KymcoForum.com

Today I removed the skid plates to see what is inside after our ride.  We had bottomed out pretty hard in a few areas and I was anxious to see if anything was bent or damaged.  As most of you already know the 450i is a well built machine but it does have plastic skid plates. At times that can be good and at times that can be bad, the good is they slide over most obstacles and return to there original shape, the bad side is on a hard bottoming out they can give or puncture and then what?  We did some hard riding on a rough trail with lots of stumps and rocks and hit bottom many times, so what happened inside?  Removed skid plates and found lots of built up mud, mabey 20 lbs worth but nothing appeared damaged or bent. If anyone recalls I added two pieces of angle iron running front to back for my plow mount. These attach to the crossmembers on the frame and give added protection and support on the underside and the skid plates also attach to them again creating more support for the plastic skid plates.  Needless to say the skid plates had many gouges and grooves from the rocks and stumps but no damage or bends in the angle iron supports which were my concern. Hitting bottom as hard as we did without the added supports would really have me worried as the crankcase is just inside those skid plates only protected by a crossmember, while being very strong a puncture by a sharp rock or stump could get to the bottom of the crankcase I guess....I am now convinced that my additional supports ad so much more protection to the bottom and extra support for the plastic skid plates that I will be confident to go over or thru most any obstacle anywhere. They also make the plow mount much easier to put on and remove, so I have a two fold gain in the angle iron. Needless to say the 450i is a tough little machine, can go most anywhere and like the old Timex saying goes...takes a licking and keeps on ticking !!

The only problem I see with the plastic skid plates is, as plastic ages it also gets brittle and riding in cold weather would make things even worse. Are there any pics on this site of the angle iron location that you added to yours?

What kind and size ?  I blew up the pic and it looks like the rubber between the lugs is cracked, hope it's just something in the pic.

One more thing, what is under the blue trap across the street?

As has been said before the only way to really check a battery is to have it load tested, a volt meter is good but will not show a dead cell.
I keep a battery tender on all my batteries, small -  bike, utv, mowers 1 hr a day, 2 hrs a day on large batteries. Use a HD 15 amp timer.

Where does the front bumper bolt to the frame?

Just to add a bit to this the Front brush guard is at most a one man - five minute install and rock solid. Just my .02
(add two minutes to get the stock bracket off) 

Sounds like it has a good reserve, not a bad thing.

   Good reference info, thanks for posting !!   I may also add that the factory did approve using a 75-140 full synthetic diff lube to replace the 80-90 dino oil lube.  I got a clarification on mine before making the switch.

Can you post the Factory Clarification? It would be good to add to the manual.

I put this together to keep out in my shop. All info is from the listed Manual.


KYMCO   450I  Cyclepedia Service Manual
Oil Drain Plug – 19mm,  Oil strainer screen  pg 108
Oil 5W-30 Motorcycle  / ATV Specific  2.4L,  81.15 oz,  2.54 Quarts w/Filter
Oil Filter – Volar   OF-026
Front Differential  -  80-90 WT   250CC   8.45 OZ   Pg 115
Rear Differential    -  80-90 WT   230CC   7.8 OZ     Pg115
Lube/Grease    Pg 121
Cooling                    2.65 QT  Engine and Radiator
Idle          1300RPM +/- 100  Throttle Adj   Pg 134
Spark Plug  -  NGK CR6E    0.8-0.9 mm  .031-.035  8.7 ft Lbs
Front Tire                        10 lbs
Rear Tire                          14lbs
Toe in Adjustment              Pg 130
Air Intake Filter                  Pg 74
Air Cleaner Element  Wet Type  Pg 54
Torque Specs                       Pg 40
Spark Arrestor Torque       48 Inch Lbs.