Twizz
If you buy a Griz.........
I have an 04 and like it much, never owned anything other than Yam.

However, Next time you look at the Griz, see if the 05's or 06's have protection for the lower coolant hose below the foot platform on the left side. It's wide open for trouble.

Beware. Griz Coolant Hose

This is just a minor problem. I will buy a bunch of new Yam hoses before I change brands of bike.

Anyway.

 

Thanks for the tip. Its dark now but I'll check it out tomarrow and let you know.

Mine is a 2005 and I also need to update my file.

Twizz

 

I see what you are talking about.

There is a plastic guard over the upper portion. Along the bottom its preety well tucked up in and it also has the floor board crossmember protecting it underneath. But I do see the vunerable spot where it turns down and under. My upper part of the hose has a foam sleeve over the hose. I cant figuar out why the didn't continue the liner on down.
The simple solution to that would be a stainless braided hose liner slipped over. There is a gauset tab welded in the frame with a hole already in it which would be a good anchor point for a fabricated plate guard. But not much else to easily derive another anchor point.
Plus the braided sleeve could be slid all the way up to the radiator outlet for further top end protection. Alot less work too.

Twizz

 

I used the rubber sleave from the bad hose and placed it on the new one.
I guess Autozone or NAPA may have the braided sleeve.

t

 

After all my research I was ready to buy the Griz until I heard a rummor that you have to constantly adjust the valves. I drove to the Yamaha dealer and asked him about it. He said (Salesmen) "You rarely have to adjust the valves on the Griz." I then walked over to the service department and said, "I just bought a Yamaha Griz 660 (lie) and I would like to know how much it will cost to get my first service." He said $650. I asked him why it was so much, he said it's the valve adjustment. When I asked him how often I need to get a valve adjustment, he said Yamaha recomends every 40 hrs or you might do damage to the motor. I then spoke with a few friends who have rapter 660's and they said they were constantly adjusting their valves, they didn't think it was needed every 40 hours but they thought they had to be adjusted way too often. I ended up starting over with my research.

 

Just for the record my '02 Grizzly (which I acquired in July of '01) has only had two valve adjustments over it's lifespan so far. The first time was during the initial service after the break-in period, and the other time was when I had the heat fighter kit installed (that was associated with a recall). There were no obvious signs that it needed an adjustment at that time (going by engine performance or noise coming from the engine), I just told them to check the adjustment because it hadn't been done in a long time.

My Grizzly had some major front end work (about $1100) recently to replace worn parts after I had lost a wheel bearing. I was told this was just due to normal wear and that accounted for some of the minor front-end slop that I was exeriencing.

Other than that my Grizzly has been a very reliable machine and it has worked hard and played hard therefore I have been very pleased with it. Since I've had my Brute Force 750 which is used exclusively for play, my Grizzly has been used primarily for work (dragging logs) or as a back-up quad for myself or for a friend to ride...

 

2TV, I don't know what to believe anymore, I think they would be crazy to build a motor that needs a valve adjustment every 40hrs. I think it's just a dealer money maker. As long as you have a quad and ride it, it doesn't make any difference what kind you have. I have a Polaris and I can call four different dealers and ask the same question and get four different answers, they're all the same. My limited advice would be jump on the quads you are interested in and whichever one you feel best on, get it.

 

The bomb 800 is the top dog of all big bore quads polaris 800 is right next to it. Spend the extra money get the bomb there awsome. But i have ever heard anyone complain about the grizzly it looks cool too.

 

3000 miles on my 05 Grizz now

I haven't done anything to it other than replace tires cause I ride like an idiot and wear them out fast [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I stuck some dirt devils 26" cheapo tires on it and it handles great, but I also turned up the front shocks a couple notches to help minimize front end dive in off camber G outs (those nasty corners that make you feel like your going to tip over) the quad handles like a dream for any thing other than a full on sport bike.


"SRA is better for work because the rear won't squat when you hook a trailer to it, so IRS actually hurts its working capabilities" WRONG IRS is much better for work

when working within the quads intended capabilities while towing a trailer the IRS acts like a shock absorber for the trailer tongue, this can help keep the load on the trailer and not bouncing it off on the ground. IRS quads tow trailers amazingly smooth compared to a SRA setup....also if you hook a trailer on the quad which is WAY over the listed capacity then yes the quad will squat a ton but what it's doing is throwing all the weight on the rear tires which helps prevent jackknife's and the like, at least with an IRS you can actually "feel" the load behind you and give you a better since of when your doing something you shouldn't be doing with your quad.

 

put 6500klm on my 04 grizz and the valves only needed the exhaust tightened once 2out of 5 valves in a lot of miles ain't bad in my books.
Gordy