I just recently bought a kawasaki 80 for my son and I am looking at a 1996 polaris xplorer 300 4x4 for me. I know nothing about atv's. Will the polaris be a good machine for easy trail riding and a little mud. It has only 600 miles on it and was owned by an elderly gentelman. very well taken care of. Can I put larger more aggressive tires on it without overworking the driveline? I was looking at 23x10x10 front and 25x12x10 rear. This is a stagger size bike. Will I have to regear for more power. Sorry for all the queasions. I just want to make the right decision

 

My first atv was a 98 xplorer 300. I put a ton of miles on that atv. In my opinion, it is a great starter machine, but I wouldn't put any oversize tires on it. It just doesn't have the power to turn them. It is also a chain drive which can get expensive to keep up with. I know, I was always changing chains and sprokets on mine.

 

Even if it was regeared would it be short on power? Can it be regeared so both front and rear tires are the same size? Thank you for the input.

 

i would kep the same size tires on it or maybe go just 1 size bigger. a friend had one of these and did fairly well, but the mud was hard on the chain and sprokets.

 

the 23 inch and 25 inch are 1 inch bigger than is what is on there now. Do all the sprocket and chains take a beating or just the one for the rear axle? Would an o-ring chain be better? Lastly what about a little more power. Pipe, clutch ,or possibly a steeper gear ratio.I see a pipe for 215 dollars and claims 5 hp. Does the carb need to be jetted for this mod. Sorry for all the questions, but I think I will be buying this mon or tuesday. I just would like to know what I am getting into. Oh I forgot to mention the temp sensor quit and the motor overheated. The top half was bored .010 with a new piston. The fan is wired on all the time, but my buddy has the sensor and will install it for me. Thanks everyone!

 

I have one and it has been a great little ride. I am pretty big and so my 14 year old. You would be amazed how our 300 xplorer does when we have it loaded down when we head out hunting plus both of usriding on it heading to the timber.

When we are not hunting with it we are running in mudd and creeks I have not had any problem with traction with tires that came on it.

We also plow snow with it when we bought it came with a 60 inch blade on it I wa a little worried how it would do in deep snow but it did great. Only thing I will do next year is get chains for it. We had one heavy wet snow of about 11inches that gave it a workout but still got the job done.

With the winch we pull brush and cut down tree's then pull them were we want to cut them up.

The only thing you need to remember is to keep up with the MTX on it and it should last you a long time.

 

The 300 Xplorer was my first quad and I loved it, that machine went dang near anywhere. I would recommend ITP Mud Lites for your next set of tires, they did an awesome job for whether I was out trail riding or playing in the mud. If your looking for some extra power, check in with Rick Ritter from Ritter Cycle Racing, he is the Polaris 2 stroke guru. He has some really affordable kits that will take the 300 to the next level.