Kawasaki was one of the innovators of the locking differential and, for 2012 it’s still right there at your left hand for those sticky situations.
Here’s our question, though. With just about every other ATV manufacturer now using an electric, push-button diff-locker, why stick with this manually actuated diff-lock lever?
It can be argued that using a manual lever would allow the rider to measure exactly how much input is required to the front wheels, but we’ve been mired too deep in the goop before and feel you either need your differential locked or you don’t.
Plus, when in that goop, we defy you to operate the diff lever, work your remote winch control and stab the throttle all at the same time to get unstuck.
We know tooling is expensive, but think Kawasaki already understands this needs a re-think and is likely working on something better.
We suspect we’ll see the move to an electric diff-lock button in the next evolution of the Brute Force.
