'22 RMAX4 1000 XT-R Build & Experiences

Mopower58

Mopower58

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Honda's Achilles heel is the bean counters and lawyers, the engineering teams has some pretty good designs that never get past overly conservative approval process, thanks to the ATC vilification and legal damages from the mid 80's.

Sue me once, only bold new graphics for a decade for you.
Is 91 octane fuel required in this sxs?
 
Plumber32

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Mine came without rear swaybars . I got the higher end shocks of their models and says they will keep it stable while allowing articulation.
My brother has the xtr 4 seat. When we went to winch it over to plug a tire I thought the cage would hit the ground before we got a tire in the air. Then hit some nasty trails in tackett and he came out grinning ear to ear on the improvement.
 
JACKAL

JACKAL

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@JACKAL you've put a good many miles on yours already. About how far do estimate you can go on a fill up ?
Did just over 75 miles today, good mix of high & low range in 4WD. Filled up took 4.3 gal, tank capacity is 9.5 gal. So I feel very comfortable saying 120 miles is doable if not in Low range alot, and 140 miles if cruising easy.

Taking a private group to Brushy Mountain Pennitentiary this Friday, that will be 120 miles for me and will be a better estimate with 70 miles of easy cruising and 50 miles of average trails.

Great ride with neighbors today. Note I had 4 people in the machine for about 8 hours, the two riding in back seats commented how surprisingly comfortable it was all day from seat quality, ride comfort, and no heat transfer from engine compartment. I only noticed the bottom portions of cup holders getting pretty warm as I had a stainless tumbler in it all day, cup holders are directly over engine in front and back.
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JACKAL

JACKAL

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Thoughts / observations after 300 miles of seat time in the RMAX4.

Steering & handling- this machine feels very planted, even with 4 adults in off camber situations. It turns exactly where you point it without pushing through corners in both 2 & 4WD. Not sure of the scientific tilt table numbers, but seat of the pants on the trail has very minimal body roll and seems noticeably lower center of gravity than a P1K5.

Ride- the machine is very impressive on the trail, but rough rocky terrain still will rock you side to side a good bit just like the P1K. Some mentioned removing sway bars, but the vast majority of riding and machine great handling characteristics, I'm not going to mess with it for 5% of the terrain.

Heat & Steam - Hitting deep water holes and creek crossings there is no steam coming into the passenger area, windshield doesn't fog up, etc. Very little heat is transferred to the engine cover that is between and behind the front seats, the plastic where rear legs touch gets only mildly warm, not hot, only the bottom of the cup holders gets hot as they didn't insulate around the six ( not a typo) cupholder detents, an easy fix but only noticeable if using a metal tumbler that transfers heat easily. Yamaha did a very good job overall in this department. In the rear the floor between the rear seats and behind does get warm to the touch especially near the back directly above the exhaust.

Terrainabity- is that even a word? The RMAX4 is confidence inspiring, I have been amazed at how easily the P1K handles terrain such as moderate rock ledges etc. in that it motors right through and over most anything in the trail with little effort or concern. I was very happy to see that the RMAX displays the same manners after going into some tough steep rocky sections yesterday.

Interior- just flat impressed with the RMAX4 compared to the P1Ks and CanAm Commander XT's I have driven. Just so many little things make for such and overall positive riding experience and impression. My knees really loved the factory padding as well as a center console both front passengers can rest their elbow on. RMAX comes with 10 precut rocker switch holes, 6 on front dash and 4 by shift gate, simply pull the rubber plugs out and snap in your accessory switches. Factory installed 12v lighter plug, USB charge ports, and 3.5mm aux audio jack for the radio system all placed in great locations. Then there is the dual display that comes standard on the XT-R & Limited models called Yamaha Adventure Pro, it offers full gauge layout customization, built in GPS, cameras, etc. That gadget is actually a ruggedized 7" tablet integrated locking into the console of the dash, you can pop it out and add apps, via WiFi or Bluetooth if desired. GPS mapping is by Magellan and adding trails files is a wonky method required to be done by PC online then synced with tablet, I did quickly add Oruxmaps to it with trails from multiple states in the time it took to create the Magellan account and read up on its function.

Storage- up front there is a cubby hole on far left of drivers dash big enough for large phones, a cubby hole low center dash under USB & aux audio ports, a shelf below passenger grab bar, all these with grippy rubber liners and raised edge lips. Large glove box under the passenger grab bar and a center console with lid that has modest but secure from elements storage for 2 phone, wallet, USB cables, etc. Yamaha offers a rear storage box that replaces the rear tailgate fitted flush, lockable with 28 gallons of secure storage behind the rear seats. Definitely on my get list.
 
JACKAL

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On Monday (Memorial Day) wife wanted to go for a ride since she missed out the day before. Her, I and the pooch covered 107 miles in Royal Blue and New River Units. at the end filled up with 7.0 gal. We were on our last bar according to fuel gauge for last 30 miles, but it wasn't blinking. (manual says 2 gal left approx. when last bar starts blinking). So we had 2.5 gal of 9.5 gal left after 107 miles, good info to know.

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So today my rear panel arrived, first impressions, very nice. Tinted glass that tips out and can be locked. It works with both the tailgate and the 28 gal. storage box that replaces the tailgate and fills up the entire area behind the back seats.
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Also replaced the steel cable, hook, and roller fairlead that came from the factory with an All Top synthetic line & forged hook that bears a striking resemblance to the Warn Epic hook, Warn Aluminum hawse fairlead, Warn Epic Shackles, and added a shackle to the back.

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I like getting air in warm months and will continue to use the Yamaha OEM hard coat fold down windshield the dealership had already installed. However will replace it with the glass unit with windshield wiper for use in Nov-April here, will add the heater and soft upper doors then as well too.

This is the list of OEM accessories added thus far:

Wolverine Folding Polycarbonate Windshield B4M-F83J0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX4 Flip Up Glass Rear Window B4J-K750A-T0-00
Wolverine Skid Plate UHMWPE B4J-F84P0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Front Bash Plate B4J-F84N0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Front A-Arm Guards B4J-F31A0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Rear A-Arm Guards B4J-F21A0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Rock Sliders B4J-F11D0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Front Brush Guard B4J-F84L0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX 1000 Rear Brush Guard B4J-F85E0-V0-00
WARN Powersports Winch Wireless Remote kit #90288

These four items are on the way:
Wolverine RMAX4 Cargo Box BG4-F83P0-V0-00
Ducks Nets Rear Netting
Ducks Nets Front Netting
Ducks Nets Front Storage Pocket

Waiting until cooler weather (Oct/Nov) for adding these items:

Glass Windshield w/ Wiper & Washer System B4J-F83J0-T0-00
Wolverine Cab Heater Kit B4J-K75L0-V0-00
Wolverine RMAX4 Soft Side Covers B4J-F17B0-V0-00

Would like to add these as funds permit, but not a priority:

RMAX4 Overhead Speaker Expansion Kit B4J-H8D0-V1-00
RMAX4 8" Powered Subwoofer B4J-H81S0-V0-00
Wolverine 2nd Battery Kit BG4-H21B0-V0-00
 
GRANITE

GRANITE

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Yea you hit the hammer on nail with your reviews @JACKAL I had both a 2seater and 4seater RMax and they both were hard to beat trail machines! My two gripes for these machines were Noise and legroom for me!

F22C2105 E5D4 4089 B27B 31E30379053F 78EC4587 641E 47C7 B2B2 DD49C3BD5D99
 
JACKAL

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So after my ride last Saturday, had 500 miles on the machine and decided to do the first service changing all fluids. I was hoping the process would not be as difficult as the Pioneer 1000 or at least not as messy.

So with the RMAX4 1000 there is actually 5 drain plugs to remove all of the engine oil! Oil Tank (1) Engine Case (2) Oil Cooler (2) despite the number of drain plugs, 4 of the 5 point straight down and drain right into pan without any mess on skid-plate. The Oil Tank drain plug is angled back and down and barely gets any oil on frame rail and only when down to dripping. The RMAX4 has a spin-on oil filter that I thought would be easier that the internal filters and covers used on the P1K series since it negates messing with springs, installing reverse, cutting o-rings, etc that can happen if careless on P1K. However the RMAX spin-on filter is behind a plastic cover that needs to be removed with 4 bolts and a push pin, then actually getting on the filter is a bugger without a supewankeydyne tool to remove/install it unless you don't mind destroying it to remove.

A word about the cover, while initially thought it a PITA to remove, it keeps the engine side clean as in NO dirt to clean off, in fact there was no mud of any kind anywhere around the engine top to bottom. That was probably the most impressive takeaway I have from the service experience.

Everything on the RMAX is just as time consuming as the P1K except less messy draining oils, and the RMAX air filter access is very easy, pop front hood off, pop 4 spring clips, it's right there. No fighting a dozen 5mm allen head bolts for the air cover hiding behind seat back.

RMAX Rear Final Drive and Front Differential are very similar except they have a much smaller fill hole than Hondas, a minor PITA to get a hose & tip in there to refill, but not bad.

Transmission was easy one drain and refill with 80-90 gear oil same as front and rear ends, dipstick right under passenger seat.

The process killed a half day Sunday taking my time as everything was unfamiliar and referred to the owners manual multiple times.

Took machine out Monday guided a small group to the Train, Prison, Flame, etc. all good with 600 miles on it. One thing I did learn on last 2 trips was to use the CRAWL mode on the trail, by changing the throttle by wire mapping considerably from the TRAIL & SPORT settings, the machine doesn't run as high an RPM while cruising slow on hard trails, uphill or mud all bets are off. Still though found a happy medium with the engine rpms / noise at trail speeds.

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Jerryg

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So after my ride last Saturday, had 500 miles on the machine and decided to do the first service changing all fluids. I was hoping the process would not be as difficult as the Pioneer 1000 or at least not as messy.

So with the RMAX4 1000 there is actually 5 drain plugs to remove all of the engine oil! Oil Tank (1) Engine Case (2) Oil Cooler (2) despite the number of drain plugs, 4 of the 5 point straight down and drain right into pan without any mess on skid-plate. The Oil Tank drain plug is angled back and down and barely gets any oil on frame rail and only when down to dripping. The RMAX4 has a spin-on oil filter that I thought would be easier that the internal filters and covers used on the P1K series since it negates messing with springs, installing reverse, cutting o-rings, etc that can happen if careless on P1K. However the RMAX spin-on filter is behind a plastic cover that needs to be removed with 4 bolts and a push pin, then actually getting on the filter is a bugger without a supewankeydyne tool to remove/install it unless you don't mind destroying it to remove.

A word about the cover, while initially thought it a PITA to remove, it keeps the engine side clean as in NO dirt to clean off, in fact there was no mud of any kind anywhere around the engine top to bottom. That was probably the most impressive takeaway I have from the service experience.

Everything on the RMAX is just as time consuming as the P1K except less messy draining oils, and the RMAX air filter access is very easy, pop front hood off, pop 4 spring clips, it's right there. No fighting a dozen 5mm allen head bolts for the air cover hiding behind seat back.

RMAX Rear Final Drive and Front Differential are very similar except they have a much smaller fill hole than Hondas, a minor PITA to get a hose & tip in there to refill, but not bad.

Transmission was easy one drain and refill with 80-90 gear oil same as front and rear ends, dipstick right under passenger seat.

The process killed a half day Sunday taking my time as everything was unfamiliar and referred to the owners manual multiple times.

Took machine out Monday guided a small group to the Train, Prison, Flame, etc. all good with 600 miles on it. One thing I did learn on last 2 trips was to use the CRAWL mode on the trail, by changing the throttle by wire mapping considerably from the TRAIL & SPORT settings, the machine doesn't run as high an RPM while cruising slow on hard trails, uphill or mud all bets are off. Still though found a happy medium with the engine rpms / noise at trail speeds.

View attachment 337909View attachment 337910View attachment 337911View attachment 337912View attachment 337913
I don't know if you saw my previous post but I use the Honda automotive filter wrench P/N 07AAA-PLCA100, a 17mm socket, a 1/2 inch drive extension and ratchet. The oil filter will come off lickity split.
 
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JACKAL

JACKAL

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  2. Talon X4
I don't know if you saw my previous post but I use the Honda automotive filter wrench P/N 07AAA-PLCA100, a 17mm socket, a 1/2 inch drive extension and ratchet. The oil filter will come off lickity split.
Thanks for the tool info.
 
JACKAL

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So with 350 more miles logged during Takeover sitting at just over 850 miles. No issues, still very satisfied. As far as comfort, confirmation assured after four 12 hour days taking people around during the past week.

My front and rear Brush Guards came in Friday, just got around to installing them today.

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Oh and it's 94 degrees here in the shade, 99 down in the valley today. Be grateful we had great weather for Takeover.
 
Backwoods

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Since this is a Yamaha build thread I'll speak freely. Jackal is spot on with his descriptions. I've owned 2 Honda sxs and now an RMAX. It's a vast improvement over the vanilla Honda platform. You can spend thousands and it still won't equal what Yamaha has built.
 
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