[Boilers]

Hey guys, I just joined and this is my first post. I’ve been looking for a quad for the last several weeks. I was looking at new Polaris 570’s, but have been slightly deterred due to reliability issues. After much research, I stumbled upon the Kodiak 700. I called a few dealers on 2020 EPS models, but they all wanted $10k+ out the door. It seems almost all dealers are getting MSRP right now. That’s a little rich for my blood.

Recently, I stumbled upon a used 2020 Kodiak EPS SE with 50 hours and 350 miles. I’ve contacted the private seller and negotiated down to $7k.It seems like a decent deal to me given the current atv market. I’d be saving well over $3k over a same model brand new unit. Probably more like $4k. Also this is cheaper than a brand new Polaris 570 base model. I the seller asked about maintenance and he brought up that the oil was changed at the break-in period of 20 or 25 hours. He couldn’t remember which. He said he bought it new in April and hasn’t ridden much. Only reason for selling is because he used to ride with his son but hasn’t had much time and his sons friend bought a quad and now they ride together. He also mentioned the only problems were one tire has slime in it, and the front rack portion nearest the handlebar headlight broke off. He said he had strapped something to it, and it broke off while riding and was lost. He seemed to think it was a bad weld. That’s it. Anything specific to look for other than general stuff when buying any used machine?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JimP]

See if he'll take it to a dealer for them to check it out. Look around the skid plates and inside the battery compartment for evidence of mud or water. If it has been swamped you should see some caked on mud. The broken front rack could of been from a roll over. Take a tape measure with you and check the height of it from some level ground to the top of the fender wells and make sure that the right side matches the left side.

I am sure that others will chime in here but I think that the big thing would be to pay a dealer to check it out.

 

[RedRocket]

Welcome to the forum!

Seems a reasonable price for a machine with that few miles. Many do prefer EPS for trail riding machines so that will be an added plus. Interesting about the piece of rack that broke off as usually a rollover will result in a bent rack on the sides, but there could also have been a large storage box, cooler, strapped to that part of the front rack... with a rollover may have caused damage. Look for crease marks, white'ish color to non-painted on the plastics especially on the fenders. However, many rollovers I've seen are pretty mild and only resulted in minor cosmetic damage. These machines are pretty reliable.

As Jim mentioned, I would be most concerned with an ATV that has been swamped/sunk. An ATV that has snorkels added wouldn't even get a look from me. Also bring a flashlight to look up into the plastics, from underneath, for that caked on mud as Jim pointed out. Ask for the machine to be cold when you arrive so you can start it cold. Look for any smoke out the tailpipe when starting but don't confuse a slight bit of steam with smoke. Your sniffer should help there.

I bought both of my Grizzly ATVs used and they have both been great bikes. My recent one was purchased last Feb with 300 miles and has treated me very well so far. Good luck and hopefully it works out for you. If you do buy it, make sure and post up some pictures of it on here.

 

[Boilers]

Thanks guys! I do not think it’s been rolled or anything like that. It looks pristine in pictures I have. He said it’s been through some small puddles, but he’s never submerged it or been through anything deep. Just trails and farm fields. I’ll look for evidence regardless, but I don’t have any reason to suspect he’s not being honest.

 

[Vincent]

Best way is to go see it in person and do an offer once it passes what ever inspection process you choose. ( you or a trusted mechanic) Sounds like a good deal from your description

 

[Boilers]

Well guys, long winded post here...but I bought it. Hopefully everything works out. The guy was super nice and everything he said seemed to check out. That said, he definitely wasn’t anal about cleanliness. It seemed he liked to ride in a lot of weeds and some mud. There was a decent amount of debris in the front electrical area and a slight bit of mud. Looking at the bottom of the lid, it appeared that some muddy water splashes in there some from both sides and the front. There were 3 distinct dirty water splash marks on the bottom of the lid about the size of a baseball. The rest of the lid was just dusty. The air box was pretty dirty also. Filter was clean enough, but again some weed debris and dust in the box. The axles all had mud and weed debris caked in around them, as well as parts of the motor and skid plastics that can’t be easily accessed with a hose. All the boots looked fine. He claimed several times he’d never been in anything up to the foot wells. Jury is out on that, but I may be underestimating the amount of mud these things sling. Kinda new to the atv world.

The machine starts up quick and easy. No smoke or oily smell in the exhaust whatsoever. I didn’t notice any engine noise or anything when I started it with the seller. When I got home (1.5 hours, mostly interstate, exposed trailer) it was colder and I did notice a little cold start miss or knock on a 36 degree startup. It was 95% gone before the engine reached 100 degrees. I was sitting on the machine and I could feel it in my right foot primarily. Hoping this is normal. I had read recently about others with some cold starts sounds/roughnessand the consensus was that it’s normal. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Literally everything works..

I checked fluids, axles and boots, transmission shifting, pushbutton 4x4 actuation and function, front differential lock, electrical/battery tray area, brakes, wench controls, lights. Engine startup, and throttle response, general plastics and seat condition, etc.

Winch is 2500 lb Warn unit with handlebar control. Works great but the cable is filthy.

Overall, I think everything checked out, but this thing needs a good scrubbing underneath.

 

[JimP]

Good luck with it hopefully it will last you a long time.

I'd pull the skid plates off and then take it to the car wash along with the skid plates and clean it up good. Pull the plates starting with the one on the front.

Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk

 

[KodiakAfishyo]

Congrats on the new Kodiak...I would change all the fluids to be sure everything is up to date, especially the engine oil and filter and put in a top quality synthetic oil like Amsoil ATV/UTV 10w-40 or 0w-40 oil that is wet clutch compatible and your cold start up noise may just go away.

 

[Boilers]

That’s the plan. Get it all cleaned up and change all the fluids.

I did take a video today of the cold start. I’d post it, but I’m not sure how. 45 degree coolant temp at startup and the noise was pretty much gone before 90 degrees. Seems kind of like piston slap... my old gmc used to do it on a cold start. It just kind of fades away. Probably nothing to be concerned about. I’m just paranoid like that.

 

[Boilers]

Spent several hours on the new ride this week. This was when I first got it. Weeds and seeds in every crack and crevice. No real mud in here. Just washed in dirt. I looked in the big wire bundles and they were clean (not full of mud thank God)

After (yes I completely disassembled everything in this area, major pain)

 

[Boilers]

I also took off the skid plates and washed the rest of the machine with a hose...cleaned out radiator, sprayed out frame tubing, and the rest of the undercarriage.

Fluid changes and airbox/filter cleaning coming next. Planning to go with factory spec fluids for now and will switch over to something else next time. Unfortunately my local Yamaha dealer has been closed for winter break. They finally open tomorrow.

 

[JD864]

Lookin a lot better!

 

[Boilers]

Front diff and final drive oil changed. Front oil was super clean except for a few tiny metal fragments. Completely normal. Final drive oil was noticeably thinner. About the same as the front for metal fragments, but much darker color overall. I assume this is due to the wet brake?

 

[JD864]

Front diff and final drive oil changed. Front oil was super clean except for a few tiny metal fragments. Completely normal. Final drive oil was noticeably thinner. About the same as the front for metal fragments, but much darker color overall. I assume this is due to the wet brake?

Right on. As long as there wasn’t signs of moisture - foam, etc. Also, most of these are in 2WD 90% so the front doesn’t get huge use.

 

[JD864]

I would suggest pulling the cover off of your belt drive / clutch. See if there is any signs of water in there. Probably no rush, but it clearly did some mudding...

 

[Vincent]

I would suggest pulling the cover off of your belt drive / clutch. See if there is any signs of water in there. Probably no rush, but it clearly did some mudding...

X2 definitely check your sheaves and belt...


@Boilers

Cold start cvt knocks are normal when weather gets below freezing. As you've noticed it goes away as the engine warms up

 

[Boilers]

X2 definitely check your sheaves and belt...


@Boilers

Cold start cvt knocks are normal when weather gets below freezing. As you've noticed it goes away as the engine warms up

That’s good to know. Thank you!

Question, if I slap the airbox lid back on with a ziplock bag over the snorkel with rubber band holding it on, would it be safe to hose this area down with water (very low pressure)?

 

[RedRocket]

Probably hard to say without someone being there when it is done. Will it be safe? Most likely you will be OK. Is it recommended? I wouldn't and haven't done it although at times I will take compressed air to areas like that, when my Grizzly is outside, if I will be doing anything to it. Just know, no matter how spotless you get it, it will quickly look like that again if you are using it.

 

[Boilers]

Took the time to remove and clean out the air box. The easy to get to bolt was missing. I replaced it and used a plastic washer shim the box and some blue loctite on the bolt. Man that filter oil is hard to clean up. Gasoline and a stiff paint brush did the trick. I didn’t like using the gas as for all the obvious reasons, plus I had to take everything outside to clean. I have a wood burning furnace in my workshop, so any combustible vapors would surely put me on the nightly news.

Now I have the CVT cover off. To my surprise, the inside is darn clean. One dead moth and a light coat of dust is all I can see. I made it 2x as dirty just by cracking it open. All the dirt caked in between the casing halves fell down in it... shop vac should clean it up easily. I’m not sure what all to inspect. The sheaves look good and have a near mirror finish. Belt looks good, and I’ll be sure to put a tape on it to make sure it’s in spec. Anything else?

 

[Vincent]

Took the time to remove and clean out the air box. The easy to get to bolt was missing. I replaced it and used a plastic washer shim the box and some blue loctite on the bolt. Man that filter oil is hard to clean up. Gasoline and a stiff paint brush did the trick. I didn’t like using the gas as for all the obvious reasons, plus I had to take everything outside to clean. I have a wood burning furnace in my workshop, so any combustible vapors would surely put me on the nightly news.

Now I have the CVT cover off. To my surprise, the inside is darn clean. One dead moth and a light coat of dust is all I can see. I made it 2x as dirty just by cracking it open. All the dirt caked in between the casing halves fell down in it... shop vac should clean it up easily. I’m not sure what all to inspect. The sheaves look good and have a near mirror finish. Belt looks good, and I’ll be sure to put a tape on it to make sure it’s in spec. Anything else?
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Your cvt system does look good!

But considering how dirty the rest of the bike was , it mite be worth pulling the primary, cleaning it, regrease everything and reinstall. Reason is the grease in there starts to cake up over time because of dust, witch eventually starts effecting proper cvt function

Also a good time to change your primary weights if sportier performing is of interest to you.