Hello everyone ! After a year of dreaming about a RZR and basically not thinking I'd get one, Monday I made a spur of the moment purchase of a 09 RZR. The test ride at the dealer made the sale. So far we've ended up putting close to 300 miles on it the first week. I am totally impressed with this machine and my girlfriend and her daughter (the intended users) love it. I'm very impressed with the ride, handleing , and the fuel mileage. Our RZR is stock with the addition of 14" rims with Maxxis Bighorns, full windshield and bimini top.
Since I've returned home from our cabin (and a week long vacation there) I've been on this site trying to learn as much about this thing as possible. I am really amazed at the info and products available for it, and also a little overwhelmed at which things to get. There are just so many choices. 90% of our riding will be on sandy ( I repeat sandy) ORV trails in northern michigan. I'm not much into mudding or rock crawling. There will be the occasional trip to the Silver lake sand dunes though.
First off , I'd like to purchase a service manual. I've found several online but I just want a nice hardcopy of it. My printer would go into overload if I tried to print one of the online versions of it.
Next, where is the best place to purchase some of the maintence items, oil's (can aftermarket oils such as Amsoil be used ?) filters, etc ?
I plan on getting some extra storage things, like the Polaris overhead bag , dash bag and cargo box. Are there better after market options for these ? I'd also like to carry a spare gas which is the prefered one? I only need a smaller one. I've also been looking at front and rear bumpers and for the price the Polaris ones look pretty good. Any opinions or recommendations ?
Now I'm pretty happy with the performance but as usual with my toys I can't leave anything alone. I read briefly about remove a shim in the clutch to gain some top speed, what are the opinions on this ? I'd like to see a little more top speed but the only thing I think this machine lacks it midrange power. Is there a way to get it to accelarate faster ? Possibly a clutch kit ? I see EPI makes some. Also is the stock belt sufficient ? Also since I ride mostly dusty , sandy conditions what should I do with my air intake ? Will a filter upgrade help or a complete airbox and filter ? I see many options with the filters but which one will work the best for me ? Next is exhaust, I'd like to make it quetier but also sound a little better, and hopefully get a slight performance gain. I'd prefer just doing a slip on or something, although I see there is a dual exhaust set up for sale in the classifieds. Is that a better option ? I've read a little about fuel controllers , are they needed ? And basically what do they do ?
I really don't want to go crazy with this thing, and I can see it will be easy to do. It will mostly be driven by a 100lb woman and her 70lb daughter, they will normally be following me on my dirtbike. What I would like is to keep it reliable , quiet it downs slightly , and enhance the performance. Nothing extreme , a little more top end and midrange.
Sorry for such a long post. I can see the addiction has begun !

One other thing, I notice sometimes when shifting from L or H into reverse I get some grinding in the trans., what I do instead of slamming it into gear I just shut the motor off and change gears. Is this normal or is something out of adjustment ?

Welcome to the forum Chuck! Dusty trails up north, eh? I should check that out sometime... LOL

Give your stock filtration system a chance to see if it's OK. Not all of them are bad--maybe most are OK. Or have you already found dust stuck to your throttlebody?

On that service manual--buy one from your dealer. The dealer price is about the same as I've seen them sell on eBay (often cheaper).

Look into a Heelclicker clutch kit for improved launches without sacrificing slow-speed performance for technical riding. For midrange boost you'll probably need intake & exhaust work and a juicebox.

Don't know what to say about the gear grinding. I haven't heard of that being any more than an occasional nuisance. If worse than that you should probably take it to the dealer while it's still new.

--Mark

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Now a 2-Rzr household.
Romeo, MI
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Hey there Mark,
back at home and on the RZR forum huh ? I've been on this site since I walked in the door !
We had a great ride with you guys... I think I'm still sneezing out dust though !
I am heading back up in two weeks, have some stuff to do around the cabin and plan on doing some maintence and a general looking over of the RZR then. Hopefully there isn't a dust problem.

Take care and I'll be talking to you later.

Guy, welcomr to the world of RZR's. Good luck on not going overboard on this toy.
You might want to get a pair of 4 point harnessesfor your gals. When I hadmy Turbo instaled I also had the harnasses installed and they are the favorite option for my wife.
The clutch spacer is a easy removal. There is a step by step somewhere or this form or the other. There is some opinions on this effecting belt life, but you can decide if this is to your liking.
Speaking of the belt. Get a spare and do a dry run on replacing it. Make sure you use the tools that you will be traveling with. During your dry run you will discover what tools to take. Sometime during you travel you WILL have to replace a belt in the field.
My recommendations for accessories is to see what your brothers are using as you meet them,everybody has an opinion as to why they purchased whatever.
A big decision that you will have to make is to add width or stay trail legal. If you decide to go wide, the world is out there for all sorts of improvements, but most if not all are not reversableto allow you to trail ride @ the 52" width. This will be your call and not to be taken lightly.
If you don't have an 09 get some RZR cookies, cheap and it will prevent puncturing the side of your body.
Another decision will be a warrentee. Some dealers take a narrow view on "improvements" so if you have or plan to get an extended warrentee consider everything. Some dealers have disputed something as small as the clutch spacer a "mod"
John

manual? try here RZR SERVICE MANUAL about 400 pages so make sure your printer is up to snuff before you pull that trigger

-robert