Kodiak 450 listed as 10.8"

Kingquad 700 listed as 10.2"

Are these wrong???? Where are they measuring?

 

All GC numbers should be measured from the lowest part of the ATV that will hit a rock before any thing else. It should not be surprising that a 450 and 700 have close to the same GC because they both use IRS and 25" tires.

Manufacturers like to fudge the numbers on straight axle quads quite a bit though. For example the Yamaha 350 Briun is rated at 9.7" Ground Clearance.

We all followed a straight axle on trail ride and know there lowest part that hits the rocks is the skid plate below the differential of the rear axel and they are lucky to have 5" of GC at that spot.

 

I don't know where the measure from either. My fathers Kodiak 450 seemed lower than my vinson when I had stock tires on it. Now that I have the 26" Mud Bugs the kodiak loos alot lower especially on the front A-Arms and on the rear A-Arms and foot rest. I'll try and get some good comparison pics in the next day or so. The guy across the street got a grizz 700 last week and it looks low on the rear especially where the shocks are bolted on down by the wheel.
Check out these pics I took back in August stock tires on both. there are 3 pics. Kodiak 450 & Vinson 500 Comparison pics

 

One of the reasons I got rid of my 01 Kodiak and got a 05 Kodiak 450 was due to the fact that a few friends of mine had Foremans and could get thru a local mudhole a LOT easier than me. After the same thing happened with the 450 (the dif lock helped) we lined the foreman ES up next to the Kodiak 450. The rear clearance was pretty even but much to my surprise the Kodiak was about 1 to 1.5 inches lower in the front. A big difference when it comes to rutted mudholes. Alot less grab.
Buck

 

Kodiak 450 10.8"


Kingquad 700 10.2"



Arctic Cat Priceless[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

The measurement is from the center of the frame (front and back). Also, a lot of times, the measurement in the front is slightly lower than the one in the back. If they measured off of the a-arms it would be like 5 to 7 inches...

 

All depends on the manufacturer, My friend's new 500 Foreman is stated to have 7.5" of ground Clearance and I can tell you it has alot more than that if measured from the middle of the bike to the ground.

 

Ground clearance also varies with amount of shock preload and tire air pressure. With the 700 Grizzly the a-arms are curved concave down so that the maximum ground clearance extends for a much wider zone than for either straight a-arms or sport quad style convex down curved a-arms. Seems to me that ground clearance mfg specs are often exagerated and usually missleading same as suspension travel, dry weight, and fuel capacity. Ground clearance numbers from Honda on solid axle quads are a joke.

 

One thing I found out the amount of ground clearance means nothing is when you climb sheer vertical hill climbs and at that point when you level out at the top, or the top of the hill goes down another vertical ur going to scrape bottom. Around here we ride in strip mines and the owner of the strip mine tries to keep the ATV's out by using a bulldozer to pile up tall mounds of dirt and rock and he stripps the sides off to make it as steep as possible so it ends up as a 20 foot sheer vertical mound of packed dirt and he figures its too steep or like a wall for any ATV to climb or get over, he guessed wrong. My Eiger takes it, it just gets scarry when you get to the top and ur going down steep and fast, but all ATV's scrape the bottom at the top, there is another hill climb thats almost vertical but at the top of this hill a big bolder sticks out and you have to end up climbing that rock straight up, its not for the faint hearted many, including myself don't have the guts to take that. I have rode with much bigger quads with the max ground clearance and we all ride over downed logs and trees, some are so big in diamater you end up getting hung up at the top with all 4 wheels off the ground then you have to use ur body weight to rock ur quad down off the log, but the bigger, heavier quads react violently and wanta tend to fall sideways instead of falling forward. In my experiences the amount of ground clearance means nothing, every ATV is going to scrape bottom at some point, its more important how ur undercarraige is protected.

 

Sorry 150, but i have to dissagree with you. Ground clearance is a great advantage on certain instances. Even 1 inch can make a difference between straddling the rock that blocks the path, or getting hung up. Im not saying having the most ground clearance makes my quad the best, because it doesnt. Being higher off the ground limits me in categories as well, such as power sliding. So there is a trade off. But to say ground clearance means nothing is incorrect, imo