Swampped Kawi Smoke Show

[TUMBLEWEED]

Thought I would try and get a couple pics of last

weekend's adventures...

First pic is after I jumped into the muddy mess.(That is when the Brute took a lungful of water). I began to notice that

the throttle reponse was not what it should be. It finally

died, and then the smoke cloud caught up with me...(Pic2)

You can see the water was not that deep. I have been doing

some surfing on the ATV sites on the net, and there

is a lot of folks out there who have had similar

experiences with water and snow entering the airboxes

of the newer model of Brutes.

In hindsight, I should have completely closed the throttle

as I jumped it into the water. that may have helped

matters. One learns by experience I guess. The Brute

seems to have taken it in stride. There are plans for

riding again this weekend, without any puddle-jumps

on the agenda!!

You have to give it to Kawi, they build a strong motor

in that V twin.

[mozy]

Had the same issue on my '05 that I had. One of my first trips I was in 8-10" of mud going along at a decent pace and by the end of the day my intake box as well as belt housing was full of mud. I was not too pleased. I also totally swamped mine at about 200 miles, and put on another 1,200 without problems. Hopefully yours turns out the same way.

[TUMBLEWEED]

It's back in the shop. I keep getting temp/performance

issues on long, full out (50-60 MPH) runs.

During the field clean-up we noted there was a

comprimised o-ring that is on the inlet hose to

the airbox. It was folded over leaving a 1/4

to 3/8 gap on the front of the box. That and

a missing screw on the bottom of the hose housing.

I had some work done at the dealer last fall

that would have entailed their diassembly/reassembly

Too make matters worse. The first time they left a

component off and had to redo it again. So they have

some degree of liability for this issue.

My friends and I are pretty sure it is a restricted

exhaust condition, since it was blowing oil and

water out the pipe. I said as much in a note I

brought in with the machine. Small bursts and idle are

fine. We will see what they come back with, if

anything. I am not so pleased with their work to

date. The service manager seems to be working with

us so far. Will advise when we know more..

I just want to RIDE!!!!!!!!

[Dave S]

Best of luck on getting the machine up and running back to normal TUMBLEWEED.

Keep us posted.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Call from the shop last night has problems in the front

cylinder. Will know more on Thursday. Service manager

is having a talk with the general manager. Will

post back when there is more info......

[TUMBLEWEED]

Update:

Finally got my Brute back last Friday. 4500.00

later. I took it home and found they overfilled

the oil by a bunch. Brought it up to the trails

at Chenwantanna by Pine City. They had recommmended

another break in, so took it nice and easy. There

wasn't many trails open, but got about 14 miles on it.

Put it back in the truck and headed out to Red Top.

BAcked it out of the truck at the Red Top Soo Line

trail lot. It is now stuck in reverse!!!!!!!

Anybody have any ideas of what could be wrong?? I am

willing to bet, that the wrenches at the shop

have screwed something up here, since they

had the case split to do the crank.

It did run really well for the hour or so I had

forward gearing........

[Dave S]

I would look into the idle adjustment or linkage adjustment.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Somebody in the know has suggested the linkage is

too tight... fixable without splitting the case

OR

The dog gear?? is not shimmed correctly.

If this is the cause, the case will have to come

apart again. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Dave S]

I know on the first model year of the Vinson Auto, the gear dogs were the cause of the shifting issue. That could be the case on your Kawi if they weren't put back together properly. I never thought of that.

If that is the case, hopefully your dealer has a guarantee on their work and make this right since it clearly wasn't a problem before you took it in.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Just got it back. Something with the linkage

had vibrated loose. They added locktite to

it. Can't say I feel like walking back to shore

this winter should it happen again!!

Now on with the break-in. Another couple hours

and it should be a done deal.

[Dave S]

Hope everything goes better for you from here on out.