Last night I was thinking about the new 2001 Cat 500 Manual shift having the ability to be shifted in and out of 4wd. I started thinking that my 400 4x4 might be able to be modified, unless the front end of the 400 is different than the 500s. I did notice that in the sales literature that it said the 400 had a torque sensing front end. Without stirring up a lot of controversy over this font ends workings does anybody know if the front diffs are the same and what operates the selection.
Regards, Jim Bell

 

I'm not sure what torque sensing front end is, but my dealer told me the 2X or 4X selection would be the same as the Y2K auto 500. A push/pull lever on the left side of the machine. You'd probably have to get a whole new front end and if you don't have a Y2K 400, the frame is different (I think) and probably can't do any mods unless you make some radical modifications to the frame. (I think) You may have to compare your frame to a 2001 frame. I think in y2k, the 400 and 500 manuals had the same frame that the y2k 500 auto has.

 

The front diffs should be the same, however you probably don't have the shift assembly that goes into the front diff. Those pieces would likely be very pricey to retrofit.