I haven’t had a quad for… Wow. 12 years.
The last one had antop end engine oil leak, and I forgot to put oil in it onece too often, and it blew up one day when we were out screwing around with it. I was about to turn 18 then. Didn’t have the money to fix it, and any spare cash after that went into my car, or bikes, then trucks etc.. Then later, my back was so messed up that even when I could have scraped up cash for one, I knew that that kind of ridding was a Bad idea. After a while I just got used to not ridding.(that took some doing, since I spent SO Much time on a wheeler as a teen!)
Last couple years though, I’ve really been wanting one again, since I’m in a lot better shape, and a lot of my work in the summer would benefit from one too.
Cash flow and a dwindling secondary market for bikes, snowmobiles and quads has made it impossible to do; until now. 🙂
The quad I got in the trade; 2009 Kawasaki Prairie 360 4×4.
Kinda funny, the bike was the first and only Brand New vehicle I have ever owned. But this i the newest in age that I have ever owned!
(Yes, yes, that utility trailer is Extremely over loaded with that quad… But its the only trailer I own… And it worked! (for about 30 or 35 miles too!) )
It is, Exactly what I was looking for. Like I said before;
“a mid size, slightly older, lighter weight model(dang all the new ones are so bloody Big and HEAVY) , anything but a Suzuki or Arctic Cat, Kawasaki prefered…with at least a 300cc motor, and 4×4 “
God is great in the way He puts things together isn’t He? Got a deal I wasn’t actively looking for, when I needed it(hunting season is soon, and I was really thinking a wuad would be nice), a great way to be able to easilly part with my bike, and exactly the quad size/style/brand I wanted. Sweet.
Now, it does have some issues.
As you can see the front tires are shot, almost no tread left…(about the same as the tires I ran on my last quad for Years… 😉 )
It has some warning lights flashing, which my research this morning has shown might just be some sensors/wirring issues thats common to these, or might be a bit spendier in some hard parts to replace… Has to do with the fancy engine breaking system and electronic 4×4 engagement that it has.
I’m not worried about it.
It rode fine, and everything seemed to work OK when I test rode it before the trade. And I know a good electronics tech(Hi Weston!), plus, the mechanical side to it looks like I could cheat/fix pretty easy IF it actually is an applicable issue.
It also has a starting problem; The electric starter won’t start it, except once in a while. But it pull starts easy with one or two pulls, even on a cold motor. Idles a little rough, but once it warms up its fine.
Again, I ain’t worried about it. I’ve had a lot of stuff that the electric starter never worked at all, or I never had batteries for them, and they were a real pain it the butt to pull start, or litterally push/coast and pop the cluth start. This is nothing. 😉 (It cranks the motor fine, and I got it to fire a cold motor, but it iddles Really low, and as soon as you touch the gas at all it kills it again. Seems to me like a ignition power and starter power issue, where after running the starter, the ignition doesn;t get enough juice… probably a bad relay/ignition power diversion circuit, if I had to guess.)
Overall, a good trade… If we talk monetary value, he wanted $2k for the quad, and the bike blue books at $1K to $1.5K And the quad is 8 years newer… SO it looks like I got a better deal.
But Both vehicles have some issues.
The quad looks great, but has some running issues as I mentioned… More functional issues.
The bike just needed a battery and a couple cosmetic touches replaced, some cleaning. And for being 15 yead old, it only has 3700 original miles on it… about 700 on a new clutch. Its old in time, not use/wear.
I think it evens out, “50/50, 90”, as to an average dollar value being about the same, more or less, for the market here. Gotta figure too, that dollar value isn’t everything… He wanted a bike more than a quad, and I wanted a quad more than a bike. Like I said, I think it evens out, and we both got a good deal out of it.
Alaskan, Adventurer, Engineer. 
Sweet!