Well my wife and I made our final decision last night, after much procrastination and eliminating the 700 Sportsman and the 650 Prairie we will be at the Yamaha dealer shortly. Its a matter of loyalty, we have owned two Grizzlys' in the past 1998, 2001, and bought five
400 Kodiaks for the ATV tour company that we owned and all of them were very reliable and great for the job they had to do.
We were being hard pressed to buy a 500 Honda but all being said with my dealer giving me great price on the Grizzly ( $ 9300.00 Can. )
its a done deal. Of course we do have a few concerns as we have read about certains issues pertaining to the 2003 Grizzly re. cv joints,
overheating, boiling gas, vapour locks but we are ordering a model that has been manufactured recently and we hope that some of those issues have been addressed and it will come equipped with vented side panels to hopefully reduce the overheating issue.
So our new guy will be home soon and will be equipped as follows, colour green, ( my wife's choice ) ITP Holeshot radial tires, hand guards, front and rear brush guards, custom handlebar bracket for our GPS. By the way on both our other Grizzlys we always rode two up
and it will be likewise with the new one so our combined weight will be around 250lb. that should not be a problem on this quad.
And a quick question the Holeshot ATR is only manufactured in one size for the front, 25x8x12 and for the rear 25x10x12, this of course is the same size as the Dunlop tires that come as stock on the new Grizzly, I am thinking that I would like to put the 25x10x12 on the front as well as the rear, I dont think it would require buying new wheels for the front they should fit the stock wheels, anyone have any thoughts on this ? Yes Sir, we could not really see ourselves travelling in our beautiful backcountry on anything but a big green Yammi !

Buteman.

 

i thought the sportsman didnt hold up to their expectations and down graded
it to a 600??

 

No, they still make the 400, 500, 600, and 700 sportsmans.

I don't think you'll have any overheating problems, but it's hard to say. Riding 2 up (i do too) might generate more engine heat, but i think you made a good choice!

Look into the linX thread, if they develop what they claim I think it would be a wise investment! (the sway bar limits the rear end)

 

congratz on the biggest of the bears!!!
bout the grizzly.
side panel mods. a must!!! good to see your doing it. it helps out alot with steam in shallow water crossings, as well as with heat excaping.
2 up riding is no problem at all. i would set the rear suspencion at the second from the highest setting, and the front at the second from the lowers.
i would leave the antisway bar on, just becouse of the 2 up riding you will be doing.
c.v joints are suppost to be fixed with the later 03 models. 02 did not have this issue.
try not to cross any water that goes above the lower part of the top of your fenders. this is where the intake and exhaust for the belt tranny sit, and you can swamp it out. a safe rule is, if your knees are getting wet, then your too deep, lol.
break her in easy for 20 hours, or 200 miles, then swap all fluids. also, do a valve adjustment at this time. your 3 intake will be tight.
adjust the valves on the grizzly every 30 hours. i know this is alot, but they will tighten up on ya, and if you dont adjust them, goodbye to your head, and she'll run bad.
it has limiters in 4x4 diff lock mode, as well as reverse. this will spit and sputter if you hit the limiters.
the 03 have adresses most of all overheating issues. alot more heat tape, as well as adjusting the floats and the carb better.
i love mine, and i hope you do too.
good luck, and congratz again!!!


my pictures

 

on the tires. a set of 25/10/12 on the front will fit. i have 25/09/12 on my front with no problems. i also have 25/12/12 on the rear.