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Robert_in_NY · Jan 13, 2008

Wow, that sucks. Hopefully you will get a new machine out of this.

I do agree with the others as the Vampires are extremely hard on these machines and they will use those as an excuse for the front axle problem.

I had 27" Vampires on my old ATV and that thing would go thru anything you could imagine. They are proably the best mud tire I have ever seen. But they ate up bearings on my ATV but then again I was able to go places with that machine no one else would dare so it was a trade off

I figure when I get my UTV I will try the stock tires and see how they go and if I don't like them I will go with 589's this time.

Best of luck to you at the dealer.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 13, 2008

look up the vampires i think your tire is up in the 34lbs range and thats alot of weight just think when they get full of mud. click "view all"

High Lifter

darkday · Jan 13, 2008

Good lord that's twice what my car's tires weigh!

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 13, 2008

i'm guessing that was his model vampire they have a few to choose from .lol but they aren't that light of a tire.if you put them on you better look forward to two things havin some kinda broken axles when you suddenly bite in the mud when the tires are spinning and being the xuv is front locking that mean it's gonna be a good chance that of both tires bite both axles are gonna go they are some mean tires like robert said they will get you through anything but they are very hard on a drive system. there is a rhino that rides with us and he has some and that thing is unstoppableit just plows through the mud the deep paddle like lugs act like big scoops and pretty much paddles the utv through stuff they would probably be a good sand tire too.but man they heavy and they take up some hp to turn them in a hole.

Robert_in_NY · Jan 13, 2008

I know when I had them they required a minimum of a 400cc ATV to run the Vampires. If you don't mind the wrenching you will have to do on your machine they are a lot of fun. I don't mind the wrenching but I didn't like the cost associated with the wrenching

I still remember the look on the Goodyear tire rep at the sportsman show 8 years ago as they copied the Vampire design. I asked him about their tire they had on display and Goodyear just released it. When he looked up the specs his eyes popped out of his head when he saw the weight. You can run thru a lot of thorns and never have a flat. I broke a valve stem once and you couldn't even tell the tire was out of air. They are not soft riding if you are on hard ground. But I do miss them

519NASCAR · Jan 14, 2008

Just got back from the dealer and they are stepping up to the plate; Warranty issues were what caused all of my problems. I am not getting a new machine, but they are fixing mine back to new with JD parts. Dealer (reputable) said that it would be a new machine again when I get it back later on this week. Fire problem was caused by shifter linkage pinching winch power cable and shorting out .............burnt everything back to where ground fault ended; What it was supposed to do in case of fire. Dealer replaced all of this while I was there and started the Gator up and ran for 45 minutes without problems. Fire was contained in wiring harness and only scalded seats and shifters and shifter housing. Problem with the front stub shaft was the lower housing broke off one of the studs where the brake's hooked up to it and allowed the stub shaft to come free of the hub. Dealer is replacing everything on the right drive side of the bike and will have me up and running later on in the week. After they get it going they are gonna put a couple hours drive time on the bike to make sure all is good before delivery to me. They are also gonna keep track of the hours they put on it and deduct them from the hours on the machine................Kuddo's to JD and my dealer so far (fingers crossed)..................My dealer also said that they were gonna make JD aware of the potential of loose wiring in the shifter area of the machine and the potential of a hazard if all of the wiring isn't routed and tied properly.......................Thanks for listening and for all of your help with this matter....................Roger

Skipholiday · Jan 14, 2008

That's where I ran my winch cable also. Part of the original harness runs through there. It is in protected by a wire cover that is held in place by plastic rivets.
They must have not secured the winch cable.

Sounds like this was a dealer issue rather than a John Deere problem.

I'm glad they are taking care of it for you. Any paint damage?

519NASCAR · Jan 14, 2008

Skipholiday said:
Any paint damage?

Skip, only to the bottom sides of the seat pans.............new seats and pans are gonna fix that

.......................Roger

Skipholiday · Jan 14, 2008

519NASCAR said:
Skip, only to the bottom sides of the seat pans.............new seats and pans are gonna fix that .......................Roger

Good deal. I know fire damaged metal doesn't paint well.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 14, 2008

to be on the safe side i would go to the store and get a main inline fuse and put it one the positve battery cable that way if this happens again bam the fuse will blow instead of havin a fire. but hey was my diagnosis right on !!! lol now go get that fuse and when you get it back put it in there.i know them gators like the back of my hand i be takin them apart and lookin at them all the time trying to clean this and mess with that thats how i figure things out . thats when i seen the wireing problems or should i say future wiring problems under the raceway and the shifter.good to here they gonna take care of it fast for ya .