When dirt wheels tied the Sportsman and the Traxter togeather,then why did the Traxter drag the Sportsman all over the place ???

 

Hey,my Toyota Tundra is better than a Ford F-150
anyday!!!

 

I like that HONDU SPORTSMAN.Best of both worlds!!!CM

 

Hey Andy, I wouldn't have an IRS for free, let alone pay for it. Too many moving parts. Too many things that can break. Can you say "too many U-joints". Which everyone knows is the weak link in any drive train. The odds of something breaking doubles with every U-joint. I'll take the sturdy dependability of a straight axle anyday! Front or rear.
I think I finally came up with a great comparison between the Sportsman and the grizzly. I have a friend with an older Dodge pickup that I go wheeling with. His truck is HOT. 440, dual exhaust, dual quads, headers, high compression pistons, the whole 9 yards. With one exception, he has open difs at both ends. I drive an F-250, 351, K&N, headers, 3 inch exhaust. Not even close to a power match. However I have Detroit lockers at both ends on my truck. So when we go out wheeling his powerful hot truck usually can't keep up with my slow steady pace. He has to beat the sh*t out of his truck to keep up with me. I now understand where you guys are coming from. But all he would have to do is lock up his rig like I did, then he would kill me in all aspects of wheeling. Much the same as me adding a locker to the front of my Grizzly, and putting 100lbs of lead on the rack.

 

I had a 1999 500SP and sold it to buy a Rubicon. I like the Rubicon better. The Rubicon suits my needs better than the SP. Both are good machines. Where is the Rubicon $1000.00 more than the SP? Where I live they are both the same price. Of course, maybe the dealer has to lower the price that much just to sell a SP. You never know. they may be selling the SP for a few dollars profit or no profit because they need to sell them.

 

I had a 1999 500SP and sold it to buy a Rubicon. I like the Rubicon better. The Rubicon suits my needs better than the SP. Both are good machines. Where is the Rubicon $1000.00 more than the SP? Where I live they are both the same price. Of course, maybe the dealer has to lower the price that much just to sell a SP. You never know. they may be selling the SP for a few dollars profit or no profit because they need to sell them.

 

Is that practical for 75% of normal use? Not really. I'll take the sportsman personally. The IRS is more important to me. I'd also take my AC500 over the Grizzly even still. The semi-indpendant is much better and more stable. I'd still get left behind by the Griz, but that doesn't carry as much weight with me. I also can't lock the AC like I could a grizzly. That brings up another issue.

If you lock the Grizzly, then its locked and steering is total crap for everyday use. Of course it will still steer, but not like it would stock. Not by a long shot. On top of that, you might possibly lose the 2wd option (not sure really). With the Sportsman, you have the traction on top of the turning radius, turning ease, and 2wd option. For an all out mud shootout or something, I would agree that the locked grizzly would have certain advantages, but not for something that I am going to ride in a number of situations. Straight out, the Grizzly is great, and is of course the yamaha flagship, but the sportsman still holds the majority of performance advantages.

 

I don't know what Rubicons are (probably a couple hundred less than MSRP) here, but in Northwest Arkansas, the 2000 Sportsmans sticker out at $6099 at both dealers. One quoted $6500 and the other $6299 for the 2001 when it comes in.

Its not really the fact that there is $300-600 difference in the two. Just basically that when you get to $6000, you are pushing the issue of paying that much for a damn 4wheeler, and the higher it gets over that, the more ridiculous it seems.

 

Hi Andy,
The nice thing about my truck is that I can unlock the front hubs. An option I don't have on my Griz. So then it will drive normal. Even if I lock the hubs but don't engage the transfer case it will drive fine. The Detroit locker is an automatic locker and will disengage the out side wheel as it starts to speed up in a corner, as long as your not putting any power to it that is. But once you engage the front end, look out! Two hands on the wheel always, turns are done slow and easy. Plus its alway fun to break the front axle. Done that once. Your right, if I did this to my Griz it would drive like a pig! So more then likely I won't. My point was that I can match the traction of the sportsman with a small investment of time and money. The 4 wheel drive engages through a rack and pinion set up before it gets to the front dif. So it would'nt be effected by locking the dif. The nice thing about my truck is that I can unlock the inside hub if I need to go around a tight corner in the mud, and still have full power to the outside wheel. Damn I wish quads had locking hubs!

 

Ain't it great that we can beat up on these manufacturers the way we do. Only in America, can we express ourselves so infinitely. I didn't read all of this post 'cause it's so long and redundant. But I would like to say, to you all, buy what you want within reason. But you can, look for the Union Label. Yeah! Don't forget to buy American, Made Products too...

Chuck, Suzuki KQ 300, GPS & lunch...
Now! Go ahead and bash...