hey....i've been trying to decide on what quad to get 'eventually'.....i really wanted IRS....but i can live without it..... im thinking the honda foreman 500 .....it has 4x4/4x2 selectable....does it have diff. locks? i really like the look of it..... one of the more main reasons i want another honda is their dependency.....man, i trust my recon over most other atvs anyday lol.....


now, is it worth the extra 1,000+ for the foreman rather than getting the rancher? im thinking its gonna be...

any of you that have foremans....if/when you go serious mudding......do you ever bottom out? (rear/front driveshaft stuck sitting in the mud?)......how often do you get stuck? i've been watching videos and i've noticed the brute force is usually the first one to get stuck or have problems getting thorugh mud.....the hondas always just boat right thorugh lol.....

ill post a link to a video which made me want a foreman real badly....the bigger guy is riding a foreman...

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gxhw9KQPnSA

anybody know what type of quad that was in the very start? the red one that jumped? its a different video than i was talking about but i thought that was amazing, a dead stop to that type of air lol

 

None of the Hondas have diff lock. But there is always Detroit gearless lockers for them. If you want to go mudding like in the video, you want as many CCs as you can afford. I'm not saying you can't do it with the Rancher, But serious mudding as you call it requires BIG tires. Big tires need big power to turn them. A solid axle will bottom out before an IRS. Simply because of clearance. Big deal, you just have to learn to dance on the quad. I've stood on my front rack trying to get the weight on the front wheels. You said the Brute usually gets stuck first. I actually see that to with a friend of mine on his. But the brutes power would easily pull bigger tires. And they do have diff lock.

 

It looks like it says Kawasaki on the tank. It sounded like a V-twin and looked like a solid rear axle. My guess a 700 Prairie with the racks removed.

 

Its either a 650 or 700 either one the first one you say was a Kawi.

I would say best machine to buy if your going to play in the mud is Honda 450 or if you want new then the 500 foreman, not the rubicon. Other wise a 660 grizzly cann't go wrong there.

 

The new 07 Rancher 420 with EFI should have real snappy throtle response. And it's not giving up all that many cc's to the Foreman either (which is actually a 475). But both are to heavy for my taste. To keep the price low, they obviously aren't putting many light alloy parts on the Rancher........

I need another 4X4, and if I don't get a new Rancher I will probably be getting the Foreman. Honda's don't have diff locks, but my experience has been that they don't need it! But, I don't ride mud out here in the desert.

 

I've taken my stock Foreman through some pretty deep mud holes and have never (that noise you hear is me knocking on wood) had it bottom out or get stuck. It seems to power right through without a problem where my friend's Yamaha tends to get bogged down quickly.

 

yeh....i think a 500cc is the biggest my dad will let me go for now since i'd be upgrading from a 250.....whats the biggest tires a rancher 420 can turn and a foreman 500 can turn? i'd end up getting the warn 424 select and those aftermarket diff. locks.....i'd probably go with the foreman but it really depends on the overall price....i have to go to honda within the few weeks to pick up my winch so i'll talk to them about different quads and stuff......

 

You won't need a 424 on the new Rancher! It has selectable 2wd/4wd, although it is manual and not push button operated like the Foreman.

 

Foreman questions, you should check out hondaforeman .com. The main page shows a 500 launching into a puddle. Theres guys on there that run 29.5 outlaws. It seems most are big time mudders.