personal experience:

I ride Z400, wife has an '03 vinny auto (stock)...my brother rides a tricked DS, his wife rides a poly 500 sprtsmn(minor mods)...so we're at pismo, and my bro says hey lets line up the utes...so, okay, we grab the utes, line up, he counts us off, and away we go over varied sand conditions...the vinny walked away easily...not one to give up easily, he points to comp hill 'n says let's do it!! okay, line 'em up, count it down, see ya!! again, vinny easily walked him...with solid axle on sand, i can do power slides 'n rainbows that will leave him shaking his head...now, before someone gets their panties in a bind, just remember that this was on sand...the polly would probably eat my lunch on some back-country trails, never tried it so i just don't know..

my .02
mike[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Personally, if the Vinson had IRS, I would've had a tougher time picking a 500. But with the prices of other IRS quads (griz), the 500 SP is the only way to go for me. I love the ride, and the extra ground clearance is needed in the deep snow and spring-time mud we get up here in Maine. I think a solid axle feels more "planted", but the ground clearance and ride are more important to me.

If you want speed, buy a sport quad. You can't go haulin'*** on terrain that requires a 4x4 anyway, so I don't see why people are so concerned with acceleration and top speed. If you bought a quad with low range, drag racing shouldn't be a concern.

And as far as articulation is concerned, a wheel grabbing at air is doing no good to help pull a quad/truck up and out of something. Sure, 3 locked up wheels clawing is good, but 4 are even better. Now with that said, I did yank out the TTB on my 84 F-150 and tossed a straight Dana 44 underneath, but that was more for strength (no rockcrawling up this way).

 

Vinsonack,

I am looking at the 04 Vin 500 manual. Little concerned about the 600 lbs factor, it's only 60 more than my Rancher but I don't like my buddies Praire 650 for that reason, big heavy pig.

Thanks

Spud

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Some people say that it is better for a 4X4 rock crawler Jeep, truck etc... to have solid axels for better articulation and reliablity. Well, from what I've seen living about 20 miles from the Rubicon Trail in Norther Cal. Most of the rigs have solid axels. When I talk to them, they say that the solid axels are stronger and less expensive. But now you have the extreme rock crawlers with major sponsers coming out with indipendant front and rear suspension. My question is, does the Vinson, and other solid axel swing arm 4X4 ATVs have a swingarm that rotates or do they just go up and down. If it goes up and down only it has no articulation.

 

That's because the independent suspensions have more flex and ground clearance, plus companies finally figured out how to make extreme duty half-shafts and CV-joints, but you need big $ for them. I was looking at CTM U-joints for my truck, but the cheapest I could find are $180-ish, for one.

Anyway, I think Artic Cat and Bomb use a wish-bone type suspension on the rear, but regular swingarms only go up and down, unless the pivot bushings are extremely worn out.

 

the vinson has a swing axel and swing drive shaft and dual springs and skocks very nice set-up

 

i can handle mine with ease, in fact i can do 360;s untill i let off the throttle the machine is very stable. go test ride one you;ll find out. just got back from daniel boone forest this weekend, burnt the trails up, it hangs with the sports bikes.

 

I'm going to be a smart a$$ just for fun. I'm looking for a true 4X4 ATV workhorse for hunting farming that is rated to pull at least a 1000 pound trailer that can jump 50 foot woops, blast down trails in 2 wheel drive, keep up with sandrails in the dunes and goes at least 80 mph. Oh and I need to be able to haul some hay on the racks at the same time. Anyway, I'm pretty happy so far with my 500 HO. But I'm not into racing it, I'm too scared and think it's not worth the risk. In fact, I use mine in low gear most of the time. I would rather have it go slower so I don't go past my skill level and kill myself. I'll just use my utility ATV for work around the property and trail riding on the Rubicon Trail.

 

Ho man. Don't for a second equate a 4WD truck with a quad. They are so different... a short wheelbase vehicle is a completely different thing from a truck... so different you need a physics and a chassis degree to figure it all out. As pointed out above, the biggest problem the trucks have had is that the half-shafts are under a lot of strain doing rock climbing, but compare that with Baja machines - they're generally IRS...

 

I was just compairing the supensions and what I've observed thoughout the years. You make a good point. I was saying you can't compare a 4X4 truck with a quad because the solid axels on a truck are set up different than an ATV. I may be wrong because someone said that the Vinson does articulate side to side and up and down making it move like a solid axel truck. If that is correct, it sounds like a nice set-up.