Hi,

I previously had a 2005 Outlander which had a belt drive tranny, which I didn't like, it was jerky and not very good for utility work, maybe it needed adjustment, but it was my first ATV and I ended up selling it. Now I would like to get a standard transmission type one such as an older Suzuki King Quad with the many gear transmission. I would use it for general trail riding and just a bit of utility work around the yard. Anybody have any thoughts on the different type of trannys and which machine would be good for what I want?

Thanks for the help.

 

Polaris CTV is a lot less jerky than the Can-Am. I found the Sportsman X2 to have much smoother launches than the Outlander I have now.

Yamaha made a Big Bear in the 2012 model year with a semi-automatic foot shift. I think it is a 400. Honda has an automatic that uses a transmission like a car automatic. Those are the only 4x4s I can think of.

 

Im with moosehenden here,not too many to choose from these days that have a manual transmission. If there are any older models around that are used they will most likely be 300-500cc. Suzuki 300 and arctic cat 300 had a high, low, and super low then 3 for reverse as well. thats 15 forward gears and 3 reverse. It pulled quite a bit for a 280cc engine. years were 1998-2003 i think. No speed demon but hard workers. Then the yamaha line had some 350-400s cc bikes around in early 2000 or so. Same as other manufacturers. suzuki,arctic cat and honda. you would have to search for used .Most are automatic now. My 3 atvs use a cvt transmission and have never given me any jerky feeling,one being a 2007 outlander 500.

The honda (rincon) moose mentioned that uses a torque converter does not have a low gear. You can double check though, the new ones may.

 

The Honda ranchers have the electronic shift, so instead of a pedal it's two toggles on the left thumb control to shift. Aside from sport quads, you don't have many choices unless you go older.

 

Don,t Know what was wrong with your Outlander but all the top pulling capacity ATV are belt CVT.

My Sportsman in low range would out pull any 5 speed ATV out there easily. It will pull until it buries itself in its own 4 tire ruts and never come close to a belt slip.

The only foot shift ATV with a dedicated low range sub tranny is the 400 KQ/Eiger now ,I think. The others like the Big Bear and Foreman and Rancher just have a super low 1st gear 5 speed tranny.

 

I think you are right. I have an 01 quadrunner 500 that has the sub trans for all 5 speeds. It seems they really have the cvt's working great. Maybe your clutches were just bad. But if that is what you really want, you will likely have to go early 2000's or older to get what you want.

 

100% cvt all the way- smooth & carefree.

can-am atv's are a bit touchy off the line- they are more sport tuned and the clutches grab at a bit higher rpm. a clutch kit is what most people do to change that- I personally like it.
even though the outlander is a "utility" atv, it's really not... It's more of a sport, with utility features. there's a new class of ATV's since 2005- "sport utility" - I've seen that term being used more & more these days to describe the current 4x4 IRS big bores.

 

I would get a yamaha big bear

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I was looking at the older ones, around the $1000-$2000 range. I have driven a few machines with the old standard trans and just the one I had with the belt drive, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. It very well could have just needed an adjustment, maybe I should try a few different types and see how it goes from there. I like the King Quad because of the many gears and diff lock setup, great for pulling loads and such I would imagine. My brother in law has one so maybe I should pay him a visit and try his again as well as my buddy who has a big belt drive Kawi.