How Wide Is a Polaris Ranger?

Of all your Polaris Ranger’s dimensions, width is by far the most important. Why? Because if you don’t have the width you need for your job, trails, or trailer, you’re shooting yourself in the foot before you even get behind the wheel. Height and length are good to know, but the Polaris Ranger’s width is practically a make-or-break decision.

That’s why it’s so important to know a Ranger’s dimensions before you drop a down payment. And while all Ranger models have similar widths, their minor differences can have big consequences.

So read through to make sure you get a Ranger that matches your needs.

COMMON POLARIS RANGER WIDTHS

When we talk about the width of a Polaris Ranger, we’re really talking about the width of the Ranger’s suspension. That’s the widest part of it after all.

The width is measured from the outside edge of the wheels with the machine resting on the ground. With a little more weight in or on the vehicle, the suspension will be a little wider. With less weight, it will be a little narrower.

Here is a comprehensive list of all the Rangers and their factory widths.

That’s a lot of Rangers and a lot of options. The overall width range (excluding the 150, because you’re not picking that for its width) is 56.6” at the narrowest and 65” at the widest.

No Ranger gets down to 50” wide, and many of them are over 60” wide. Those thresholds are important as you’ll see later on.

Common Polaris Ranger Dimensions

Width is just one piece that makes up a Polaris Ranger’s dimensions. Its length and height are key factors in choosing trailers, storage locations, and more.

The length is measured from the rear of the bed to the front-most point on the vehicle based on its factory configuration. The front-most point will either be the front of the tires or front of the bumper depending on trim level.

Height is measured from the ground to the top of the cage. Factory cab enclosures and roofs are included in the height measurement.

Let’s take a look at the Polaris Ranger’s dimensions.

So the tallest Ranger you can get is just under 80” tall and the shortest is 73” (again, we’re ignoring the Ranger 150). That’s important if you have an enclosed trailer you want to pack your Ranger into.

If you want to try to haul your Ranger in the bed of a truck, pay attention to the length. You can find a Ranger to fit almost any truck.

WHY DOES A POLARIS RANGER’S WIDTH MATTER?

There are three very distinct reasons you might be worried about the Polaris Ranger’s width:

• Riding on width restricted trails
• Getting maximum stability and travel
• Making sure it fits on your trailer

You probably belong to two of these groups. You definitely don’t belong to all three. If you think you do, you’re going to have a bad time finding Ranger dimensions that work for you.

CAN YOU RIDE ON WIDTH RESTRICTED TRAILS?

Width restricted trails serve an important purpose. They keep the wild trails more natural and limit damage and erosion.

Unrestricted trails generally face harsher treatment from bigger, wider, more powerful UTVs. And they can end up feeling more like a logging road than a recreational trail. That’s why, where possible (and desirable), width restrictions are put into place on trails.

A decade ago, 50” trails were the norm, and they kept wide vehicles out by setting up 50-inch-wide gateposts at the beginning of the trail. If your Polaris Ranger’s full width was more than 50”, you wouldn’t fit.

If you want to ride a Ranger on a 50” trail, you’re out of luck. Unless you’re in a Ranger 150, you’re just not going to fit.

Today, 60” trails are much more common. And here’s the good news: apart from the Ranger 1000 lineup and a couple crew models, any Polaris Ranger’s dimensions will fit on a 60” trail.

In case you’re wondering, there are generally a few inches of leeway on these gateposts. Your 60” wide Ranger won’t be scraping both wheels to squeeze through.

So, check the trails you want to ride on, and make sure you Ranger’s width works on them.

DOES A WIDER POLARIS RANGER HAVE BETTER STABILITY AND SUSPENSION TRAVEL?

Wider suspension comes with a plethora of advantages that all have to do with vehicle handling and suspension travel.

A wider Polaris Ranger will be more stable. That makes riding at high speeds and making hard turns far easier and safer. It also allows you to ride over bigger obstacles like ditches and logs without feeling like you’re going to roll over.

You can’t overlook the suspension travel you get with a wider machine, too. It’s one of the primary factors affecting ride comfort. More suspension travel makes those bumps feel, well, less bumpy. Bottoming out your suspension is less likely. And it just feels good.

So how are Ranger width and suspension travel related?

Take the Ranger 570 Midsize for example. It sports 58-inch wide suspension and has an advertised 9-inch front travel and 10-inch rear travel. Now let’s compare that to the 65-inch wide Polaris Ranger XP 1000 NorthStar Edition which has 11-inch front and rear travel.

That extra two inches of travel in the front makes a huge difference. Take the 570 and the NorthStar down the same trail and you’ll notice the NorthStar riding buttery smooth where the 570 bottoms out.

DOES A POLARIS RANGER FIT ON YOUR TRAILER?

You’re not going to have much fun if you can’t actually haul your Polaris Ranger anywhere. You need a trailer or a good truck that will work for you. The good news here is that trailers are generally 60 inches or wider meaning your Ranger will likely fit in whatever you’ve got.

If you have a Ranger 1000 model, Ranger Crew XP 900, Ranger Crew Diesel, or Ranger Diesel HST Deluxe, you’ll need to make sure your trailer is a little wider.

HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR POLARIS RANGER WIDER?

Maybe you’re one of those riders that cares about having the widest vehicle above all else. Maybe you just want that extra stability or you’re looking for that extra-cushy suspension travel. No matter what you’re after, making your Polaris Ranger wider isn’t difficult.

There are a number of ways to make your machine wider:

• Wheel spacers
• Less wheel backspacing
• A long travel kit
• A portal gear lift or snow tracks

There are advantages and disadvantages to each, and they can affect more Polaris Ranger dimensions than just width. Let’s walk through them.

WHEEL SPACERS

Wheel spacers are a cheap and effective way to make your Ranger a little bit wider. You can get 1”, 1.5”, and 2” wide wheel spacers to make your UTV between 2–4” wider overall. This doesn’t affect your suspension travel, but it will give you increased stability.

Keep in mind that the primary purpose of wheel spacers is to adjust the backspacing of your wheels, which takes us to our next point.

WHEEL BACKSPACING

A wheel’s backspacing is how far inward past the hub a wheel goes. A typical seven or eight-inch wide wheel will have around four or five inches of backspacing.

If you shop around, you can find wheels that are just as wide as stock, but with less backspacing. This will make them stick out farther past the hub and make your machine more stable.

This accomplishes the same thing as wheel spacers—you’ll be wider and more stable, but your suspension travel will be the same.

LONG TRAVEL KITS

Long travel kits are the traditional way to make your suspension wider. They completely replace your suspension from the A-arms, to the axles and tie rods. Some, but not all, will replace your shocks as well.

You can get up to six inches of extra width this way. You’ll definitely get tons of stability, but you won’t necessarily get more suspension travel. But they do look great.

If you want suspension travel, you’ll need to make sure the long travel kit you get comes with new shocks or that there are other long shocks that are compatible with that kit. Many kits use shock brackets along with your stock shocks to keep costs reasonable. Longer shocks will replace both of these and boost your travel.

POLARIS RANGER WIDTH WITH TRACKS OR PORTALS

Snow tracks and portals are a little bit different. Typically, you don’t get either of these because you want to get wider. You get these because you need them and they just happen to also make your Polaris Ranger wider.

Snow tracks typically have a seven-inch offset which means it sticks out seven inches past the hub. If you compare that to the four to five-inch backspacing that typical seven or eight-inch wheels have, the difference is four inches per side.

To sum up, you can estimate that tracks will make your Ranger eight inches wider. So a 62.5-inch Ranger would be 70.5 inches wide, and a 60-inch Ranger 570 Full-size would be 68 inches wide.

GDP Portal Gear Lifts also increase your width by about four inches per side, even though they don’t change anything else about the suspension. That’s because they add a gear reduction right in the hub which pushes your wheel out 4 extra inches. They also increase your height, obviously. They’ll give all your Polaris Ranger’s dimensions a boost!

So whether you want extra width or not, additions like tracks or portals will give it to you. It’s something to keep in mind when thinking about hauling and trail access.

DON’T OVERTHINK IT

In the end, don’t stress too much about your how wide your Ranger is. All it comes down to is making sure you’ve got trails to ride and a trailer to haul it. As long as you’ve checked those things off your list, you can’t go wrong.