ATV/UTVs and accessories

When I’m towing I stay around 60-65 at most. Majority of the desert trips the X3 and trailer will be hooked up to our 24ft class c rv with a beefy v10. I’m just going to need to remember that they are back there . It was the same thing when I had the quads and our other trailer.

 

Solid plan then.

Quick question: Have you run SxSs before, or just the 4 wheelers previously? Just curious, because I rode 4 wheelers when I was younger, but didn't ever really do a SxS until my brother got one. I was hooked, and just wanting to know if we can expect your first impressions, or if it's all old hat to you.

 

Damn AZ. I haven’t yet attempted my street legal kit with horn but that was quite the tear down. I know one thing. I ordered a winch after almost getting stuck in a creek mudding. That will be the next thing I put on the white beast

 

Wait... that thing is white?

Looks like you had some fun.

 

First SxS. We rode quads for the past 30 years…. I’m old. . We have friends with SxSs and we rented a RZR 800 one weekend. So I’m going into the SxS world pretty green. I’ll be sure to post impressions as time goes on. Hope that will help.

 

Oh…. And I got it all in the garage just in time for the Super Bowl….. win win!!

 

I just enjoy people sharing their first experiences. It freshens things up and can bring new perspectives. Fresh eyes see things that could have been missed.

 

Fun mudding but the cleaning sucked

 

Here is some newbie perspective -

Pros:

• Even with my family of 5, the engine puts out plenty of power to get us up and down the trail
• Having nearly 90* approach and departure angle makes a lot of obstacles that look impossible doable although I still need to adjust my driving to better utilize this
• Having front and rear diff locks is just as amazing as I imagined.
• I’m impressed with the ride - although I heard from passengers the ride in the back seat is much bumpier than up front. I don’t have the upgraded Fox suspension but didn’t find anything jarring on a 9/10 trail.
  
• Drivability was satisfactory - never felt out of control. Brakes solid - engine braking worked great.

Cons: mind you - these may be specific to my model - a Honda Pioneer 1000-5

• 27” tires are a little small for all but the easiest desert trails in my area. We are surrounded by mountains and are often on trails that are traversing through washes or climbing through rock gardens so the rocks/boulders make you pay close attention and hope shit doesn’t roll around.
  
• It was a little tippy - I wouldn’t say more than I expected but it didn’t blow me away with an unexpectedly low center of gravity. It is what it is.
  
• Piggybacking on the last item, the roof is too damn high. We scraped a lot more tree limbs than I anticipated due to roof height. Seems excessive on a Pioneer.
  
• A downside to their capabilities - you can fairly easily put yourself in a terrible position simply because the machine can go damn near anywhere. A less experienced driver could easily find themselves in deep shit if they don’t know where they’re going / have a plan / get out and look.

Side note -
As mentioned a page or two back, we are new to the utv / sxs world. I’ve rode ATVs a couple times and otherwise have good amount of Jeep/ Truck off-roading experience.

I questioned the need to put all my kids in helmets prior to going out - thankfully I sucked it up and spent the $ to get them all helmets before we hit our first trail. My advice - don’t go out on the trail without your kids wearing helmets. My 9y/o bounced off the grab bar / roll cage multiple times and would have been a mess without it.

 

First trail scars -

 

Haven’t got to hit the trails with the kids yet. I’m glad you mentioned the helmets. I need to get 3 asap. What about the wife and yourself?

 

We both went no helmets. I think if she was going to be riding in the back she would wear one. I let me 13 year old son drive in a couple smooth sections and she couldn’t believe how much bumpier the ride is in the backseat.

If we take it to the sand dunes or are otherwise ripping around at high speed everyone will have one on… including me.

 

Found a way to have my truck jack pull double duty - also serves as a poor man’s bumper.


Now I just need the bed extender from dirt road fabrication to get here.

 

Not the same you're waiting for, mines a Can Am accessory, but I'm guessing you'll love yours too. For what I use mine for it's an awesome addition. Easily deployed and stores perfectly in the tailgate when not needed. One of the more favorite things I've done so far. Instead of only 1 row of split wood I can easily get two rows lengthwise due to the extender. I actually get a great amount of wood in the back of mine when I need to move wood around the yard.

 

And to think I was just looking forward to fitting the beer cooler with the back seats up…

 

Haha nothing wrong with that usage idea either. That's the beauty of these work/play sxs's, very versatile with many different applications. That's actually a cool design that with the seats down in rear it's a 2 seater with a normal size bed. But then you got the option to sacrifice some bed space for back seats. There's already been times I wished I had more than 2 seats. Unfortunately the trails are so tight in NJ that the 4 seaters size difference would probably cause issues in the trails around me. Well u got a nice machine and nice truck, both that'll probably run forever. Good luck with both.

 

First shake down run this weekend at Ocotillo Wells. What tire pressure are you guys running on hard pack dirt?

 

I tend to run 11psi on all four corners on my thick girl in all conditions with my 33" 370s. The KRXs are on the heavy side.

 

So how was it?

 

Awesome….. thanks for the quick reply!!!!

 

Going out this coming weekend

 

Oops, I misread your post. Can't wait to hear your thoughts, be safe and have fun!

 

I run ~8-10psi on everything. Though I'm debating bumping that a little since I bent the inner lip on my wheel when at KOH earlier this month, but it still holds air and I like to be comfy so maybe say fuck it and stay at 10psi

 

We’ll that didn’t go as planned. Woke up Friday morning sicker than a dog. On antibiotics for the next few days. Trying to feel good enough to go out this weekend.

In the meantime, I started to lay out tools, etc to keep in the X3. Until I figure out how I want to set up the rear deck. Is it ok to just strap down our old gear bag with the tools, etc.? The deck doesn’t get hot enough to catch the bag on fire or do any damage does it?

 

Bummer. I hope you feel better.

 

Thanks man….. it’s killing me having everything just sitting in the garage.

 

Nah, nothing on the can am gets very hot. Also I suggest carrying two belts, my logic is if you blow one belt you have a spare and can still run it hard and not worry about blowing the second belt, and then the SECOND SPARE is now the limp home one. With that said I've never blown a belt, if you don't abuse the absolute shit out of it and use low range when you're crawling under 10mph or so and don't launch it from a stand still (like a drag race) then it should last awhile. I also change the belt once a year usually to be safe and keep the olds as spares.

 

Awesome….. thanks for the info!!!!!

 

I hear you. It's the brand new toy, but you have to wait until Chistmas to be able to play with it.

 

Late start, but off to Ocotillo Wells for the first shake down run!