I have a completely stock 400EX. I was thinking about changing the filter, but am stumped by all the choices.

I ride on the East Coast in the woods. I would say I encounter more dust than anything. At some point, I will probably take the quad for a dip.

A friend told me to get a K&N with a precharger so that I would not have to remove my lid. He said something to the affect of drilling holes in the lid instead.

What the hell is a precharger? I went to K&N's website and could not find any relevant information pertaining to my question. Heck! I couldn't even find anything remotely close to ATV applications.

Thanks in advance for any information you may provide.

 

A "Precharger" is nothing more than an outerwear for the filter. Guess they're trying to give it the same mystique as a Supercharger or a Turbocharger. Not quite as exciting..

If you want my advice, I would stick with a foam type filter (stock, Uni, Twin air, etc..) K&N seems to let way too much dust in...

 

The K&N Pre Charger is their in-house name for their foam outerwrap which is to be used in dusty conditions. It's supposed to extend the periods between cleaning the primary filter by trapping the dust particles which the gauze type doesn't do very well. It's used dry rather than oiled. K&N claims only a 10% reduction in air flow with the wrap in place; may be, but my Pro Design foam filter came with an outerwrap also and it cut air flow considerably more than 10%. It came off after the first day's use and I run only the normal foam filter here in dustville.

 

Precharger is a spiffy name for the outerwears cover you can buy.K+N's are only good for 100% sand dune riding.They DO NOT trap small particles of dust and dirt.If you are not ready to put a clean filter in your bike every ride leave the box lid on!Taking lid off wont make it run much faster but it will wear out the motor faster from all the dirt getting in if you dont keep it CLEAN!

 

Hmm...I just put on the pro design pro flow intake on my banshee..and it had a wrap that went on the caged section of the filter, with foam formed around the little cage body. Now I thought that the aftermarket foams are dual stage, and I assumed that was the second stage of the foam filter. i oiled it and let it dry. Was I wrong? I didn't sound like it was running rich all of a sudden. So, did I screw up?

Thanks,

jason

 

rottwolf,
I'm not quite sure I understand your question, but when I mentioned that the K&N Precharger was to be used dry, that only applied to that particular prefilter. That is K&N's recommendation.
On the Pro Design I have, the basic filter is yellow & built onto the rubber boot wich in turn clamps to the intake. The 2nd stage (mine at least) is red. I never use it Even here in all the dust we have, the basic foam filter traps every bit as the intake is perfectly clean when I remove the filter for cleaning. I would think that your outer wrap, being foam like the primary filter, would need to be oiled to serve its purpose. I trust that all this has made the mud clearer. If not the filter will take care of it

 

Brian...you have to install another filter (called a precharger) on the K & N to keep the dust out. I ride in the east also, and after installing a UNI on the 400ex that I sold, I never noticed grit or grime in the motor, even though I ran the lid off. Excellent product....guess what kind of filter the Raptor will get when they are available. By the way...we may wanna do some riding sometime since I probably live within reasonable driving distance!

 

Fellas,

Thanks for the info. I appreciate the responses. Looks like I'll eventually upgrade to a UNI...when I change the pipe and rejet.

Brian

 

Back to K&Ns fancy names for otherwise boring products. Years ago when I bought my K&N for the car, it was called a FilterCharger. MAde me laugh again!

RoostKing...