Finaly bought new ATV

Ryan03 · Feb 13, 2009

I finaly settled on and purchased a new atv. Originaly, I was looking for a 500cc or bigger, but after riding several brandes and models over the past month, hours of research on TBN, Highlifter, and Nyroc, and watching the monthly factory incentives and crunching numbers, I purchased a new 08 Suzuki King Quad 450 4x4. Since this was a leftover 08, I was able to get it for just over 5300, out the door price with tax and documentation fees was $5790.00. Suzuki has a promotion going this month for 60mo. fixed rate financing for 2.95%, these two things combined made it to good of a deal to pass up. Despite the relatively modest displacement, the 450 makes 36.7 hp at the crank, only 0.2 hp less than a 550 Grizzly, and around 5hp more than a Honda Rubicon, Respectively. I pick it up tomorrow, and I immediatly plan to install a snorkel for the cvt exhaust [ a common mod to keep the belt dry on these] , as well as the cvt intake, and perhaps the engine intake. I will also be adding a winch and some 26 or 27 inch mud tires in the next month or so. I will post pics of the quad when I get it tomorrow, as well as pics of me building the custom snorkels, and other mods. as I add them.

Ryan.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Feb 13, 2009

did they change the front diferential?? i know i thought you was looking for a front end with a locking dif right? my buddy have a 500 vinson and it does pretty good with some 28"vampire edls but he did have to rejet the carbn after snorkeling it plus he lost some power with them bigger tires it does pretty good though. i done a bumper for it not to long ago.

Ryan03 · Feb 13, 2009

The front diff does have a selectable electric diff lock. As far as tires, I am undecided on brand. I would like something a little more agressive than mud lights, but still has decent trail and hill climb abilities. I am looking at the highlifter outlaw mst, and the swamp witch. I may try and go with a narrower 27 all the way around, like a 27x9.5 or 10, as I see many people on highlifter running tall and narrow tires on ATV's. Evidently,the combination of weight savings and cost reduction is said to make this the way to go on mid displacement 4x4's that don't see regular extreme mudding. As far as the intake snorkel, I also had to jet up the carb on my big bear when I snorkeled it, I went from a 125 main jet and 1/2 out on the idle screw to a 132 main and 1 full turn out on the mixture screw. The Suzuki is fuel injected, and I am still researching whether or not I will have to remap the fuel curve if running a snorkel, or the stock programming has enough adjustment programmed into it to compensate for the snorkel.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Feb 13, 2009

the problem i see with people going with the same size tire all the way around is your rut is the same size as your tire all the way around!!! if you go with a 9x5 in the front and a 11" or 12" wide in the rear then the front can dig a rut all they want but the rear will still have something to bite on because they are wider see where i'm comin from?? i would never go with the same size all the way around for that one reason now for just trail ridin it would be great but we ride in the mud alot and it just wouldn't do any good it's like havin a guy in front of you diggin a rut that maxs out your ground clearance and you gotta try and follow him all day long. i would go with some 11" in the rear and some 9's in the front or even 9.5's in the front. but thats just me.

Ryan03 · Feb 27, 2009

got my belt snorkels finished !!!!

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Feb 27, 2009

the chrome looks great. now go get it muddy and take some pictures

RollingsFarms · Feb 27, 2009

congrats on the new King Quad!! those are some sweet atv's, and the 450 was a VERY close second choice to the Rubicon i bought. what ultimately swayed me to buy the Rubicon over the KQ 450 was that i know a guy whos a mechanic at the Honda dealership and he has always taken good care of me with my other 2 honda's i've had. had i not known anyone at the honda place, i would have ent with the KQ 450. i was VERY impressed with what i read about them and from the test ride i did on one. excellent 4 wheeler!

Ryan03 · Feb 27, 2009

While I had all of the plastic and racks off of the kq to run the snorkels, I also took every connector apart and packed them with dielectric grease, then plugged them back together. My next modification is going to be shimming the upper control arms on the front suspension back 3/16 to acheive 4.6 degrees of positive caster. It is set at 1.6+ from the factory, and this can lead to twitchy high speed steering.

I also have to go pick up my shims from the Yamaha dealer for the kq primary clutch. Adding 1.5mm worth of shims between the primary sheaves will yield about a extra 5% low gear reduction, and cost me about 4mph on the top end. It will do 60+ mph now, so I don't mind losing a couple mph. This mod is called the coop45 mod, learned about it on the Nyroc atv info site. Lots of good info there!!!!!