Hey Guys,

A friend of mine is getting another Banshee (he has had 2, but then he bought a Warrior, and now he wants a Banshee again). Anyway, there isn't a lot around here, but the dealer just got in a 1990 Shee.

We went and checked it out on Saturday and it's in awesome condition. The owner must have put all new plastic on it and added a graphics kit. There are a few imperfections mechanically (mostly just wear and tear stuff, but a few other little things). Anyway, this Banshee has the "J-arms" on the front. I was just wondering how much different they were, and/or how durrable they are. Also, is it difficult to throw a set of the newer A-arms on it?

The dealer said my buddy could have it for $2000, which still sounds a little bit high to me, but he offers a Warranty with it so I guess it's not so bad.

My friend wanted something newer, but he figured that with the money he is going to save on this one he could do anything he needed to it and still come out for less (unfortunatly the resale will still not be as good, but he doesn't want to think about that yet [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ).

The dealer has a '98 coming in sometime this week (as soon as he gets his Raptors in and it comes in as trade). He's gonna probably want like $3500 or so for that (maybe more), so my friend can save quite a bit of cash with the older one.

Besides the J-arms, are there any other issues with that year of Banshee? As I said, it is in great shape physically, so that at least gives him something to work with.

Thanks for the info.

-Josh

 

J arms aren't bad.. they aren't as strong as A arms, I had a shee with Js and never have a problem.

2000 sounds steep if you ask me, I have personally seen 98-2000 models for under 3000, and that'd be a 3-5 year old quad instead of a 12 year old model.

The older it is the more likely it's going to need bottom end work, like a crank or tranny parts.

Just my $.02
Brad

 

Thanks Brad,

I pretty much told him the same exact things you just said (minus the J-arm info because I didn't know anything about them).

He asked me what I would do and I said that I would prefer something a little newer, but it depends on the type of Warranty the dealer is going to offer. His warranties vary from quad to quad (mainly from depending on the year) and I would imagine since this one is so old he will only go 30 days on it. If that was the case I don't know if I would go for it.

It's risky either way. He could buy this 1990 quad and not have a single problem with it, or he could buy a 2001 and have it blow up on the first ride. You just never know. Sometimes things don't always go by the odds.

I've pretty muched talked him into waiting for that '98 Banshee to come in before he makes up his mind, so we'll see.

The part that makes this difficult is that Banshee's are very scarce around here. You hardly ever see one for sale, and when you do you have to jump on it. I got my '98 For $2800 last year and it runs great. To me, that extra $800 that I spent was well worth it to have a quad 8 years newer.

We'll see what he does.

In the meantime, I have another question. I got on the quad to check the suspension and stuff and the front end felt very, very stiff. With mine, if you rock it side to side you can make the springs compress, but this one wouldn't even budge. Does that have anything to do with the J-arms, or should it feel the same? Maybe the shocks were just cranked up stiffer than mine also.

I appreciate all of your input. It should be interesting to see how this saga turns out. I think that he just has Banshee fever and this is the first one he has come across since early last year and he wants it bad. Not to mention that the "N-style" graphics kit looks pretty sweet on it.

Take care.

-Josh

 

I too had a 1989 "J-Arm" Banshee and never had an once of trouble with the J-Arms. I wouldn't let it being a J-Arm ATV bug/stop ya. As for changing the ATV over to A-Arm, yes you can. There's (2) ways to do that. #1 Buy a conversion kit and weld it into your frame. #2 Buy a newer style (A-Arm) frame and swap all of your parts over to it. I myself did the later. I bought the newer style frame, picked-up some used upper a-arms, painted everything and bolted it all together. No problems. As far as price $2,000.00 sounds cheap to me. Here in Calif. I'd say that Banshee would go between $2,400.00-$2,800.00. From what I've read/seen, prices in every state other than here always seem to be much lower.

As far as the stiff suspension that sounds weird. Could it be his shocks are in better shape IE: Stiffer? than the one your comparing it to? I'd jump up & down on the bumper and watch it. It should snap back up pretty quick. If it doesn't it could be the bushings in either the lower A-arms, J-Arms or both are sticking due to lack of lube. It could also be a froze shock. Put the front end on on a crate, remove the shocks and try to manualy compress them. Also while the shocks are off you should be able to grab either front wheel and lift it up easily. If they don't lift easy I'd say the bushings are sticky/toast due to no lube.

Rude Dog