Aquired my first ATV earlier this year, a '98 500. No problems until this morning, had gas coming out of the carb at air intake after shutting down. Assumed it was needle or dirt in the bowl. Drained the bowl at the drain and rotated the carb about the air intake and engine intake tubes. Afterwards it did not leak/overflow but have not ridden it. But the point of my inquiry is how is the choke and throttle linkage disconnected from the carburator? I don't want to do any damage by forcing anything. I would like to remove the bowl and clean it out. I do plan to get a service manual.

Thanks if you can help.

 

To remove the choke linkage (atually it is an enriching system and the linkage moves a needle valve) you unscrew the fitting nut from the carb and the whole thing just slides out. The throttle linage is under the black cover on the side of the carb. Remove the 4 screws and then you have to rotate the brass piece on the end of the cable to get the brass piece and the cable out of the lever (I had to move the throttle valve, not the slide, to WOT to get enough slack. Look at the following link for a parts breakdown;

http://www.alpha-sports.com/arctic_cat_atv_parts.htm

 

Bear 45/70,

Thanks for the reply. Will take a shot at it. Do you have any other words of experience? I bought it from an older guy (and I'm 57) who used it for hunting in MI only. It showed only 1200 miles on the odometer. Just scratches on the plastic. The only thing I've done is change plug and oil.
It will start right up when cold and temp is under 40 degrees F. But once it has run awhile it is a struggle to get it started after shutting down for a short while.
The mileage is not anywhere near what I expected. I doubt it is doing 25 but haven't checked accurately.

Again thanks,

Knevil1

 

"I bought it from an older guy ", I like that, I'll be 59 in 2 weeks, so I must be and older guy too. I ride during the week with a 60, 68 and a 70 year old and we enjoy the easy pace we set as healing from being stupid is to long for any of us. I hope you changed the oil filter when you changed the oil. I have opted to go with the synthetic oil (600 mile oil changes as opposed to 300 mile changes with regular dino oil), I just buy the oil change kit for my dealer and everything I need is in it. I always get a service manual for my toys. I prefer the paper one (it can go out to the shop with me if necessary) from the manufacture or a copy of it by an aftermarket outfit for that specific brand. Then all these little things get addressed. I recommend a small inline fuel filter (have two sitting on the bench to change them today for that matter) as there is way to much trash in the gas these days and the carbs have a lot of little holes in them to plug up. 25mpg is not bad for a 500, I've seen 400 autos that get less than that. My 400 maunal gets about 29 when I behave myself and 22 when I don't. Now the wife's AC 250 gets 40mpg and she has the same gas tank I do. That thing will go for days without refueling. As to the starting problem, I have found when the engine is warm, that a little bit of throttle applied after you start cranking the engine will get the engine to start. So the rule is, "Choke and no throttle on cold startup and no choke and a little throttle on warm startup". Warm start is anything less than several hours. The wife and I trail ride and hunt with our Arctic Cats. Enjoy your toy.

 

Have you checked your valve clearances? Could be a little tight and when warm have trouble pulling fuel but when cold be close enough. Around here we ran into this with several 250 and 300's.