OK, stupid question, I had my 06 Suzuki Eiger jacked up on the rear axle and I noticed there is no differential, both rear wheels turn solid. I called the dealer thinking something is wrong with it and he told me thats normal and no ATV has a differential, I never knew that, he said thats the reason why they are dangerous and they tip over. Is this true? Is there any ATV with a working differential?

 

Most are like the Eiger with a non-differential rear end. It does not make them tippyand dangerous - mostly because they are not very wide. Yes, one of the wheels will slip when in a turn - that's why ATV's are made for off road and not for pavement use.

One of the little Kawi's had a rear end dif - think it was the old 220. The slightly modified 250 probably still has the same rear end. They used to advertise it for utiility use on yards or golf courses. I think one of the old Yamaha Moto-4's had the same setup. There could be a couple more out there.

Jaybee

 

Yes there are atv's with differentials. Actually all irs machines have a diff but not all are limited slip. Polaris has an option on some of the quads to have a turf mode. This unlocks one side of the rear diff so it wont tear up the grass. A differential will have a ring and pinion. All IRS machines have a ring and pinion. There are just different setups on differentials but all are considered to have a diff.

 

Actually, to be technical, the rear "differential" is actually called the rear drive, and the front is called the differential.

 

The only two quads that have a rear diff, is one old bayou, and the polaris with box on back, im not aware of any other quad ( irs or solid axle) which have a differential in the rear. There are lots of irs quads which have a spool rearend ( outlander, outlaw, grizzly , kodiak, rincon and so on) in fact the only one which has a differential is that polaris .

 

All irs models have a REAR DRIVE which looks identical to the front differential, and has the same fluid, and procedure to change as a front differential. Alot of people refer to it as a differential

 

A differential on an axle means one side can rotate at a different speed than the other side.

 

I've ridden one of the polaris 2 up atvs with the little pick-up bed/extra set deal and it had a turf mode switch which unlocked a rear differential. Really saved the grass in the yard and made the thing steer and handle easier I thought. Kind of a slick little deal if it didn't compromise the strength of the rear drive section.

 

Your solid rear axle means that you have "lockers" on the back end, so you are better off.

 

It doesn't mean you have "lockers", it's just locked all the time. Its just 2 gears meshed together.
Companies call it different names, Final drive, rear drive gear ect.