Hey Everyone,

I'll try and make this short. I had originally been out looking for an Arctic Cat, when the salesman steered me toward Bombardier. Needless to say, I was turned down for the loan, (too many other toy loans) no surprise really... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Bummed at first, I stopped by at a convenience store to pick up a snack and grabbed a local classified paper. Low and behold, I found a 2003 Arctic Cat 400I for $3800.00. I went that night to look at it and was stunned. It was absolutely mint, (134 miles). The guy had purchased it new in 03 and only used it rarely and gently. If this nice guy is not OCD, I don't know who is, because this machine was sparkling new, (one small scratch on the skid plate). I didn't even really dicker on the price and he threw in two new helmets. I feel as if it was meant to be.

Well, I put it through it's paces on Saturday and I must say that I love this machine - very impressed. I didn't think I'd like an automatic - I was wrong. This thing rides like a Caddy and runs like a tank. Low range is a thing of beauty. I tried to take it easy, but did get a bit carried away, which leads me to a question.

I was in a large deep pit, with obstacles and several water/mud pits in the bottom. My buddy has a Honda Rancher and he got bogged down a few times, where the AC just rumbled through, (not even a rooster tail)!! On my 4th trip through water, I almost got bogged down, I went in pretty deep, (pipe under water). It took some doing, but I managed to rumble out and back through again. As I started to exit the pit, (40-foot climb, fairly steep), I noticed that my RPM's spiked, but the quad was hardly moving - in fact, I lost momentum. I backed down into the pit, (hairy) and rode around the dry part of the basin for a few minutes and made another attempt. Same story, but I made it up. I had high revs and a sound like the belts were slipping. I sat for a few minutes and headed the 7-miles back to camp, with no problems at all. Once there, I pulled the drain plug and ran the engine, but no water came out at all.

Is this something I can expect, or was it just a fluke? It ran flawlessly the rest of the weekend, by the way. Anyone whom I have not put to sleep have any thoughts?

Sorry for the ramble. So much for making it short... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Mark

 

Hi Mark, congrats on your new toy! As it happens my brother in law and I were in Pittsfield this weekend (he rides an '03 AC400i auto with about 400 miles on it) and he put that thing through alot of deep water during the day... he didn't mention anything about belt slip until going up the ramp onto the truck at the end of the day, it did slip a little. As I recall he checked the drain and nothing came out, hopefully he'll see this and add his .02

I'm convinced that his 400 goes through mud better than my 500, I think because of my stock rear tires...they really float. You've got yourself a nice machine there, I hope you figure it out...

MB

 

No kidding??? We were in Washington MA, (20-minutes from Pittsfield). That's cool!

It's getting hairy here in The Berkshires - alot of anti-ATV sentiment floating around.

I am so impressed with this machine. I have been blessed with friends who have quads and have ridden just about every make. I invested in camera gear and finally had my time come for a quad. I had my head set on AC and am glad I'm home. I never really luck out, so finding this pristine AC was absolutely the best.

In hindsight, I probably should have avoided getting too wet at first, but I couldn't resist. My buddy went through the center and got really bogged down, so I went to the right, (not having enough faith in myself or my AC yet) and went in twice as deep. I thought I was screwed, especially when it stalled. Plus, like an idiot, I had it in high range. It took about 5-minutes to get across, but it made it. Later, he drove through the center and got completely stuck. I drove in after him, (this time in low), passed in front of him, backed up and towed him out. True story and truly amazing. Places where I used to whince, (rocky), this thing cleared right over. It's tank.

 

i sold my 2003 500i last fall with a 2500 pound warn winch and 1000 miles on it for 3900 last year but then again atv's go so cheap in this area. well it sounds like you might have gotten a lil water in your clutching to me. even if you hit it faster the water splashing can possibly get up into the belt i did it once and it takes a lil bit to get it dried off just a lil driving in high range 2wd on flat ground or else my favorite way put it in neutral and rev the motor up. you can fill up that clutch cover with water put it in neutral and rev the motor and the clutch will throw all the water out of the top of the clutch intake. another thing to remember is anytime you go in mud or go uphills always put it in low range, saves on everything and you will always have that extra snort of power in reserve in case you need it. congrats on your new ride i hope your 400 is as good to you as my 500 was to me.

 

Thanks weez440 - so far, so great. Yeah, quad prices are a bit on the steep side out here, but the really telling thing is how absolutely beat everything I was looking at. Terrain in many areas is very rocky and it showed on nearly every quad I looked at. The dealers were the worst. Peddling smashed up quads for 4-grand +++ - pathetic. I really lucked out on this one. It really is a well-made machine. I noticed a bit of over-steer, but other than that, (and getting the damn seat on), it's a beauty....

 

Hey Mark,

Congrats on your new purchase. It sounds like you already LOVE your bike and I'm sure you will continue to do so. I haven't got my belt wet yet (not for lack of trying) - trust me I don't want it wet, but I've been in some pretty bad spots. Anyways I just wrote to say if you have all this camera gear get some pics of that machine up!!!!

Enjoy your new ride
Barnzilla

 

Thanks Barnzilla - you're right - I really do love this machine. I just got back from a ride. Turns out, there's a trail that's about 1/2 mile from my house, that leads to a state forest. I just went exploring and found a network of ATV trails I never knew existed. Too great. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img] I am so happy I wound up on AC. I just looked at my odometer and realized that I've put nearly 100-miles on this quad since Friday Night!!! The previous owner hit 134 since 2003!!

I really should take pics of this quad "before and after".... The guy who owned it before me would crap his pants if he could have seen where I took his former pristine AC on Saturday... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Thanks all for the welcome.

 

No problems ! Congrats Mark !
Like MB mentioned we road around all day through some deep water/mud and had no problems ,the only time I thought the belt started to slip was going up the ramps in high range ,I put it in low and had no problem ,I pulled the plug to find some black powder on the bottom of the plug ,no water .
We had been doing some rough riding all day, some six hours

 

Jwoodsman - Yeah, it never did it again the whole weekend and when I got back to camp, I pulled the plug, ran the engine and nothing came out. Hopefully just a fluke. If you ever get out to WMA, drop me a line. Still some good riding out here and we're light on the EP's. (for now)

 

Congrats Mark! One thing to keep in mind is that the 400's don't really get broken in until about 300 miles. So keep riding it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Also, I recommend you put in the Arctic Cat synthetic oil. It cost a little bit more but is a small price to pay in the long run. Enjoy!