Great job mud. Bet your feeling satisfied!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in other Rhino threads is the air filter element needs to be oiled. It comes dry.

I like what you've done with your machine. I just ordered everything to switch to 428 chains and sprockets on our Rhinos. going to 40 tooth rear and 12 front. What size are those Bear Claws? I couldn't find them in 22x10-10. Merry Christmas!

The Bear Claw tires are 23x10-10 which gives it a bit more ground clearance.

Somewhere I made a post about doing away with the front sprocket retainer plate and replacing it with a spacer and a couple circlips. You'll probably need to do that in order to run a 12 tooth.

Thanks! I picked up a retainer from Whynotstock that's supposed to fit the 12 tooth sprocket/428 chain. This weekend we're swapping out the chains and sprockets on both units! I can't wait.

I found that if you grind down the retainer like Whygostock it'll work with some chains that have smaller side plates. Won't work with some chains like the DID Xring chain I use because of it's bigger side plates. Tried it with the Unibear chain that some folks use and it touched the socket head screws but still may work.

Just back from my 2weeks off. I swapped the front and rear sprockets to a 12 tooth and a 40 tooth and went to the 428 chain. The 428 front sprocket is noticeably smaller in diameter than the 530. The rear sprocket at 40 tooth was the same diameter as the stock 32 tooth 530 sprocket. I had to grind the front sprocket retainers down myself.The process went pretty smoothly for both Rhinos. We test drove them in the desert around our ranch and there is a considerable difference in hill climbing ability as expected.
The next day we took them out to Stanton, AZ to try to get to a particularly rough area to check out some gold claims way up in the mountains. It was much too rough for the Rhinos and my chain started jumping on the sprocket....Im over 200lbs. My son is only 130lbs...had no problems. We were more like rock climbing than driving on jeep paths. My chain started jumping more frequently and we turned back. As I started back...I thought I blew my clutch. The gear wouldn't engage but the chain seemed to still be on the sprockets. We hooked up a tow strap and my son towed me back to the campsite. Once there, I pulled the front sprocket cover only to find the chain did indeed jump off the front sprocket and was hung up in thr cover. Mad as Hell cause I could have fixed that in the field....but happy as can be cause no clutch repair was necessary. I cant fault the units. They had no business on that boulder laden path. Engines were flawless and we still love our Rhinos!!

Let us know if you figure out what caused the chain to come off. I'm over 200 lbs and do a lot of boulder bashing also but the chain has never come off. I removed the tensioner on mine because I didn't like the noise it made.

Kinda thinking it isn't lined up right and true.

I had that issue with mine when I did the sprocket change. Didn't realize there was a little bit of a offset on the rear sprocket. Was enough to see the chain wasn't in a straight line when you looked down it like a rifle sight.

I imagine if I tried to ride it like that the chain would pop off.

That tensioner bends really easy...one hit on a rock and it's knocked crooked. I think I will pull it off as well. I'm back in North Dakota for a month and plan on going through everything again. I've been trying to get up to this area for way too long to give up now. I tack welded the front sprocket retainer to it's bolts...that kept really well on both quads. I videoed the sprocket swap. I will edit over next few days and post. Thanks for the support.

Hey Darth
I plan on doing some lining up and retightening of everything related to that axle. Those 4 bolts that secure the axle carrier seem to like backing out when the going gets tough. I will take a hard look at that as well. Hey...troubleshooting is half the fun! You been rerunning cons to get through the winter?

Inspecting things today I noticed the swing arm is cracking in the same place as the one on the ATA250D. Removed it to take to the welding shop. I'll reinforce it when I get home in March.

When you have the rear end jacked up in the air, line your eye right on top of the chain like your aiming a rifle. If the chain is under tension you will see what I mean. There will be a noticeable bend in it left or right.

There is a thread somewhere in this board about using ratchet straps to true the rear axle (rear steer) which might help the situation.

Post about aligning the axle;

http://www.chinariders.net/showthrea...rap#post232279

I was able to align mine pretty well using my Motion Pro chain alignment tool and a strap on both sides. They're less than $15 and work very well with a very simple concept.

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-CH...alignment+tool