“It seems that in the last year or two most brands of the smaller sport quads have all starting putting the VIN on the left side of the frame under the shifter in plain view.”

My original working title of this article was “The Search For Animal VIN” but unless you were a crusty skater back in the 80′s I figured you might not get the joke. I’ve found that the one constant in the world of ATV VIN locations is there are no constants. It seems that there is virtually no industry standard for VIN locations on ATVs. Having spent the last day and half crawling around looking for the VIN on various brands of ATVs I’ve somewhat narrowed down the most common VIN locations. I will try and break it down by brand and even sometimes by model depending on the nuances involved with different styles of ATVs.

Let’s start with Hondas since they seem to have some of the easiest to find VIN placements. On most of the newer models you will find the VIN by peeking down through the slit in the plastic hood with a flashlight. Most often the VIN resides on a cross beam connecting the front struts. On some of the older models you’ll find the VIN lower down on the frame but it will almost be somewhere on the front of the ATV. Here are a few examples….

Suzuki has probably the least back straining to find VIN locations of all the manufacturers.  On all of their bigger models with the exception of some of the King Quad units you’ll find the VIN on the frame on the left side up under the tail section. Since the some of the King Quad have that location covered in plastics you’ll find the VIN on a vertical frame member up front inside the left wheel well right by the radiator. On their smaller sport quads you can find the VIN on the left side of the frame down by the engine since the tail section is often bolted on and therefore not a permanent part of the frame. Here are a few examples…

Moving on to Polaris ATVs. While sometimes difficult to read their VINs almost always reside up inside the left front wheel well on a section of square frame tubing just forward of the motor. Here are some examples…

“Hopefully I’ve saved you some time and effort in finding the VIN number on your ATV when it comes time to title them or order parts.”

The VIN locations on Kawasaki ATVs with very few exceptions are on the left side up front inside the wheel well on the frame directly under the front axle or strut. I have seen at least one model however, the BruteForce 300, where the VIN is located on the frame at the front of the ATV for some unknown reason. Here a few examples including the one located up front…

Larger Yamaha ATVs generally locate the VIN up front behind the left wheel well on the frame near the front of the motor. Of course there’s always an exception to every rule and in the case of  the Grizzly 300 it’s on the frame at the front of the ATV. I don’t know, it must be a 300 thing. The larger Yamaha ATV VINs are often difficult to read due to their location being much further back on the frame than many other brands and are therefore often partially obscured by the fender or skid plates. Yamaha’s smaller racing quads put the VIN on the frame on the left side under the shifter pedal in plain view. Here a some examples of all of the above…

Since I only had one Arctic Cat ATV available to check out I will have to go out on a limb and make a wild guess that the VINs are usually be located on the left side of the frame inside the front wheel well similar to the Kawasaki ATVs. Here is the pic of the one Arctic Cat I had on hand for what it’s worth…

It seems that in the last year or two most major manufacturers of the smaller sport quads have all starting putting the VIN on the left side of the frame under the shifter or near the front struts in plain view. Here are a couple of examples…

Of course I’m sure there are other brands including countless Chinese knockoffs but this article is focusing on the major brands that I had access to. Hopefully I’ve saved you some time and effort in finding the VIN on your ATV when it comes time to title them or order parts. In the meantime I’ll be in the hot tub trying to soaking out the kinks in my back that I got from all of my research.

	SpeedShifter69 Contributor to Dillon Brothers speedshifter69@gmail.com Website

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