If I was to use the Cat for mainly snowplowing, occasional trailriding, pulling a plow, and occasionally pulling a few oak tree logs for firewood, which would better suit me? I have some motorcycle experience, so shifting would be no problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank You. Hammer4

 

Hammer i bought a new ac 500 manual last weekend 9-9-00. The dealer let me take an auto he had for a demo for about an hour. It was really smooth but there wasnt any engine braking going down a steep hill (very little) the ac has great brakes. That and the hassel of changing the belt one day made me choose the manual.

 

It sounds to me like you want to work the machine more than play. I can see you getting some heavy wet snow in MN. My choice would be the manual.

 

Hammer:
I'll agree with Steve that the Auto is very smooth, though I have to disagree about the engine breaking bit. The AC Auto's have about the best engine break out there, compared to the rest. I wonder if he didn't have it in 4 low. Depending on the drive selection, that will effect how well it works. I run mostly elk trails, and they're in and out of some pretty nasty stuff. Hills are everywhere, and I've not once had my 'Cat "run away" from me in low range. There are many times I've had to give it gas to get over rocks or logs, etc. I rode with a buddy on a Yamaha a few weeks ago down a hill that had a fairly decent grade to it, but nothing I would consider steep. He had his breaks on full lock, and was sliding helplessly down, while I was just leisurely idling down, not once touching the breaks. As for the working part of it, go to a post made by Hokey, entitled "Who uses Auto for hard work" or something like that. I've got a pretty lengthy reply as to what "work" I've done with my Auto.

As for which would be better for you? Well, I'd have to answer Yes. Well, what I mean is, which ever style you prefer is what will be best for you. If you prefer shifting, the manual will be better. However, if you would rather just have the simplicity of touching the throttle, and never having to worry about changing gears in the middle of a mud pit, or ascending a steep hill, then the Auto would be better for you. I personnally love the Auto, and will always stick with it. I wasn't sure how much actual work I'd be able to do with it, but it sure surprised the hell out of me with what it can do. It sure is a strong unit.

As far as the belt goes, somebody was asking about the life of the belts in another post, and ended up with several different responses. I was just down at the dealer today working on my springs, and asked once again about the belt life. He said he called AC directly, last week when I asked about that, after I was done talking to them. AC told him that the belts in the 500 Auto's were designed to last the lifetime of the machine. They claim that due to the design of the duramatic transmission, the belt is constantly under tension, and therefore holds up longer than the belts in other transmissions that resemble the snowmobile stype clutch set-up.

When it comes right down to it, there is no question that gears are tougher than belts, but under the circumstances, I don't think you could go wrong with either machine. As long as you put the Auto in low range, you won't have any troubles at all with the work you want to do. Basically, I think it comes down to which machine would you like to ride the most, which is the most pleasureable for you.

Sorry about the length, hope that gives you something to consider if nothing else. Good luck with your decision.

Mike

 

Cowboy, Thanks again for your input! I am new to the sport of ATVing and I just want to do as much research as I can before I make my decison. Now I am leaning toward the Automatic. This way the crankcase oil will stay cleaner because their is no contamination from friction clutch plates. As well as smoother towing without gaps, and my girlfriend will be able to drive it if the need ever arises! I went back deeper in the posts and read some of your experiences. Very interesting, never boring! I thank you for your helpful advice! I will let you know when I make my purchase. It might be a couple of months yet, until I get caught up on the other bills! Later, Joe Hammer4

 

Hey, no problem! I spent around 3 or 4 months looking into everything before I ended up with the AC 500 Auto. That's another nice thing about the auto, your girlfriend won't have any trouble riding around, and if you're lucky, she'll want one for herself! I've had my grandparents drive mine around a bit, and they loved it. I had a hard time getting it back from my grandpa!

Anyhow, I know what you mean about the money situation, it sucks. Someday though, look out, here we come. Well, good luck with things, hopefully in the near future, you'll have a big kitty sitting in your garage!

Mike

 

Keep in mind for pushing snow any great distance, the auto will allow you to smoothly accelerate better than manual shift. Reverse is faster, too, anyway on my Xplorer. As for a belt drive being weak I say hooey! We had a combine on the farm that used a variable belt system very similar to (but much bigger than) the ones used on atvs with no belt trouble in 10 years. This on a 12,500 pound machine. You can ruin the belt if you try, but with common sense they will go a long, long time. Just do your pushing in low.
Farmr

 

Farmr:
Excellent example of the strength of belt drives in the "real world" encounters! I'm sure the Combines themselves would wear out faster than the belts in some circumstances, depending on what crop you're harvesting. Now that I think about it, I've got a farm machinery class now, and while out on one of the local wheat farmers places, we looked at a few different machines. I got to go out with the owner for a ride, then after a few minutes, he let me operate it. Kind of fun actually, though a little nerve racking on the steep Palouse hillsides we've got around here. It's amazing what the wheel travel on those things will do. Anyway, the machine itself was run mostly on belts to turn the different rotars and such. You could see from the numerous years of work, the wheat was "pitting" the steel on the header, and down around the ball joints near the wheels.

This year was one of the better ones in quite some time. They were pulling about 130 bushels/acre of dryland, where in most recent years, they're used to 90 bushels being "great". This year was awesome. I can't imagine why these damn politicians want to remove our dams when you look at it from the farming perspective. They run everything on barges through the river systems, yet without the dams, the number of trucks on the roads would increase exponentially. We all know what would happen with that many more trucks running our highways. I'm sure the government would then step in once again and impose some other kind of vehicle restrictions for polution, or trafficing, whatever way they felt they could control us even more than they already do.

Just a thought.

Mike

 

I have a very painful experience to share that dramatically documents the differences between the Auto and Manual transmissions in the Arctic Cat 500 4X4.

About a month ago I bought a new 2001 AC 500 Auto of my own that I could use and abuse. It has been about 10 years since I had ridden an ATV and the machines have changed so much since then that it is NOT like riding a bike.

So, I have re-learned ATV riding having put about 200 miles on the Auto in the last couple of weeks when I came across a great deal on a 2000 AC 500 Manual (160mi. $5000 w/winch). Since my wife prefers the Auto’s comfort and convenience and I prefer the sporty, workhorse nature of the Manual, it seemed like a perfect combination. But, as I said, I have recently re-learned riding on the Auto.

Last Sunday I was running down a trail that has a steep little hill with a sharp turn at the bottom. I had ridden this spot at least 50 times with the Auto but I was breaking in the Manual for the first time. I approached the hill at about 20 mph as I normally would with the Auto and let off the gas. The engine braking of the Auto would have coasted me down the hill at the proper speed to negotiate the turn at the bottom.

With the Manual you don’t get the engine braking and I was going too fast. I overreacted with the front and rear breaks and came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. My stop was too quick though and in what seemed to be slow motion the bike flipped forward. It landed on the front right handle bar and on my chest. I got up without a scratch but, with a bruised sternum and the wind knocked out of me. I was VERY LUCKY! I also had a helmet on or things might have been worse. SAFETY FIRST – ALWAYS! Other than a bent handle bar that I pulled back in place, the bike was unharmed as well.

And, the moral of this story? Be keenly aware of the riding and handling differences between the Auto and Manual! The fulltime front wheel drive and lack of engine braking in the Manual makes a startling difference in handling as opposed to the Auto. Adjust your riding style accordingly and as always, ride safe, because you never know when an accident might happen.

 

Just a note to my previous post, this incident happened on a completely stock Manual machine.

The modifications in my profile have been delivered by UPS this week and will go on the machine this week-end. I'll probably have to re-learn how to ride the Manual once again with a lot more concern for safety.