What is everyone using for skid plates on the new 700?????? If you are using factory or after market what do yo like/dislike about them.

 

I haven't replaced mine yet, but the cheap plastic was a serious dissapointment. I have tires, skid plates and a brush guard on the list of upgrades. It'll have to wait until after Christmas because, while it's my wifes' quad, I ride it a lot more than her. She won't think these aftermarket goodies are a real present. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

I've got the yamaha aftermarket skids... They go on easier than on earlier models... 1. What I don't like, is the rear bash guard is almost non existant... 2. The A-arm guards don't protect half as much as they use to... I had to go with them, because at the time, nobody else made them yet... I really liked the ricochet belly skids and yami a-arm combo on my 02 and 06 grizzlies...

 

Seems to me that the Yamaha and aftermarket skids are a bunch of pretty boy parts. The stock plastic skids actually work fairly well at letting your ATV slide across rocks, and the a-arms themselves can slide across rocks all day long, provided you slilde them across the rocks, and not bash and smash them across rocks. A friend and I used to do lots of rock crawling with our Yamaha Rhinos, and I'm talking the slide and bang, getting high centered the whole trip kind of rock crawling. I had the stock a-arms, that looked like crap because every shred of paint had been scratched off of them, and they had several dings in them, but they worked fine. My friend first had Yamaha a-arm skids, and on the very first rock crawling trip he tore one partly off, managed to wrap it around the outer axle cv joint and then get it stuck between the tire and a-arm. We spent two hours getting the a-arm skid unwound from the cv joint, and had to throw it away when we were done. Then he bought another brand of aftermarket a-arm skids, and on another trip he did the same thing all over again, and threw that set away as well. I think they are a waste of time decorative part, but thats just my opinion. Maybe some of you have had more success with them than what I have seen. I plan on running my Grizzly 700 right the way it is, it looks like it will do at least as good stock as what I saw from those aluminum skids.

 

Thanks for the replies. I am going to pick it up tomorrow, so I guess I will try it without at first and evaluate from there.

 

Good luck finding good skid plates. I made my own, you don't have to be a pro tin knocker to do it. just copy your old ones on to some sheet aluminum cut them out and to attach them to the atv use "u" bolts from home depot. Maybe get some one to bend the ones for the a-arms they are a little harder to make. I had to trim them until they cleared the machine when the wheel traveled up to the top. when you smash the plastic ones you bought try it ....

 

Check out the Ricochet vrs factory Yamaha aluminum skid plate comparison on Highlifter forum. The Ricochet A-arm guards look like they better protect cv joints while factory Yam skids are resessed at bolts so connection bolts might hold up better.
I agree with the Viper however in that the stock plastic will do me just fine. I have 15,000 miles on my XR650R all of hard dual sport and trail riding with many rock incounters. The stock plastic skid plate has many gouges from sliding over rocks but frame is perfect. On the other hand I have after market aluminum skids on XR400 and grandson managed to tear it up and in process collapse frame front down tube. He is fast. I believe in slippery plastic skids, good ground clearance, and slow down and pick way thru rocks.

 

I'm beginning to like plastic skids too. I think they slide better where aluminum tends to catch on the rock more. If you custom fab your own skids and can choose your own skid material you can get a good "greasy" plastic to enhance the effect. Some nylons and poly materials are really "greasy" feeling.

 

IMO.... the belly skids aren't half as important, as replacing the a-arm skids.... It's not even the rocks that I worry about either... it's the sticks and logs. Before getting a-arm skids, I've had it happen twice, where I've been riding thru some taller grass in the woods and caught a stick just right, where it gets past the plastic guard and bends the tie-rod. (only going about 5mph when it happens) That's why the yamaha aluminum skids for the 06 Griz and the earlier models worked so well. They protect higher than the ricochet ones... I used to get Ricochet for the body and yami for the a-arms... It was the best protection combo that I could find...

The reason I get belly skids, is I have ripped the front plastic ones clean off a couple times when climbing logs... I don't do much rock climbing with my quads...

 

Do you have the Yamaha A-Arm skids on your new 700 and if so what is your take on them?