By
Dan_Lockwood
Sorry for the novel...
I'm new to the forum and new to the side-by-side world. This is my first post. A bit of background about me. My dad was a mechanic all his life and he taught me what I was willing to learn at the time. In the mid 60's we had a marina on a small lake in Mid-Michigan area that also service many surrounding lakes. I was the mechanic. We sold Polaris, Johnson and Arctic Cat snowmobiles along with Johnon and Mercury outboards, boats and pontoon boats. We also sold Bridgestone motorcycles very early on. While going to college I raced on the Ski Doo Michigan Distributor's race team out of Clare MI. That was the first year for the factory race sleds, the Blizzards! Anything with a motor and or wheels, I'm all ears and eyes. I retired as a design engineer for the an O.E.M. making plastic production equipment. Also served a stint as a Chevy/Pontiac service manager back in the 70's and 80's. Oh, I retired the end of '19. We had moved from MI to MO for my work and after 20 years there and retiring, we moved back to Mid-Michigan. Nuff said I believe.
I just purchased a 2021 Coleman UT400 that has 320 hrs. and 1420 miles.
I have multiple questions/issues.
1. The wet clutch appears to be toast. It will rev up high and just barely move. Got one ordered, complete kit. Shouldn't be a big job.
2. This UT400 has a bad smoking habit and it think it's bad for its health... It not only smokes on startup but continues to smoke until it's shut off. I brought it home in my 22' enclosed car trailer yesterday and by the time we shoved and drove it into the trailer, the smoke was SOOOOO BAD, that we could hardly see out the back of the trailer. Valve seals usually stop smoking after it starts up and all the residual oil has been burnt up. Rings on the other hand seem to smoke the entire time the motor is running. I've read that some of the Hisun motors have had suspect oil rings. If this thing is smoking that badly from rings, I have no idea what the bore is like until it comes apart. For the money, I'd rather have a complete cylinder/piston replacement kit and just be done with it. Also put in new valve seals at the same time.
Thoughts? I can't think of anything other than the two items mentioned above that could cause this. It's not like in the old days with a PCV sticking and sucking oil up from the valve cover area and feeding it back into the intake to be burned. I think that with the above swapping of parts, that "should" take care of my smoking motor...
Just how is the oil level checked, dip stick screwed in or just stuck in the hole without screwing it in?
I also cannot believe that in these days of engineering marvels, that a company, or many companies, would design a motor with a wet clutch using the same lubrication system as the motor. Trans I can see, not much wear particles from the trans. But with all the junk flying off the clutch shoes and then recirculating into the lubrication system, hopefully the filter will strain the big chunks out prior to being pressurized and forced back into the bearings and cylinder area. Just doesn't make good engineering sense to me.
3. I see no issues setting the toe-in, but these little guys do not, from what I can find, any way to adjust camber or caster in anyway. I'm guessing some of the larger more expensive side-by-sides have the lower A arms with threaded ends at the frame to turn to adjust the camber/caster. I may elect to take my lower control arms off and cut the ends off and weld in adjustment bungs and rod ends to replace the stock units. Am I missing something on the available suspension adjustments or lack there of??? Right now the right front tire is really tipped in at the top compared to the left side, also has a large amount of toe-out. The toe-out will not be an issue to correct.
4. How do you change the clock from 24 hour to 12 hour?
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get deeper into my new toy.
Also, it came with a 60" plow and I hope to use this to keep my quite large driveway clear this winter. I do have the luxury to do multiple plows during a storm to keep the level of snow down a bit. Yes, I know, I should have bought a larger rig, but with the issues this has, I got it at a very good price.
Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Thanks, Dan
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