How are the axles breaking? From jumping, spinning and then hitting turf, pulling or what? I want to know so I dont do anything to break mine...It seems like these things shouldnt break unless your being pretty tough on them... I just bought an 03 400 off ebay and own an 04 TBX 500.
Thanks

 

i always hear of people complaining that their cats are hard steering and i got oversized tires on my 650 and have no problems steering at all if anything riding all day my butt gets sore. and my buddy has an 04 grizz and i have an 04 650 i have 27 inch tires he has 26 inch and before my cdi and my clutch kit i would walk away from him in a flat out drag race cause he has told me a few times he wishes he would have gotten the 650 cat but he wanted a different machine then what i got (we are all to competitive here) and even doing wheelies i will sit on mine and crack it down in low range without throwing my weight and it will flip backwards his we put a highlifter mod kit in it and he has to really jump on the back rack to get his to do a wheelie in low range. the grizz is a very very nice machine i like driving his but i also like mine and am used to it and like the more power. i haven't had any problems with my axles i was jumping it this summer roughnecking it to see how it would hold up and everything was perfectly sound and the polaris 700 well them things are poochy but now they got the efi and well the testers have told me they have great power but the second you take them down a gravel road where it is dirty that they lose alot of horsepower i supposed the intake needs to be kept very clean, and polaris is very high maintanance where my cat has been pretty trouble free except i hate kawi's clutch and tranny wish they had the duramatic arctic cat tranny in them but the 650 H1 is supposed to have it in them and supposed to have more low end grunt the the V2

 

See these --> .............. They are periods. They separate sentences.

I've read more posts where 660's outran AC650's than I have the other way around. And the quad may not steer heavy if thats all you ever ride, but hop on something else for a week or so and look at the difference. Steering has always been one of arctic cat's weak points.

 

Sorry but that was funny, I read that post last night and by the end of it I felt like I was reading just a bunch of rambling with no point. No offense to the poster meant but man punctuation does make a difference. Thank you all you English Teachers out there!!! lol

 

My 650 is definitely alot harder to steer than my 400. What i tried, and seems to work to some degree is changing the angle of the handlbars. Take the instrument cluster cover off, loosen the clamp bolts, angle the bars forward some then retighten. should give you more leverage and easier turning, mine did, just takes some getting used to. Still i would definitely go with the 650.

 

I am truely sorry for no punctuation. I will try harder in the future for i can see how it can be frustrating and boring.

 

I have found that my Cats steer no harder than any others that I've ridden, and I've ridden most of them. I did cheat the alignment a bit to make it better than stock, but then I've been hot rodding since the late 50's and back then the winners all cheated, even in NASCAR.

 

I've ridden a 98 454, a 99 500, and an 03 500 extensively. Other than that I've only ridden them at dealerships. The old AC's steered like pure $hit and there is nobody that can ever convince me otherwise seeing as I put 2000 miles on one. The 03 model was much better than the older ones, but still not close to being up to par with any yamaha's that I've ever ridden.

I will say that a 2001 Honda 450s steers pretty heavy too though. About like the older Arctic Cats did.

And they steer heavy no doubt, but its not something that would make me mad or want to sell the quad. When you own something despite whatever it is, you get used to the way it drives and you really don't think much about it.

 

No clue on how they are breaking. Its just that the 03's use the cheaper axles. Yamaha soon realized they f'd up and went back to the previous manufacture. The back 2 axles just boogle the hell out of me. The one axle broke when I made a turn in the sand. I was not even getting on the gas, I'm not hard on my wheeler. I really take good care of it.

 

The ride on the AC 650 V2 2005 is nothing like the 2004. The 05 feels smoother in terms of the suspension and steering. Not sure why, you look at both bikes and it's really hard to tell were the differences are other than the posted weight and suspension travel.

No axle failures, no limp mode issues, no belt burning, no choke seezing, no frame cracking, no brake issues and no cold start issues either, unlike my buddy's 2004. Knock on wood!

To a certain extent, the driver has lots to do with how a bike will react, maintenance and common sense goes a long way no matter what brand you drive. Having said that, the way and were I ride, I wouldn't trade in my 650 V2 for nothing out there today.