I think my 350 raptor is about to blow up! It has a bad chatter when about to shift gears and lost power for hills. It was worn out when I bought it a year ago it has just gotten worse.Should I get the motor and cam worked on or should I just throw it off a cliff and call it done?!
     I thought about getting a new one but I would like to keep this one around for guest.
    I read the blog about the raptor being good for new riders. I'm not new any more so should I get another raptor 350 or should I get a honda 400ex? I have rode a friend's 400 a lot ( now that mine sounds bad) and I like it but I'm a small person at 5'2" 130lbs. What do you guys think?  

Thanks wolf1. I'll try that and post what happends here. What do u think about my other question about the new buy?  

Mandy4,

If you feel as if you've outgrown the Raptor 350, I must say that the 400EX is a rock solid purchase and an excellent machine. It's fun to ride, very sporty, most reliable quad on the market, plenty of power and even reverse. I think that'd be an excellent step in the right direction for you. Let me know if you have more questions. I've ridden everything! LOL

ATVR Editor  

ATVREditor,

Do u happen to know what year of honda 400ex has the reverse?  

It is the newer 400EX's. I believe it is both the 07 and 08. Before that, no reverse. It's a fairly new feature for this machine.  

welcome mandy,
the 400ex is a good machine, but if your raptor doesn't pull hills then there is definately something wrong with it.  

Thanks for the info guys. I plan on fixing the raptor, I love it too much to be done with it. My husband thinks I will flip a 400ex due to it being weighted in the back and light in the front when the raptor is weighted in the front. He also thinks the cam is chewed up in the raptor so he is going to start there.
    We still plan on getting the 400ex and I'll have a lot of fun riding it too to get used to it before a hill atempet. You guys haved help us with our choice, thank you!  

welcome, i think you'll be surprized at the new found power you'll get from the raptor 350.  

I Will stick with my raptor. It's my baby! The 400 will basiclly be his. We looked around and I think we found our new addition. Check out the pic on my info and tell me what u think  

After 8 hours at thompsons and 1 free helmet later, Sat WE GOT IT! She got put together the day before we got it and he was the first to start it and the first to ever ride it!  
  As far as the raptor, we checked the timing chain, it was still nice and tight. My husband herd the sound coming from the front valve, so we ajusted that. It brought the tick sound (tick still there)  down but the horsepower is still not good. I get in 6th gear and sill can't keep up with the 400's that are in 3rd gear.
 Sorry about the misspelled words.
       Wolf1 or ATVEditor  have any more ideas for this problem? Please help I WANT TO RIDE!!!!!  

In our April issue, we did an article on the new 400EX and really had a great time riding it. It also looks really good this year. Hope you guys have fun with it.  

It is sweet! He only let me ride it once yesterday! He's still worried till he gets his 10 hours on it. Our friend with the 2000 400ex has so much envy, now his looks old and not as sporty, but his still rocks!
We plan to use it on the farm to save gas.
     I just hope we get the raptor fixed so I can attempt to keep up with them. We took a lot of pics of the three of them, I'll add them soon!
      Thanks ATVREditor, You helped us make a sound investment! (Now if I can just get a little more help from wolf1 with the raptor, I'm tring to give you puppy dog eyes, ha ha.)  

We took the raptor to the town bike shop, the guy said she sounds pretty bad. It might be a split piston or something less bad. Thank god he thinks it's in the top, we can fix her, but if the problem is down deep inside he said it would be best to just get a new motor.Poor Zippy, the boys are taking her apart tonight to see how bad she is.  

yeah it sounded more to me like a burned or warped valve, but the rings could be shot too.
let me know what they find on it.  

The crank and piston rod are shot.
  Does anyone know where I can get a good (cheap) motor that came from a 350 raptor or warrior with 6speed with reverse? Zippy needs a new heart.