[Bruce E. Young]

Four weeks ago I purchased a new Kawasaki MULE 3010 trans 4x4 for $10,000
At the time I thought I was purchasing the most robust UTV on the market for our deer lease.
At less than 7.0 hours the left outboard u-joint retaining clip came out or was never there. The axle was shelled out by the bearing come apart. The repair was made under warranty. As it should have been.
At around 10.0 hours the front left tie rod came off and slightly enjured my son. The MULE is now in the shop and they are waiting to see if warranty will pay for it. It seems that when the rod came undone it bent slightly.
imagine that, you are driving 15-20 mph and the front left wheel turns ABRUPTLY horizontal. Yea, I gues something would bend since bodies did.
The manufacturer thought we may have struck something that caused this.
The tie rod is fully intact. The nut(s) just came off!
I called Kawasaki customer service and they said this never happened before. When I told them about my son being slightly injured they clamed up.
How can they not repair this under warranty? I asked the dealer, Impact Kawasaki in Harker Heights, Texas if I am missing something in preride inspections. The service manager replied certainly not.
Have any of you had a really bad experiance like this? I am very disappointed in the quality or lack of. The worse thing of all this is an American made product!

HELP KAWASAKI, IF YOU ARE LISTENING!

 

[Fuelman]

That sucks. I have not had problem 1 with my Mule and I beat the crap out of mine on hunting trips. The dealer probably skipped a few steps in the pre delivery inspection.

 

[RCW]

There was a recall on the tie rod ends, so raise cain with the dealership. They should have notified you! Go to the US Gov. transportation recall site and you will see a number of incidents that led to the recall.

In the final analysis nothing substitutes for common sense on the part of the owner. These are industrial or agricultural equipment just like tractors and require thorough inspection before you go cranking up and riding. Every time I purchase one it goes up on jack stands and is inspected from stem to stern, and all bolts have the nuts removed and then Loctite used to be sure they do not fall off miles in the brush or swamp. I even disassemble the clutch systems and then make certain they are properly calibrated and Comet clutch lube is used on all moving surfaces.

The way I see it, it is my neck and be darned if I am going to depend on a minimum wage lacky at any dealership to keep it safe!

Maybe I am particularly careful, but after years of flying and never having any sort of problems, I am very sensitive to checking everything myself and keep a list of all mechanical items and what condition they are in. I have had to go to the dealer for missing or defective parts and pieces on a new Rhino and on the Polaris Ranger when I inspected them myself, but never the Kaw.

 

[Bruce E. Young]

I told the dealer I want a full inspection done once the repair is made. Unfortunatly I beleive a check list is in order. We we lucky that this did not cause a fatality. I will be following up on the tie rod recalls.
Thank You!

 

[Surf]

I told the dealer I want a full inspection done once the repair is made. Unfortunatly I beleive a check list is in order. We we lucky that this did not cause a fatality. I will be following up on the tie rod recalls.
Thank You!

But it is a sad 4X4 when you can't use it to pull anything. It's for not getting stuck and that's all since it keeps on clanking and jumping out all the time. Am I wrong?
Surf

 

[RCW]

Clanking and jumping out of four wheel drive lock is almost always the result of someone jambing them in four wheel drive with the rear wheels spinning. That will tear them up, just like on a full sized truck. I have been around a great deal of these, and those of other brands, and 100% of the time in my experience when what you describe occurs it has been the result of operator abuse.

I hunt with a lot of guys my age 50-65, and the ones that have trouble have grandkids that play with the Mules between hunting seasons and go spinning around and jambing them in 4X4 on the fly or jerking them out under speed on pavement. Unfortunately the trouble never shows up until gramps is out in the snow and mud and trying to get it in 4X4. Disassembly of the engagement mechanism shows the damage as being dynamic, jambed in 4X4 under power, every time and is very easy for someone that works on these to spot when it is disassembled.

 

[Surf]

Mine has done this since it was delivered and when I took it in they said it was normal and it would do this if driven on a hard dry surface all the time.(clank because of pressure while in 4X4 on a hard dry surface) Of course one shouldn't need to use it on that kind of a surface but they actually told me the 4X4 should only be used when it was a slippery or muddy surface. I don't know but I"m really disappointed in the way it works and all the noise it makes and always have been.
Surf