I think all Prairies do it, dont they? when on snow going up hill & the 4wd is working hard for traction, the front end hops up and down, my buddies 650 does it & I have even seen it on ATV tv with a 650.. Do all AtV's do this & why? also can it damage anything?

 

I have a P400 and it does not do that.

 

Yes. My Prairie will do the same thing. I noticed it more w/ stock tires, and before I installed winch. I think the extra weight of 26" 6 ply tires, and a winch, help keep the front end down. It happens as first one wheel, and then the other, keep grabbing traction. I personally find it kind of cool. I know that a couple of my friends have commented that it looks neat to see the Prairie fighting, and bucking, it's way to the top of a snow covered hill that no other quads make it up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

lol, that's not right. I haven't got to try my BF in the snow yet, but I hope like heck it doesn't hop up and down? I've owned a lot of quads and none of them ever did that. Does it hop up and down even if you lock the front diff?

 

My P700 and my Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 do the same thing....

I think the danger here that the drive line could experience unusual forces and break....Constant torque is one thing but "0"-"too much" torque, on and off instantaneously is going to break something if it happens for too long.....

What I have always done when this happens is to try not to punch it for too long a period of time, and back out of it and then re-apply power till slippage and shaking occur, over and over until I have either worked my way out of the bog, or become hopelessly stuck....

 

It would seam the drive line & diff is working hard when it occurs, I have noticed if you let off the throttle a bit it will slow it down or stop completely, I have also noticed traction is increased when it stops.. I guess there is no way to prevent it other then throttling down that I know of. It takes a pretty good challenge to make it occur, but when it does it sure is anoying & not very helpful in getting to the top.. I rode through probably 20 miles worth of trails on Saturday with 1' of snow or more, & on those steeper hills it did it every single time as clawed towards the top!! I cant say mine does it less now with my Bearclaws as apposed to my stockers. I also think it might do it even worse with the locker engaged..

 

isnt it just a differential doing what it does best? sending power to the non traction wheel? Then when that wheel grabs something, it sends power back to the other wheel, and back and forth creates a hopping feeling. I never noticed it until I was stuck pointing up pretty hard in a mud pit, and not until I got the mudlites. To kill it, you can barely apply the brakes, helps both wheels to torque evenly, but probably kills your brakes faster. I would also think the diff locker would end that, but I dont have one of those.