2024 YXZ1000R UTV Build
HOW DID IT ALL TURN OUT?
After rushing to get the car put together against a tight deadline, we set out for a few days out camping to play around with tuning. We set the ride height and alignment, and spent a solid 100 miles behind the wheel to dial in our baseline settings. Once we were happy with the ride height, crossover, and clicker settings, we handed it off to the other testers to gather their opinions. Here is how it all shook out!
POWER
This thing flat-out flies. The 32-inch tires did not seem to slow it down much. You can tell the gears are a tad bit longer with the extra final drive ratio provided by the taller tire, but the YXZ does not care. With the Trinity Racing Stage 5 exhaust and the Weller Racing tune, this car makes fantastic power everywhere in the rev range. It picked up a massive amount of torque in the low to mid RPM’s, and it carries out smoothly to a much healthier top-end pull as well. Paired with the 2024’s new 6-speed Auto Shift transmission, this YXZ is always in the right gear and singing along.
Speaking of singing, the Trinity exhaust hits a wonderful note. It is raspy without being tinny, offering a unique sound that sounds a little more polished than some of the other systems we have heard, at least with a fresh muffler. It is, however, extremely loud. It was loud enough to sway a couple of our testers’ opinions on whether it was worth the extra power. You can check out a sound clip of our Trinity YXZ here.
The Weller Racing Tune perfectly compliments the Trinity exhaust, and the YXZ runs flawlessly. It never skips a beat or hiccups no matter how odd your throttle applications get, and it runs crisply enough to make a very noticeable difference in throttle response. We have tried a lot of pipe and tune combinations on YXZs over the years, and all of our testers agreed unanimously that this one was hands-down the best running combination we had driven so far. Small improvements come together in a big way with this transmission, too – it really benefits the YXZ to have the closely-stacked ratios that it does.
THE RIDE
Plush. That is not a word that has ever been written in the UTV Off-Road logbook under a YXZ1000R entry; until now. The combination of big-ol-tire and awesome Weller Racing shock tune add up to, well, butter. This YXZ is supple over the choppy bits and firms up incredibly well under big holes and hits. It remains composed, and really likes to be driven hard, but it now no longer gives up ride quality to get there. Normal trail pace is incredibly comfortable, and the ride in the rocks is leagues different than the stock YXZ. We bashed this car on the same loops that we used to test the stock XT-R, and the change inside the cab is incredible.
The Chicane LT tires track well, offer good steering feel and provide the perfect level of grip for the YXZ, still allowing some slip under throttle to be able to pivot the car. They are super predictable, and in our testing have been really tough as well. We watched a couple of testers bash the poor tires into rocks that should have caused more issues than they did. Thankfully, all of our tires have remained leak-free throughout the testing. We set them at 15.5 PSI for our testing and didn’t sway from that number, as they felt great right out of the box. Going to a bigger 32-inch tire really helps the YXZ get over the small trail junk and holes that the 29 bounces in and out of. It is still too early to determine tire life, but so far they seem to be holding up well to the abuse we are putting them through.
Not only is having a full size spare a nice backup plan, it helps soften up the ride even more here. The extra weight is accounted for with the spring change in the Weller Racing shock package, and the YXZ carries it well. The FastLab tire carrier and 32” tire are fairly high off the ground as well- the bottom of the tire is chest-height. This YXZ sits tall and proud, thanks to its increased tire size and uprated springs. This YXZ sports a massive 15.5 inches of ground clearance thanks to the modifications, up from 11.8 on the stock XT-R.
