I recently purchased a 1999 500 Ho 4x4 and went over it greased and adjusted everything..the normal. I took it out and it seemed fine. Will wheelie from a standstill no prob. So I noticed while I was riding it it didn't seem to upshift well. So I pulled the secondary apart and low and behold the buttons for the helix were wasted. So I'm going to get new ones. Anyway my question is the spring setting was #1 and #1 when I pulled it apart. I s that correct from the factory? If so what will I gain by bumping up the pressure to say #2 and #2. I'm looking for something thats good for trail riding, but I really like the connected feeling of power on tap and not so much the revving out high part. When I rode it it was like I had to lift from the throttle to make it upshift. Will that go away, I would think it would. I have never owned a fully outo machine, mostly high powered sport quads, so I'm not to sure what the end result will be here. I am however mechanically inclined so this doesn't seem like a huge deal to fix. I'm planning on getting a clutch kit in the next few months but would like to get to know the machine first. Someone please point me int the right direction. Thanks.

 

With the buttons shot you likely did not get a good feel for how this unit upshifts. New buttons may be all you need to get the shifting as you desire.

The factory setting for the secondary spring is 1-1. If you have original OEM springs in the clutches then you'll find the 1-1 setting a bit lazy, especially coming off a true sport quad. A setting of 2-2 will provide you with much better throttle response. The engine will run at a slightly higher RPM but will still be much lower than the sport quads you have been on.

The clutch kit is really the way to go. Then tune the seconday for your liking. If you can afford it, installing a roller secondary with a clutch kit is the best set up you can have imo.

 

1/1 does keep the r's down. Nice for putting around/exploring. The problems start when you are looking for a little more 'spirited' performance. Then, the 1/1 makes the bike feel like it should be down a gear or 2 from where you are when it's coming out of a corner or hitting a jump. 1/1 does not back shift well.

2/2 (or higher) keeps the engine rpm a little higher at anything over about 5mph, starts shifting out from there, but always at a little higher rpm. Back shift is near immediate, power is always available, but after a while, the engine can sometimes sound "busy" if you are used to 1/1.

If you don't mind a little tinkering, you can do some messing around with this and come up with a compromise.

Most clutch kits will run the rpm on the high side, will also engage at a higher speed.

 

thanks for the help, I probably will look into the roller setup.