just curious as to what everyone here thinks is a good quad for mudding.....

What do you Mud with ? What mods have you made or do you have to make in order to make a machine eat the mud up ?

I am still shopping for my first quad, and this will be something i will be doing along with hard trail riding.....

So far I am interested in Arctic Cat (not the Mud Pro -too much $$$)....I was thinking either a 550 or a 700 model....

I am also interested in the yamaha grizzlys.....

pretty much I have it down to those two, but I was also curious about how Polaris, and others handle Mudding.....

thanks

 

Artic cat has the highest ground clearance which is critical in mudding. The Cats are the machine I would choose from the two listed. The 650 i is increidble and will be quite impressive off road in the mud. Be sure to buy a set of ITP XTRs and chunk the stock tires if you are tuely serious about mudding. Enjoy the Cat 650.

 

The Arctic Cats actually don't have the highest ground clearance. Arctic Cat ATVs have had 11" of GC since 2009, when they introduced the 550, while Yamaha has 11.8", Polaris had 11.25" prior to 2011, and 12" for 2011, Can-Am has always had 12" on their 650 and 800, 11" on the 500, and 9.3" on the 400. I don't keep up on Kawis or Zukis because they suck. When it comes down to what you get for what you pay, Can-Am is and likely always will be the most bang for the buck. My family has always owned Cats, and my in-laws have always owned Polaris. The cats are very capable offroad, but have rims that easily dent as well as CVTs that easily allow water in. Their 4WD system is still not on par with Polaris or Can-Am either, but neither is Yamaha's. Yamaha has wide-arc A-arms so you can clear wider obstacles with that ground clearance, vs. the tepee style of the ACs. Can-am has trailing arm rear suspension which prevents the butterfly effect of the tires then going over obstacles. As far as mudding goes, Can-Am is best, followed by Yamaha, followed by Polaris, followed by Arctic Cat.

Last season I borrowed my father-in-laws Polaris 500 to ride with my family at Spider Lake, who's ATVs range from AC 400s-650s. Every one of their ATVs was at my house after the trip being repaired because they all took on water. AC does not have a good stock snorkeling setup compared to the rest. In your scenario I would get a Polaris if you don't want to spent a lot. Or even look for a used Outlander 500, which would have power on par with 650s (I know because I take the sled-pull every year in the 650 class with an Outlander 500). We got our 2007 Outlander 650 XT for $5900 with only 170 miles on it. The Polaris will have the best stock air box, located under the handlebars with the CVT intake and outtake, as well as the air intake, so everything is high. Make sure you get a model with the PXT tires as they perform great in the muck stock too.

My wife and I bought a Can-Am Outlander 650 XT recently and went with the crew to Spider Lake again, and we blew EVERYONE out of the water. Of course Can-Am costs a bit more, but you get what you pay for.

 

Well I actually prefer the Suzuki King Quad over the AC, Popo and Yami. No doubt the Can Am is the top of the line but I hang with them all day on the King for a lot less money. Snorkeled it myself for less than $40 and have riden the swamps of Florida and mud holes of Texas. I vote is the King Quad for the best bang for the buck.

 

Heres how the polaris awd system works compard to the Can AMs. YouTube - can-am vs. polaris locker

The can Ams system is not as instant with the front wheel with the traction. Any ATV is great with diff lock I just don,t like the step of having to stop and put a ATV in diff lock and stop again to disengage it.

Any ATV with a AWD system and IRS is as good as the other,its the guy with the best Mud tires after that.

 

The Can Am system has been improved, and they seem to do extremely well in mud... and like the guys with lockers, they don't have to worry about a plastic roller cage getting busted. With that said, the PoPo's seem to also do well in the mud.

Anyhow, back to the question. If I were to buy a "dedicated" Mud machine, it would be a Cat. If I were going to mix in a lot of trail riding... it would be something else (and it wouldn't be a Polaris).

 

Lockers don,t have a roller cage,only polaris with a Hillary uses that, Diff lock is 100% AWD with ZERO hesitation. Polaris AWD just has the least hesitation without having a diff lock over the Can AM AWD system.

There is only 3 ways to have true 4WD,1) Diff lock,2) Polaris Hillary or 3)Can AM's Visco Loc, I just find Polaris simpler to use than diff lock and much faster responding than Can Ams set up. Like the above Video proves..

 

That's what I said... the guys with Can Am's and the guys with lockers DON'T have to worry about a plastic roller cage getting trashed. I'm fully aware of what the Hillary differential is... they are fine in garden tractors.

I prefer the the strength and reliability of the full time lockers in all situations. If I were a serious mudder, I think I would know when I was going to go through mud... and lock it up prior to the mud.

 

It,s only the newer centralized Hillary that has the plastic Roller cage. not the older twin hubs ,most people buy the stronger metal aftermarket ones if there serious Mud Runner, not a gig deal for them. Not sure if the newest Polaris still have the Plastic Roller problem any longer?

 

Yep, the older "hubs" I wouldn't consider a differential... just locking hubs.

My buddy works on all brands of ATV's (and snowmobiles). I've seen a bunch of broken roller cages on the Polaris ATV's (including some XP's). None have been aluminum? Maybe they've just recently changed over, or have mixed runs of both?

In either case, I don't like them... to much stuff going on in there with roller cages, armature plates and other stuff.