gear reduction on an atv for bigger tires?

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Nov 29, 2009
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I'm poking around with the idea of getting another offroad toy, whether it's a dirt bike or an atv, i'm still on the fence. I love the idea of a manual shift atv, but I think honda pretty much is the only one that makes them. I think these CVT transmissions just take the fun out of it. Anyways, with that being said I looked at a honda rancher and it was literally the smallest atv they had. Looked like something a 12 year old could drive, so it's definitely going to need some bigger tires. I think the stock tires are 24" and I was thinking of adding a lift and maybe 28-29" tires, but I think at that point it needs the gear ratio lowered, but that's the part where I don't understand exactly what that entails.
 
I'm going to go with 'will cost more than any sane person would want to spend' for $500 Alex.

There might be gearsets out there for it, but what a chore it would be to install them.

An old school 4-wheeler with a chain rear drive would be simple, but no 4wd in those.

https://reductionboss.com/collections/all-reductions

Maybe start there.

Got to looking about how they accomplish the reductions. They're not changing the final drive, but the gearing from the crankshaft to the transmission input. That didn't occur to me at first, but makes sense. Only downside is that it increases the stress on the clutch and transmission, and several of the mods require cutting the crankcase and heavier clutch springs.
 
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My 99 Polaris xplorer 300 is chain drive front and back. And there's multiple size chain sprockets and chains available. I suppose you could put smaller sprockets on the transmission end and larger ones on the axle end.

There's a lot of math involved, and even with the staggered tire setup, the front on mine is geared significantly taller. Just by nature of how the Polaris oil hub system works.

With that said, mine has significant center of gravity issues as is. I feel like bigger tires and I'd be tipping it over more than I already do
 
My 99 Polaris xplorer 300 is chain drive front and back. And there's multiple size chain sprockets and chains available. I suppose you could put smaller sprockets on the transmission end and larger ones on the axle end.

There's a lot of math involved, and even with the staggered tire setup, the front on mine is geared significantly taller. Just by nature of how the Polaris oil hub system works.

With that said, mine has significant center of gravity issues as is. I feel like bigger tires and I'd be tipping it over more than I already do
I don't think they use chain drive anymore though
 
Not many options for gearing, the most popular for adding big tires is adding portal boxes to the hubs. Expensive but it also gets you a 4-6" lift and the gear reduction. For some models they do have aftermarket gear sets for the transmission but you'll never see anything for a manual shift atv.
 
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