Looking for a used quad

Just make sure it is 4x4 like everyone else here has recommended. When pulling it does make a difference like with snow or mud.

 

Lots of good quads out there. If you wana go budget minded the old honda and kawasaki 300 are as bulletproof as it gets. I would not hesitate to buy one thats 25 years old if the price was right.

 

I bought a brand new Grizzly 660 in 2002. I can't really say much bad about it other than it was a Beta model. It was carbed and tuned to run quite well...better in fact I'm told than the following years in which they detuned them a bit. I had a problem with heat/lack of cooling. Yamaha issued a TSB and a "heat-fighter kit" free of charge and that helped a bit.

I mounted 26" mud whomper tires shortly after I bought it. It was abused. I rode the snot out of it. I didn't buy it for work. Mud, snow, water, hills, ramps, wheelies...took everything I could throw at it. They are tough machines. The dang stock battery ended up lasting 7 years even. Power was great, brakes very good, light steering, good engine braking. I did wrastle it a couple times and it won on all occasions.

 

Rear hubs changed after 02 they are the same after 02.
Shock changes were also made year to year.

The only time my heat light has come on was twice. Once pulling a grooming drag wot through 3 feet of snow 4x4 with diff lock on for half an hour.
Then pulling an oak wot in low gear diff lock chained up.
Both instances the radiator cleanliness was in question though.

 

Picture from last wash before selling it.

 

Nice action shots! Boy, I sure don't miss that mud! I'd get the heat light and vapor locking on hot humid summer days when not much air was going through radiator. I was very adamant on keeping the rad clean! I should've bought a Raptor looking back...that's how I rode my Grizzly. Fun times.

 

Got a 3 year old Polaris 500 Sportsman sitting in the garage with exactly 100 miles on it! Darn mid-life crisis!
Gary

 

Gary_602z I got 3 friends in the last 2 years that have bought them and all have less than 200 hours or miles or whatever on them.. once they make a few more payments I may take one over just to have 1..

but with my land side by sides make more sense and at the price they want for those thing I just get a jeep cj and this line of thinking is why I don't have one.....

 

That's right and better said.
The 4x4 is on demand when in AWD and just 2x4 when AWD isn't selected.
Thanks Horkn.
It's the only one I've ever had so I have nothing to compare it to. But I can't think of anything more I would want from an ATV.
And it is great to ride the kids around on.

 

I like Yamahas, but to say Yamaha perfected the work/ trail with the grizzly is a farse, as is saying Honda doesn't have good resale value.
Honda has excellent resale, which is why I wouldn't recommend one, if buying used.

I will agree on the grizzly, they are good quads. I had one with a high compression piston, hotcams, and full hmf exhaust... And it was a lot faster than what a 700 lb ATV should probably be.

 

I wouldn't exactly say that, and there was much more to those lawsuits than I'll put here. But Kawasaki and Yamaha were also involved, and several other manufacturers including Polaris and Suzuki were making them too.
It came down to the hospital/ life support bills that families couldn't pay (and insurance companies) of the people that were hurt on these machines, that had no business being on them in the first place (friends of friends, inexperienced riders, etc).

 

Exactly. Just like saying Polaris makes "dumpy" quads and utvs. They make great quads and utvs.

Buying a Yamaha, a Kawasaki, or even the maker of the first ATV, Suzuki is usually the best way to save money. Honda are good, but you typically can get more bang for your buck in a used quad by not buying a Honda.

 

understood - wasn't trying to derail the man's thread.
Just stating a principle the Honda has in the safety market - they build low CG work machines, there was an "arms race" amongst several manufacturers to top each other in displacement and ground clearance in the early-mid 2000's machines started to approach phallic status and thus became tippy

 

3-500cc, depending on what you are going to be doing with it. A lot of people think they need a 6-1000cc machine, when they don't... But to each their own. Better buys can be had on the smaller cc machines because of that mentality.
Up until 20 years ago or so (time flies!), The big boys were the 450 Foreman and the 500 Sportsman.
And the 4wd thing... For average trail riding and work, you'll only use it pulling a trailer (mud or snow), and plowing snow.

Look at the Polaris Hawkeye, Kawasaki prairie 300, 360, 400, Kawasaki Bayou 300 4x4, Suzuki King quad 300 and 400, Honda trx300 (if you can find a nice one for not too much, good luck), and even the Yamaha Big Bear or Kodiak.
Any of these you will find something nice for less than 3k if you look around.

 

Yep, I definitely can agree to that.

 

It's pretty hard to get a 2WD quad stuck unless you don't pay attention to your surroundings. And if you do happen to get one stuck, just about everything except those grizzly's are light enough to just yank out of the mud and go on your way!