it came down to a higher-tier Kodiak or a base, non-EPS Grizzly, which would be the better route to go? EPS would be nice but I’ve only ridden a quad with power steering for twice, for no more than 30 seconds each, so it’s not like I’ll be missing much. And I’m sure either Yamaha will be much easier to steer than the Brute is.

Lowest prices (new) I’ve seen for the Kodiak and Grizzly are as follows:
-Kodiak: $5999 (6999 w/EPS)
-Grizzly: $7699 w/EPS
Anybody seen any better deals out there?

Also considering the King Quad 750 (found one for $6500 new) and the Brute 750 (found one for $7200). I’d love to have the Brute’s power still but the unreliability had seriously turned me off. As for the Suzuki, I don’t have much experience with them. I had a Kodiak 450 before the Brute and it was flawless, so wouldn’t mind going the Yamaha route again. I know everyone here will likely be biased, but figured it’s a good place to start.

Thanks in advance for any help. I haven’t quad shopped in just about ten years so this is a whole new ballgame to me.