geezer99

My Axis 500 has a solid spool rear end. That gives great traction for hills and pulling, but it tears up a wet lawn on sharp corners. I wonder if a true limited slip differential or a lockable differential is available in the after market? I googled with no results. Thanks, tom

Yes they will. The backside of the dam for our little pond is about 30 degrees, and from a standing start in low range, Axis 500 will zip right up it. If muddy it will require a running start, but that is more a function of tires than drive train. tom

I've been cleaning carburetors for the last 60 years. Compressed air and broom straw following a soak in carb cleaner are my goto methods. I have never had gunk so stuck in an orifice that it needed a gas welding tip cleaner or a drill. The tip cleaning kit you show would work fine, but you will need to be careful not to over-do it for risk of enlarging the orifice. I have used drills to enlarge jets, mostly with poor results. Most engines seem to run best with the factory size jets. Hopped up engines are a whole different story. I have been satisfied with factory performance, but I respect the folks who like to hot-rod their equipment. I knew a guy that built sand rails back in the early 70s. He souped up everything, and nobody could come close. I remember he rebuilt a rear end out in the dunes at sand lake on the Oregon coast. He practically had a service station in his trailer. tom

Geeze, I'm 74 and people are still telling me to "grow up". tom

Well, it's been three months since I bought the Axis 500. I've got about 60 miles on it in approximately 40 uses. No problems to report. There are some things that annoy me though: Worst is the gear noise. I reported that last time, but it doesn't seem to be changing. The safety inter locks are also annoying. I leave the seat belts clipped together all the time except when I take my grand-kids on a ride. Gotta be a good example, you know. In order to change between H, L, R, you have to step on the brakes hard, or it won't shift. I really like the dump box for the stuff I do. I used the winch to pull a log off one of my trails. The winch seems to be a realistic size, and can skid all four tire. No need for a bigger one. Chores I used to use a wheelbarrow for, I use the buggy. I need a better name for it. whoopy, buggy, quad, ATV, whatever? tom

Here's an update to my Axis 500 experience: There is an annoying amount of gear noise any time the engine is pulling or using engine braking. It reminds me of an old late 40s vintage truck in low gear I drove working for a dairy in the 60s. I don't know if it comes from front or rear axle gear boxes, or the transmission. I checked all for proper fill and they were correct. I am not experienced with the CVT transmission. It annoys me that I have to rev the crap out of the engine to "git 'er going". After reaching desired speed, I can back off the throttle and cruise with a reasonable engine RPM. Tools that came with it included a special wrench to adjust the stiffness of the springs. It is stamped from soft steel, and rounded off the knobs that engage the spring adjusters on first use. On the front suspension I got the job done with a big-as* water pump pliers. But that won't work on the rear, and I need to find or make a descent tool for long term use. I've only got about 6 hours on it so far. The little beauty is filling it's role well so far. Will keep you posted on developments. tom

Well, I bought the Axis 500 sold at Lowes for $8999 a couple days ago. This post will be about my impressions as I use, fix, and abuse the machine. I will add to the post as I gain experience with it. Thanks to other posters on this site warning of new machines with loose hardware, one of my first actions was to crawl all over it checking fluids and connections. Zirks were all freshly greased, fluids in engine, and gear boxes were up to level. One of the little gas struts that help lift the bed to dump was dangling with only one end connected, and the other strut had not been fully tightened. Here are some things I don't like: The rear gearbox does not have a differential in it. It is essentially a solid axle. Tight turns on lawn will leave tracks, and turns are not as tight on pavement. In my case this won't matter much, but if you plan to use it on a lawn, this will create tracks on turns. To check engine oil you need to remove both front seats and a plastic cover. This according to the manual. I'm pretty sure it can be checked with that stuff in place, either from under or above, but that remains to be seen. I am not used to a CVT transmission. I am used to a clutch and multiple gears. This one requires giving it plenty of gas out of the hole and then backing off to get it to shift up. I'm sure I will get used to it, but I'd like to be able to take off quietly if I want to. The doors have bungie cords to act as springs to close them. I removed the driver door so I would not need to fight the constant pressure to close. Problem solved. I will leave the passenger door as is. Gotta keep the grandkids safe. The status display is hard to read if the sun is on it. Here is some stuff I like: I was concerned about there being enough torque to slowly climb a steep hill. There is. I will elaborate more on this when I've had it on my steeper trails. The display has dedicated lights to indicate status of gear position, low oil pressure, over temp, and a bunch of other stuff. This helps a beginner with feedback that an action taken was successful. The sparsity of knobs on the tires dig in well on most surfaces. I bet they wear out fast on pavement. The tilt bed has a tail gate that is easy to operate. Much like early Japan pickups. Steering is responsive and little slack. Remains to be seen how long to get loose since the u-joints are operating at quite sharp angles. Seats are pretty nice. Will be interesting to see how long it will take me to poke a screw driver though them. Seat belts are included to hold grand kids in. Won't go over 5 mph if both aren't buckled. Yeah, it works to buckle them empty. Doing this leaves the belt high on back, so you don't have to sit on it. Hauling it home, my trailer wheel wells were too close together to clear the tires of the UTV. This required driving it off center a bit, with one set of tires inside the wells and one side driving over the wheel well. Creeping over the one well required climbing a 10 inch vertical well. The ability to lock the front axle differential kept both front wheels pulling as I drove the one side up and over the wheel well. The guys at Lowes were impressed. They won't touch any but an unobstructed flat trailer loading. As I gain more experience I will add to this topic, tom

I've been interested in these as well. Reading the manual, it is claimed that they should only climb 15 degree hills. That is nothing. I bet they will do much better. What experience have others had. To me, this warning sounds like lawyer talk to limit there liability if rolled. Will thes machines spin all wheels on dry grass? thanks, tom

Thank you both for your thoughts. I have been gravitating towards a quad for the reasons you have mentioned. Our property is quite hilly. My 250 beater dirt bike will go anywhere even when wet. My old Ford 8N tractor will, too. With simple all season tires, My 4x4 pickup would slide sideways on some of the hills and end up in the creek. In the winter we seldom get snow, but we do get plenty of mud. So my thinking is whatever I get it will need aggressive tires and decent ground clearance. One thing that bugs me about quads is they seem top-heavy. Any thoughts along those lines? thanks again, tom

Howdy from Oregon! I'm wanting a SxS for operating on my own property. I would use it to haul chainsaw, cables, axe, machete and other stuff to maintain several miles of foot paths. Also I would use it to make the daily 1 mile round trip to the mail box. I expect I would use it a hundred hours per year. I am grossed out by the price of new machines, and after reading the service manual of a Polaris RZR 400, I am not happy with the maintenance required either. It seems a used machine has quite a number of areas that would be potential problems if a used machine wasn't kept up properly with maintenance. 4x4 quads seem a lot cheaper, and simpler to maintain, but have the drawbacks of no "bed" and maybe? side-hill stability. Your thoughts, please? tom