One of my friends has a 99 Prarie 300. Ive heard they have Limited slips in the front, but this one if you jack up the front end and spin one wheel, the other will spin the opposite direction. And its been in palces where one tire didnt turn and the other did. To me this means its got a really weak limited slip or a open diff.

So does it have a Limited slip? If so what could make it so weak?

 

The limited slip in my Prairie 400 worked about as good as you would expect. Try hooking your machine to another atv or a car and get it spinning on gravel in low range while going in a straight line. If it will spin both front wheels in the gravel, it's working good. If only one will spin, you must have a Yamaha 600 Grizzly instead of a Prairie,LOL. Seriously, if only one spins, the springs or the clutch plates may be worn/weak in the diff.

 

If you sping them in gravel, that probably wont show you if you works or not seeing a Open diff will spin both if theres equal amounts of traction.

During a mudrun this year you could watch one wheel completely stop. So of it does have one, it must be REALLY bad.

 

our 2001 - 300, has a pretty weak clutch pack... this is amplified if you are running bigger than stock tires... out system works though, the 'lil 300, has earned more mud race trophies, than an other quad that I know of ( it's raced one year longer, & enters more races & classes, ( even competes against 500cc & up quads ), than my big Prairie )... there are some pics of it pulling, & mud bogging, in my bio section...

 

I beg to differ - we hold ATV pulls and I see a number of 600 Grizzlies and older Kodiacs and Big Bears that only spin one wheel in a straight line pull.
If you have ANY limited slip machine and one front tire has perfect traction and the other has no traction, the one with traction won't move at all.

 

NOVA... I agree, to a point... the clutch pack determines how much torque is needed to allow "slip" between the tires... I had tried 2 different limited slip diff units on my old Jeep, on the front diff... one had a lower torque rating, & would easily spin one tire in going around corners, etc, ( which I thought at the time, was too "soft" for my hard core application )... I replaced it with a different unit, & it had such a high torque rating, that the clutch pack would not break loose when turning corners, with a vehical, as light as my Jeep was ( the unit was made for a much larger, heavier vehical )... which brings up another point... the stiffer the clutch pack, the heavier the steering will be... if you are a mudder only, heavy steering might not be a problem, but my wife feels the steering is already too heavy on our 'lil Prairie as it is, so we would not be interested in a tighter clutch pack, on that application...

 

newbeatle,
have you heard of anyone shimming their clutch pack in the front diff? I wouldn't mind a little more steering effort, the increased traction would be nice up in the front of my Eiger...

ALTHOUGH, I had it up on jack stands painting the wheels, and I braced one tire and turned the other... it's pretty tight! I'd say that for a tiny little limited slip, the Eiger's is a pretty good factory unit.

 

If that is true, then what would be the point of the Limited Slip? Its sole purpose is to get rid of situations like that....


Ill put this out there again, does anyone know if the prarie had a limited slip in the first place?

 

summitlt - as a new member, you need to go through the forum history for info. To keep it simple for you, go back to my original post in the thread where I stated that the Prairie has a limited slip (The 300 & 400 front diff are the same).

Not all limited slips are the same; I've seen some machines (examples in my post above) that the limited slip units seem to do nothing. Other units work a little better. No limited slip is perfect at eliminating wheelspin. That's why most manufactures have gone to electrically or manually operated lockers. Or others, like Bombardier for example, have developed a torque sensing unit that is better than a limited slip in eliminating wheelspin.

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there has ever been a 4x4 ATV with a fully open front diff.

 

Ok, I guess I missed that part.

Do they make rebuild kits or anything for them, because this particualr prarie seems to have a REALLY weak LS. Was looking at the locker they have, but $300 seems like a little much for a little 300.

I read through searching that water can get into the diffs and make the LS not work as well. Is this something that happens? It sees a lot of water