My Outback is dead

[TGB_Rider]

Ok. I am not sure what exactly happened, but last night I was rideing and I noticed that I didn't have 4 wheel drive. I looked and something give up on the inside of the front differential. It threw a part through the diff caseing. I took it out of 4wd and tried to take it back to the truck when I lost all movement and got a crazy knocking sound. Found that the rear drive shaft twisted the rear differential in half. It also broke the universal joint to bits. Since I have had this 4 wheeler, it has been worked on more than ridden. We have decided not to fix it this time. I am going to buy a real 4 wheeler. No more Chineese made crap for me. I bought this bike new in April and already I have had entirely too many problems. Granted, I ride in the mud, but so do a lot of other people. Difference is that the brand name bikes are made considerably better. I would not advise anyone to buy one of these untill TGB gets a little better knowledge of the 4 wheeler world. Just my 2cents after owning one.

[TGB_Rider]

Ok, new update. I recently found out that the differentials are interchangeable with a Suzuki Eiger. I have replaced both of my broken diffs with Suzuki parts and the quad runs great. Don't know if the gearing is different, but it seems to have a little better jump when you gun it. Before it is all said and done, I will have a Suzuki Eiger with an Outback body. I like the body, but I will not buy anymore TGB parts when I can get them cheaper that say Suzuki on them. They are also better built parts. As far as my "Don't buy a TGB Outback" comment in my last post, at this point I will take that back with conditions. Go ahead and buy one that is broken, then fix it with Suzuki parts. The outback motor and tranny are good, everything else has been nothing but trouble for me.

[revslev]

My wife and I took our Outbacks out today with a couple of our friends.  One on a  200cc Polaris and another on their Bombadier (monster motor), don't remember what model.  It was great.  I had no problem keeping up on the trails with the speedy polaris and my wife had my daughter on the back of hers (425 camo) and had no problem keeping up with the Bombadier.  We hit mud, snow, ice...you name it, we hit it, caught lots of air.  These machines are great...I was slower off the dead stop than the quick one, but had no problem catching up to it and matching its speed, additionally, my friends arms started to get tired with all the ruts and turns we were making, I felt no arm fatigue and in 4wd it took whatever I threw at it.  All I can say about this machine is that the popular names out there better watch out.  This machine has taken Europe by storm with the models they have released over there and I have no doubt that they will soon take the USA by storm as well.  Only issue to date is that it can be hard to find parts for her and the big name stores don't want to work on them.  I have found an all around ATV mechanic that works on them about 35 minutes from where I live, and have a parts supplier (although sometimes a burden to get him on track) to get me what I need.

[TGB_Rider]

I am glad you are haveing good luck with yours. Mine was fine for the first couple months I had it. I like to mud ride though, and after taking the bike in to a mechanic, was told that there are too many weak parts in this quad. As far as it keeping up with the can am. He was being kind. Once again, I have one of these, and mine would not out run a 350 honda rancher. I raced one on a ride. And please don't give me the rider error or inexperienced rider thing. Since i bought a polaris, everything has been great. I now ride my quad more than work on it. Once again, I am glad you had good luck with yours. But there are only 2 people in my area of Louisiana , that I know of, that own one of these. And we both have had nothing but bad dealings with this thing. There was only one dealership near me for these, which by the way was doing fine untill taking on the TGB line. 6 months after taking the line on, had to shut his doors. I know this guy, and it was due to the TGB quad and the hassle it is to get parts. And that is IF they can't find a way to not honor the warranty. Trust me on this one, they dig for anything. This is my 2 cents comeing from my own experience as well as from what the other owner has told me about his.

[Graham]

Hi
I was riding my TGB Blade 425 (Outbacl everywhere else) last Sunday & my front differential went pop!! !'ve since found that a part came loose & smashed the inside & then cracked the casing.

I see you have had the same problem, the bike is now out of warranty I have been told by TGB the whole front differential will need replacing & I will not get a new one of a minimum of 6 weeks.

I read that a Suzuki Eiger diff fits, If this is the case I may go this route, how is yours going with yhr Suzuki parts on?.

Graham   

[gregmoodie]

I feel your pain more than you can guess!!
I purchased 3 of the out backs in Feb/ 09 and have had difficulty with service/ parts with them from the very biggining. Before I could even load the machines, they had to order three new gas caps as the air vents weren't working and they wouldn't run long enough to load them with the caps on. The next thing to happen was a winch on one of the machines quite working all together, wouldn't come out, fuse fine. Aweek into ownership the pull cord broke on another of them.The safety switch on the brakes for starting quite on all three machines and had to be bypassed. The best of all was the rear callipers on 2 of them came loose and wrapped up with the disk and jambed in between the disk and the rim. These thing happened while still under warrantee and too this day I ahve only recieved 1 gas cap in 5 months.  The machines seem to average working bikes but the service with TGB is non existant..

[harry]

some of  your problem might be with the dealership...
like did you take it in for its 1st service? or any others?
part of their job is to check fasteners , suspension, brakes &steering
as is yours to check periodically before you go stumping ,muding, or whatever.

any equipment that i have that goes off road or on the water gets the once over
before each use because i don't want to push, tow or walk it out from the boonies.
a few minuets of check out or preventive maintenance can save money or injury. 

anyway, the switches , pull cord & caps should be easy replacements 
what does your dealer say about that?

also part of the problem may be with the mfg not getting the
parts to the importer/distributor  which makes it impossible for the dealer
to fulfill your needs.
it is possible that the mfg is holding back on the parts
for the distributor too, but that's another story...

oilyhans

 

[TGB_Rider]

The quad has ridden great since I replaced the differentials with the Suzuki parts. Here is the thing. If you use the front diff from the Eiger, you have to also use the axles. The splines on the diff side of the axles are different. Also, the left axle is a bit longer on the Suzuki. It is, however, worth every penny to change out every part you can with Suzuki parts. They are more reliable. As far as the rear diff is concerned, I ended up replacing the whole rear end with Suzuki. I figured that if I was going to do it, I may as well do it all and prevent any future issues. The bike has been great since I did these repairs. However, this weekend, my starter started spinning without turing over the motor. I took it out, and I believe the starter is spinning backwards. The direction the starter is spinning is turning the gear in the free direction of the one way clutch. If I hand spin the gear the opposite direction(from what the starter is spinning it) then the one way clutch is turning over the engine. I have to find out what happened to reverse polarity like that. Still troubleshooting though. Hope I helped in any way. P.S. In the near future I am going to replace the motor and transmission with one from a Suzuki Eiger. I want to nip it in the butt before something happens. Also, if you haven't done so yet, change your oil in all your units. The oil they put in from the factory is doodoo.

[TGB Tim]

Ya ! Let me tell you Im a honda guy said I would never buy anything but, well after 7 yrs of literally beating the living beep out of my last Rubicon I new It was time so I went to american marine dealership where I bought my previous two honda's Oh and I had no problems I had over 3000 hrs on my last one and mostly plowing snow, pulling my plow and sping tooth for my deer food plot's n trail riding I set up snomo, tril signs and It's a long hard cold ass winter here In northern wis. I had the origonal batery the only changes I made was to put gator tire's on It and replaced a couple of fueses there dam good machine's. well I dident want to part w/ two grand more 4 the honda so I bought a tgb se 425 outback (Pile of SH%t)

[TGB Tim]

Tgb JUNK................................................................................atv 425 se outcrap JUNK.................................................CHEAP MATERIALS..................NOISIE.......................NO...PARTS........LIERS..........JUNK....DIFFERENTIALS........ALL.....AROUND.....GARBAGE......RIP...OFF.............................

[TGB Tim]

 

[dorza]

some of  your problem might be with the dealership...
like did you take it in for its 1st service? or any others?
part of their job is to check fasteners , suspension, brakes &steering
as is yours to check periodically before you go stumping ,muding, or whatever.

any equipment that i have that goes off road or on the water gets the once over
before each use because i don't want to push, tow or walk it out from the boonies.
a few minuets of check out or preventive maintenance can save money or injury. 

anyway, the switches , pull cord & caps should be easy replacements 
what does your dealer say about that?

also part of the problem may be with the mfg not getting the
parts to the importer/distributor  which makes it impossible for the dealer
to fulfill your needs.
it is possible that the mfg is holding back on the parts
for the distributor too, but that's another story...

oilyhans

 

I always give the quad a once over every few months as said above all new bikes/cars etc get a PDB check on delivery but things can work loose.The other day I noticed coolant leaking from the under side of the quad turned out to be a loose jubilee clip once tightned everything was OK.As I am a mechanic by trade I always give my vehicles a monthly or weekly check depending on usage can save you a few dollars on your pocket.