I am new to the forums and am seeking advice.......

Ok, I am a very novice atv rider that has a very occasional trail ride, but mostly use it for plowing and hunting.

Last year I purchased an new 07 400 4x4 Cat (only 150 mi now), it feels huge. Well, on a simple trail/hill climb, I rolled it. No injury and minor damage. Thanks for insurance, they fixed it up for the tune of $2k. All I had was my deductible.

I recently rode a buddy's 19 yr old honda and felt very stable on it in a place where mine did not. Of course his is much smaller and I feel very unstable/unsafe when I get the least bit off camber on mine. I immediately wanted to replace mine so I could feel more comfortable and more "planted." I started looking and realized that the AC does sit a couple inches higher than other 400-500 bikes, but they are all about the same size. I really debated about this also because my local Cat dealer closed up now I have to drive an hour to get to a dealer. I am not mechanically inclined, so I need them.

Suggestions on how to make mine feel more planted on the ground and me feel a lot more safe?

Thanks for any input

*Stock everything*

 

swaybar kit

adjust shocks to lowest setting

 

also,if you decide you want some new rims and tires, get offset rims. the ones in my pictures are offset. big difference. you dont have to go that wide though. there are different size offsets.

 

You will have to change your riding style a little. Anytime you gain on ground clearance you lose stability. When ever you are riding in rough, rocky and off camber areas, you have to stand up. By putting all your body weight on the floor boards instead of the seat, it lowers your center of gravity by almost 2'. Try it, it works surprisingly well.

 

I agree with Catskinner, a riding style change is in order. Setting your shocks to the lowest setting actually allows it to squat more which, if the back tires squat the front will come up.

My wife and I can not ride the same hill, rocky, or rough terrain inthe same manner. She does not have the body mass (IE weight) that I do so if we try to go up a steep hill I will need to stand up and lean over the front handle bars. She usually just leans forward and can remain seated.

Also, I am rather tall so on off camber situations I can stand up and lean to the left or right, she sometimes has to place both feet onthe same foot peg and lean. So you have to learn to use your own body mass and leverage. (If you want some body mass I have plenty and will loan you some).

Also, being that your friend machine is physically smaller that changes its center of gravity and where you need to lean to adjust it according to the terrain. Plus it is probably a lighter machine so less weight is probably required.

There is a great article posted on here about improving teh handling of your ATV by adjusting the suspension. I can also tell you that tires have an effect onthis as well. I do not think you can solely pin it down to just riding style or shock settings.

SJ

 

Depending on the wheels you have you could have your local tire shop drill the valve stem on the inside part of the wheel and it will offset a bit. But, that can leave your disc brakes open to rocks and stuff. Again, it all has to do with the wheels too, some won't allow that. It will give you a wider stance. It gave me about 1"-1.5" on each side. Much more stable. Or just get offset wheels.

 

And consider changing to aftermarket tires. Stock tires are very lightweight with thin sidewalls - get into an off-camber nose-down situation and the low side front tire will roll right out from under you. A good aftermarket tire with a 4 or 6-ply rating will stop that.

Jaybee

 

BushmasterSOH,

I'm new to this as well, i found this thread:

http://forums.atvconnection.co...tid/5/threadid/522027


The directions in this thread are great, and don't cost you a dime. I followed them, and my cat now runs as solid as you could ask for, the tippiness is gone, and it rides fantastic. Just my two cents.

 

Cats have class leading clearance, which means high center of gravity, there is only so much you can do. However starting with better tires with more plys. On my 700 adding a notch of preload up front helps with nose dive and understeer. Bone stock my 700 pushes badly in corners.
Aftermarket suspensions cost too much for me, so I need to work with what I've got and tires. But after a little attention the Cat handles much better.

 

I will second what Bushmaster said above. Read the post. After reading the post and changing the settings on my 700 AC TRV it rode better. After replacing the stock tires with Bighorns (25") it handled a whole lot better. I have my front shocks set on level 2 and back set on 4. Run 7 psi on all tires.