I am looking at buying an 05 400AT, its practically brand new with only 6 hours. I was wondering what others thought about this machine. How good is the automatic tranny? I have a 98 300 4x4 right now, and I just want somthing a little bigger, faster, and more powerful. I mostly trail ride but I use my fourwheeler for work some also. Thanks.

 

Your old 300 4x4 will pull more out of the hole than the auto. My friend has an 400at and I was very disappointed in it this winter when we had it hooked on a trailer of wood. All it would do was sit there and rev. It would not spin the wheels or nothing. I had a 97 300 4x4 and if you couldn't pull something it would spin the wheels but not the new 400at. Would not buy one myself. Try a 450 kodiak, far better with more toys. diff lock etc.

 

I completly disagree, I bought 2 05 Rancher AT 400's last July. They are freakin beasts. I mainly trail ride also but when i do it is usually with my buddies on thier sport quads. I have no issues keeping up with my buddy on his Raptor 660 or anybody else. I mostly ride in 2WD and my Rancher fly's through the trails with no issues. Get into really deep mud and you just throw it in 4WD and roll on, while my buddies are throwing 6' walls of water on thier head trying to get out of the puddle. I have towed a train of 3 broke down quads with riders on them up fairly steep hills again you just throw it in 4WD and roll. I ride in some pretty insane places and have only been stuck twice. It was ugly, thick mud above the seat. I do have electrical problem with only that has really annoyed me but overall they are great quads. I have almost 200 hours on them.

 

Love mine. Mainly trail ride though. Not much of a work horse but a really good overall quad. Don't let anyone fool you, it can pull some weight but its just not quite as powerfull with the auto tranny. But its a Honda, Nuf Said.

 

I agree Honda makes a great machine. I've had 3 of them, but the 400at hasn't got near the pull as their manual shift. I've witnessed both. I think my old 300 4x4manual shift had more pulling power than the 400 at.

 

Well i have an 04, with almost 1200 miles and 300 or more hours.
the hours are cause i work with it on a ranch. it idles alot and does do some very hard work.
low end like say stump puling it does have a hard time til you get the revs up just a little then it comes alive.
i was a die hard foot shifter for many years. but i have to say the AT is awesome. and so is the 2wd or 4wd select. i have put 300 lb oak log on the front and another 350 or so lb on the back rack and it hald them fine. looked a little funny but did just fine.

i have a warn snow plow for mine and it does a great job. it'll plow 2 feet of snow with ease. havent had more than that at once to see if it would do more. an added 3000ld warn winch was a cool add on but so far is only used for the plow.

it hals hay calves deer elk and my wife and kids. it's not given me a problem yet. i'll need new tires in a few mounths.

for the trails i run my tires at 4.5 lb front and 5 in the rear.
you'll see the mine and your ride almost the exact same. (friend has same as you)
i odn't know how much gass it holds but i do know that i can get just over 130 miles on a tank. before i had to turn the resurve on. i was doing alot of scouting and hunting. it also hauled 2 elk out of the woods. one front one rear.
it's work horse. hte auto is nice.
if your in the mood to roost it then you cna shift. but i have found it can shift faster then i can and do better donuts on auto then with me shifting..
anyhow that is just my 2.5 cents

HR

 

I have an 05 Rancher ES and 26" mudders on it.. It has yet to stop turning the tires in mud, snow, or what ever. I would go with the electronic shift, instead of a auto.

 

I appreciate all of the input, I feel good about going and buying it now. One other question I had was how is the power compared to the 350 Ranchers, is there a noticeable difference as far as torque or speed goes?