Greetings….does anyone have any experience with a Kawasaki brute force 300…. Looking for a atv For deer lease duty…don’t really need 4x4 atv. Thoughts and experiences?
I suspect that it has the same 300 air cooled engine that our '96 Kawasaki Big Red 4x4 does. Absolutely trouble free and easy to maintain. It doesn't ride as well as something with independent rear suspension, but aside from oil and a new battery, it has been perfect. Speaking of that battery, it is only a couple minute change because it is located right under the seat where it should be. Getting to the battery in our Polaris is a nightmare. No efi, but it starts instantly. Foot shift that lots of people don't like instead of an automatic, but again no problem. Low range makes all the tractable power I need and I often use the 300 to pull the pontoon boat up on shore with that low range and push it back in with that big metal front rack instead of using the Polaris with a bigger engine and plastic everything. A compression release and pull start could be handy though I've never once used it. It isn't fast, but fast enough for what we use it for. A little harder on tires because it isn't limited slip. I'd trade off the newer Polaris before I'd trade off Big Red. It wouldn't bring as much in trade as it is worth to us as a work mobile around the cottage. Kawasaki engines are first rate. I have another trouble free one in my John Deere lawn tractor too.
I suspect that it has the same 300 air cooled engine that our '96 Kawasaki Big Red 4x4 does. Absolutely trouble free and easy to maintain. It doesn't ride as well as something with independent rear suspension, but aside from oil and a new battery, it has been perfect. Speaking of that battery, it is only a couple minute change because it is located right under the seat where it should be. Getting to the battery in our Polaris is a nightmare. No efi, but it starts instantly. Foot shift that lots of people don't like instead of an automatic, but again no problem. Low range makes all the tractable power I need and I often use the 300 to pull the pontoon boat up on shore with that low range and push it back in with that big metal front rack instead of using the Polaris with a bigger engine and plastic everything. A compression release and pull start could be handy though I've never once used it. It isn't fast, but fast enough for what we use it for. A little harder on tires because it isn't limited slip. I'd trade off the newer Polaris before I'd trade off Big Red. It wouldn't bring as much in trade as it is worth to us as a work mobile around the cottage. Kawasaki engines are first rate. I have another trouble free one in my John Deere lawn tractor too.
Big Red is made by Honda.
@boxerdog
What year is the Kawasaki?
I think that you are correct with that name. It is up north in the garage and I don't remember seeing a name on the machine itself, its only that the wife always called it "Big Red", so the name stuck. It is a 1996 Kawasaki 4x4 which makes it their KLF300-C Bayou model. Thanks for the correction.
Does the BF have the same 300 engine as the '99 Bayou? I won one of those in a drawing. It only had 2x4 with a locking axle. It badly needed 1 more lower gear but the engine was great for one that small. I used it for 10 years before trading it for a UTV.
Does the BF have the same 300 engine as the '99 Bayou? I won one of those in a drawing. It only had 2x4 with a locking axle. It badly needed 1 more lower gear but the engine was great for one that small. I used it for 10 years before trading it for a UTV.
No, that was a Kawasaki engine. The BF300 is a Kymco engine that has also been used by Arctic Cat, CanAm, Polaris, others.
Wife has a 2020 Brute Force 300 and she likes it better than my Honda Rancher 420. She really likes that it's light easy to get around in the woods also likes it's auto no foot shifting.
I ride it sometimes and would have no problem calling it mine.