--------- I think working on them yourself will soon become a thing of the past , with new engine TIER regulations coming around they will soon go to a emissions controller which will require software to diagnose and repair , I have been told by the local dealer that in 2018 TIER 5 starts and any lawnmower over 30 hp will require such a system , just a matter of time till it trickles down to atv's --------- on the diesel engines in equipment now under the TIER 4 , I can know that the injector is bad , I can buy one and put it into the engine but it won't run , you need the software to take out the serial number of the old injector and put in the serial number of the new injector and enable it before it will fire
Saw the usual purse slinging on a Jeep board today (of course, I went in swinging hard with my opinionated butt) about new Jeeps vs old Jeeps, and while I think the new "Jeeps" are...well, they're not Jeeps, I do acknowledge that most of the changes were mandated by our nanny state government. When the last of the CJ's rolled off the line, people around here were taking them straight to the hunting club, where they sat out in the weather, and a lot of the time didn't even have a top at all on them. They just sat in the rain. They were only used working and hunting, and were tools, not status symbols, or "look how outdoorsy I am with my light bars and big tires". They were tools.
The brand now caters to soccer moms and posers who never leave the pavement, not hunters and ranchers. They are $$$ and include a crapload of creature comforts that are unnecessary and, to be frank, for pansies. The new "Jeeps" are very capable off road, but so are lots of vehicles. For decades Jeep was synonymous with utilitarian, simple, rugged, no frills off road vehicles. That part of the brand is dead and gone. All that remains is the name.
Sound familiar?
Society has changed. We are a nation of soft, entitled girly men who care more about image that substance. That, coupled with our nanny state government mandating everything from emissions to MPG to safety features, vehicles of the future will be more complicated, MUCH more expensive, will be less easily repaired, and if the John Deere software fiasco is any indicator, eventually it will not be possible for a shadetree guy to fix his own stuff.
I have THREE of the last of the carb'd, air cooled, footshift Hondas. They are simple, but not as simple as I'd like. I'll be able to keep them running until I'm too old to ride them. I would have loved one without a computer, and will probably pick up an old 300 at some point for that reason, but these 500's are my wheelers, and I won't be "updating" them to newer models, because these serve my uses perfectly, and I know I can fix everything on them.
Ironically I have three CJ's too. Same thing. Last of the carb'd simple, computer-less Jeeps.