Dan B

Amp draw for starter motors. The solenoid will draw a few amps in the neighborhod of 5 amps. You can figure how much current it will draw by measuring resistance of the solenoid coil. Divide that resistance reading into 12. That will be the maximum possible amp draw of the coil if it's good. It has to draw enough amps to create a strong magnetic field to draw in the solenoid. Larger car engines will have solenoid current requirement 10+ amps up to 20 amps. But the motor itself will draw 100-200 amps under load when starting the engine depending upon the number of cylinders the starter has to pull through the compresson strokes. Most people don't have DC ammeters that can measure that high.

Okay.

From one of your postings, I suspect you have a bad solenoid or the actuator is binding due to worn parts. Are the brushes good? Some starters use centrifugal force of spinning to throw the gear into the flywheel and a spring retract is after the engine starts. Others use a fork to shove the gear into the flywheel when the solenoid energizes. The solenoid also has relay contacts to connect battery power directly to the starter windings though the brushes. I had trouble with my riding lawn mower. It would start sometimes, most times not when I tapped the solenoid with a hamer. Brushes were worn.

Some of the high-end SxS are pushing the $50k price tag with many well above $25k - $35k.

Basically, you'll be building a new ride from individual parts. It's the most expensive way of getting into the sport. You'll end up with a $30,000 ride that has little more than slavage value when finished. Uncontrolled heating (as in this fire) changes the molecular structure of the metal making it soft and weaker. Parts of this frame are bent/warped due to the expansion of the metal during extreme uncontrolled heating. Good luck if you attempt this project.

I just learned something new! Thanks, FTG-05

Why do they do that? Bad design, cheap, saves money. Since the rear axle is always locked, then the front axles can be locked only in 4wd. If not in 4wd, no sense inlocking a diff that has to drive power going to the axle. My ride has independently lockable front and rear axles along with independent 4wd selection.

Joyner.com takes me to a website that wants me to pay $35/yr for an email address. www.joyner-usa.com is valid but emails aren't answered. I have their number (60 miles from where I live). I'll give them a call. I pulled the reservoir off and it seems like the rubber grommets are a little stiff. I'll see if I can find something that will work to replace them. If not, I already ordered a brake master cylinder - ETA unknown, if ever..

I'm in need of a brake master cylinder for my ride. Appears to be leaking between the reservoir and the cylinder (picture). Is there a seal that I can replace inexpensively without buy a whole master cylinder assembly? Can't tell if the master cylinder is the same as used on the Trooper because I don't have a Trooper parts manual. I don't know if the master cylinder is different when they went to the 1100cc engine. Has anyone had experience with master cylinder make for the Kinrod Joyner line of rides (I believe it's a German company)? They are available on Amazon but the configuration isn't the same as OEM.

I would do a compression check just to ease my mind. The spark plug(s) can tell you about the conditon of the cylinders, too. How does the engine turn over with the starter and with the plugs removed? You could still have a blown head gasket. There are three combinations: Cylinder to coolant jacket, cylinder to oil passages, oil passage to coolant jacket. Overheating can cause the head to warp just enough to blow the head gasket or distort the cylinder walls or cause the rings to seize up. A weal starter can be the issue with slow turning of the engine (experienced that with my riding mower).

Do you know if anyone has been into the engine before? Check the flywheel. Or maybe the flywheel was installed backwards from the factory. BillStMax (YouTuber) was working on a tractor and he mentioned that the flywheel has the gear teeth beveled on one side, not beveled on the other side. It's not much of a bevel, but just enough. That bevel is to allow the Bendix to more easily engage the flywheel. I know, it's a long shot.

No one mentioned the fuel injector might be leaking excess gas into the cylinder. To me at least, that would explain the wet spark plug. And it also explains the black coating on the plug, and the reason it ran good when you installed a new plug.

If you have the Kawasaki Mule with an 800cc gas engine, then even though Kawasaki is a Japanese brand, that engine is a Chery engine from China. Trouble is, most of my parts I have to eventually get from China. Few parts are available in the US. I've found some parts I needed for my ride on Amazon.com.. If you go there, be sure to check the sellers ratings. One seller for Kawasaki parts had a 69% favorable vs 31% unfavorale (I look for 95% or better favorable). You might find the starter you need for about $60.

In my experience with repairs to my vehicles, dealerships and repair shops charge 2x-3x the retial price for parts that I can buy at NAPA's retail price. My AC compressor $995 from the dealership, $485 fromn NAPA. I don't buy lifetime warranty parts. They are exactly the same as the 90-day warranty parts, just painted a different color. You're paying about 50% higher price that their lifetime part and they're betting you won't need to replace it. I've never would have been able to collect on a warranty replacement on anything I've ever purchased.

I'm only familiar with Pledge as being a furniture wax, not a cleaner. Yes, you can use it to clean the fine dust you'd find on furniture but not on plastic.. I would suggest you clean the window with soap and water, dry it with a soft cloth and if you wish apply pledge as a water repellant. It won't repel mud, dust, dirt and bugs (might keep them from sticking too well). Plastic scratches very easily, seems like it will scratch on its own.

I just watched a YouTube video on your fuel gauge problem. Might or might not be of help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy6IQOE5UEA On your other problem with the engine not running when fuel is slightly low, make sure your fuel lines (supply and return) are not swapped on top of the fuel pump. I don't know if it is physically possible, but it's worth checking out.

If a pickup tube in the gas tank were disconnected or maybe cracked, that could explain why the engine quits after the fuel level drops (to a point where the fuel pump is pumping air). The fuel pump draws fuel from the bottom of the tank. But that doesn't explain why the engine runs if you hold a little accelerator pedal. Is the fuel tank vent tube plugged somewhere between the fuel tank and the charcoal canister? Remove the fuel filler cap to see if a vacuum in the tank is causing a loss of fuel supply. Is the carburetor getting adequate fuel?

The more I think about it, the more I like using a bolt to secure the module to the frame. Less rattling and moving of the module. With the environment that the machine would be in, electrically operated solenoids might bind when dirt and dust get inside the plunger. If you do go with an electric latch, I would go with a motorized version that operates a large hook on the frame that catches on a large pin on the module pin (similar to a car door latch). But these types of locks have plastic gears that might be troublesome. A cable operated latch could also work.

With so many things that can cause the issue with your machine, let me toss one more into the mix to see if it sticks to the wall. A plugged or restricted cat converter can also cause similar issue. Can you disconnect the exhaust just in front of the cat converter and run the engine up to see if it may be plugged.

The Joyner Trooper T2/T4 owner's manual says that 49.8 psi fuel pressure is normal for most applications. 50 psi is close enough.

Travis' idea is excellent. I would like to offer a similar pin. It's a quick release pin that doesn't use a spring clip on the back side that migh be difficult to access. Similar to a ratchet handle, you push on the center button and it releases the spring tension on the ball at the other end for easy removal. However, the hole size must have a close tollerance. Amazon has various sizes that might fit your application. They're just over $30 each. As for installing and removing the various attachments, you migh consider a design similar to a slide in camper found on the back of pickup trucks. But you might want to reconsider bolting the modules to the frame from the top side of the floor especially for the passenger seat module if it is to be used. Consider bolting seat belts to the frame (required) and not just to the module.

I don't think the firing order is a problem. If it were, the engine would run poorly at any RPM because it would be as a result of changing the plug wires on two of the cylinders. You'd lose 50% of the power. A 4-cyl engine fires every 180deg. If you swap two plug wires, then those two cylinders would fire either at the top of an exhaust stroke and/or bottom of the intake or power stroke depending upon which two cylinders were swapped. Backfiring through the intake could be one symptom. The standard firing order on most, but not all 4-cyl engines is 1-3-4-2. How is the Mass Air Flow Sensor? Is it clean. A bad MAF can cause drivability problems. It tells the computer how much air is going through the engine. If, at 3k RPM the MAF is saying less air is being moved than actual, the computer will not allow as much fuel as needed at that RPM. There is a cleaner for it. Just remembe while cleaning it, do not touch the really fine wire in the sensor. The only thing that should touch it is the cleaner - no rags, no Q-tip, no nothing else. Were you able to test drive it before you bought it? Did it run good then? If not, then I don't believe it ran good per the seller's statement.

Seems like your issue is related to engine speed. Even though the fuel pressure is 50 psi, does it drop off when the engine gets to 3k? The fuel pump can pump 50 psi but that's no guarantee that it can pump the volume. As engine RPMs increase, more fuel is required. Could be a partially obstructed fuel filter. Other's on this forum have suggested a ton of other things to check - electrical grounds, battery terminals and other things too numerous to list.

Things to look for: Check your fuel pump pressure. Should be a constant 50psi give or take a couple of psi's. The pressure regulator might be going bad. Ensure you have the full 12vdc to the fuel pump. Check the fuel pump relay, also. A loose wire or bad relay contact can cause intermitten fuel pump operation at higher RPMs (more vibration). Fuel demands at idle are much less than at higher RPMs. That's why it starts and idles fine.

Sounds like you have a small scale operation. 50 gallons isn't much water especially if the prescribed burn gets too large.. A high volume pump might empty your 50 gal tank in a few minutes. If you want to call a 5 gpm pump high volume, your tank would empty in 10 minutes. I set up a similar rig to spray weed killer. I used a 50 gallon blue barrel and a high pressure well pump. Sprayig for weeds isn't the same as spraying for fires or watering crops even in a garden. Just my opinion.