Hi, I bought a 2003 Big Bear 4x4 with winch in august of 2002. I have ridden this machine hard since then and I just wanted to tell you about my experiences.

First of all I did break this quad in before going mudding or full throttle. I never went over half throttle until about 200 miles and the first maintences which was baically the changing all fluids and adjusting the valves and a new air filter and oil filter. After that I had ALOT of fun with this quad. The Big Bear does very well in the mud for a mid-size atv. I still have the stock tires on it too. The Big Bear is a manual shift with automatic clutch so theres no worrys about a belt slipping and thats one of the main reasons I went for the 5 speed. during the fall I would always go muding with 4x4 trucks. It was great because I would never get stuck where they went and most of the time I went in 2wd because of the on command 4wd option I can do that. When I did get stick which was quite often because I tend to go places where I really shouldnt, my winch would pull my out no problem, $70 is a great deal [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] The Big Bear is geared very low which I absoluty LOVE because it has loads and loads of torque! I had this shed out in my backyard which my dad made a long time ago and was a pretty sturdy shed. After taking a few beams out the Big Bear hauled that thing to the ground easily. The Big Bear is great on trails because it is not as wide a most atv's, I love fitting between trees that my buddies on their sportsman's can't. One Problem I noticed about a month and a half after getting my Big Bear were the rear brakes kept needing to be adjusted. Finally it got to the point where I couldnt adjust the brakes anymore from the handlebars and with the screw on the drum. I'm no expert on drum brakes and I gave up after a few hours of fiddling around. So since then stupid me has been driving around with just the front brakes (disc) and now I can't stop nearly as fast. I found this out by rear ending a rubicon going 35 mph. No damage to either quad though (thank god). I couldnt believe my bumper didnt bend at all! since winter has started I have fulled a few cars out of my driveway with the Big Bear. I even pushed my little Mazda B2000 pickup in my garage which is slightly up hill! One time my friends trucks battery died on him so I puished his truck with my Big Bear and got it started [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] So far the only complaints I have with the Big Bear are the rear brakes, the ODD noise that comes out the exhaust every once in awhile after turning the engine off, the front differential gear whine, lack of 6th gear, hard shifting sometimes, the crappy metal yamaha uses on bolts, a screw on oil filter would be greatly appreciated, floor boards might be nice to have, and vulnerable under carriage but can be solved by buying expensive skid plates [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] If I think fo anything else I will update this topic. Please goto my website in my signature to get a glimpse at what kind of mud my big bear has seen. Sorry about the long post but hey I think it might be helpful to anyone in the market for a mid-size 4x4 because I would recommend the Big Bear because its easy to maintain.

If you have any questions about my Big Bear just reply to this topic or email me at bigbear034x400@attbi.com

 

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Nice review! What is the top speed of the 4x4 Big Bear? I have saved the money and I plan to buy something new in the next week. I just sold me 88 Bayou with 4,500 miles. That was one tough ATV. Have you tried to jump yours? Does the front Dif. work well?

 

I think the top speed of mine on hard dirt road is about 46mph and at that speed the engine is screaming, im a sissy so I usually run mine at about 35 because it sounds normal then. I also have jumped mine a little big but only on jumps about 1 1/2 to 2 feet high and it was pretty smooth. The big bear isnt made for jumping however, I hear people sya the suspension on it isnt the greatest but i wouldnt know since its my first atv with suspension lol. The front differential works just fine, it does what its suppose to do and even though the book says not to shift in and out of 4wd I do and it doesnt do any harm, I just dont do it at fast speeds, I usually slow down a bit before shifting in and out. The front differential is a limited slip so when your going mudding and u have one of the front tires getting considerably less traction then the other then 95% of the time the tire with less traction will spin, I have had both spin at the same speed, but that was in some very mushy mud and it did help alot having both spin. Lockers for the front are in the 400-600 price ranger I believe. I have no interest in getting one since I never get stuck where I go anyways.