I have a 2003 Sportsman 400. I had the factory plastic skid plates installed when I purchased it. Last weekend was the first time I really swamped it with mud... I mean really swamped it with good 'ole black, clumpy mud. Both the front and rear CV joints were packed with this stuff. Come to think of it, the whole undercarriage was packed. I'm thinking the reason there was so much mud in there was because it had no where to go.

My question: are skid plates necessary/beneficial? I ride mostly trails and open fields. Not much rocky terrain. Skid plates or not?

 

Don't bother with skids if you don't rock crawl. I love my skids. When ever I here a big rock clank against them, I am thankfull I have them but if you just ride in open fields and trails, don't bother. Spend the money on something else.

 

I finally got around to cleaning the muddy beast today. It took nearly two hours. The mud was caked so bad around the CV joints I had to scrape it out with a putty knife. I wouldn't go back to Perry Lake (aka the mud pit) with the knowledge I had this cleaning duty ahead of me. There has to be a better way!

 

Definitely grease everything up good after sticking it in the swamp like that! There's no better way to learn how to find all those zerks than to have to scrape mud off of everything [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Brian
- 2000 Scrambler 400 4x4
http://kliernetwork.net/atv