[FloridaWheeler]

Took my Foreman to its first mud bog this weekend. Had a blast but I have to admit that I left a little frustrated. I've only owned my 500 for about two months now. Since then I've been on several short trail rides that contained a couple little mud holes. The Foreman was able to handle everything during those rides. BUT...this was my first time being at a REAL mud hole! I will admit that I'm a rookie at riding four wheelers. This is the first ATV I've owned and I'm obviously still learning to drive in the mud. After about the fifth or sixth time being pulled out by my brother in-law's 350 Rancher I became a little heated to say the least Seemed like I would bottom out all the time. I had plenty of horsepower but the Mudlites just kept on spinning. Felt like I didn't have a whole lot of torque It was probable just the driver but for the first time I felt like my machine wasn't able to do the job. I hate to dump more money into mods but there's no way I'm going let my brother in-law have the upper hand in another mud hole! Any advice...driving tips? or some simple mods. that will dramatically improve performance? THANKS!

P.S. - Playing in the mud is fun and all but I learned first hand how Fun cleanup is afterwards! I took off the tires and sprayed some brake cleaner on the disk brakes. Took be two hours just to get must of mud off but the darn thing is still dirty. Any tips on maintenance to perform after having your four wheeler in stuff like this? Thanks again!

 

[Truegrit]

First Riding tips. Due to our low ground clearance and SRA getting high-centered is more common for us then an IRS bike. Sometimes you have to stand w/ both feet on one floorboard, leaning the bike, in order to get the tires on one side of the bike to bite.

Second, Cleaning the bike. Before riding, spray everything metal and the undersides of the plastics w/ Silicone spray or a mixture of water and baby oil.

After riding I use Formula 88 (you can use "the purple stuff", simplegreeen, whatever it all dos the same thing) from Home Depot, diluted w/ water in a small garden sprayer. If you let it sit on it for a bit, when you rinse the bike off 95% of the mud drops off w/o scrubbing. Then I touch up the rest w/ water and my hand or a sponge.

Spray Tire foam Works well to make the whole bike shine once its dry. Spray it everywhere. Just get the cheapest stuff you can find because 1 can will only do the bike a couple times.

There are more tips in the detailing & appearance section on this forum.

 

[raveer2000]

Where were you riding? Where you in ruts or an actual mud pit?
Mudlites aren't the best mud tire out there. And like you say power is no the problem. if you want to go far in rutted mud holes the best way is to get the bike up.(lift it.) Doesn't do anything for ground clearance under the rear axle but getting the floorboards up has been the biggest help to me. Put in a DGL and learn to lean the bike to one side in a rut. Most of the time it will pull through most ruts. If it stops lean the other way. Takes a little time but it will go.

 

[bnjeep]

The leaning trick works great, that is the only thing that saves me from having to take a tow rope, ruts can get real deep around here.

 

[Railroader]

Ya'll are a bunch of weiners. I just sit back & go right through the stuff . 2wd at that

 

[Rubicon3303]

i would go through everything in 2wd if i had it.

 

[Truegrit]

You should invest in the 4-2-4. It is worth it.