Sprocket/tire/chain changes and effects on speed.

Yamaha Raptor 350 & Warrior Forum

Help Support Yamaha Raptor 350 & Warrior Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dswwarrior350

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
2,486
Reaction score
0
Location
Hastings, Pa
Ive seen way to many posts about changing sprockets etc. Decided to do a write up.

Changing the front sprocket is much more of a drastic change than the rear. Going down in teeth on the front sprocket lowers top speed but boosts torque. Going up in teeth raises top speed but lowers torque. The rear is exactly the opposite, going up in teeth lowers top speed but gains torque, going down raises speed but lowers torque.

As far as diffrences in speed changes between 1 rear sprocket tooth and one front ive found that:
1 front tooth sprocket changes speed by 3-5 mph in either direction
1 rear changes 1-2 mph in either direction

As a good rule of thumb ive always followed that one front tooth equals about 3 in the rear sprocket.

The warrior comes stock with 13/40 gearing. In my opinion this set-up should not be changed unless you mod or change tires on a stock machine. The stock sprockets are pretty good as far as using the motors power and gear change speed. As far as lowering a time in drag racing goes, I feel that both a 12 and a 14 would raise your 500 foot times. 12 is too low, and 14 puts the motor down too low in rpms between gears. With the 12 you shift more than you move. Also another thing, Gearing changes to accomadate tight trails should not be needed even in the tightest of trails. Lets face it, the warrior stock has the first gear of a tractor, i never had any problems moving it around in woods when mine was stock.

Top speed break down
Stock the warrior does about 62 mph. Changing to 20" rear tires will put you at about the 58 mph mark, and 18" tires about 54/55 mph.

In order to keep the same speeds while changing tire sizes change the front sprocket. Ive found that on the warrior, front sprocket changes change about the same amount of speed as tire changes. For example... if you put 20" rear tires on, changing your front sprocket to a 14 tooth will put you right at about stock speed again.

Mods can also affect top speed, for example pipe and cams filters etc. Allow the motor breath more and open up more gaining not only more torque and horsepower but also allowing the motor to rev out further.

As far as availible sprockets for the warrior
Fronts:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 ( not sure if it will fit or not, with the removal of the stock case guard any size should fit no problem)

Rears:
Pretty much anything 38-48 and beyond in either direction.


One last thing id like to throw out there is not to waste your money on expensive sprockets. Even the cheapest sprockets will last a long ass time. What wears out sprockets is stretched chains and worn out chains. Keeping the chain tight at all times also prolongs sprocket life. I have found primary drive sprockets to be excellent for the price, ive had the same rear for about 2 years now. Ive been changing fronts to find my sweet spot.

Chains are also an often debated topic. There are many diffrent types, oring, non oring, heavy duty, racing chains, x rings. Most guys on here run oring chains. I personally run non oring chains. They are way lighter, flex much easier, and allow you to squeeze a little bit of free horsepower out ( dont believe me?, try it!). My favorite chain would have to be the primary drive 520H racing chain. Its lasted for about 2 years so far. When i first installed it it stretched alot at first, then it got to a point when i could ride its on about 3-5 rides without an adjustment. The trick with non oring chains is frequent lubrication. However since most people prefer o ring chains im going to say id stick to them. All the major companies produce good solid chains, just stay away from the ebay specials and you should be good. Theres no real chain out there that i can say is best. The best way is just to buy a good chain and be done with it, all of the higher priced chains will last a long time as long as they are maintained properly. Chains can be pretty expensive. Ill compile a list of good solid chain brands ive heard good things about and had good experience with.

DID
Regina
RK
Primary drive ive heard good and bad.
I dont hear much about renthal but im sure its a solid product as most are.
 
i ran a 17 tooth front sprocket with 22" bandits on my 96 warrior once, it was fast as hell but it took about a quarter mile just to get into 6th gear. i took that bitch off and put a 15 tooth sprocket and some 20" shredders on it and that setup worked pretty good
 
Also I switched from a non O ring Renthal chain to a Regina Z-ring and let me tell you.. There was no power difference what so ever. Also I've only adjusted my chain once and this is after about 400 miles of riding... with the non O-ring chain I would have had to adjust it every other ride. Non O-ring chains are not ment for quads, they allow to much dirt into the links and pins and will wear out fast no matter how much lube you put on them.
 
I agree with non o rings being crappy but 400 miles and no chain adjustment is extremely hard to believe unless you ride no where near any mud or sand.
 
I agree with non o rings being crappy but 400 miles and no chain adjustment is extremely hard to believe unless you ride no where near any mud or sand.

I'm dead serious, and I have no reason to lie to you. After the first 10 hours the chain broke in and streached, that was the last of it. I guess honestly I wouldn't believe it either unless I seen it with my own eyes.

Edit, yes I do ride in the mud and water but only up to the bottom of the fame almost everyother ride.
 
Hmm, so its called a regina z-ring or do you mean x-ring? How much did the chain cost ya, this would be worth looking into after my chain wears out.
 
http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_ca....d= 11203&mmyId=
$78.00. It's a Z-ring chain. My guess it's the same as an X-ring. I just seen a lot of top names using Regina and thought it must be good. I'll tell you that Renthal chain lasted about a year or so and I spent I beleive it was like $55.00 dollars. F that noise. Last time I do that. You could tell the chain was wearing to because it wore my sprockets all to hell and to get new ones. :(
 
I dont know. I noticed a difference in switching between the 2. Maybe because my old chain was crap but idk. When new oring chains are pretty stiff. But after switching between the 2 i would never go back to oring. As much as a chain moves id think that after a few hundred miles the o-rings wouldnt be doing much anymore anyway. Im prolly wrong on that though, all i know is when i took my oring chain off there over 1/2 the rings were gone out of it, and it wasnt really even that worn out, ive run many non oring chains way past replacement, i usually take links out once of twice before i replace it. As long as the wear index isnt off too much. Then again another factor that plays into that is i have to put a 100 link chain on instead of a 98 because of my carrier..... its hits the swingarm before the stock one would because its billet so i dont get as much adjustment as everyone else.

Ive also found that the best chain lube you can buy is regular old white lithium spray grease. Nothing ive used seems to work as well or last as long.... the downside is that its messy but nothing simple green and a scrub brush wont take care of.
 
http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/produ...kuId=&store=Main&catId=112&productId=p1100836 4&leafCatId=11203&mmyId=
$78.00. It's a Z-ring chain. My guess it's the same as an X-ring. I just seen a lot of top names using Regina and thought it must be good. I'll tell you that Renthal chain lasted about a year or so and I spent I beleive it was like $55.00 dollars. F that noise. Last time I do that. You could tell the chain was wearing to because it wore my sprockets all to hell and to get new ones. :(
dont buy it from DK there ******* outragous on price. I just bought a chain and sprocket kit from magicracing with JT sprockets and an EK o- ring chain..I will never buy another non o-ring chain
 
Dennis kirk may be a little more money, but the shipping time is like a 1/4 of rocky mountain. I can get parts from dk in about 2 days cod. From rocky mountain it can take in excess of 10.
 
I posted this tutorials and I'll post it here too. You should find this very easy to understand, I think I got all the ratios and grear changes in there.


I'll post some ratios with different tire sizes.
The lower the number the higher the revs will be and the more top end you lose. Remember you can't go to high numbers because your motor may not have the torque and you'll actually lose power.


13/40 and 22s is 7.16 ratio, Stock gearing and 62 MPH.

12/40 and 22s is 6.60 ratio, Motor will be very torquey but lose top end.

12/40 and 20s is 6.00 ratio, First gear will be useless, and you'll run though the gears way to fast.

13/40 and 20s is 6.51 ratio, Same as 12/40 and 22s.

13/39 and 20s is 6.66 ratio, almost same as above.

14/40 and 20s is 7.01 ratio, Better but not close enough to stock.

14/38 and 20s is 7.38 ratio, pretty good all around ratio.

14/39 and 20s is 7.19 ratio, Almost perfect to stock gearing.

15/40 and 22s is 8.27 ratio, getting way out of the warriors torque range

15/40 and 20s is 7.51 ratio, Too high for stock motor will be sluggish.

15/38 and 20s is 7.90 ratio, Good for a 446 motor top speed over 80.

16/40 and 20s is 8.00 ratio Good combo for stroker motor.

13/40 and 18s is 5.86 ratio, Top speed will be like 40 MPH screeming.

14/40 and 18s is 6.31 ratio, Same as 12/40 with 20s.

14/38 and 18s is 6.47 ratio, Same as above.

15/38 and 18s is 7.11 ratio, Almost perfect to stock gearing.

16/38 and 18s is 7.59 ratio, Good if your motor can handle it, top speed will be in the mid 70s.
 
Well I ordered some 20 inch klaws and a 15 tooth sprocket just for the heck of it. Since the sprocket is gona be here before the tires I'm gona see what kinda top end I have with the 15 tooth and 22 in tires :eek: Haha with my stage 2 cam it should pull like a mofo on top.
 
Well I ordered some 20 inch klaws and a 15 tooth sprocket just for the heck of it. Since the sprocket is gona be here before the tires I'm gona see what kinda top end I have with the 15 tooth and 22 in tires :eek: Haha with my stage 2 cam it should pull like a mofo on top.

what did you have before?
 
Back
Top