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My First UTV Build! 2017 Teryx

15K views 51 replies 8 participants last post by  Lawdog 
#1 ·
While I would not consider myself new to off-road toys, or on-road for that matter I am pumped to be building up my first UTV. The new project, a brand new 2017 Teryx Base arrived today and made its way into the garage. Its been painful, all I've wanted to do is get out in the garage and start investigating. Maybe even bolting on some accessories but alas I had to work and the wife and munchkin were hungry when I finally did get done with that so dinner came before investigating. Its kind of cold out and my two year old was curious what this new thing in the garage was so I've only had a few minutes to inspect and check out the setup on it while he played around before getting bored and cold. I am failing on pictures for now but I plan to document the upgrades as I go, hopefully I can actually get some as I am getting the parts on it but likely will only be before and after shots as I typically forget to stop and take pictures.
 

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#3 ·
Awesome man!! And welcome the forum again. Keep us posted on what your doing to it. I already see you have some tires sitting in the back of it and maybe a roof? Love to see the different ways/looks how people build there machines.


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#4 ·
So I have had a couple minutes to go over the machine, check it out a little, browse through the owners manual/maintenance schedule and organize some of the accessories I ordered with it. Staring the installs as time and weather(my garage is not heated) permits now. Had to rep the great place I work for so a quick sticker install on the hood and I got the Kawasaki half windshield bolted in this morning. Got one of the wheels uncovered and checked it out, I am really happy with how they are going to turn out, pictures never do anything justice but in person the wheel and tire combo will give me the look I was shooting for. Now to get the Kawi plastic roof and these other things bolted on.
 

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#5 ·
Had my lunch break free today and I work from home so I got a solid 45-50 minutes of accessory installation done. Kawasaki rear view mirror and plastic roof are now installed. I totally screwed that one up and should have installed the mirror first so I didn't have to contend with the roof when tightening down the clamp on the mirror. So be it, just slowed down progress a couple minutes. I need to scoop up some lug nuts for these wheels/tires still and then I can get those bolted on, hopefully in the next day or two that will be done. Winch and winch mount to go before I am ready take it out for its first trail ride.

On a side note what do a set of 0.6 mile 26x9-12/26x11-12 big horns go for?
 

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#6 ·
I’d say they’d go for around $400-$500 and that being a little high to me personally for some unwanted tires from someone. Ordering them online would be about $500. And the steel wheels ain’t worth much. I’d tried $500 and let the wheels be a bonus. I always talk try to talk people down too. [emoji16]


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#7 · (Edited)
Craigslist near me has a set of LE wheels and tires that are basically take-offs like yours and he is asking $700. Granted, that is for the aluminum wheels.

After hearing for years how great big horn tires were, I must say that I have been rather dissapointed in mine. They do great on hard pack and pavement, but they don't have good lateral traction and are basically worthless when things get greasy. Its one of the last major changes I want to make to my bike, but I'm cheap, so I want to wear these out first :|

Here are some of the upgrades I've already performed:

Front and Read EMP bumpers
32" LED light bar up front, 4" pods out back and in the front bumper
Reverse lights (separate from the pods, come on when you put it in reverse)
3000# winch
Snow Plow
Half/Full windshield
Inside and Outside mirrors
Made my own fiberglass hard top
AM/FM/SD/USB/BT Stereo system with Kawasaki green lighting
Daytime running lights
Tools/Jack/Spare/etc.

Items already ordered and about to be added:

Street Legal Kit
Rear window
A-Arm guards

Coming soon:

Sun Visors
 
#10 ·
I went with the 14x7 STI HD9 Beadlock in Bronze with the Black Ring 5+2, and 28x10r14 STI Chicane RX. Between the Teryx using a 12x1.25 thread pitch and the wheels not having a ton of diameter on the lug nut holes I ended up having to order some black small diameter spline drive lug nuts that should arrive tomorrow. I am dying to get the wheels and tires on and see how it turns out myself lol.

Got the winch installed on the plate and onto the Teryx last night, now onto the electrical half of that, hopefully I will find some time between the next couple days and have it ready to take out for some snow riding. On that note, I am praying that we get some more snow, the couple warm days we had here melted everything and where all the trails are sits around 2 inches snow depth right now. I also ordered a Factor55 prolink xtv and synthetic line spool. Normally I would be more subtle and go with black or gray but I ended up ordering the lime green limited edition, hopefully it matches the Kawi green close enough.
 

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#9 ·
I was looking at LE models in both 2017 and 2018 model years when I decided on my base model 2017. I really liked the look of the black with the subtle green stripe vs the white or more two tone LE options. I also happened to get lucky it was the cheapest of the bunch. The difference price wise between mine and a LE 2018(that gray camo color was my second option) was 4k, I was prepared to spend that much more than I did on mine so I jumped on some accessories I thought would be 100% necessary right out of the gate. For now I am holding back on spending the rest of the extra budget to see where the deficiencies are. I have intentions of doing a suspension upgrade but at this point I am still undecided on doing the HCR Moab long travel or just going with the Viking or Bandit shock upgrade with the Highlifter or Superatv atlas arms. I think that decision is really going to be determined on how short the stock one comes up for me. Another concern with that is how much room I have on the trails around here, my sand rail isn't terribly wide 78" or so and that thing REALLY struggles width wise through some of the trails so I am afraid of the full 72 inch width or so the HCR setup would make it. Outside of that even just the 200 feet of driving it into the garage I am pretty sure it will need an intercom with a radio tied in so I can get onto the GMRS frequencies that all my buddies run. I am semi particular about my toys install wise, I like to make sure every mod ties in like it was meant to be on the vehicle from the factory.
 
#11 ·
Congrats on the rig and welcome to the forum.
 
#12 ·
Thank you guys for the warm welcome!

I apologize for the camera work, by the time I get out of work its already dark out and I didn't feel like pulling out the dslr/tripod to get an adequate night exposure. Got the lug nuts in today, wheels and tires went on, pretty straight forward there. I did notice at full lock these 28" Chicanes are just barely touching the rivets for the floor board protection plates. Might have to do some offset a arms just to clear these 28s. Still have to wire the winch up which I am hoping to knock out tonight or tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get this thing out on the trails for some fun. Might even try to sneak a quick trip in to the local offroad park this weekend.
 

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#13 ·
Decided to just go for it, got the wiring all knocked out. Took me way longer then it should have, I dropped a couple bolts, had to drop part of the skid plate to retrieve them. Tomorrow the Factor55 thimble should be in and I'll be able to get that installed. I am not very happy with the handlebar switch included with the 3500s winch so it looks like I am going to have to buy the kit from Warn to convert it to the dash switch with the the remote mount for the cable hookup. Meanwhile I just did a quick install on that section of the harness and zip tied it up under the hood, if I do need to use it I can just hook the remote up to that.
 

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#14 ·
So after a couple day delay finally got the Factor55 package in. I am used to the Jeeps, this stuff seems so small. I guess with 1/4 the weight of most Jeeps it doesn't need to be half as beefy. All ready to get out and hit some trails, hopefully this Sunday. Probably heading to the Mounds orv park as it is close and has a decent amount of trails for quads/sxs.
 

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#17 ·
Thank you! Currently I do not have any lift or wheel spacers, I am running the 28x10 chicanes on the 14x7 5+2 Sti wheels. Only driveway tested it so far, I am getting rubbing on the driver side floorboard/firewall protection plates. It is extremely minimal and I don't think is a gigantic issue, I may end up throwing on a set of 1 inch spacers just to get it far enough out to clear but not sure yet. Another thing to consider is that not all 28" inch tires actually measure out to 28", these actually measure out a hair taller at 28.1 to 28.2, another brand of tire might actually clear without any issue.
 
#19 ·
I don't mind the factory front bumper on my Teryx but I do prefer the look of a slimmer less involved bumper. Luckily the factory bumper has a great base and to get the look I am going for I could just start cutting and grinding away whats there to get what I am after. I had a couple minutes at lunch today so I decided to start working on it. I got the general overall look I want, now I just need to grind away at the stubs left from the lower section, clean it up and paint it.
 

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#21 ·
I thought about a beefier bumper and still might go that route. The stock material is pretty thin walled so it seems like it would dent and bend easily no matter if I cut off the excess or not. If I go the route of heavy duty I will likely buy the magnum off-road bumper as I really like how that one looks.
 
#22 ·
I went with the EMP bumper because it gave me the ability to mount my winch up high out of the mud which helped to not only protect the winch, but also give me a much better angle for operating a snow plow. When I got it, I was shocked at how beefy it is. I could barely lift the box it came in! I pity the fool that ever crashes into me head on! LOL
 
#23 ·
It snowed 8 inches or so over yesterday and today, it is calling for another 5-7 over the next day and a half, figured it was time to get myself a plow. After searching for 2-3 hours on them last night and then calling a ton of local powersports dealers and accessory shops with no luck on a direct fit kit in stock I started doing some looking for a universal plow package. After reading the instructions of the direct fit kits it seemed pretty straight forward to install even if they just had a universal plate with tons of holes. So a quick google search for "utv snow plows near me" and I come across the Cabela's 60 inch plow kits. I check stock at my local store and they have them in stock ready to go.

Cabela's ATV/UTV Snow Plow : Cabela's

About an hour round trip and $371 dollars later I was ready to start the installation. The whole install took about an hour and a half to two hours. The instructions did include fitment for some other applications but did not have Teryx specific installation instructions so I was on my own. It was actually a pretty easy install, a couple holes drilled in the factory skids and 2 in the mounting plate and it went right on. So far I am really happy with it, especially the price since the other kits I was looking at were in the 600-800 range. The only real complaint I have is the method to attach the winch, its a vertical plate and if you dont have the winch directly above it it ends up bending after one or two lifts. Not really a huge deal as once its bent the few degrees or so it seems to be solid and working with no issues.
 

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#24 ·
So now you have no front bumper at all?

I wound up going with a 66" plow thinking the 60 wouldn't be wide enough for the Teryx. I also went with the $600-$800 direct fit blade with the correct mounting plate. With my EMP bumper and high mounted winch, working the snow plow is a peice of cake.

Now if only I could get the snow you are getting. Nope. Here we are getting 4 days of solid rain :crying
 
#25 · (Edited)
Bumper is just removed for right now, gotta grind off the welds from the factory lower tubes I cut off still. I am also going to add some tabs for a 10 inch light bar. Likely once all that's done I'll have it blasted and powdercoated.

The high mounted winch would definitely give it a better angle for pulling up the plow but this seems to work fine. The magnum bumper though.....I really really like the look of it, and I love the fact it has D ring tabs as well. I might just end pulling the trigger on it. I am still trying to figure out how to get some D rings on the front without it looking crappy. If I cannot figure that out I will definitely be buying the Magnum bumper.


Magnum Bumper I am referencing.
 
#28 ·
My bumper is a SATV ; but , looks identical to yours...maybe the same with diff "labels" ?!? Like you said , lifting the box is almost a two man job ! I like the winch being up high...I toyed with the idea of mounting it inside the bumper ; but , decided it would make any future cable repairs a major PITA ! I also like the added radiator protection it gives . I went with KFI pro series 72" inch plow . The plow I had on my rhino was 60" ; but , whenever you turned the blade , the snow would want to go back under the tires . I ended up adding 6" to each side of it ; and , all was good .
 
#27 · (Edited)
The winch is buried inside the bumper on the magnum, I also like that as it leaves the upper area open for more airflow to the radiator.

This might be my solution to the D-Ring tabs. The bore size is larger than I would want but i think it should work, just gotta figure out where on the stock bumper would be best to mount them.

http://www.chassisunlimited.com/product/bumper-parts/round-tube-clevis-mount.html
 
#31 ·
Tinkering is a good bit of the fun for sure, I just ordered a Throttle maxx and some Seizmik side mirrors today. I have to look into the plow strap for the winch for sure, that cable I would like to preserve.

As far as plowing with the 60" goes, first run it seemed to work fine, Its really close so only 1 inch on either side that I'm running over snow. I might have to change over to a 66 or 72 eventually if it becomes a problem but so far so good. My driveway isn't really that huge and a snowblower would probably make as quick of work of it but wheres the fun in that LOL.

For now though I have to get out in the garage and grind on the bumper to get that excess material off where I cut those tubes. Next couple fun budget deposits are going to the sand rail to get that thing back into shape for spring and then I will get back to modding this.
 
#34 ·
I finally got an hour or so to spend in the garage tonight, cleaned off the weld and excess pipe from shortening up the front bumper. I will try to post pics tomorrow, hopefully I'll get some paint on it tomorrow.
 
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