It started about a week or so ago. It was time to get my 6 year old a four wheeler, and after a few days of research, it appeared that the LT 80 was the way to go. I found a few of them in the area. One was $500 and looked like it had been beat to crap, and one was $400, and also appeared to be crap. I then found an "06 Kawasaki KFX 80" in "mint condition" for $800. I talked to the guy on the phone, who made the quad sound like it had been used about 5 hours, and sat in a garage its whole life. After driving two and a half hours, I got to see it.

It was trashed. He couldn't even start it. The swing arm was loose and I guess where it mounts to the main chassis had bad bushings. I was so upset, and disappointed... I looked down and saw my son just so happy, because hey, we had driven across the state to buy a four wheeler. What kid wouldn't be excited?

I took $500 out of my pocket and told him he could take it, or I was leaving. Like an intelligent person, he took it. Off to clean the carb I though, drive it around, have fun with the little guy...

I get home, and I'm pretty mechanically inclined. Told the little guy to grab me a beer, and then go hang out inside for a few minutes, giving myself about 20 minutes for the carb job. I took the carb off (which had been painted with some cheap crap from walmart no doubt) and get it to it. There were no carb gaskets, just silicone everywhere. On the outside of the carb, the inside of the carb, in the jets, literally everywhere. There was so much gunk in the freaking thing I wonder if it ever had ran. The main jet was half clogged, and I couldn't even get my carb tool through the pilot jet. Eventually I get them cleaned, clean off all the crap paint, and put the carb back together.

Quad doesn't start. Spark is meh, existing but weaksauce. Plug was new, so I guess I had that going for me. Compression was at about 95psi cold, but bear in mind the engine hadn't been ran in a while. Still low I'm sure. I realize that the vacuum line from the petcock on the tank to the carb is MIA. I had some bleeder hose, and fixed that. The fuel line on the thing was really crappy 1/4" fuel line. Great for a regular vehicle, but about 3 times too heavy duty for this. I couldn't even get a clamp to hold it to the carb inlet. Used bleeder hose for that too. Still runs bad, won't idle, choke lever is broken, and has no gaskets. I ordered a new carb off eBay. The gasket kit and choke were about 65% of what the brand new carb cost...

Not wanting to disappoint the little guy, I tune the broken choke lever and throttle stop screw enough to run the quad for a little bit. I take the little guy for a ride around the lot, and I notice that while driving, the drive line hesitates and bucks at random speeds. Almost like something is binding up. So much for the "brand new drive belts" in there huh. That should be fun to fix.

My friend came over and took it for a quick spin. While he was driving by I noticed the back end of the quad is bent about ten degrees. The left wheelbase is 37.5", and the right is 36.5". Looks like an even bigger difference. Maybe it's why the transmission binds up.

As a side bonus, the freaking moron who had it before decided it was a good idea to reinforce the front plastics. Good idea in theory, until he screwed the plastics into the gas tank causing a leak at over 2/3rds full.

I'm just so disappointed. Instead of going riding I'm stuck fixing yet ANOTHER toy, and not enjoying anything. I hope some of you can shed some light on a few of the problems. I have high hopes that the carb issue will be resolved by the new carb, and that the drive line issues are something simple. We'll see I guess.

Oh, and according to the VIN it's an '03. At least the tires have a bit of tread...

 

I had to take a nap in the middle of all that...LOL
IMO, you got a fair deal for the machine. Running and in fair shape they go for 1000-1200.
Swingarm loose:: Prolly just the pivot bolt loose. Tighten the bageezus out of it. That usually does it.
Drive:: You have get into the clutchs to see what's going on. I suspect a roller problem in the front clutch. It's time for clutch maint anyways.
95 comp is getting low but it'll go for a while.
Wheelbase:: prolly the loose pivot bolt. Hopefully the cases are not cracked.
Let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks Jack. I'm guessing the new carb will be here today. So the next couple days the crappy run quality will get fixed, and I can work on the rear end/transmission. Any suggestions for fuel line? You wouldn't happen to know what size screws hold the big cylinder air box together do you? Both screws are missing, and zip ties were being used.

 

Got the new carb, runs good. Carb came with the vacuum port plugged with a rubber boot, so I plugged the vacuum line on the tank petcock too. Seems to run perfectly fine, idles and everything. I turned it off and it completely flooded, so I ordered an $8.00 banshee petcock from eBay. I guess this means I have to turn the fuel off before turning bike off to avoid flooding the carb?

Here is video of the chassis play. There is a lot of it. I don't think it's the reason for the back axle looking like it's on an angle, but its probable got more flex than its supposed to. I also attached a pic of the bottom of the quad if anyone has any insight into the axle angle. It seemed like the transmission was a bit better, but it still occasionally was catching on something. What's the first step in diagnosing that?

(apologize for just the link, but every time I tried to add the preview it would make it post twice...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izh-...ature=youtu.be

 

"I guess this means I have to turn the fuel off before turning bike off to avoid flooding the carb?"
Yes it does. Everyone with any motorcycle and quad had to shut the petcock off till some foo at Zuki needed a vac petcock...LOL
Then the real trouble came.......ethanol! There wasn't 10% of the flooding issues till ethanol.
I do agree it looks tweaked a lil. You can loosen the rear end bolts that hold the plates on the motor, there is a slight anount of movement there and in the plates/rear axel carrier. Maybe get it tweaked back into shape. This could be causing the slip you heard. I'm guessing that the chain might be loose enough to let the chain slip on the front sprocket. Get the machine straightened out and it will tighten the chain some.

 

Thanks man. What's your suggestion for tweaking it back without messing up the engine case? That's the part that really is bad when it breaks right? Lol

 

"You can loosen the rear end bolts that hold the plates on the motor, there is a slight amount of movement there and in the plates/rear axel carrier. Maybe get it tweaked back into shape"

How much side too side movement is there when you grab the grab bar?
Could be a bushing problem.

 

Decent bit. Did you see it on the video? I tried to show it.

Thanks for all your responses.

 

OOOOps...Didn't look at the video..My bad.
All I can say is to tighten the bageezus out of both bolts (the 2 long bolts at the pivot point). See what that does. 95% of the time it's the pivot bolt lose.
To equall out the wheelbase, I'd loosen all the bolts on the spacer plate that holds the rear axel carrier and where the plates bolt to the motor. Pull and yank and hopfully it's fine. Then tighten. Sorta weird that all has to be done but if it got loose for the previous owner, anything can happen.

 

I haven't updated this in a while, so here are some new details. Got quad running decent. Took it out and my son loved it. After an hour, it started running dying out. I couldn't keep it running. No compression. Didn't even register on my gauge. I finally installed the Chinese cylinder and piston kit I bought, and it fired right up. However, after a few minutes it stalled. Started first crank, stalled again. Each time, it got harder for the starter to turn over. Actually blew a relay, so now I have to go grab something generic, and wire it in. Can't keep paying $28 for a relay. After I take the plug out, and run the starter a bit, I can plug it back in and it fires up. If I hit the gas, it'll stall, and then it won't turn over until I pull the plug, and go through that again.

I tried doing a compression test, it gets to 100psi, and then the starter can't turn the motor over any more. Any ideas? Thanks in advance! I uploaded a picture of the old piston. Looks absolutely destroyed.