let talk four wheelers

[justin82]

 
Hi,

Im justin,I live in ocala but uncle sam has given me a year long vaction in Afghanistan. Thats where I've been for 11 months. as I sit here in a plywood hut I think about going home next month. I've purchased alot of stuff in the last year but I havent gottten a ATV yet. I need your alls help to help me pick up which one would be good for me and the wife.

I know nothing about ATV's but I did own a yamaha 125 enduro back in the day. I have a lot of questions so bear with me here.
I want somthing I can trail ride with,use to hunt and fish with and hit the mudhole with but I dont need a big mud bogger,I have a truck for that.
speed doesnt concern me,the past year has been very stressful and I just wanna go for a ride in the ONF,slow and enjoy my life agian.

automactic VS. SEMI-AUTO's..........ok,I dont mind eather or,however some I talk to over here say autos suck once they get wet because they are belt driven?  semi-autos are the way to go for mud. remeber Im not going to bog this everyday,so would an auto be good? or stick with an semi auto?

2x4 VS. 4x4?............... when I was on leave back in novermber I rode a polaris magnum 2x4 at a friends house and I had a blast with it.  he lives down by croom back in a swampy area. that 2x4 had no problem driving around in the mud,plus I got to do some wicked dohnuts back in the back 40.
given what I want to do is 4 wheel drive needed? we were even driving over downed logs,with a little speed it poped right over it. I was impressed.

brakes...........over the past 6 months Ive looked at just about every ATv on the market today,most time off here is spent online IM'ing the wife and looking at ATV stuff at the same time. Ebay has become my friend over here.
some guys tell me to get somthing with disc brakes,because mud destroys drums. I know from experiance that drums suck in mud,and all my trucks at home were equiped with aftermarket rear disc brakes. so why does these big manufactures still run front and rear drum brakes on there machines?

Name brands?..................... This Im sure is a big topic here. I have gotten several responses saying,honda...they last forever,same with yamaha. polaris sucks....theres transmission are crap.  kawasaki is ok. Ive heard everything. we have a special forces team here in camp,and they run polaris sportsmans look like 450's. they swear up and down that polaris is the cats meow. afghanistan a rough place,they run the crap out of them here that a good product from my point of veiw.

ok folks heres my choice's............ (mind you these are year 2002 and newer)

Honda Rancher or foreman 2x4 or 4x4, manual,ES,or Auto

Yamaha Bruin 350 2x4 or 4x4 auto

Kawasaki 360 2x4 0r 4x4 auto

Polaris magnum 2x4 or 4x4 auto
or Sportsman 400 and up 4x4 Auto

what do you all think? help me out on this cause my wifes only going to let me buy it one time. ploaris has a deal with all active duty service members where if your in a combat zone you can purchase a sportman 400 or higher for dealer cost. which is only like 1500 bucks off but hey that a good chucnk off the cost right?

thanks for you help,hopefuly be back on here later tonight.
thanks and god bless
Justin

OEF...scouts out!

P.S> I'll snap some pics of those SF sportmans

[Old_School]

First off, thanks for protecting our country! 

Now usually the first big question when getting into atvs is what type of riding do you do? This will help determine if you want a utility or sport atv. Usually if anyplace that has water obviously you'll want a utility. The second thing after determining that is the size of the atv. 2 things that I consider are rider experience and height/weight of the rider. Typically with utility atvs you can go with a bigger cc engine since they are not designed for high speed blasts compared to the sport quads.  But if you stay with a Honda or Suzuki both have great sport and utility quads.  But looking at your choices I'd opt for an auto w/ reverse at atleast 400cc or more.
-Mark

[Joedirt]

Go with the Suzuki Vinson 500cc , great all around bike good to cruise and has power if you need it. Regular mantinence and it will run forever. Get the manual ( foot shift). This is my opinion.

[TRX450R_Racer]

I'm not into utility ATVs so I can't help you there. I want to say thanks for doing what you do to keep us FREE to do what we want. I know I couldn't do it. You and all your people over there are THE MAN. THANKS again.

[MachineDog]

Man, thanks for protecting our country. Takes some guts to go over there and fight. Anyway, I have a 350 rancher, and I love it. You'll want the Warn 424 so you can do donuts, cause it's 4WD - All the time. Also it's geared for more torque with a longer stroke, so you won't be breaking land-speed records.  I've ridden the Bruin and it's a nice bike if you don't like shifting, although low-end torque isn't there without a good hard press of throttle to get over things like trees in the trail while the Rancher has the ability to walk over them in granny-gear no problem. Both are the same price so that isn't so much a determining factor. As for the polaris I've heard bad things about reliability, mostly in the tranny and front-ends. Plus that whole Automatic 4WD system is supposed to suck. On the kawasaki, I haven't heard much about but you can do a bit of research at powersportsnetwork.com.

[americanhighlander]

Here's web site it  can tell you on most all used and newer models
on atvs even ute atvs..

http://atv.dnsalias.com/

But if  wanna a  ute atv that hads locker diffrent
and if you get stuck on muddy trail you can used locker diffrent button to
get threw mud stuck spots  on your atv,Go for kaw praire 360 with 4x4.

But if wanna atv i pref 4x4 will be better on you and get some nice itp atr's tires
with that and the tires will give you better grip and traction they are radial tires and they will last a very
long time.

I'm glad you made it home.But my dad was in navy for 12years and he went to every war he went even aftermath of gulf war and he got out of navy in mayport fl in 1992 and went to homestead and got a job into phone company
and he's making more money $$ than navy.He use be a ew5 in rader rooms on navy ships during last 12 years..But after hurricaine andrew went through homestead and we move to hollywood fl and stay there for 5years and back in 1998 we move to mcalpin up by lake city area and i live on 8acer farm up here and fixing to move in 3 or 4years from now to maranna over near by gulf right by outside panama city area...

Thanks,
amhighlander 

[klutchbuster400]

i dont know much about 4x4's, but i can tell ya about the ones i have seen.
400exkid has a nice rancher, and from what i saw in person it did real good.
big daddy has a kodiak, and that did great in the mud/ water.
I rode a king quad back in the day before my warrior, adn that was comfortable, and did pretty good in whatever situation i put it in.

[MachineDog]

OH, btw. If you want a real utility atv, not a very fast trail rider but *AWESOME* in the mud and great low-end power check out the arctic cat 500. My dad has one and a buddy of ours has one and they're GREAT quads. Just not very sporty when it comes to the fact they weigh 700 lbs. They'll still go 50MPH+ though. It would be my next ute, but I think I'm going to save up some cash for a nice sport 300ex or 400ex.

[backwoods boy]

1st off thanx man 4 protectin the country an our freedom
2nd i'd def. go w/ honda ive got an 86' 2x4 and have taken it through mud up over the fenders [never given me any problems whatsoever] but i'd go w/ 1 you could switch from 2x4 to 4x4 a friend of mines got an 05 rancher its got plenty of power n it drives real nice i'd also go w/ semi auto btw mud tires make a BIG difference i'd go w/ outlaws but thats up to you 

[Shotgun]

Thanks for doing what you are doing over there. I am an Airforce Desert Storm vet myself. We all appreciate your sacrifice.

[twodazeoff]

The arctic cat 500 manual is a great machine. It has independant rear suspension, in/out 4x4, and a locking front diff. The ride is great. If you want auto the arctic cat doen't have the problems with the belt getting wet like a polaris.

[justin82]

Hey thanks everyone,

yeah My job here is actually the best one on camp. we are located in camp pheonix. were about 5 miles from downtown kabul. This place is a crap hole,everywhere you look is bombed out buildings from the first invasion back in 2001,when they pushed the taliban out of the city. The violence is pretty bad but you dont hear to much about it on the news because IRAQ is where all the media whores are. Im part of the 153rd Cavalry from ocala. Im a driver/gunner on a 12,000 pound up armored hummer. we travel all over the place. the last conop, (convoy operation) was to wama. A small village located high up in the hundu kush mountains. I still get chills when I talk about it. we were sent to a marine fire base up there,which is around 10 miles from pakistan to pickup a broke down vehicle and some ETT's (embedded trainer teams,who train the ANA,afghan national army) we styed at this fire base for a week and got to partake in a mortor attack on us.  theres one way in the place and its a long road that pretty much like the rubicon jeep trail with long drop off from 30 to 150 feet down into the kunar river. on the only road out we were hit by two IED's (roadside bombs)
one detonated between my truck and the last gun truck. the plan to the a holes wasnt to blow us up,but to blow our trucks off the cliff into the river.
2 marines died the same way in the same area. remeber the helo that went down killing a bunch of navy seals? we traveled right through the villiage where the helo crashed.......I dont think we were really welcome over there. anyways the rear of my truck went off over the edge and thank god these hummvees are shift on the fly cause the front tires pulled us out real fast. the truck behind me was destroyed but still manage to drive,the crew suffered minor cuts and bruises. the other IED was detonted behind our already funked up rear truck,thank fully our IED jammer were working wonderfully. anyways just wanted to tell you the worst thing that happened to us while we were here. other small incidents happend but I dont wanna bore you guys,but I feel like I need to vent some.  I can say I havent needed to shoot anyone here but i have fired a bunch of warning shots. I even got to beat down a local...well will use the words"contain" a local. 
during a joint operation with ISAF (international security and assistance force)

anyways back to four wheeler stuff,I like the kawasaki 360 4x4,it sounds like its got a bunch of goodies that could be fun.anyone on this board have one?
I read some reveiws on it and everyone that has one says they like them.
I might check on that one and another one when i get home.

I got a bunch of pictures from here but how do i post them? I got a bunch that will amase you.

thanks everyone keep the opinions on atv comming!!

[Fox17]

we have a rancher 350. its a great bike. i would get one if i were you. even if you want a bigger one stick with honda!!! its my sisters/moms and they love it.
personally i like the 400ex but that would not do you any good i dont think. just a thought.