I have a 2001 sportsman 500 h.o. and I took out the spark arrestor for cleaning but love the sound. Is it safe to run without it? How much does it lean out the engine? Has anyone done this? Any help would be great.

 

i took mine off my 06 hawkeye and have had it off for a couple months and no problems or nothin. the only bad part about it that i know of is that it can cause a fire when it backfires, but it actually improves performance whether it leans it out or not.

 

removed

 

Yea has anyone else done this? And when it backfires that means its running a little lean.

 

4 stroke race cars back fire and shoot flames out sometimes it can meen it is to ritch and spewing fuel out. but shen you are on the throtle it has more power. the 600 cc crotch rocket engines on teh same type of car i have shoots food flames out the muffler it is blue because it is methanol.

 

I am not an expert here, only a fellow subscriber and trade input and posts but one
time my wife was stuck with her 450 in the mud pretty good. We kept at it as often
those do, to break free when unexpectedly....BANG.....

It scared the **** out of us and I would of never thought of the backfire like that at
least not in the magnitude in which it happened. As I recall, I do believe there was
a nice spark or flamish shot of exhaust when it happened.

SAFETY FIRST! You might want to reconsider to compare to the true gains of performacne
you might experience. IMHO

Regards,

R'

 

o well that is when you lug the engine down alot and give it alot of throttle it dumps TONS of fuel into the engine and all of a sudden it explodes that will happen in situations like that.

 

Although, removing the arrestor will give you a small increase in power, you should keep in mind that it is in there for a reason, during dry summer months, the fire risk should be obvious, but beyond that, in most public riding areas, use of arrestors is required equipment...Or you pay the man!

 

Leave it in...it's there for a reason. No reason to start a forest fire when it could have been prevented.

 

the fire from these atvs are only a lil puff that you can see maby an inch out at most its fine.