Hi everyone. This is not intended to be a flame but a real question. I have a stock SP500 and SP335. I do have a winch on the 500 and have had to use it a couple of times (mostly snow). Other than that, these things will go anywhere as long as I can hang on. My question is to the people that are useing lift kits and 27" tires. Where are you riding that needs that kind of stuff? If that enviroment (ie mud, rocks, whatever) is so bad that these mods are a nessecity, whats the wear and tear like on the rest of the machine? Maybe I'm a wuss but after spending $14k on ATVs and trailer, it still breaks my heart to get them dirty I just don't think I could ride my quads someplace that extreme. I want to be riding them for a long time. It would be fun to watch you guys though...

 

Im not lifted nor do I have 27 inch tires but I would like to talk to you about your comment: it breaks my heart to get my atv's dirty. Why did you
even buy atv's if your not willing to get them dirty. It reminds me of all the people that buy very capable suv's and the suv never ever gets to see a mud hole? They sould have bought a car. I have a brand new year 2000 polaris expedition 425 cc 5 speed. For me taking it out and getting it dirty goes with the territory and is what makes it
so much fun. Im not allarmed in the least when at the end of the day and the atv is back on the trailer and heading back to town, it is filthy with mud. You can find out that the enjoyment we get, plowing our way through a mud whole where you
need to pick up your feet, or bounce your atv over
a log, or drive through a wet gullie, or climb up a hill, and the tires start spinning, is all one big rush! This is what your atv is meant to do. I have not yet been stuck, so I might think like you
where you dont need 27 inch tires and you dont need to get lifted. I am going to at least buy 26 inch mud tires this spring. Possibly a lift kit? the jury is still out in my mind. If you have 2 machines, Then I assume that you have someone else to go riding with you. Go on a safarie some where with both machines. Bring some food and drink and make a day of it. What ever rough terraine you run
into, go through it. If you get stuck, so what! One of your atv's has a winch. Get your selves out
and keep going. Experience why we bought these machines in the first place. When you get back home. You can take a hose to them and some suds and clean them all up. Someone on this forum suggested that after you clean the machine you could take mop an glow to the plastic's and your atv will shine all up again. Try it!!

rangerchet, polaris expedition 425 cc 5 speed.

 

Hey Ruffles. When I bought my 2000 500 Sportsman, I had no ideas of lifting it up or putting on larger tires. The quad was great in the summmer trail riding and all around use. I don't have that mud that others speak of, so I have yet to get my Sportsman stuck. EXCEPT in the snow. Packed that is, riding alongside the highway where plowed snow has packed. I found out the hard way that the stock tires don't have the bite I need to dig in snow. I required the 'tractor bite' of a deeeper lugged tire to get me throught the snow. I as of yet have not put on my bi-claws and tri-claws, but I can tell you this, I know that going through the snow with a bigger bite will keep me from spinning the stock Goodyear "Tracker" rubber. They will be put back on in the summer if I find that the 27" rubber is much to slow for me. I do a lot of logging roads and trail travel, and I can appreciate the lighter and smaller stock tires.

 

Don't get me wrong...I do come home dirty although you can't tell me that anyone who has just spent a ton of money on something doesn't like to try and keep it nice for a while. I didn't take my brand new '99 Silverado off the dealers lot to the first mud hole I could find. It just sounds like some people abuse there machine more than others. I would neve even think of riding thru water over the front rack or thru *REALLY* deep mud yet you see pictures of this type of thing in magazines and people on the board talk about it all the time.
I just feel like if you can't get there with a fairly stock machine, your asking for trouble because the terrain exceeds the limits your machine was designed for. From a mechanical engineering point of view, lift kits and big tires add TREMENDOUS amounts of strain to suspension componets. You have increased mass multiplied by increased leverage. It's an engineering nightmare. I'm just curious if the people that make these types of mods and take there ATV's thru places where they need them are haveing to buy a new quad every other year. Please don't take offence to the question. I'm not trying to attack anyone...just wondering.

 

FIRST THANKS FOR THE INPUT ON GPS.AS FOR LIFT KITS
NO ONE I KNOW HAS LIFTED THIER ATV MAYBE A SWAMP
THING.I WILL TELL YOU SOMETHING WE PRAY FOR MUD.
I TRY TO KEEP MY ATV CLEAN BUT IT'S LIKE A LITTLE
KID,I CAN'T EVEN RIDE IT PAST A MUD HOLE WITHOUT
ONE TIRE GETTING MUDDY

 

To Ruffles and others. Last fall when I was out grouse hunting in northern minnesota. I rode past a lot of atv's. All brands. Not one of them had over sized tires and not one of them was lifted. No one was snorkled. So judging by that, I would say that it is not common to do all that. Know one
was getting stuck in the mud either. I had one logging road where the water did come up, almost to the top of the storage rack and you do pick up your feet. My stock atv drove through it, and underneath it was all mud. Another logging road, looked like a wash and all other 4 x 4 trucks drove around on a tiny road built around this wash. I drove right through the middle of it in 2nd. gear each time. One time I was following an argo trail and all of a sudden it came to a beaver
dam. I did not go any further, if thats what you mean. So I agree with you, that there are places that we should not go if we have any sense. I just
use my atv. I explore in the summer. I take it fishing with me but I dont drive it out on a lake,
of course. Im only trying to say, that when I go down a logging road. My intent is to go to the end. The end might be where the logging road comes
out to another main road some where. My attitude is, what ever is in my way, I just keep going. If I get stuck. I have everything I need in my tamarrack utility box. Hand saws, ****** block. One hundred feet of extra rope. Extra chain links to make attachments between rope and winch. Army shovel. Come-a-long. one axe, tire repair kit. Some tools, bug spray, blanket, compass, and what not. I have a 2000lb. warn winch mounted on the front. I dont go looking for places that would be stupid to try to go through but when a mud hole is in front of me, all I do is switch the yellow switch from 2wd. to awd and gear down and try to make it through what ever is up a head. A friend of mine said that if you put chains on the rear tires your atv will go through very deep snow. He said that he leaves the chains on all year long and he said it is amazing how much more our atv's will go through. It actually makes more sense to do that then to buy lift kits and 28 inch super mud tires. If we buy lift kits, your right, it will be much more stress on our machines. I dont think bigger tires alone will shorten the life of our machine too much. I might just go with 26 inch
mud bugs tires and a set of chains on the rear tires. I am also trying to find out if the current
top alluminum rims are strong enough for our bigger utility atv's. If so, then a set of light alluminum rims and mud bug tires are light, and a set of chains on the back would probably make my atv as self relient as it ever should be. Well, thats what I think.

rangerchet, polaris expedition 425 cc 5 speed.

 

I was thinking the same thing we ride in mud up to the racks sometimes but know one i ride with , has anything but different tires and not huge ones at that. I always wondered were people ride that need lifts and 27 inch tires? I know what you mean it is fun to mud i love it but i have to admit when they are brand new and i take it on it first mud ride i cringe, it takes me a couple months to get the newness of the quad out of my system.
It is funny i am a SUV owner, 1995 Nissan Pathfinder got it new, and i use it offroad and have since it was new, and people used to call me crazy to take my new 32000 dollar SUV offroad. Can't win with SUV's either people are ragging on us that we don't go offroad or calling us crazy if we do.

 

Hey Rangerchet (or anyone)
Does aluminum rims really make that much of a difference? Are they that much lighter than steel rims.It would be great to own a rim that would never rust. Don't they dent easier than steel? Just wondering.

 

Hi ditchhopper, alluminum rims are allot lighter than steel rims. Have you noticed the rims we get stock from polaris. They are strong and heavy. I dont know the answers to your other questions about alluminum rims yet. Im asking, just like you
are. I have read some. They are building alluminum
rims stronger now. They dont look like they dent easy. My 1 and only question is, will the strongest of them, hold up for the heavier polaris
atv's. For me the expedition. If so, Imagine the difference it would make, buying a lighter tire and a lighter rim. We would probably gain speed. I
read some where about the new goodyear mudrunners that polaris is sponsoring on there atv's. The mudrunners are a heavy tire and putting them on our stock rims, makes for a heavy setup. A lighter
setup would improve mudding since we could spin the tires easier and thus climb out of a whole better. Thats where im at right now???

rangerchet polaris expedition 425 cc 5 speed.

 

The mods we do to our machines are purely personal preference, and that has as many infinite possibilities as there are personalities and opinions. I would bet that 90% of us who have lifted our quads (yes, mine is lifted on both ends and wearing 26” Mud Runners) don’t really “need” the extra ground clearance, at least not most of the time. But when we do, it’s there.

Sharing the engineering concerns you mention I once was dead set against adding lift kits. That was until one of our favorite mud trails got particularly soupy and I watched a friend of mine with a 27” Vamp BigFoot kit and lifted front end dance around our other three quads like he was on hardpack. At the time I was unlifted, wearing Kenda Bear Claws, and stuck. I’d already gone down the Vamp road once, only with 25s all around, and I knew I didn’t want to go back. Not that they don’t do well in the mud, they do, but I need a better performing all-around tire. *%*(%$#@&* compromises………. My buddy with the lifted SP500 had experienced no problems in many miles so after salivating over reviews of the Mud Runners I decided to shod my SP500 with them and lift just the front. It made such an improvement in my ability to mud the rear end was lifted in short order. After around a thousand miles no problems have been caused by the increased ground clearance on either end.

My wife follows me wherever I go on a unlifted Mag500 with Kenda Bear Claws on it, although she sometimes needs a pull and has to work a lot harder to get through the thick / deep stuff. Actually, she’s become a more accomplished rider for all her extra effort to stay behind me. You might ask, why lift one and not the other? The IRS on the Sportsmans have a distinct advantage rare among 4-wheelers. When you lift a fully independent suspension, front or rear, you gain ground clearance. On a swing-arm bike a rear lift kit essentially just raises the fenders to make room for bigger tires. It’s the bigger tires that improve the ground clearance and you have to go significantly bigger to see much improvement. In its current state she absolutely loves the way her Mag500 feels and handles, so who am I to start changing things? Hey, if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

So that’s my “justification” for adding lift kits and slightly larger tires, as if I needed any. Lately I’ve been giving a lot of thought to aluminum wheels though. One of the reasons I’m not running the Vamps anymore is they were so heavy. I went right from stock tires to Vamps and extra power they consumed due to their weight was obvious. (that’s one of the reasons I still really like the Kenda Bear Claws, for a four-ply tire they are relatively light) The Mud Runners aren’t a light tire either, that’s why I’m thinking about lighter wheels. Those who have them say they do make a significant difference. If the lighter weight difference is as much as was the heavier weight difference, with the opposite effect, I’d be all for that.

Will the aluminum wheels hold up? It depends on what you subject them to. I suggest you take a look at the steel wheels you’re running now. If they’re all beat up and dented I’d stay away from aluminum. Aluminum dents easier, and a bad hit can actually fracture it. One advantage of the Polaris rears is their smaller size (many of the big Utes run 12” wheels all around, SPs run 10” in back) the wheels are more protected from damage than larger wheels would be, especially if you add 12” or wider tires. That doesn’t help the fronts much though, and in my experience they’re more vulnerable than the rears. That’s not only because they’re 12” wheels, typically with 8-10” wide tires, but they seem to take more abuse just by nature of their being up front.

What it comes down to is you pay your money and take your chances. Yeah, you can squeeze more power out of a lighter wheel/tire set-up but it’s likely to suffer more damage in the rocks and rough stuff.