Good pics Andy,that Grizz looks mean in the woods.I love my Prairie 650,but would trade if I think I could do better and what I mean,is where I ride,almost all the trails are on a side of a hill. The tire tracks on the hill are all rutted out on the low side of the trail,when I get off my 650 on those trails I can put my foot under the rear tire on the high side of the hill. Will a IRS quad be worse than this or better?

 

Should be better with the irs. I'm still debating on whether my AC swingaxle was better than my grizzly is. I think it is for articulation. The Grizzl front end does better, but the rear doesn't move as much as the AC did. Ground clearance of course is a no brainer, and I gained a big advantage there, while not losing much in articulation.

As far as stability, any difference between a Grizz and Prairie wouldn't be enough for me to take a bath selling one to get the other.

From a day of riding the griz with the stock tire setup, I have figured out that it is A LOT more stable with the ITPs and big tires. I forgot how narrow it was. Sure is faster and handles at speed better stock though.

I have all my articulation pictures in order now. There is a noticeable difference between them.

 

Andy~

Thank you for the incredible pics. I have forgotten how limited the Grizz was on stockers and with the anti sway bar on. What a difference!

Incredible website dude. Would you mind if I linked my site to yours? Also, do you own all those guns? I'll have to take a pic of my collection and send it to you. I love guns.

SilverBear

 

Sure, go ahead. All but the 10-22. I sold it and got a 22" barrel model. Those were leftover pics from my last Geocities page I made last year. I have a single six stainless and that other 10-22 that I need to put on there too. I don't own that Barrett or the bullpup stock thing though. I just had those pics saved.

 

Andy~

Great. I'll set a link up in a bit for your web site. I have quite a few muzzleloaders, 300H&H, stainless .44 (ruger SRH), stainless (Ruger).454, stainless mini 14, uh...completely modded with grandfathered stuff [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] and wanting a stainless mini 30 (already have the "grandfathered" stuff waiting for it) & H&K USP .45. (my next guns when I can afford 'em).

Father in law has the .50 cal. What a blast to shoot!

SilverBear

 

Nice Pics Andy,
As I am in the market for a 2nd quad, I am probably going to get the Grizzly because I want the softer ride of the irs. I just did your articulation tests with my p650 just to see what would happen. My car ramp is 10" high. Yours may be highter. When I put it under the front tire the rear was ON the ground, and the other front was 3 inches off the ground. When I put the ramp under the rear tire, the front was about 2 inches off the ground, and the other rear was ON the ground. Based on these tests the sway bar on Grizzly really seems to limit the travel in the rear.

Andy and others, now that you've had more time riding without the sway bar in place, please tell us more about the differences, advantages, and disadvantages. Also, does riding without the sway bar offer a softer ride at speed over bumpy terrain, or is it just a matter of more articulation for slow technical riding?

Thanks.

 

My reasoning is that it lets me have a tire up on something (like a big rock or something) and still keeps all four on the ground better. I like it on off camber stuff if there is a root or rock in the way. Keeps it from tipping up on one side when you get a tire on the obstacle. I've had it off almost all the time since I bought it a year and a half ago. As far as ride difference, I can't tell much really. Only when you hit a jump or dip, it gives a lot more in the rear it seems. I turned my rear preload up to the next to stiffest setting.

The clear disadvantages would have to be leaning in turns at high speed or something like that. Those are the things you always read about, but I've never found any problems with mine and its never been something that ever came to my attention while riding. Can't find anything at all that leads me to believe removing this will cause any added stress or wear to the quad. I've put it back on just one time to see what it was like again, and the thing just had no advantages to me so I took it back off.

I can't feel enough (even trying to notice it) on hard turns or anything to lead me to believe this bar is necessary. I do however get the feeling that its less stable on sidehills and uneven stuff with it on though. Feels like its going to tip rather than the suspension squat in some situations. I like it without the bar a lot better.

The good thing is its real easy to take off and put back on. Only 6 bolts, and most of your time is spent taking the wheels off. Take it off and ride it around for a week or so, and if you don't like it, just put it back on. I took mine off last August and didn't put it back on until like February when I took those pictures. Didn't stay on there but a week and it was back hanging on the wall in the garage. It does really limit the independant articulation.

 

Thanks for the update Andy.

 

Andy,

Any more comments based on experiences during the last 2 1/2 years?

Take a look at my articulation post in the Arctic Cat forum and feel free to comment. I know you are an AC fan.

Also, there is a link I made to some pics that do the same articulation test of a 2002 Arctic Cat 500i on car ramps.

Thanks.

 

I have been riding my ’02 Grizzly without the anti-sway bar for a couple of years now and for the most part I prefer it that way. Where I notice the positive effects the most is the extra smoothness when traveling over, say, a rocky trail such as a washed out rock strewn dirt road. The faster you go the smoother it seems to get. Also there is a traction improvement when going slow over very rocky / rough terrain because the rear tires seem to stay planted better on the ground (where one might have lifted off of the ground before).

Some of the negative effects noticed is that it’s harder to powerslide, but with some extra body english and the right kind of tires, I can still break it loose to snap it around turns (although sometimes I’ll lift the inside front tire where I didn’t before). Also when hauling a passenger (something I rarely do) over an uneven surface, the extra weight results in too much body roll. I don’t have an issue with excessive roll with just my own weight on it however (it’s something I have gotten used to and have compensated for).

I did however switch over to ITP C-Series wheels which added about 3” to my width at the same time I removed my anti-sway bar so this may have countered in a positive way any negative handling effects that removing the anti-sway bar had…