The All Tracs are a nice looking tire. The 2 reasons I didn't go with them was 1st and most important is they are only 2 ply. My stock tires were 2 ply and got hole after hole. 2nd reason is they didn't have 23" tires that matched the stock sizes. They only show 23x8x11.

I went with the Titan 489 XT's because they were 6 ply and so far no holes or slices riding at the same place I always ride. I like the 489 AT's also but I just wanted that 6 ply strength.

I guess I could get mine close to 65 on my GPS but not to many trails that I can run a mile flat out and if I could they are not super smooth.

 

I had a 97 wolverine. I dragged and ran trail with the scramblers for a few years.
They'd always win in the drag. There always a blast to ride with. He'd get hole shot and pull slightly away till about 3rd gear, then I'd wouldn't gain or lose after that. In the PA Hairscrambles 4x4, The only place I clearly would catch, pass and do better, was in the mud ruts, Deep mud bogs or Deep Creek crossing With muddy upstooped banks. They'd stall, Take in water, Belts slippage, Just couldn't hook up in those situations, I have no clear indication of why those areas proposed issues for them. If there was a heavy rain, The scramblers would really suffer, with a trail of mud, With no relief, MAJORITY, Not all were down and out.

The newer models I have no clue on, They may have improved in 5 years.
Top speed was fairly close. I do bellieve they had a slight edge.
So yes, they are faster, Would the crush me, no. I was right on there **** the hole time.

I will say I have spent time pulling them out of deep mud, and ruts.
I will say I also Been PUlled out by a Sportsman. lol
Mud sucked the front in, I went over handlebars!

I also seen many of the EARLY scramblers I rode with pre 95-97 models. On a hard landings the shock brackets near the frame break or crack. In trails they were about even for diff reasons. They had the acceleration, but, Wolverine was more manueverable, and easier to flick around, With a bit more clearance.
Hence the 147lbs wolverine is lighter by.

I'm not bashing scramblers, CAUSE SOME PEOPLE WOULD TAKE IT THAT WAY!!!
I always envied the switchable 4x4 to 4x2 option.

I ran 23" for along time, Tried the 25" It felt tippy in turns, Was a bit harder to steer, And stole some of the power, It was faster but took a bit longer to get there. It did however increase clearance, The mud was a bit easier to plow through.
Good combination, big gun muffler, airbox, re jet, Raise snorkel, Get ahold of FST for a 400 kit with the Manual clutch conversion.
Loved it! I hope they still offer it.

I recomend if your heavy throttle or racing/trail, stick with 23", If your not as aggressive, and more layed back rider, go for the 25".

 

3cross thank you for replying, How much of an improvement did the 400 kit w/the manual clutch cost and how much boost did it give you? Another question you might be able to answer that I have been wanting to know for a long time is about how mush top end did you loose with the 23" tires? I have heard that when some people run them that the they dont loose anything, it just revs higher on the top end but this could differ depending on if you have the power to take advantage of the taller gearing i think. With my mods so far and aggressive riding I think I should go to the 23" Dunlops for better manuverability. Thats why I want to know what I am going to gain and what I will loose. Thanks for your help

 

FST had a few kits, 386, 400, 425 and a 500 that was questionable.
I was around 1200 for everything including clutch kit. These were the prices they quoted in early 97. So, No clue on prices now. They had a 500 kit, that i don't bellive they sell anymore, I think they have a 460 due to reliability issues in the 500.

I paid around 1200 for everything.
Call them, There always advertising in the ATV magazines.
There Located in Pennsylvania, unless they moved.

I do know the clutch kit I bought about 2 weeks later and it ran about $125 + shipping

As far as Performance goes, It opened it up nice, Throttle response was crisp. Low grunt through top. Wasn't an eye POPPIN acceleration.. But it definitly was a weird feeling to actually pop the clutch on a 4x4 and ride a wheelie.
I was able to pull away from the warrior real easy, And dam were they shocked. Beaten by a 4x4. The whole rpm range increased in Hp. There was also a distinct power band in the upper rpm's that was a bit of a thrill. I never dragged a scrambler after the 400 kit, But, in The trails it just had oodles of power for anything I wanted it to do. I think, I would of beaten the scrambler. Cant' say I had the chance.

My mod's was the 400 kit, Big gun exhaust, K&n Filter, jet kit. clutch kit.
and a kit for a front locker system.

RLC locker I put in, did not last long, And I got my money back. Only lasted about 4 rides. When it did work.. it was a tank!!!

DREEM MACHINE!!
Same weight as the wolverine.
Use thickened raptor frame.
660 engine, switchable 4x4, with locker. Reverse. Switchable low range.
5 speed.
Keep the 9.2" of shock travel.
All for around 5900 dollars.
New Grizzly is nice, but, Weighs to much and it's way to bulky for tight trails.
WE NEED A TRUE SPORT 4x4.

Enjoy your ride!!!

 

DUH!!!! I didn't answer the 2nd part of your question!!!

You would be correct in saying the engine Did seem to rev Higher in every gear
With smaller tires. I don't have a dyno to say for sure, but it felt like it did.
It does get you up to speed faster,
You will lose about 2-3 mph on the top end.
With a stock machine on larger tires, the top end lost its crispness and it kinda felt like mush till it hit its limiter. On the LONG straits, I did move faster.
But, Like I said, It took longer to get to top speed.
By the time you catch them with top speed, trail ends and you wouldn't have a chance to take advantage of it.
Slight drop in power low through mid range, not to much. But hp decreased as speed increased onlarge tires.
The larger tires HELP WITH MUD AND Slow Rock crawling.. ALOT!
Clearance is Always nice when CRAWLING OR MUD PLOWING!!

I never tried the 400 on larger tires??? So not sure how that would be in power?
I added the 400 at a later date.

If ya sport oriented go 23" If ya more into mud and tough trails. Go 25"
That's the great thing about the wolverine, It does and can do everything good.

Enjoy your ride.

 

3cross thanks man you have helped me alot. I checked it out and FST offers a 435cc, 446cc, and a 500cc kit for the Wolveine. The 446 kit is $635, the 500cc kit is more but I dont now how much, I think over $1K. I want to get the manual cutch kit for it too. That would be nice to get, like you said ridng wheelies in 4x4 is weird but I would love to try it on my Wolverine. I heard something about when you put the clutch kit on it that its not fully manual that you just have to let it out when you take off and not have to shift with it. That would take a little fun out of it. The way I have heard people talk about it that when you put it on its fully manual. I bet with the 500 kit it would be able to do 70mph with th 23" tires. That would be awsome. Yeah, that dream bike you mentioned would be nice.

I think If they just take a Wolverine and put the Raptor engne in it without detunning it and add a manual tranny maybe lighten some things up and make it maybe a little wider, not so much it hurts you in the woods but helps it handle. add shock travel to 9.2in like you said and leave it all time 4x4 because it adds wieght if you add goodies and the simpler they are, the more reliable. Make the all time king of high performance 4x4s. 470lbs, 9.2in of shock travel 8.7in of ground clearance, 38 stock hp, with a top speed of 70mph. All with the luxury of 4x4. One heck of a XC machine even when its stock.

 

I know that for the 500cc engine mod, they take the top end of a Kodiak 400 and modify it to get the 500cc engine. I guess you have to send everything to FST to get this done which could be a pain and alot of time/money.

As for the clutch, my cousin is a mechanic and said that he rigged his friends Wolverine with a manual clutch and said that it wasn't complicated. He said that the clutch was already there, just had to reconfigure a bit. He said that once you take off, you can shift with or without pulling the clutch in which sound cool to me. Sometimes it can come in handy not using the clutch at all times in different situations. Myself, I'm not to mechanically inclined so if I use some terminalogy that sounds like computer talk, its because I do work with pc's. I leave most mechanical problems to someone else [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Is there a way that you could reconfigure it so that you have to shift with the clutch? In the dirtwheeles issue that when they did the article on the 4x4 champs that it sounded like you had to shift with the clutch.

 

From what I remember him telling me last summer, the existing clutch in the Wolverine allows you to shift without clutch but you could probably rig it by either replacing or maybe modifying the existing one. Hopefully someone could correct me if wrong but I'm pretty sure I heard that somewheres on the forum..

I would get him to do it on mine but he lives like 8-9 hrs. away! I went and visited last summer for his sisters wedding..

 

I hope you can modify it that way, it would be cool if you shift with, you could get more performance with it and a quicker response. I think I would have more fun riding it if it were that way.