I was just curious about a few things. My parents have an '04 Sportsman 500 H.O. and it's about as stable a quad as I've ever been on. I'm much more confident on it than I am on my Arctic Cat, like I said, much more stable feeling. Alright. My brother used to take it up and down steep hills and embankments, no problem. No fear. He rode my '07 H1 after I bought it and hated it. It was too unstable, too tippy for his tastes. Well, he since sold his quads and just recently bought a new '08 Sportsman 500 EFI. He finds the climb-ability of it akin to my Arctic Cat, and is much less confident on it than he is, as I am, on my parents 500 H.O. Question is, what's really different besides the EFI, ADC, and lack of McPherson struts in front?

 

so your saying the newer 500 is less stable than the older one?

do you have wider tires on the old one? and stockers on the new one.

 

That's weird. My 1998 500, my uncle's 2004 500, and my other uncle's 2008 500 EFI all feel identical to me going up and down and around our mountain ground.

Just noticed you said lack of McPherson struts... The new sportsman 500's are a carry-over and the sportsman XP 550/850 have the new front suspension. That might explain things if the XP feels different than the older design; so his might be the XP 550 not the 500.

 

They still have McPherson struts but the brand name on the cartridges is Sachs (sounds lick socks). It has been for several years. The only thing different I know of that wasn't already mentioned is that it has 26" radial tires instead of 25" bias plys. It's 2" wider than some older Sportsmans. I think that changed when the body style did. It should be more stable, not less. Does anyone know when they added 1.5" travel to the front suspension? Really old ones were only 6.7" then they changed to 8.2" like the Scrammy. I can't remember if my '01 or '06 was the first one I had with the long travel front end. It feels a lot better to me and it's still stable.

 

It's a 500 EFI, I hust have been mistaken in my thought they changed from the McPherson strut (type) setup. But, it's stock for stock. Of course, his tires are also larger than the ones on the '04. I don't know about the width, though. But yea. His does seem larger than the old one. About midway between my parents '04 and my 'Cat.

 

The old round-fender body style was 46" wide and the newer ones with the front storage box are 48". I think it changed in '04 or '05. Not sure. I can't tell any real difference until I get to where the trees are 47" apart. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

The 04 500 H.O has smaller 25" tires,with shorter 6.7" front suspension travel and 7.5" rear travel.

The 500 EFI has larger 26" tires with taller 8.2" front suspension travel and 9.5 rear travel.

That may be why the EFI feels less stable.

 

As far as I know the 500s were always 9.5" in the rear even before they were H.O.s, but I don't know about the '96. I think it was the same as my '97.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: jumbofrank

As far as I know the 500s were always 9.5" in the rear even before they were H.O.s, but I don't know about the '96. I think it was the same as my '97.</end quote></div>


05 was the first year of the taller supension, but your right it looks like the back was always 9.5,just the front had a change.

04 vs 05 Sportsman specs.

 

Thanks for all the responses, guys, my brother's going to try stiffening up the suspension and seeing if that helps any.