Hey Ridinhigh,

Sweet Chevy truck! Check out my buddies 1994: http://www.4wheelingplus.com/al_94_chevy/

Sorry for the distraction...

Do the CV Joints break a lot? Is that common with stock sized tires or only with larger tires?

When they break are you stranded? In other words... can you still drive the Grizzly home or should I buy extra CV-joints to take with me on my trips?

How much are rebuild kits & how much are aftermarket joints?

Are the aftermarket any tougher?

Where do you get aftermarket joints?

Thanks!
Ron

 

Ridinhigh - What kind of handlebars do you have on your Grizzly?

Do you like them better than the stock ones? That is one of the first changes I want to make to my Grizzly. The stock bars are silly. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

- Ron

 

Ok... after seeing all of your pics I had to post some of my own. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Ron's Grizzly Pics

- Ron

 

From your pics it looks like you have the heat fighter kit installed on your machine (judging by your vented side panels that came out with the ’04 models).

As far as the CV joints are concerned larger, more aggressive tires put more strain on the CV joints than stock tires do. I don’t think the breakage issue is a chronic problem, but it was more common with the ’03 models. I heard that Yamaha used a different CV joint supplier for the ’03 model and they turned out not to be as strong as the ’02 models, so they switched suppliers again for ’04 (I don’t know if they corrected that problem during the ’03 run meaning only some of them are weak or at the start of the ’04 run). As for replacement CV joints, I’ll leave that issue for people with hands on experience in that area…

 

i hate messin stuff up so i let the dealer do it

 

Hmmm? how did your buddy get the front end tweak out to 8 inch? Might have to try that. I think what my problem was(at least for the front 2 axle's I broke was that I was in diff lock and I was in a rut over my front tires (27's) and caught a tree root and snapped both of them. The back is anyone's guess, I turned in the sand and it broke. Rebuild kits are about $80, heavy duty are a little over $100. But the Gorilla axle's are something like $350 a piece. Go to Gorilla axle web site, they got all kinds of neat stuff. The brand of my handle bars are FLY alumisteel (chrome color). The bent isn't as comfortable than the stock bend but look way cool. And I do have the heat kit that was recalled, heck it was free.

Your Grizz looks very nice. Now ya need to get the black aluminum C-series wheels and some big meats. Thats would look bad *** with that color!

 

The key is not to run WOT in the mud if you can help it. If the tires are turning at 45 mph in high 4wd and one tire catches, the momentum of the other tires will create a fly wheel affect. If you are in difflock it is even more intense. I like to pump the throttle a little. Just enough to keep up the momentum. If you are going to ride in deep mud then get tires for that and expect alot more wear and tear on the machine. I have an 03 and I have over 1000 miles and no cv breaks at all. I do have a funny clicking sound in my right rear cv, but it has been doing that for about 400 miles and I can still stand it up on its hind legs with no problem. I hope you learn to do alot of this stuff yourself because I can guarantee that you will care alot more about the outcome than the people at the dealerships. Unless you get one of those really rare dealers who do care. Good luck.

 

well, i guess i'l be the bad news guy, lol. first off, 6 grand for an 03 is definetally too high. i have seen many from 4500 to 5400. but, its a dealership thing i guess. the 03 griz has the worst cv design. for some reason yamaha had bullet proof 02 axles, then went and messed with the 03, only to fix them again in 04. sorry to tell ya that.
the slow speeds and bad takoff power is caused from a muddy, dirty belt. the dealership never cleaned it when they bought it, and just passed it along to you. its easy to clean, so if you deside to do it yourself, let me know and i can tell ya how step by step. also, alot of things can be done by you to make the griz a great quad. wheelies can be had in a griz for under 100 bucks, and about 2 hours work. stability is just a set of rims and tires away. of corse, reliable quads are great, and the griz needs some luvvin there also. so, send it in, tell them you want the clutch cleaned, the quad rejetted for your elevation, and tell them it sputtered when you went up a hill. they will go and adjust your float 2 mm while there there. ask them to put on dialetic( spelling) grease on your front cervoplug, and the spark plug. tell them you looked and the front drive shaft was not greased, and you want it done also. if they do all that, then you will be good to go, until you work on more power, heehee.
the griz is a great quad, and offers power to spare, when done right. good luck with your new quad!

 

i would buy a new quad before i would ever oay 6000$ on a used machine.

 

there are bad axels on the 03s so watch out fo that 2