I took my 500 Auto Cat out this morning after some much needed rain. The creek that I have to cross to reach my favorite riding area had risen alot! I wasn't exactly sure how deep it was, but with my brother on my Dad's new 500 Auto Cat behind me & two winches, I gave her hell & went across. Real close to the other side, a front tire went into a hole & the front rack went under water. I leaned the other way, turned the wheels & kept on the gas. As soon as she started to get a little traction, I noticed the wheels weren't spinning but the engine was. I checked the shifter to make sure it was in gear & tried again, no luck. At this point the water was up to about the middle of the cylinder on the engine. Off I jumped, got the winch, hooked to a fence & winched my way out. Once on dry ground the belt was slipping pretty bad. My brother followed me, made it thru, but got stuck coming out the other side, I winched him out & we headed off to a field. I had to baby her to get her going but once she was rolling the belt seemed to grab okay. I checked the airbox & it was dry, so I went riding thru the fields for a while to try to dry any water that still may be in & around the belt. After about ten minutes or so, no more slipping. She did everything else I asked for the rest of the day with no problems. I don't want to get into the "Autos suck" & other bashing that goes on, I only want to ask if this has happened to other Cat owners & is there anything I should do as far as maintenance or cleaning after this experience. I don't think I'll make a habit of this but just in case it comes up again. Maybe I could put a short snorkel on the belt housing just for this one creek crossing? Oh yea, I should add that we both had to winch ourselves out of ditches several times today & God I was glad we bought the winches, what a confidence boost you get knowing you have that winch on the front.

Lance

 

Lance,
You got rain????? wow we need it the Farmers are about to loose their crops. I have a manual for that main reason gears dont slip. You might wana post your topic in the Polaris Forum, since they are notirious for this problem.

 

Lance, I would think you should be okay. I sunk mine like that once but it was more like nasty swamp water/mud. After I got winched out my belt slipped so I took the time to pull the plug under the belt housing and drain it out. The machine was fine for the rest of the day which was about 30 miles of plenty of mud and rough terrain. I didn't use the machine until the following weekend and when I started it up I had a horrible grinding, howling bearing noise. I pulled the belt cover off and there are two bearing mounted inside it. That thick, soupy, muddy, swamp water had gotten back behind those bearings where it didn't drain out and some of the dirt had worked into the bearings (cheap Japanesse sealed bearings). It ruined one of the bearings, my dealer took care of it under warranty. If it does it to me again, once my warranty is expired, I'm going to get some better American Made, sealed bearing for it. It sounds like you should be okay because you said it was a moving creek, probably pretty clean water. If you hear a howling noise, you know what it'll be!
Oh-yeah, don't forget---AC has a drain plug under the belt housing just for that reason! It can save your belt!!

 

The only problem you will have is if you get mud or other debri in the clutch housing. As far as gears not slipping that is true,but once you get a few inches up from the "stock" belt tranny snorkles you will be filling the stock air box,belt drive or not.I have had a belt drive Polaris,yamaha and now my Cat.All have been buried in the muddy water with only the Polaris not getting its belt wet. Been to several water holes (with friends)where we have pulled out Kawasaki Prairies,Honda Ranchers,Foremans and on and on all with water induced ailments. The Cat has the worst tranny vent i have seen.But is easy to remedy if you see allot of water,if you don't I would not worry too much about it.

 

I'm going to pull the belt cover off this afternoon to inspect, more for my own info than anything else. Is there a gasket sealing the case, & is it reuseable? Any hints on getting it back together? I am pretty mechanical, so I guess I can figure it out but you all seem pretty knowledgable. Thanks

 

AC uses a thin metal gasket and you can reuse it, just don't "kink" it. It is pretty straight forward.You remove the vent/inspection cover, floorboard,pull the pin and drop the foot brake lever,pull all the bolts and wiggle the cover off.

 

I pulled the inspection cover & everything you can see looks very clean so I chose not to pull the rest apart. I could not find any drain plug though. I did start it up & run it to see which way the belt turns. I also found where the water got in from. Why would AC run the air inlet to the housing all the way up to the base of the handlebars & the leave the outlet open not even at knee height? When my right front tire fell in the hole, I'm sure the outlet was under water. It's going to take me a day or so, but I'm going to figure out a way to raise the outlet without looking too strange. Anyways, I didn't hear any unusual noises while running it & everything looks clean, just a little belt dust, so I buttoned her back & can't wait to get her out again. Since it's been in the 90s for a couple of days, I'm sure the creek has gone down quite a bit. Thanks for the help.

 

The drain plug is directly over one of the supports for the right side floor board.You have to use a wrench to get it off because a socket will not fit in the space provided. I too was dumbfounded by the way they vented the tranny. I have also had water enter in the opening that is under the seat by the airbox. Some "hillbilly" enginering is definately in order.