What "gearing" do you prefer in the sand? The stock 400EX is 38/15 and 20" tires. For XC I run 38/14 and 22" tires, but I am thinking of going to 39/14. This would put me EXACTLY back to stock gearing with the 22" tires.

Anyway, I am somewhat disappointed in the performance of my 400 in the sand. It seems to dig holes very easily-like the power is maybe too torquey(?). I am running 20" Skat-Trak 10-paddle tires, so this is giving me lower gearing than my 22" XC tires. If I go to 39/14, it will be even lower and even more torquey. I always thought the common wisdom was to gear down for the sand, because it robs so much power. Anyone have any advice??

 

Yeah, I have a suggestion...

You have WAYYY too much paddle for that motor. You are going to be much happier with 7 or 8 paddle gliders, than the 10 paddle haulers you have...

Stock gearing will be fine, or drop a tooth on the counter shaft if you want to.

The paddles are what's causing your problem now.

 

I am by no means a sand expert, I live in WI for petes sake, hehe.I do ride at Silver Lake,MI 2-3 times a year and went to Glamis this Thanksgiving however. I did a TON of research before I got paddles and settled with 7 Paddle Haulers. These work excellent for a stock thumper or with one with simple mods anyways. My friends had 8 Paddle Edges when we went to Glamis and tried running a 14 tooth front sprocket. The sand still sucks hp like crazy. They got so frustrated with the lack of power from there machines (yes they were jetted properly) and went back to a 15 tooth front sprocket and the stock rear Ohtsus. This set-up was awesome and could climb anything as long as you didn't let your momentum get down to nothing. I also ran a stock tired and geared 400ex while I was down there for a few days and climbed anything and everything with it no problem. If you must run a paddle I would even consider a 13 tooth front sprockt and a 7 or 8 paddle tire, preferably a dune slider or something in a V with a shorter lip.

 

I use a 13/39 set of sprockets and 8 paddle haulers for mine when I go to the dunes here in Utah..

I am planning on going to either a 9 paddle glider or an 8 or 10 paddle combo. I am still testing each one as I can.

If you are running basically stock, use the same gears and use a 7 paddle hauler or 8 paddle glider.

I have no problem climbing anything at the dunes...

 

Sandman-Thanks for the reply! I should have given more information. I am running 10-paddle Edges. I previously ran 8-paddles, and the problem was even worse!! I have a friend who works at Skat-Trak, and he says 10-paddle is what they recommend for a moded 400EX (8-paddle for stock). I swiched on his advice, and actually the 10-paddle has helped some.

The feeling I get is like when you are driving on snow and start out in low gear and the tires just spin because of too much torque. If I lower my gearing for XC, I think it will be even worse. I used to have a moded Warrior (ran 8-paddles), and I have to say I prefer it to the 400EX in the dunes.

 

just a guess - I wonder if a large number of paddles (10) on a small diameter tire (20) causes the increased digging, independent of the powerplant you are running. I know of people who have a DS650 that have complained about this problem with similar tires. I run 22x11x10 10-paddle haulers on the DS650 and have very little digging. Are the tires 10" or 11" wide?

 

V paddles suck . I prefer a Hauler. I run the same setup as Trxoutlawz does and we go anywhere we want to. I have suprised quite afew shees and DS's. This thing hook up on sand almost like it was pavement. I holeshot about everything.

 

Would a 22X11X10 - 8 padddle hauler be too much Paddle/Tire for my 400EX. I have sand skates right now but I need my quad to hook up as much as possible.