2012 Kawasaki Teryx 4 UTVUnderground BUILD & Long Term Review

[JoeyD23]

UTVUnderground Project Teryx 4 **2012 Kawasaki Teryx 4**

Over the next couple of months, and beyond, UTVUnderground.com will be featuring the first full project build of a UTV since our infamous "FatRod" build. Here we will be transforming our 2012 Kawasaki Teryx4 (T4) into one of the coolest multi-purpose UTV's ever built. We have many plans for our build but one thing we do not want to dismiss is this rigs capabilities in stock form.

We have done a few rides already in this new hot for 2012 machine which you can see below in our "related threads" column at the bottom of this post, but before we dig all the way into transforming our machine we will get in 2 good rides with it in stock form in 2 types of terrain we love to ride in. The first run will be on some mountain trails mixed with some dirt, mud, and SNOW here over Christmas in the white mountains of Arizona! Already as I type I have gotten to take it up some snowy rock roads and hills and of course we are impressed! Switching between 2wd-4wd-4wd Lock is a breeze and you really feel the differences as expected. Our next run will be over New Years week/weekend and will be in the mother of all Southern California ride areas, GLAMIS! Here on the trails of Arizona the T4 shines in stock form, so I am curious to see how the T4 does during the high speed dune rides we have planned for Glamis. So far I am pumped on being able to load 4 people into the T4 and cruise around. The ergonomics feel great and I personally love the Camo exterior.

Well enough for now, you can read all of my immediate impressions of the T4 in our Product Review thread which is linked below. Let me rattle off a few of the mods we have planned for the build!


Planned Mods

-Magnum Offroad Cage & Aluminum www.MagnumOffroad.com
-Funco Motorsports +6 Long Travel Suspension Welcome Duners
-Summers Bros Axles Welcome to Summers Brothers Racing Pruducts!
-FOX Shox Coil Over / Adjustable shocks FOX — Redefining Ride Dynamics
-OMF 3-Piece 15" Billet Bead Lock Wheels OMF Performance Products | Utility Quads | Reinforced Wheels
-30x10xR15 BFG KM2 Mudd-Terrain Tires Shop Tires For Car Tires, and Truck Tires | BFGoodrich Tires
-STI Tire & Wheel HD2 14" Wheels (Sand) STI Tire & Wheel | ATV and UTV Tires, Wheels and Kits
-STI Tire & Wheel V-Roll 27" tall Paddle Tires & Smoothies (Sand) STI Tire & Wheel | ATV and UTV Tires, Wheels and Kits
-BEARD Custom Seats (Rear Bench Seat / Front Buckets) RedArt, Inc.
-Rigid Industries Lighting LED Lights | Off Road LED Light Bars | Military | Defense | Agriculture | Marine | Mining | Landscape | Police | Fire | Rigid Industries
-Pro Armor Harnesses & Other Accessories PRO ARMOR | ATV ACCESSORIES | UTV ACCESSORIES | UTV PARTS | SIDE BY SIDE ACCESSORIES | RZR DOORS | UTV DOORS
-PCI Race Radios 50w Icom Race Radio & 4 Place Intercom w/ Carbon Fiber Headsets PCI Race Radios, Inc. - Communications, Navigation, Safety Equipment
-Wally World Designs Custom Paint Side x Side Outfitterz
-Muzzys Dual Exhaust Muzzys Performance Motorcycle Exhaust Systems & Parts
-Muzzys 880cc Performance Package (pending cylinder cores) Muzzys Performance Motorcycle Exhaust Systems & Parts
-Benchmark ECU Flash (ALREADY DONE!!!) Benchmark Performance
-Benchmark Performance products installation & tuning Benchmark Performance
-Powdercoat Industries powdercoating PowderCoat Industries & Sandblasting Services - PCI Quality!

and much more...........

If you or your company are interested in having your products featured in our T4 build please email [email protected]


Related Threads

http://www.utvunderground.com/f37/20...sive-7804.html
http://www.utvunderground.com/f38/20...sive-8294.html
http://www.utvunderground.com/f56/jo...build-151.html

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[JoeyD23]

We are having a blast here in Springerville, AZ out in the white mountains of Eastern Arizona. We are breaking in our T4 in the snow, which now has a whopping 5 miles on it! haha Needless to say what little we have done in it has been fun!!

[JoeyD23]

So the first mod we performed on our new beast is the ECU flash provided by Benchmark Performance located in Ramona, CA. Benchmark, known as one of the leaders of UTV performance products and tuning has quickly developed a program for your Teryx4 which will raise the revs in many areas. What has me the most exited is the raise in top speed which goes from 50mph in stock form to now 63mph!!! Thats a big jump! It also does a few other things such as increase the reverse limiter and limiter placed on running with the Diff-Lock on allowing you to now go up to 18mph. More information here: http://www.utvunderground.com/f47/te...ance-8434.html

I chose to take my T4 over to Benchmark to have them flash my ECU while not having to remove it. It takes on a couple of seconds to remove the top dash cover and then Chris was able to connect his computer and perform the flash in minutes. A quick test drive and I was on my way. If you are not local to Benchmark then they do have new ECU's you can purchase!!!










STI Tire & Wheel stepped up and set us up with a new set of wheels and tires for the sand! STI is the first to introduce a wheel/tire combo for the sand in a 14" wheel and 27" tall paddle. As power increases in UTV's so must the traction. These paddles look amazing and I cannot wait to test them out in Glamis over new years!! Stay TUNED!!!

http://www.stitireandwheel.com/2011/09/vortex-v-roll/

http://www.stitireandwheel.com/2011/...ood-at-glamis/

http://www.stitireandwheel.com/2011/06/hd2/

[gotteracing]

nice. i have me eye on this one.

[GunnSlinger]

I've really been waiting patiently to see this build!

Joey D always knocks it out of the park with his builds and with 2 extra seats this thing should be bad arse!!


Maybe a "prerunner" for all the desert golfers?

Super sick sand toy with tons of chrome??

Haha just mess'n!! Seriously though, I've been wanting a utv for a while and it's between this 4 door or a Polaris 900xp ...

[JoeyD23]

This thing is gonna be a fun build.... Stay tuned! Running it in the dunes all this weekend for New Years! It killed it on the mountain trails!

[John_Bitting]

Looks fun. Keep us updated.

[JoeyD23]

Well we went from 8000 feet up in the white mountains of Arizona (eastern) back on down to sea level at the Glamis Sand Dunes all in a weeks time with our brand new 2012 T4. While we didn't put too many miles on in the snow, we did enough to know that it is a fully capable vehicle in stock form on the trails. The snow was no match for the Kawasaki T4's 4wd and the power steering once again impressed while wheeling it around. My parents took it for a spin and didn't want to get out!

Now I will admit. I was taking the T4 to the dunes to get a good comparison for how it would feel in the sand. I honestly did not have the highest of expectations. I know the power is good but having spent time in a stock 2 seat Teryx in the dunes I just figured with this added weight it would be a little top heavy and a bit of a slug compared to lighter or more suspended UTVs. Again, I assumed, and you know what happens when you assume right? Well let me tell you, I was wrong, way wrong! The T4 was AMAZING! Yeah thats right, total over achiever in the dunes. Now, I will admit, the STI V-Roll 27" tall paddles were a huge reason to this machines success and these paddles are total winners! The T4 went everywhere in 2wd all weekend. I don't even run the RZR4 in 2wd, it is always in 4wd and the T4 only went into 4 on long steep hills. Other than that it was a blast to drive. It pulls the RZR4 on the long climbs, straits, and just in general. The Benchmark ECU flash came in handy a couple of times as we pulled over 55mph regularly. The new Flash will take us all the way to 63mph now!!! Again paddles help, and of course when we got into the big bumps then the RZR4 would walk away which it should when you compare suspension types.

Power steering was once again noticeable and appreciated. It was fun to drive with one hand at times just cause I could! Even with a car load the T4 was a blast to drive. Sure its a little more top heavy then the other UTV's you are more accostomed to seeing in the dunes but to me I never once had a sensation of rolling over or feeling like I was going too. The only thing I kept saying was I can't wait to have my Funco +6 and BEARD Seats & Pro Armor Harnesses! Yeah, the stock seat belts suck and do a real number to your neck after a long day. Kids hated the seat belts so I need to definitely address that before the next ride.

AS for suspension, hey it isn't a long travel and yeah through the big bumps it does feel like your in the rodeo. BUT, when riding the dunes it was all good. You need to watch for those sneaky G-Outs cause you will stuff the front (as you will with anything). I didn't even touch the settings yet in the shocks, not sure I will have time to at all before I start to modify things so with that said, I feel like the factory settings were really good as they were. My wife drove it more than I did this weekend and she had a blast in it. She is always afraid to go duning but I wanted her to really drive this weekend instead of just ride with me so she could get over the fear and the T4 helped me help her do just that. Power was torqey enough that she able to power up and through the soft stuff without fear of sliding sideways or rolling over and she too loved the power steering.

Other than the seat belts the only other thing I can complain about was the fuel meter. All seemed to be fine, and may be it is, but I topped off both cars before a long ride on saturday morning and when we came back the RZR4 was down 3 bars while the T4 still said full! Sounds great right? Well coincidently I looked at my phone and saw a message from our buddy and fellow UTVUG member Miquel who said don't trust the fuel gauge on the T4, just ask your buddy Crowdog (Jon Crowley) who apparently learned the hard way? So I broke out the gas can and the T4 took on easily 3-4 gallons of gas despite saying full. So we will need to look at that and keep an eye on it.

Positives thus far:
Power Steering is HUGE, reduces driver fatigue big time!
Comfort for all 4 seats!
Surprisingly powerful low end grunt/torque and strong power throughout the revs. Does not feel like a 750cc!
Bed Tie Down Hooks!!
Great stock suspension setting

Negatives Thus Far:
Stock Seat Belts
Digital Fuel Gauge
I need a roof! These Southern California Winters are HOT! hahah
Lighting, the T4 certainly needs more light if you plan to ride at night!


Modifications Thus Far:
STI 27" Tall V-Roll Paddles and Smoothies on 14" STI HD2 Wheels - This set up is amazing. When we got them they had like 15 + lbs of pressure and did not work that great so we set the paddles and smoothies at 7lbs and never once moved the tire pressure from there. It was the ticket! At full pressure the tires wanted to rub the rear chassis tubes behind the seats but with the reduced pressure we gained foot print and eliminated any rubbing. If you plan to take your Teryx4 into the sand then you MUST HAVE these paddles! You will not be disappointed.

Benchmark Performance ECU Flash - While we didn't run wide open very much as we put our first 100 miles on the T4 when we needed more than 50mph (stock limit) we sure were thankful we had this flash complete. In addition to the top speed gain it also raises your top speed from 12mph to 18mph when running in diff lock. It also raises your reverse top speed also for you dare devils who want to ride in reverse...lol


Now before you guys jump my case, let me apologize. I actually spent this last trip doing more riding and hanging with friends and family then working so I didn't pull my camera out as much as you all or I personally like too. I got a few pics but will definitely do more the next time I take it out. I guess thats another positive and negative, the T4 is so fun I don't want to work when I drive it! lol

[JoeyD23]

Just waiting to hear from BEARD on when our T4 will be ready to pick up to move to the next phase. But while we wait more goodies for the build are showing up including these bad ass lights from Rigid Industries.

We decided to partner with Rigid for the 1st time ever on our build and we know we won't be sorry! Taylor and the team threw downa 40" E-Series light bar, a 10" Single-Row, a Dually D2 and a standard Dually! We can't wait to start placing our lights!!!

[JoeyD23]

Beard has been working on our seats which include a rear 50" bench seat! All should be done today!! Super pumped!!