I am looking for a Raptor and was wondering about some common problems that i should look for. ive heard that the rod likes to break with internal mods. what year did the tranny issue get fixed? were there any shock upgrades through the years and if so what ones??? and i know the 700R is a better maching but i dont want a new quad and i dont like all the fancy electronic junk on it. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The Connecting Rod in them things SUCK!

 

The starter throw-out bearing sucks, the L&A One Way is a great replacement for the stocker. The tranny issue was supposedly resolved in 02 although my 02 tranny went out. I have not heard of many 02 trannies going out so that is most likely an isolated incident. It's a great all-around quad and responds well to hop ups.

 

I have an 05 Raptor SE with no engine mods and I ride it like it's meant to be rode and I take excellent care of it. I haven't had any problems at all so far, knock on wood. It just keeps on thumpin'....

 

Watch out for '01 Raptors, they are very prone to having transmission problems, and starter problems. Just to give you an idea, my '01 has an '03 tranny, and the starter finally went completely out.

 

thanks for the info everyone. was the starter issue ever resolved by yamaha or is that something that i would have to do??

 

They reworked it in 02, but it still fails. I have never had a problem with mine. The trick is to put the bike in neutral when trailering. The bike rocking back in forth in gear pounds the bearing.

 

so when the bikes in neutral while trailoring....how do you set the parking brake? cuz i set it like it shows but it doesn't do any good. it still rolls?!

 

I know a bunch of guys who have contributed to L&A for a new throw out bearing. Trailer-ing in neutral is good advice, although it didn't help me.

 

Your parking brake is out of adjustment. I never use it when trailering, I just use four tie downs and she doesn't go anywhere.