Tree kickers

I am picking up a new 900 XP4 Friday. Was wondering what tree kickers everybody uses?
Have seen the Gilbert designs what is the pros and cons of them.

UTV inc tree kickers that I modified to add a center support. Very sturdy, bottom covered with UHMW, and they do an excellent job of protecting the machine. With them I would have scratches down the door and no fenders left   

Raccer wrote:

I am picking up a new 900 XP4 Friday. Was wondering what tree kickers everybody uses?
Have seen the Gilbert designs what is the pros and cons of them.

Gilberts are good, I like the way they come back almost to the tire. No room to get a tree in between the wheel and kicker/fender. The stuff we ride like the rocks on no business will bend them in time. 1600 hard miles on mine and have been used a lot. I know Mark cut his ends off and loaded his on the inside so they wouldn't bend.

I think its kind of hard to find a good set cause of where the mount.. From the factory there really isn't any good places to just bolt a set on. The rear brace can just bolt to the frame.. But the front and middle is a little different. Most all the premade ones just bolt in where the lower plastics are. Its only a piece of 1" tubing..

I added a gusset to the front of my RZR. Then I welded a bung directly to the plate for my kicker to attacth to. My middle support comes off the middle cage piller a little like joe did his. Then the back just bolts in to the upper frame..



I'm not sure if you can even find a premade set that will just bolt on that are good and solid. You might end up having to do like joe and add some braces. But before I spent 4-500 bucks on a set and then had to beef them up. You might want to check around for a local fab or welding shop and see if they could help you out.

I like the looks of those. I have the tubing bender and welder might have to tackle that myself.

Thanks, Yeah with out a doubt if you have a bender then I'd make your own set. Your only talking two bends per side. You have the one in the front and bend the brace in the back a little so it will wrap around the flair. I've probably got 100 bucks in mine. And 80% of the cose is the bungs. The ones marty made for his he just welded a smaller piece of tubing onto his cage piller for the center support then welded a larger diameter piece onto his kicker. The larger tube slides over the smaller tuben then he has a bolt going through. If you did that vs using bungs in the middle it would save you a few bucks. I had a extra set off bungs that I bought when doing my cage so I went ahead and used them in the middle. When you get the bungs for the front get short ones. As in not the ones like on the cage where its two bolts sxs but the kind that has a bolt on each side. Guess it kind of depends on how you want the front to look or how much you want the kickers to stick out. But the shorter ones just give you more options. IMO mount them as high as you can for clearance. My door clears mine by about 1" when I open it.
Here is what they look like painted and with the plastics installed.