I purchased a 2004 arctic cat 500 auto this past summer. I like it except for the foot brake. My ridind zone had a lot of brushy hills and I almost lost it several times when I had to stop on a hill to mive branches out of the way. Even after firmly applying the foot brake the machiene will drift out of position. I took it back to the dealer and he went through all the adjustments and bleeding process and finally announced that the brakes suck and there was nothing further they can do with them. They said atctic cat recognized the problem and made some very positive design changes for their 05's. What can I do to remedy my situation as I think it is very dangerous as is?

 

Positive changes for '05...yes. Adequate?, not IMO- The hydraulic rear pedal on my '05 <u>IS</u> better than the cable setup on my brother in laws '03, but to say it's positive is relative. Most people I've talked to don't rely on the footbrake, if they use it at all. The hand lever will lock all four wheels for me, but the footbrake won't hold the bike on a hill, nor will it screech me to a stop. Used in conjunction with the engine braking it is serviceable under normal, non panic stops, but in a tough spot you can't count on it. I usually pretend that it doesn't exist, but love the bike anyway...

 

Same here. I have an 01, but the same deal. A buddy just bought an 05 400 with the hydro rear brake, I am sure it is much better. Something to keep in mind. As in the previous post the front hand brake will act against all of the wheels. I would add, however: Take a close look inside your rear wheel. On every Cat I have looked at (I qualify this statement as as soon as I say "for certain" I will be wrong) there are 2 calipers. One larger that is comparable to the front calipers, and a smaller. The smaller has about 1/2 the braking surface as the larger. The smaller is what is activated by the foot brake. I also want to say the same holds true on the hydro 05 (400's Plus what ever others, if not all now). The 05's have simply updated to hydro actuation. The reason I bring this up? I did not realize exactly how it worked till I took the wheel off. I was super interested being used to having rear disk brake cars with manual screw or lever actuated parking brakes acting on the same caliper. I wondered how A/C did a mixed hydro/mechanical actuated caliper. The answer, they don't.

I tend to stay off my foot brake, just use the lever on the bars. When I use it I use it as an add on to engine braking going down hills.


Brent

 

I've never gotten down on my hands and knees to look at my back brake setup, but I know on our 04' 400's, the foot brake is waste. At best, I might use it if I stop on a slight incline (or decline) to hold me steady while I use my hands for other things (drinking water, eating gorp, or just waving my hands as I rant about being lost again...). The lever is SO flimsy, I worry that I'm going to bend it out of shape.

What were they thinking???

 

Yeah, MT... I won't say that I don't use it, but the operative word in "slight incline" is <u>slight</u>!!

 

Several of our friends Polaris atvs have the same problem, regardless of year. The brakes bleed off and off goes the ATV, they just can't trust them. They have to park them where they wont roll or put rocks behind the wheels. Maybe one drum brake is not such a bad idea on a utility machine.