My buddy had the exact same quad, just in yellow. He bought it new in 2003 to use as a plow vehicle for his 800' driveway, that's all he used it for. Fast forward 14 years later, I decided to get into 4 wheeling, ATVing, riding quads....;-) he finally got it off his property and decided to go ride some trails with me. Even though it was a good machine, 1 ride on my new Polaris sportsman 850SP and he had to upgrade! I loved that sportsman 700, that's the reason I even got into it. The only issue he ever had on it was that it blew a belt once. I've heard they can have issues with head gaskets, so keep an eye on it 🙂 I think this will be an awesome machine to add to collection! BTW, if I was told correctly, the 700 came out in 2002, and in 2002 the 500, 600 and 700 were on a newer, "larger" chassis, that later would replace the 700 with the 800. That 400 you have is the old, "smaller chassis". Here's another fact, the 700 was rated @ 45 HP, just 1 more than the new 570 🙂
Update, he did change the exhaust donut, you're correct, they do fail. his machine only had 290 miles on it, but it was 290 "plow" miles !! He had the same tires, and it is night and day difference with new tires!! Much better ride, those old tires were just too hard!!
Super cool find. Looking forward to seeing it when your done with it.
My buddy had the exact same quad, just in yellow. He bought it new in 2003 to use as a plow vehicle for his 800' driveway, that's all he used it for. Fast forward 14 years later, I decided to get into 4 wheeling, ATVing, riding quads....;-) he finally got it off his property and decided to go ride some trails with me. Even though it was a good machine, 1 ride on my new Polaris sportsman 850SP and he had to upgrade! I loved that sportsman 700, that's the reason I even got into it. The only issue he ever had on it was that it blew a belt once. I've heard they can have issues with head gaskets, so keep an eye on it 🙂 I think this will be an awesome machine to add to collection! BTW, if I was told correctly, the 700 came out in 2002, and in 2002 the 500, 600 and 700 were on a newer, "larger" chassis, that later would replace the 700 with the 800. That 400 you have is the old, "smaller chassis". Here's another fact, the 700 was rated @ 45 HP, just 1 more than the new 570 🙂
Update, he did change the exhaust donut, you're correct, they do fail. his machine only had 290 miles on it, but it was 290 "plow" miles !! He had the same tires, and it is night and day difference with new tires!! Much better ride, those old tires were just too hard!!
@@MrJeffyb69 that really is a great story, thank you for sharing it! I can’t wait to get this one finished, it’s getting closer.