Darryl

Well, sorry I haven't had much time to update the thread, but the car is pretty much done. I lost a motor, blew a rear diff from too much power on take off on asphalt, changed a few things and voila, it's here... Got some seat time and testing done on it this weekend. Springs are a bit on the soft side and no sway bar hooked up yet, but it was a blast. Had several 4400 KOH cars and a trophy truck out on the track last Saturday... It was awesome running out there with them... I could tell I didn't have the 500-800hp they had, but still held my own.. Chopped the throttle a bit too soon on the jump face (causing it to drop the nose on landing), but it was a pretty soft landing overall, then had another quick jump as soon as the car settled, followed by a 180 turn... good test of suspension reaction... The jump is actually 48ft lip to lip. Got about a 55-58ft jump outta this... Wished I had the angle more from the side to see the actual height and distance better..but I was making the jump just barely shorter than the KOH cars were doing... Video of it on the course... PROWLER PROJECTS :: MVI_0278.mp4 video by DarrylD89 - Photobucket New color....

And here's the predecessor to the Wildcat..... Getting ready for the Vegas To Reno Race in August... Class 19, 17 inches rear and 16 inches front travel with King Remote Res Shocks, 100hp, Summers Bros 300M Axles, 28 inch ITP BajaCross Tires, 226ft of 1.75X.095 Chromemoly.

Thanks for the reply Mike, I can agree that we are pretty close now in agreement on much of what is said. I will tell you one thing that you will like, the new John Deere Gator XUV 825i, uses a Cheery motor, almost the same as the Joyner. Difference is, John Deere does it's own quality control and has made a few design and production changes. The 3 cylinder in the Gator is by far a better engine than most, just needs to pare down on weight. I like how it sounds more like a small compact car rather than a cycle engine. Jon's info comes from the original Prowler XTZ release. Joey D with UTVUnderground has a much more thorough review, having attended Arctic Cat's press release rides, which included a multi-day trip to the edge of the Grand Canyon by UTV. Check it out in the latest issue of UTV Off Road Magazine that just hit the newsstands. I see the future of UTVs being even more exciting, especially with Arctic Cat's new sport machine coming out in June '11 and Deere coming out with a sport machine... spy shot of new sport Deere...photo taken inside quanset huts at Deere's Washington test facility. Desert runner based on an XUV825i, built by DragonFire Racing for Deere... Thanks for the discussion Mike...

Nothing to be sorry about. I still disagree with you on much. i know Jon Crowley of UTVGuide.net. His comparisons are outdated, most of them based on older machines and as evidenced by many more recent arcticles and tests, the Prowler isn't as bad on center of gravity as you stated. In fact, before it shut down, SideXSide Action Magazine did a test between a Prowler XTZ, a RZR-S and a Teryx Sport. The Prowler won. It was the fastest around the race track of the 3. Yes, it sits higher, but the testors also said it was the most predictable of the 3 on corners and was easy to control if you pushed it too far. As for the engine power, even the Prowler XTX 700 is rated at 54 horsepower. Still up there. And ground clearance, the others are within an inch of the Prowler in GC. Plus, the Arctic Cat is the only one that features a ride in suspension, which is very similar in reaction to what a desert race car does. If you want to, you can do the same as the Gator and Ranger, and crank the suspension right up there to 13 inches ground clearance, much more than the Gator or Ranger are capable of. Why a minus on weight for the Prowler, it is much lighter than the Gator and the same as the Ranger. If you compare it to the RZR, then yes, the RZR is a much lighter machine. But the RZR can't carry much load. And I don't know where you are getting the fuel economy ratings, the Prowler 1000 easily gets 140 miles off it's tank of 8 gallons, about the same as the Ranger. Cabs, I've sold lots of cabs for the Prowlers. Curtis Cab makes them, Mammoth makes them, Seizmik makes them and AC makes 2 versions for them. I know, I'm a dealer for all those and I also sell cabs for other brands. Oh, and the winch, Arctic Cat uses Warn winches. And the Cats are the easiest to wire up and install of most brands...I know, I sell Warn and other brands and we do a lot of installs on other brands. Top that off with the fact that ATV Magazine just chose the Arctic Cat XTZ as it's machine of the year in the sport/work combo field. Over Can Am, over Ranger, over Rhino, over Gator XUV825i, over them all.... Oh, and try to load 1000lbs in the Ranger, it squats bad compared to the Gator. And in the pull drag test, the Ranger burned out their belt after two drag sled pulls, the Gator pulled several times further. The Cat's pull great too, and I don't know where you get your info on the hitch, the Cat uses a 2" receiver compared to most others 1.25" receiver. The Cat's is tough and even comes standard with a front 2" hitch. I have spent many years, invovled with UTV's, from evaluating them, testing them and building them. For Stevens use, I would rate them Gator XUV825i first, Prowler HDX second, Ranger third, and the others (Prowler XTZ included) woudn't even receive a rating. But as I said, the real test is in the Dealer. We will all have our opinons and thoughts, but look at a much wider base of technical data and testing, look at more recent testing results. Early on, Cat didn't have the best repoire with testors and it showed. But now, Cat has earned the respect of many magazine test folk and writers. Joey DiGiovanni has written many positive articles in UTV Off-Road magazine and on UTVUnderground.com. I know Joey and Jon Crowley, and we have chatted often on these. In fact, some of the photos that Jon used in his UTVGuide articles on the Prowler, were my photos, as I had access to them before many in the magazine field. I helped Joey D get his demo Gator to use around his ranch in Cali. I have contacts to the folks in the know in John Deere and Arctic Cat. In fact, you will probably see my name invovled with race programs from AC and maybe in the future from John Deere (yes, John Deere is getting into desert racing with a full team, they will have a sport version Gator out very soon, and I can say it's awesome...specs that'll blow most out there away).

Mike, I beg to differ with your analysis greatly. There are many areas in your evaluation that seem to be subjective of your own opinons. You rate the Prowler only a 6 on hunting while the Gator and others rate 8. I have 5 customers that are professional hunting outfitter guides, they all chose the Prowler over the others. I will agree, the XTZ and XTX only carry 600lbs, but the HDX Prowler, which is geared to compete against the John Deere and the Ranger, also carries 1000lbs and has Fox Adjustable Shocks. The John Deere Gator XUV825i can have the Fox Shocks put on as it is an option. Possible cab enclosure, you only gave the Prowler a 3??? Why, there are more cab options both thru AC and aftermarket for a cab than there are for a Gator. And cheaper priced at that. Seizmik and AC both produce nice soft cabs, and AC has a hard cab available. And the Prowler has a bench seat option as does the Gator, but the Ranger has the 6 seat option, but at a major sacrifice to off-road capability. And why would the Prowler need a winch, it has more wheel travel and about the same ground clearance as the others, plus it uses detroit locker style diffs. Why do you think that most magazine testors say the Cat is the best mud machine out there. And horsepower... you really are off base there, the Cat XTZ produces approx 70hp, the John Deere XUV825i produces 55, the Ranger makes 52 to 54hp. And you list that the Prowler has less attachments than the others... AC has lots more attachments than the Gator or Club Car. I didn't speak much about the club car because it's not really much competition in this market. I do know what I'm talking about with the others, I'm a John Deere and Arctic Cat dealer as well as having spent much time in the seat of a Ranger and have been involved with UTV development. The John Deere Gator XUV825i, Prowler HDX or XTZ and the Ranger would all be good, viable options for Steven. He needs to go to each dealer and drive them, talk with the dealers and find what he feels most comfortable with. He needs to talk to customers of those dealers and find out which ones stand behind their product and will support him as the consumer. That is probably more important than almost any other factor in choosing a side-by-side. A great machine can be ruined by a bad dealer. Steven, it's been a few months since you first requested opinons, I do hope you have talked with many dealers and have or are finding good dealers that will take care of you and your UTV needs.

For hunting or utility purposes, the Yamaha Rhino is far from being the best machine. It only has a 400lb bed capacity and doesn't have a 2inch receiver hitch as which most aftermarket rear implements need. Based on what you are looking for, I would say, you need to look at either a Polaris Ranger, Arctic Cat Prowler HDX or John Deere XUV 825i. All 3 of these machines have 600-1000lb bed capacity, are suitable and outfittable for hunting, have rear implement attachments available, have 44mph+ top speeds and have the ability to use receiver mounted winches that can be wired to work both in front and back. All 3 have bench seating available for 3 persons. So give serious thought to these 3 before accepting the Rhino. The Rhino is a fair sport and light utility machine, but not near having the capabilities that you requested.

But the powerline pics are north of the open area by quite a ways. You may have been in the Limited OHV Area, but that means you are restricted to maintained roads and designated trails, of which there are none right now, the trails in the limited area are all shut down until further notice by the BLM. We are trying to get the BLM to put in the 38 mile UTV loop that had been planned for several years and also to reopen the trails that they recently shut down pending review.

Great answers.... lets keep them as that.. My concern is if anyone complained to the BLM about illegal UTV riding. We have had several major issues over the last couple of years that have caused a conflict to arise with mtn-bikers and horseriders in the Glade. Right now, the Glade is under review and there are no trails open for motorized riding outside of the Open OHV Area down at the southern end of the Glade. And for nobody being there to, all the Rangers were at an organized event on the south side of Farmington....so consider yourself lucky. The Rangers here drive modified RZR-S's and Yamaha Raptors, so there wouldn't be an issue of outrunning them. Who ever it was that was local and guiding you, should've known that anything north of the intersection at Brown's Spring was off-limits except for running in the Glade Sandwash itself. I'm not saying anyone damaged anything, I just wanted to let everyone know for future riding. Nationwide, if we don't start fighting closures, we all will lose our riding areas. And riding in illegal areas, even though I don't condone those closures, can adversely affect all of our riding areas. Bottom line is, we all need to work together to keep our riding areas open.

Glad you had yours. The photos from under the powerlines is way north of the open area and illegal for off-road travel. The video in the sandwash was also north of the open area. I guess the rally in the glade was somewhat an informal one though, which was good since no permits for an organized rally were issued (the issuing officer was at the dunes all day and wasn't aware of a rally going on). Contact Kyle at Rally On The Rocks and see if he can accomodate you all next year at his rally in Moab. He puts on a great rally that has lots of events, good trailrides and lots of vendors.

I hate to tell you guys, but judging from the photos you posted, you all were riding in a limited use area, not legal for off-road travel. Right now, were are engaged in a fight to keep our riding areas in the Glade open. Someone from the group should've obtained a map from the BLM or from online to see what areas are open to riding off-road. That access route under the powerlines is not allowed for travel. There were carsonite posts installed surrounding the Open OHV area, advising that riding out of those boundries was limited to maintained roadway travel only. Not trying to spoil the party, I for one want to see our trails opened back up, but if anyone saw you up in the limited use area, I'm sure the BLM's phones are ringing off the hooks this morning. Also, the BLM requires permits to camp in the Glade Run Rec Area. The BLM Rangers were all over at The Dunes for the OHV Open House that was being there, so that kept you from encountering them. But you definitely don't want to get caught riding off-road in a limited use area. I would hate to see this excursion be used as an additional reason to shut down all of the Glade to all OHVers. Did the Farmington contacts check all this out and advise everyone before the invite? The Farmington are is home to many world class off-roading areas, the Choke Cherry Glade area was even televised on Extreme 4X4 TV this past weekend on Spike and we even host the WEROC National Rock Crawling Championships, but there are limited use areas that are in contention right now with battles going on between mtn-bikers, ranchers, OHVers and Jeepers. It would be good to find all pertinent info on an area before using. Anyone that wants to come to this area for riding, I would be happy to get them all the needed info for OHV use and might even be available to show them around and get them to some of the more fun trails. Below is the link to the BLM Use Map for the Glade Run Rec Area and a link to the BLM site for the Glade. Please, do post positive comments to the BLM about keeping the riding areas open and that fact that many of you traveled from out of state to visit the Glade. Help us keep this area open for future OHV use by voicing positive comments. Map http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nm/programs/recreation/rec_docs.Par.57110.File.dat/brochure_map_2.pdf BLM Glade Site Glade Run Recreation Area Plan/Use Review Glade Site GRRA Improvement Public Forum

Hi all, I don't know if you are aware of it, but there is an OHV Open House going on Saturday, June 12th over at The Dunes on the Bisti Hwy, just going south out of Farmington. I runs from 9am till 3pm. There are going to be dealers there with demo machines, different agencies that oversee OHVing in NM and some good riding. Come over and check it out since you all are going to be in Farmington. Also, keep in mind, Saturday, June 12th, in the Glade, there is going to be the Midnight Madness MtnBike Ride for Childhaven Charity. So keep your eyes out for bike riders, lets not have any conflicts, just good times and good fun. Hope to see you all this weekend... Darryl

Couple more photos... Got the ITP Beadlocks on, just waiting on the King Shocks to give it a few inches lift, and yes, it was rode hard and put away dusty...

More pics...It's not done by any means, next comes the ITP Beadlock wheels, 1/4 doors, low windshield with fold out upper, King Shocks which will lift it a couple more inches, and lots of hidden goodies.. Buddy of mine that stands way over 6ft... said it's the most comfortable fit he's ever had.

Pics of XTZ in progress... should be done in another week. It'll have King Racing Shocks, Beard Super TZ full containment seats, ITP Beadlock wheels with ITP BajaCross 8 ply tires, Fabworx racing cage minus the door bar, 1/4 doors by Fabworx, redesigned spare tire carrier, oh and the seats are lowered 4 inches. And lots of frame bracing too. 13 inches ground clearance with 13 inches wheel travel. More pics tomorrow.. Side view before bracing is added Rear shot with some of the bracing tacked in place Beard Super TZ seat (driver's side) that's replacing OEM Highback seat (passenger side) Beadlocked ITP Wheels and Tires Comparison of lowered passenger seat versus unlowered seat Few more pics of the cage after painting and the lowered tire carrier... Grab Handles Lowered Tire Carrier