A little disappointed...

[gktj]

Took the 400 up to Trevorton on Sunday. Wow...what a place! Went with 2 friends...a 450R guy and a 700 Raptor guy. I didnt expect to climb like the raptor, as he seemed to have plenty power to spare. But I was disappointed to find out that I couldn't do anything in 3rd gear. Just simply no pull in 3rd at all.It just wanted to stall. Im pretty stock I know but so much for that stump pulling power. Or maybe I expected too much... Am I looking at going 440 or is there an easier fix for more power? They say sell it...but I don't want to!

[hjsmith00843]

Upgrade your cam, make sure you are jetted correctly, higher compression piston

Just an idea. I am pretty new to the 400ex so I am not 100% sure.

[bkelley]

What kind of terrain are we talking about?

[gktj]

I could keep up fine on the trails and coal roads, but come time to do the climbs at the pits...thats where I could see I needed more power. The climbs were really loose but traction not my problem...

Checkout youtube and search: Trevorton PA

[John Noftsinger]

You,ll never pull 3rd gear on any of the big hills out there not even on the 450/700 can and no 400ex with out nitro would either! if your looking to hang on the climbs with 450/700s you better trade up the money wouldn,t be worth spending on the ex to get it to climb like a 450/700r .I ride there myself for years.

[gktj]

The 450 was pullin some in 3rd and the big 700 was doin some in 4th and makin it to the top with ease. Thats what kinda brought me down...watchin him with such ease and meknowing if I even started to climb in 3rd, I'd stall.

[Ryan'07400ex]

Originally posted by gktj
The 450 was pullin some in 3rd and the big 700 was doin some in 4th and makin it to the top with ease. Thats what kinda brought me down...watchin him with such ease and meknowing if I even started to climb in 3rd, I'd stall.

Do these guy know what they are doing or are their bikes geared way lower because if a 400 isn't pulling in third but the 450 is when everyone says its geared higher somethings wrong.

Plus Those Holeshot HD are HEAVY so maybe you have more weight.

[gktj]

We all know what we are doing and no we all had stock gearing. I climbed plenty of them in 2nd and did fine for the most part. Just wouldve liked to be able to get a little more speed and momentum out of the 400 than I did.

[TRX_450]

sounds to me like you just need to hammer down and get up it

[88dunerider]

put a 13 tooth front sproket in , that will give you a little more torque. i got a 440 kit and cam with the 13 tooth front sproket and can come out of some of the hill climbs at the dunes in 3rd

[tayyo789]

x2 on the front sprocket

[tbrackman84]

i do coal hills in 2nd gear lol, it tractors the whole way up, why are you worried about being in 3rd gear?!

[gktj]

I guess I'm just looking for some more grunt and zip out of her. I thought about going with a Hotcam stage1. But read a lot about losing compression with a new cam. Is more compression a necessity? Can I just mantain my standard bore if I go 11.1? Or should I go 416? Who's running a cam with stock piston? How is it?

[F-16Guy]

The 400ex is the least powerful 400 class sport quad out there in stock trim, so you can't expect too much. That is exactly why this website exists today. This used to be exriders.com, and about 90% of the traffic was related to maintaining and modifying the 400ex.

If you want to get more out of it, you basically have to do the major upgrades. One set of upgrades is external: pipe, filter, correct jetting, and maybe even a better carb, such as a 450R carb or a Keihin FCR. Since you already have a pipe and filter, you're pretty much ready for the next step. The next step would be internal mods: cam, piston, and possibly crank work (stroker). If you were to do a 11:1 406 (86mm piston), HD head studs, a stage 2 HotCams cam, and a 450R or FCR carb, you'd see some serious improvement.

The good thing about the 400ex is that there are a gazillion of them out there, so parts are cheap and easy to find. Another good thing is that the engine is air cooled and totally simple to work on, so most of the labor can be done with basic hand tools and a little bit of skill.

With my mods (pipe, filter, piston, cam, jetting, and HD head studs), I can pull third up just about anything if I'm in the meat of the powerband. It's not the fastest thing on earth, but it's pretty respectable, and it's been running strong for years!

[3or4HONDA]

I was pretty impressed with my setup a couple weekends ago when i did some climbs. These were dirt and loose gravel climbs unlike the sand climbs that i was used to.

Once you get a piston, cam and new carb you will be amazed in the difference.

Mine did great and was also riding with a yfz450 and a rappy.

great until the clutch started to slip at the top of some of the hills.......:grr:

[bigbad400]

i rip up most climbs in 3rd but im only 140 lbs too. just have to make sure you are into the ponies befor u get to the hill, get it into the higher rps and it should hold it, i have more power for hills than i need most of the time and it will try to flip me, luckily i never went over. lol :D