Ive owned both a raptor and a 500. The 500 kills the raptor. I still own the 500-sold the raptor. My buddies had 250`s. I could always spank them with the raptor. They werent real modifiyed, just pipes. If you spend money in the right areas 500 can be as reliable as any new quad. Ive rode mine many weekends never doing anything but adding gas. If you have no idea how to work on a quad. buying a new raptor would be a better idea. If you have to pay someone to fix a old quad it adds up FAST. Most people have no idea what needs to be done on a 15 year old machine. Alot of the 500 are all run down and patched. This is how they got the bad rep. When you restore the engine it is very reliable.(not just a new piston and rings) If your not familiar with it, you would be money ahead to pay someone that has actually worked on zillas before. A properly built banshee can smoke the zilla, but they are a dime a dozen.

Vegas,
Were those case mods for $400 including disassembly? Seems high. I think tudors does it for 275.
If your tranny needs those gears I would take a very close look at everything in there. Usually the shift forks are wore after many years of use. If they dont engage the new gear far enough you will just wreak the new parts. Also look at the shift drum. They wear and dont hold the fork right. I have taken a dremel and ground the dogs to engage better. You have to take you time and make sure they are all the same. Saves lots of money in gears. There is a small spring in there that should be replaced too.

 

A friend of mine built and raced one of those for a few years. zilla engine in a ltz250 chassis. That thing smoked. It was faster than the zillas on the flat tracks and ice and just plain out handled them everywhere else. Now it would do well in drags, usually beating similarly tuned zillas despite the harder to launch, short and lightweight body. It was mean though. Too bad he sold it, it was lots of fun.

 

btw, i have had stock and modded lt500's walk all over my raptor. Both when mine was stock and with the pipe and minor stuff I have now. Zilla doesnt even have to try that hard in a 300 to 600 foot drag.

 

yeah i saw that the other day and im still smiling [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

dude you forgot the ds650 i would have to say that it is a tie with #2