I have never owned nor ridden a quad before. I've ridden a motorcycle 3 times in my life when I was 12. So I know absolutely NOTHING. I'm 33 now, and I just want to do some trail riding, hunting, and exploring.

On a whim, I bought a 2000 Xplorer 250 4x4 in decent shape for $2400. So here goes my questions:

1) Did I get a decent deal?

2) Does this particular quad have any issues I should know about?

3) Is this a good quad?

4) What kind of top end speed does this thing get?

I haven't ridden it yet because I have a car and I haven't gotten a trailer for it yet (yes, I didn't think this thing through all the way....I got a wild hair and sold some guns to buy this thing). Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the fourms & congratulations on the new toy [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. I'm not familiar with the Expolorer maybe someone will chim in & shed some light.

 

1) Did I get a decent deal?
If it's in pretty good shape that price sounds fair. Did you check Kelly Blue Book or NADA?

2) Does this particular quad have any issues I should know about? 3) Is this a good quad?
The Explorer 250 was one of the last two stroke 4x4's on the market. I haven't ever heard too many bad things about them. The lower steer post bushing is most likely bad on your quad and if it isn't then it will be. The older Polaris quads (pre 2001) had crappy plasitc lower steer post bushings that always crapped out. I highly suggest getting the HPD bushing if it you need one (www.hpd-inc.com). Also, the older style tie rod ends aren't the greatest either. Newer Polaris ATVs have the better heim joint ends that you can upgrade to when you need new ones. Go to your local dealer for those.

The main thing you want to do is keep the chain adjusted and lubed. Make sure you get yourself a good grease gun and grease all the fittings after every few rides or after every wet ride. If you are not familiar with older Polaris ATVs, you'll notice a lot of grease fittings. There should be one on the axle housing, one on each swing arm bushing (2), 3 on the main front drive shaft, 1 on each u-joint on the front shafts, 1 on each a-arm, one on the back of each strut housing, possibly one on each tie rod end (if you have the older style tie rods), one on the upper and one on the lower steer post busing.

Being a used quad, I'd check all the fluid levels and possibly change all of them, which wouldn't be a bad move at all. I think you should get yourself a good repair manual for your specific model. It will pay for itself eventually.

4) What kind of top end speed does this thing get?
I'll leave that for the 250 owners. If you aren't satisfied there are a ton of upgrades available. Give Rick Ritter a call or check out his site www.rittercycle.com if you ever need some hop ups. He's the man to talk to.

Did I say enough?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Welcome to the forums!

 

DITTO on what offrder said but I will add that you got a decent deal if it is in good shape but you need to buy a factory service manual and keep it maintaned.The top speed on these is only around 40-45 and they are good little 4x4s.And by the wat welcome to the forum if you have any questions someone on here will anserw them. Brad

 

Wow, thanks for the welcome wagon and all the information (especially you, Offrder)! I'm glad I came here.

I did check the KBB, and it said it was a few hundred under (retail), yet the NADA said it was a hundred over. I don't really know how to judge condition of a quad, but the plastic was all intact, and everything looked in place, just that the CV boots were ripped (the seller fixed that for me when I pointed it out) and the rims are pretty banged up.

I won't be able to replace the stuff you mentioned in your post myself (lower steer post bushing and heim joint ends). Any guesses of approximate cost to get each thing done?

How much is a grease gun and what type of grease should I use?

Thanks so much again for all the help!

 

welcome to the forums, doesn't sound like a bad deal and the xplorers are nice quads. My father in law picked up a 94' xplorer 400 4x4 over summer for $1500 and it came with new front and rear Polaris brake pads which we had to put on and the starter slips often, but the quad also came with a 48" warn plow with electric lift and the body was in pretty good shape, some fade but no cracks or bent parts. all weve done to it it put on the front/rear brake pads and adjust all three chains. it will probably need new tires next year but we will take care of that when the time comes.

 

Hi Mylhouse. I think you made a good choice with the xplorer as a first quad. I have two of them, and they were my first quads as well. No matter how careful I was, my rims always seemed to get more beat up. So I don't think that is a sign of neglect. Top end is somewhere in the 40's, theres no speedometer as you know. Their 4wd capability is just awesome for such little machines - except for the solid axle getting caught on the bottom, my 250's can go through mud almost as well as my sportsman. Like i said, these were my first quads - so I literally did no maintenance on them for the first year or two i had them. And they still run fine, so I guess that says something... Congratulations, and have fun.

 

I love our little Xplorer 4x4. It has a lot of bang for the buck. The low gear will grunt that little 250 up a cliff. Tope speed is about 45. Being that it's 5 years old I would see if you can get the compression checked. If it starts fine it's not a big deal. They are a pretty simple unit and not much goes wrong with them.

 

wait.....he has posted 2 times...it says he only has 1....?

 

Thanks again for all the feedback. I feel much better about my purchase. Dang, I hate buyer's remorse!

catchmeifucan,

I was wondering the same thing. Well, maybe it will say 3 after I post this![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]