toonces
06-23-2015, 02:31 AM
Educating myself getting ready to buy my first 4x4 and have some questions.
1 - Engine size. One of my wants is to be able to pull a trailer up a trail with a decent amount of camping gear piled in, so I've been told to either look for a good size motor or one with hi-lo gears. From what I've learned so far it seems that something like a Sportsman 500 HO or 550 Griz would do that job fairly well. But for the sake of opening up my options could I possibly look into a smaller engine than these if it had hi-lo? Put another way...what's the smallest engine size I should be looking for on a machine that has hi-lo considering my pulling needs?
2 - Can add power steering? Is it possible to add power steering to a model that didn't come with it, but other versions of that same year's model did? For example some of the 2008 Griz 550s came with PS and some didn't. If I found one that didn't have it could I reasonably assume I could add it later considering the frame and equipment has probably already been designed to work with it?
3- Mileage and age. Most of the machines I'm seeing have between 500-1200 or so miles and I'm wondering how many is too many? Seen some with 2-3000+ and I'm most def staying away from those. But whats the mileage limit where you can expect major things (read expensive) to start going wrong with the machine? I've heard someone generally speaking say they would rather take a 2006 with 1000 miles on it vs a 2012 with 2000. Would most people agree?
1 - Engine size. One of my wants is to be able to pull a trailer up a trail with a decent amount of camping gear piled in, so I've been told to either look for a good size motor or one with hi-lo gears. From what I've learned so far it seems that something like a Sportsman 500 HO or 550 Griz would do that job fairly well. But for the sake of opening up my options could I possibly look into a smaller engine than these if it had hi-lo? Put another way...what's the smallest engine size I should be looking for on a machine that has hi-lo considering my pulling needs?
2 - Can add power steering? Is it possible to add power steering to a model that didn't come with it, but other versions of that same year's model did? For example some of the 2008 Griz 550s came with PS and some didn't. If I found one that didn't have it could I reasonably assume I could add it later considering the frame and equipment has probably already been designed to work with it?
3- Mileage and age. Most of the machines I'm seeing have between 500-1200 or so miles and I'm wondering how many is too many? Seen some with 2-3000+ and I'm most def staying away from those. But whats the mileage limit where you can expect major things (read expensive) to start going wrong with the machine? I've heard someone generally speaking say they would rather take a 2006 with 1000 miles on it vs a 2012 with 2000. Would most people agree?