Can you drift a Arctic Cat 500 on gravel, even though it has all time 4WD? Or is this just a bad idea?
Thanks

 

The full time 4x4 are more dengerous to dift on fast gravel curves.

 

I meant slow, around 10 MPH?

 

you can drift on all wheel drives you just have to get the rear out quick and then float it through.......... if you want a little safer practice spot do it on wet grass

 

Ok, thanks

 

not a real good move to get into doing on purpose on a 4x4 ATV because they are made to not loose traction and it will fight you through the drift.

However, if you must give it a try..Best way to get it to drift is to use the same practice as desert riders will do when they do two and four wheel drifts in corners..However I must warn you that loose sand and pea gravel is easy to loose traction in and it does not equal slick mud nasty unforgiving rock and loose logging road type gravel all mixed together. All it will take to flip your ATV is just one really nice sized rock stuck in the ground where you least expect it waiting to lock a sliding tire to the ground

get your speed up and as you start the drift shift your body into the inside of the drift (think of your body as the center of a circle and your trying to rotate the bike around that pivit point without moving the body)keeping your outside knee tucked close into the tank and use your shifted body weight as the counter wieght as you play with the gas to keep your momentum..

Be very careful because if the ATV outer tires dig in suddenly and you loose your center of gravity on the inside of the turn and you suddenly shift to the outside before you complete the drift you WILL flip it over. Best bet if you feel your bike digging in let off the gas and stop trying to drift the bike..Remember your tires are made for side bite straction and if they get a good side bit while your drifting the bike is going to snap straight and over the bars your going to go flying.

Best way to try this until you get used to it is to take your ATV to a banked moto track and practice the technique by driving through the high banked turns with your body on the inside of the turn until you can do it with a fairly fast rate of speed and with a fluid movement...Then and only then should you attempt it on flat gravel roads

 

Ok, thanks for the help! I'm probably won't do it, but every so often, if it risks flipping my quad..

 

I don't even like doing it with mine (My profile picture) unless I'm on a track. I run "Hole Shot" tires all around and they have tons of side bite and I have come close a few times of rocking it up the way its not supposed to be going.

 

Don't know about gravel, but I can get my 02 Cat 500i drifting on hard dirt on my farm. Got to work at it, but it can be done - the inner front wheel will lift off a bit. Can it flip doing this? Probably, if your traction suddenly changes, like going from gravel to dirt. Is it dangerous? You bet - an 800 pound quad landing on top of you can ruin your whole day.

Keep in mind, Cat utes aren't sport quads, they're more like bulldozers. Great for rock crawling, mud, rough ground, trailblazing, not so great for higher speed on prepared trails.

 

If you got your inner tire starting to lift off the ground you betcha your pushing your luck to the ATV at the least rolling onto its side at the most flipping.

Worst case senerio is front end frame damage if its that heavy