Dan_Lockwood

Thanks Charles for the reply. Very informative and helpful... Dan

Does anyone know the cross-reference LED equivalent for the current 12V/35/35W bulbs in the UT400? I'm guessing that someone has upgraded to the LED bulbs. Thanks and Happy New Year! Dan

I was going to do just that, but I thought peel and stick foam tape in the thick size would work. I'm going to take the roof off for installation. The front windshield to roof gap is huge. Thanks for the advice! How do you like your enclosure? Good fit? Happy New Year everyone! Dan

Hello again! I now have a pretty good running Coleman UT400 after a top end rebuild, wet clutch rebuild and a repaired crankcase... ! It plows snow great, but I was also having the jumping out of gear problem, mainly reverse, but a couple times out of forward. I would quickly place it in N and then let the engine idle down and shift again. This worked most of the time. I did some research and found that some have modified the shift linkage. The problem with just adjusting the shift cable is that it really NEEDS more throw, not an adjustment. From what I've read and viewed on the Internet, the linkage arm needs to be about 3/4" longer to gain more throw in both directions. On YouTube, the guy had to remove the shift linkage hole trim and notch the side of the dash to get the shift linkage off the pivot pin. BUT this is NOT necessary. When the "E" clip has been removed and you fish it out of the firewall somewhere, the shift lever is now loose. I had to pop the top of the shift knob off, remove the retaining screw and then heat the lower portion of the knob to get it to come off the lever. Once you have the shift lever loose, push it towards the right to slide it off the pivot shaft. But it won't come off just yet. Use a small pry bar/screw driver and slide the nylon flanged bushing out of the left side of the lever. This lets the lever slide off and get into a "loose" condition and it will twist and come right off without removing the dash trim, that could be a bugger to get back on correctly. Once the lever is off, press out the other bushing so when you're welding on the linkage arm, you don't melt the bushing. I found a piece of scrap metal the same thickness as the lever arm, just over 1/8" thick, close to 3/16". I cut my arm and beveled the edges for better welding. I added a piece just over 5/8" long and kept about a 1/16" gap between the arm and the new piece. Once welded on bother ends, it adds up to just about 3/4" or so. I reinstalled the lever after painting it and did an adjustment on the cable. By the way, it's easier to remove the cable from the bracket on the frame. This gives you more clearance to maneuver in that area with your hands. ALSO, you will need to get a 12" adjustable wrench and slide it over the cable mounting bracket and tweak, to the front, the steel so the cable is pointed upward a bit to now realign with the new longer shift arm lever. There's more than enough metal for the tweak and it will line up perfectly. I now bottom out the shifter on the transmission BEFORE I run out of throw on the shifter... I've tested it just a bit so far and it shifts much better with the longer throw. One of the Coleman authorized repair facilities said that he worked with Coleman to get a new part that's longer by 3/4". He's modified a few and it works perfectly for him. Just doing the cable will just short you on the other end. Here's some pictures of my modified shift lever etc.

I just ordered an enclosure from 3 Star Ind on Wednesday. I should have it by mid January. I'll do some pictures after the install. Happy New Year All... Dan

From what I've found, they use a 12V30AH battery. I've done some hot rod checking at Jegs.com and all of their batteries in this dimensional size, are not greater than 35AH. My suggestion would be to just mount a second battery below in the larger opening below the current battery. Hook them up in parallel, not series. That is + to + and - to -. This will double your AH rating, that is if you use the same size AH battery as the current one. Just like diesel trucks running dual batteries, they're still just 12v, but pack tons more grunt in starting and electrical usage. They will still charge as one battery just as before.

Thanks! Merry Christmas everyone! Dan

Just a few more of the rig and the KFI snowplow. It's a 60" blade. I decided to get the KFI power angle kit for the blade. That should be nice when the blade is all covered in snow. I wired in the angle switch just to the left of the shift lever and wired in a dual throw momentary switch for the winch. I wired the winch switch to the under-dash wiring in parallel so both will function as normal. I didn't want to have to use the winch remote when plowing, PITA in my opinion. That's it for the plow. I may upgrade to an enclosure yet this winter, depends on the weather etc. Thanks, Dan

Could have bet I posted this already from my iPhone, but sometimes it doesn't show up on the forum. I have my Coleman UT400 up and running again with new wet clutch, new cylinder/piston assembly and the hole in the crankcase fixed. Not sure how many pictures will be posted, but I've at least attached them to start with. The hole in the crankcase early repair before I bought the UT400. The hole after I just tapped the JB Weld off, literally just fell off the aluminum. Don't have a picture of my repair, but it looked very good and should hold as I did grind the surface and had it super clean and free of any oil. The wet clutch was my first repair to be done. When I pulled the housing off, the over running sprag clutch just fell in pieces. The round rollers are no long round. The clutch material was also worn out along with the drum. The drum was grooved badly. It all went back together nicely and no issues in that area for leaks. I noticed when I started to tear down the motor that the intake valve had no lash at all. The exhaust had around .020" lash, way too much. I drained the radiator via the main feed hose under the front floorboard area. This is the lowest point in the system. I have very little antifreeze leak out when I pulled the head and cylinder. I had to adjust the ring gaps on the new rings. I noticed that the old piston/rings "seemed" to be a bit weaker in tension than the new rings. Understandable based on the condition of the piston/cylinder. The piston was scored badly on one side and a little on the other side. The cylinder could be honed out and probably reused with a new piston and rings. BUT... for under $130 I got a new cylinder, new piston and rings, new head and base gasket and piston pin with cir-clips. I could not afford to do any less for that amount of money. The install of the new cylinder and piston assemble went very well. I did the valve lash, .006" intake and .007". It started right up and was smoking quite badly still. I would have guessed that based on the oil I used on the piston and cylinder upon re-assembly. It took about three miles to eventually dry out the muffler of the residue oil from the bad piston prior. I have no leaks and it runs and starts great. It moves nicely too. I'm speculating that the original issues were from the hole in the crankcase that led to low oil, wet clutch burn out and the dry cylinder/piston scoring. So hopefully it was a one off, and not something I need to worry about again soon. There's no noises in the driveline and it runs through the drive modes on the hoist without any hiccups. The ONLY concern I have is what caused the hole in the crankcase??? I came very close to removing the motor and splitting the case, as long as I was that far into it. I have a TIG here that I could weld the hole up for a TRUE fix, but I'll take the chance that whatever it was, is long gone for now. If I missed anything and anyone has any questions, let me know! Merry Christmas everyone... Dan

Sorry for the slow reply. Thanks for the information. I looked up in the exploded parts drawing and it does show a "spool" type ring gear hub assembly. You're correct, there's NO way to get away from the "live axle" effect on the rear end. But for our use in the summer, this will not work for us. We want to drive on our yard to do basic yard work and it will chunk up the turf quite badly, I'm sure. So I will try to come up with a design that could be like a dog gear device on one rear axle and see if that can be fitted. Otherwise, I will get a used, hopefully, rear axle and just take out the center shaft and use the diff end as a seal plug and the outboard end for the wheel/brake hub assembly. This will be some work every time I need to change to solid rear drive, but it will save the yard. Right now, I just plan on using it for my driveway plowing this winter and the live rear axle is fine for that. I have a KFI 60" blade for it and I purchased the KFI power angle kit so I can swing the blade from the inside without getting out of the cab. Depending on the winter here in MI, I may elect to do a 3-Star Ind. cab enclosure to stay a bit warmer. Thanks for the guidance! Dan

Thanks...👍 The 3 Star video needs to be redone work a working mic. It is terrible to watch. I know they'll roll back, but for summer use, will they come off easily? Since mine will be my driveway plow vehicle, an enclosure might be worth while. I just bought and installed the KFI plow power angle kit and that looks like it will be a big improvement over getting out to swing the blade. Thanks again, Dan

Anyone put the rear window and door kit on their UT400? If so, who's the best company?

I'll post pictures next week on my rebuild, which I have completed successfully...👍 It says someplace limited slip rear dif. On my hoist both tires turn at the same time, same direction. The problem I have is that on hard pack, they stay locked up and I'm digging up my driveway on sharp turns. I'm sure in the summer on turf, I'll have holes in my yard. It acts like a solid live axle on a small ATV. There's a wire running to the rear diff that I thought was the lock up for the rear end. But it's locked all the time. Question, how is it supposed to work? Is it supposed to slip under hard turns etc? I'll have to do something to disengage it for the summer, options, thoughts? Thanks in advance, Dan

In addition to all of the above, I have an oil leak. The guy I bought from was not a mechanic of any sorts, but did say it "smoked a little" and has a small oil leak. Not sure about the original owner or the second owner, but I'm sure it was just a pass-thru to my seller. He got an estimate of around $1800 to $2000 to do the wet clutch, but the mechanic was not real sure what was involved and bid high. So pass it on to the next fool.... ME! I got the Coleman up on my new 2-post car lift and was able to see where the oil leak was. At some time, original owner I would suspect, had an issue with the front drive housing. On the bottom of the housing just below the bolt-on housing with driveshaft seal, there was a big chuck of JB Weld and it was all wet around the stuff. I got a small chisel and knocked it off, quite easily I might add. There's a hole in the bottom of the case about the size of a dime slightly elongated. It appears to be engine oil in that area. Don't rightly know what it might have been to break the case, but it's highly unlikely that it was broken from the outside. I also know that it's slightly lower in the case there than the drain plug. I had the engine oil drained before I knocked off the JB Weld and there was quite a bit more oil that came out. There's no drain holes on the crossmember. When I cleaned the thing up with the pressure washer, water stayed on that BECAUSE of no drain holes. I will add a couple 1" holes for easier cleaning later on. So I'm thinking... that usually gets me into more trouble, but what if, the hole happened, ran low on oil, took out the wet clutch from running dry AND cause it to overheat and take out my piston/rings etc??? Wet clutch gone and the smoking engine may be related. Any thoughts? Also, anyone ever have one of these cases apart to know for sure what's inside in that area? I'm sure I can do a better repair, even with JB Weld, than what was there. I have access to the area with a long shank die grinder so I can rough it up around the hole and clean up the hole for better adhesion of the JB Weld. Worse case, I pull the motor/trans combo and split the cases and TIG up the hole and inspect for other collateral damage inside. I'm trying to get the history when or how the hole came about, Sorry for rambling on and one and on... Got the wet clutch parts yesterday and waiting for the cylinder/piston kit, probably tomorrow. Have a great evening! Dan

Found out that to remove the headlight clear covers, you have to remove the hood from the grill and headlight assembly. Then you can reach the other two top mounted screws to remove the clear covers. As much dirt that these see, you would think that they would have made the covers a bit more user friendly to remove to clean. Do this a few times and I'm sure some of the plastic female screw holes will either strip out or crack. Dan

I did finally find the valve lash specs and if you average hi/low, it looks like .005" on the intake and .006" will work. I think I remember seeing that you did something very similar to those specs. My next issue is trying to get the clear covers off from the headlight area. I took out the two inside screws, but cannot find any others. I see tabs on the bottom, so the clear covers do locate with the tabs and are held in with screws, but I'm missing at least a couple. Any guidance to where those might be? I also did a compression test, 150'ish. That's low to what the book says, somewhere around 185 would be normal it says. The spark plug is oily, but still sparks and the motor runs, just LOTS of smoke. I do have the new cylinder/piston kit ordered so I will fill you all in on what happens when I tear it down. Thanks, Dan

Thanks aefron88 for the reply and information. I just found that the oil is checked with the dip stick unthreaded and just dropped into the hole. DO NOT THREAD IT IN TO CHECK THE OIL LEVEL. These manuals are useful, but still lack in technical information. Like your valve lash settings, they're not listed in the manual or service manual. To swap out the cylinder/piston assembly, I'll have to drain the antifreeze/coolant. I see from the service manual that there seems to be a protrusion on the driver's side of the lower radiator. Is that the drain for the coolant? Also on the oil changes, how does one flush the front oil cooler? Pull a line and blow the oil back into the crankcase? Any thoughts on that? Since the wet clutch went south and that's what I'm replacing first before the cylinder assy and the valve seals, I do not want to leave any debris in the cooler from the burnt clutch pads. Thanks again, Dan

Thanks for the information. Once I get it all pressure washed tomorrow, I'll get busy with my grease gun! Dan

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