I have been shopping for a replacement quad and have decided on a 400 Kodiak or a Xplorer 400 (I am leaning towards the Xplorer). A dealer told me he has seen a broken shaft drive and a bad transfer case on an Xploer 250 due to the shaft front and rear chain set up. Has anyone heard of such a malfunction? Is this a common problem?

He is really pushing the Sportsman 400 over the Kodiak and Xplorer 400. ($6100 vs $5400) - Ouch!

 

I owned a 250 Xplorer 4x4 2000 model and it ran great no problems whatsoever. I have never heard of that problem from anyone.

 

I own an Xplorer 400, and have never seen, nor heard of any problem like this.

Would putting different sized tires on front and rear without changing the sprockets cause something like this?

 

Never seen nor heard of that problem. Campy has a good point if you change rear tire size or sprocket size you are asking for trouble. The only way to get away with ratio changes on the rear chain - front shaft set-up is to change all four tires and keep them the same height.

 

weedy the dealer is just trying to get you to spend more mony on another machine. imo go to another dealer and get the xplorer 400, i heard thats a great machine.

 

These guys are right. I have never heard of this problem. And with all the ATV forums I visit on the web, I am sure I would have heard if it was true.

 

I think he was pushing the other quad which is about $800 more. I do not think the 400 Sportsman would have enough power compare to the Xplorer? I talked to a few mechanics (Polaris) and they said the 400 is a solid -proven machine. They could not say enough good about the motor. I rode one yesterday and compared it to the Sportsman HO 500. It is quicker off the line but almost even on the acceleration after that. Anyone else race an HO with a 400 Xplorer? The machine is more spacious and seems more comfortable than my 1993 Trail Boss 250. The 400 I rode was a 'shop' bike with 120 miles and 117 hours of pushing quads and boats around the lot. I had to move in reverse a few feet to get the machine to switch from two to four wheel drive? Is this normal? WHat causes this? In grass the 400 would spin the tires like a big-dog. Really quick but surprisingly SMOOTH. I rode a 325 4X4 to see the difference in the new bearing steering stem and it IS easier to steer and the brakes seem better. The 325 is gutless in comparison to the Xplorer. The HO seems close in power and speed. If it weighed the same it would be faster than the Xplorer.

Your comments are appreciated.

 

I have a 1999 Xplorer 400 with just over 4000 miles on it. So far I spent less than $20 in repairs for the thing. I have trailed cattle with it, getting them home after a freak early-season snowstorm (about 8 inches of wet, heavy snow). I slogged through mud deeper than the tires are tall, and came out the other end (I was gettin worried, though). I use it to park my empty gravity wagons (weigh something like 3500#) and need 4wd just to get them up the little rise in our driveway on DRY DIRT. I even moved a bale feeder wagon across dry grass, all 4 wheels throwing a roost before I finally got the thing moving (tires had sunk into the ground a little). If the front shaft was weak, it would have likely gave way doing one of the last two. When I got my machine, the mechanic at the dealership told me they had just a few problems with the VERY EARLY machines with the CDS and front driveshaft. They could dig with all 4 tires going forward, but on rare occasions, if the guy in front of them got stuck for some reason, and they hooked a tow rope between the quads and tried to pull the other guy out while in REVERSE, the shaft could let go. He said they were designed to pull forwards and for some reason were stressed more while pulling hard in reverse. He went on to say the newer machines supposedly had a stronger shaft, but wanted to tell me about it so I would turn around and pull the guy out facing forward if I was ever in that situation, just to be safe.
As long as you left the gearing stock (which will get you up to 60 MPH after break-in anyway) I wouldn't give the front shaft a second thought, just do hard towing in Low, not reverse.