My epic journey to get my damn raptor 700! Long story inside!

* Warning Long story below! *

Alright...so some of you may remember me asking question about the raptor when I won this auction on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...STRK:MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=270248303841&rd=1

So I had plans to pick the rappy up with my buddies duramax as he gets free diesel through work. It didnt plan out as he got in an accident. We then went down to Atlanta to visit family and passed right through kentucky where the raptor was. I had no way to haul it as I couldnt get a trailer hitch in time! Fast forward to this last week. I was then going to take my OTHER friends duramax and have my other friend fill it at his work (hey..not my 5.00 a gallon!). This does not work because his transfer tank has a bad leak! I finally end up asking my girlfriends neighbor if we can borrow his truck (hes a friend of ours) and he says yes. Its a 1991 S-10 with the tiny v-6 in it (5 speed). Granted its 17 years old, but she ran perfect the whole trip! I got 22mpg average over the whole trip (not bad if you ask me!).

I finally get down to kentucky to pick up the quad. Of course it had to be a horrible storm the entire way down (we left at night) and being in a 91 s-10 with semi-sloppy steering is not the most fun thing in the world. My girlfriend was a trooper and rode with me! (she is hot as it is...but the fact she puts up with all BS I put her through to work on and play with all my TOYS- makes her even hotter!

The seller is not there, but his wife is. She tells me to go ahead and look it over and take it for a spin. She warns me about a slight rattle coming from the quad (I never knew about this). I said ok and ride it. At about 4-5 rpm there is a horrible metal rattle. She said it was from the metal skid plate, but I stood on it and could not get the vibration to go away (making me think it was in the bottom end of the motor). I go to take the skid off but the bolts are in too well. I then pull the airbox lid off and find a HUGE mouses nest with wet leaves! The only bonus to that was there was a brand new pro design pro flow kit in there, but still I had just ridden it with a big wet mouses nest in there.

After seeing this im pissed and ready to walk away from it... The seller finally comes home and we agree to not do the transaction and he even gave me 100 bucks toward my gas/hotel (very honorable thing to do in my book!). He buys/sells atv's he gets at auction for a living and offered to find me another raptor and sell it to me for just over cost. At this point I didnt even care and wanted to drive the 7 hours back home to illinois. I get about 10 minutes away and think to myself...if he is offering another quad at near cost I wonder if he wants to move this one for cheaper (thinking if it needed motor work I could pay for it with the difference). I call him back and ask him his cost... he said with auction fees and all he is 3900 into it... he said he would take 4100. I said ok I will take the deal ONLY if we can get rid of the rattle- otherwise NO DICE.

I drive back and of course the skid bolts wont budge so we weld nuts onto the bolts and finally get the skid off...and WAH LAH! No vibration! I am still a bit worried about the intake and the mouses nest...so we pull the box and intake off and clean it up really well.

Sooo... I end up walking away with the quad for 4100! He also had a set of razr MX fronts on wheels and holeshot (regular) tires on wheels. I ask what he wants for them and got them for 150... So I end up going home with an extra 400 in my pocket and a beautifully running raptor! Does not seem to bad for a pretty much mint condition 2007 raptor 700 se with pc3, full exhaust system and a pro flow intake. I got the original papers from the repossesion and find out that the guy who had it paid 8900 out the door! I am guessing the mods were install at that price (at least I HOPE!). He only had the quad 5 months before it go repo'd! And his purchase date was the end of september 2007 (meaning this sat in a dealership show room for quite some time).

I already had some red label barkers sitting in a box at home waiting for the quad to get here, so I pulled the yoshi pipe off that was on there and through the barkers on. So it officially has the GOOD big 3- barkers - the pro flow intake (might get FCI when it comes out...this filter is pretty small!) and the pc3 (came with the quad).

I just got back from my buddies house where I FINALLY got to open her up! This is the first time I have been on a 700 (bought it blind!) All my buddies have ltr's now (used to be yfz's) and I sold my 70+ hp DS730 to get this (I was a bit worried going from a FULLY decked quad to a nearly stock one!)

needless to say I am ecstatic with it! The power is phenomenal. I race my buddies ltr with the cherry bo tank mb , lid off and the dasa pipe and I had a 5 lengths on him by the middle of 5th gear (had to shut down after that, not enough space). We did a rolling start 2nd gear race and I think I was shifting early too! I have a trailtech vapor going on soon so I will be happy to know what RPM I am at.

This thing handles well, the suspension is AMAZING (on par with the fully adjustable elkas I had on my DS) and the power is great! For the first time in years I was able to ride wheelies down the field with just throttle input (no tugging on the bars and trying to get the balance point only to drop it!).

the ONLY complaint I can say I have is the width...feels a tad tippy to me, but that is probably because it is what..just shy of 47 inches? I am thinking some + 2 arms in the front and an adjustable width axle (or just some spacers) on the back will solve that. Also gives me a reason to put some new shocks on the front! Smiley

I am seriously impressed with the barkers too...they sound amazing. Very deep and a very nice tone. Loud, but not OVERLY loud like my DS was (almost borderline annoying, and this is coming from a guy who likes loud pipes).

Being able to lift the front end at the bottom of 4th gear is crazy... The front end (hell the whole quad) is light as hell! My 730 weighed over 500 lbs wet so going from 70+ hp at the tires on that to 50-55 hp at the tires on the raptor (weighing what 400 wet?) feels almost the same...if not quicker!


Ok sorry this was so long but I just wanted to get this all down! I was seriously PISSED when I left his house the first time with no quad in hand thinking about all the parts I had in my basement waiting for a raptor 700 I was not bringing home.

Anyway...rock out with your raptor out! This quad is a beast... I should have made the switch long ago!
-R00ST-