Picked up a 2004 400 4x4 manual a couple weeks ago. The bike is in great shape and only has 200 miles on it. For $2,500 bucks, I feel like it was a pretty good deal. I have been reading through a few post. Looks like some very loyal Cat folks here.

One thing I was wondering about is gear whine. Is this fairly typical on the manual shaft drive units? I notice a predominate whine, more of a higher pitched growl once I get into gears above 2nd. 1st and second are pretty quite. I guess since the bike is not really moving very fast in those gears. Also, I see the top heaviness in the bike especially in cornering, tends to have excessive
body roll and understeer. I see from other post this is somewhat common and can be easily corrected with front air pressure and spring spacers.

Look forward to more good info from the site.

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the litter or pride (we're all kittens with a lions roar and bite - lol).

Absolutely you can improve on the handling with tire pressures and spring preloads. If you put wheel spacers it gets even better.

Soft is grip, stiff is loose or slide. The biggest thing is the front tire roll-under while turning. Makes you feel like your going to do a handstand on the handle bars or a nose dive over the outside front tire. And actually if severe enough you can roll it, the inside rear tire will come off the ground and if you don't catch it soon enough - well, lets just say your heart beat will rise.

Try this for starters
front tire pressure 8lbs, rear 5 lbs
front preloads softest, rear second to softest.
if it understeers (you turn but it wants to go straight and you have to steer more than what the turn would normally call for) then increase the rear preload
if it oversteers then make the rear softer or the front stiffer.
When properly set you can enter into a turn and the rear will follow and when you gas it the rear will slide out at tad until it hooks up.
Ideally if you enter a turn too fast the whole machine should slide sideways (not just the front or the rear but both)
Wheel spacers enhance and almost give you the sensation of a go-cart.

May machine runs with the best of them in the corners including SRA's and I am more top heavy than you as my gastank is in front of my seat and not under like yours which gives you a lower center of gravity.

 

Is the gear whine normal? I can't really tell if it's in the trans. or in the rear. Sounds like big mud grip tires on a truck going down the road. I know it's not the tires because I hear it on soft terrains.

 

i haven't owned a manual in a while so i woudln't know about that. just check all your fluid levels and change them if necessary. and we taught buckaroo good [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] but personally if it was me i would just get rid of the tires and get so stiff 6 ply tires. may i suggest 26 inch itp mud lites. good stiff tire and should work well on a 400. and buckaroo his gastank should be in front like yours is. the only 2004 machine that had the gastank in the back was the 650 v2

 

Another thing you can do for the time being if you don't want to shell out the cash for new tires right now until you decide what you really want is to put some tubes in the tires that will also stiffen the sidewalls. Look at tire height this way with relationship to car tire profiles (25" - 50 series, 26" - 60 series, 27" - 70 series). The taller the tire the more suseptible to 'roll-under', a lower profile will always handle better. Same make, brand and model tire, just going from 25" to 26" cost about $80-$100 more for a set of four tires, so if you get 4 tires 25" for say $260 then the same tires in 26" will be closer to $350, (a lot of bucks for 1/2 more clearance and worse handling characteristics). Tubes in 4ply tire about $16-$20 bucks for 4. (I heard that if you get a flat tire with tubes then "green-slime' or something like that will seal the tube until you can get it properly fixed).
The other thing to think about is going to a taller tire is also going to change you gearing and the 400 (has adequate power) but not a great deal to spare to turn taller tires. To me it just is not worth the money to get taller tires that would handle worse, loose power by being geared too tall, all for 1/2" of clearance - NOPE not for me. I'd buy a winch with the savings from 25" to 26" tires, or some HighLifter springs to get more clearance.

 

Hey buckaroo. I have 165 miles on my ATV now (AC '07 500 auto) and love the machine. I have been running 5 lbs in the rear tires and 6 lbs in the fronts. Front shocks on softest and rears on second softest settings. When you run the fronts at 8 lbs do you find you have any more pouctures than when you run them soft? Just curious. Now that I have a feel for the ATV I thought I might fiddle with the tire pressures. You have to remember that I have nothing to compare to as this is the only ATV I have ever ridden. It seems to handle and steer well and after four 25 to 40 mile rides over varied terrain I find it handles pretty well and is very easy on the old body. I don't paticularily like the vibration which comes with singles as it bothers my hands a bit but I made some covers for the grips out of some old neoprene waders and it helped a lot.

 

I wear thin leather gloves all the time. Helps my hands. The 8 or 9lbs in the front will not puncture easily (I never had one), and you may find that the steering gets real easy too, you will find that it handles a tad better too, because the sidewalls will get really firm and not 'roll-under', trying it is the only way to really tell.
After you get used to the machine - a machine that handles well is one that upon entering a corner too fast it will slide sideways. Or you can try going a little slower and slamming the brakes on while going into a turn - it still should slide sideways.
I can go into a turn and gas it at the apex and the rear will slide just a little and when the rear tires hook-up it will lift the inside front tire off the ground.

 

Thanks buckaroo. I'll give it a try.