If Cat sees a problem with oil cooler assembly the sure haven't changed a thing. I checked out an '06 400 today, they still have the fitting boss sticking out past the frame rails with the plug in it on the oil cooler. The number is the same as the '05 so where was the change made?

 

I stopped by the dealer yesterday afternoon and checked out the cooler on the '05 400. He doesn't have the '06's out yet. And even though the cooler sits a lot lower than the one on my old Honda and appears at a glance to be subject to sticks, the dealer said he's never had to replace one for damage, other than the ones coming in that have been wrecked. I still want to buy the '05 400i auto, trying my best to come up with the cash. But I will probably end up making a shroud to help protect the cooler, just for my own piece of mind. And not to say that it's a design flaw Bear, but, and I may be wrong, most of the other brands have the oil cooler mounted high and further back. My Honda's is practically underneath the handle bar mount. I think I'm going to try and make my own front bumper as well, may just incorporate a shield to the lower half to deflect sticks and stuff?

 

My 250 has the cooler back real far like your Honda. The 400 frame is the same frame as the 500 and the oil cooler mounts where the radiator is on the 500. So it sits up front.

 

I have an 03 400I auto and at 275 miles I had a branch about 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick kick up off the right front tire at an angle that caught the oil cooler from behind and bent the bottom right bracket. Tearing one of the two aluminum(nubs) nipples( these are off the bottom of the of the aluminum tube at the bottom of the oil cooler that go into the rubber mounts.) I was up in the mountains in Maine on a trail, not bush wacking. I had heard and watched the branch kick up and out from the tire, I thought that I would have a flat tire stopped and checked the tire was fine and made it about a mile more down the trail when the Quad started getting louder and died. I then saw the oil cooler was leaking and got towed out.
I checked the price on the oil cooler and luckily have a friend who welds aluminum who repaired the cooler for me. After refilling with oil and new filter started it back up and motor had a knock. I tore down the motor and checked all bearings gears etc. Replaced Piston and rings had to go to the oversize due to scoring from piston on cylinder which after honing out the score was too close to the tolerance of the stock piston skirt. There was some minor discoloration on the camshaft seat( was able to sand out with 500grit paper) luckily no other damage to the cam or chain and gears. The crankshaft and bearings were also fine. I have heard of this issue only on one other quad ( now two) where they had to replace head,cylinder pistons crankshaft etc A $1500- $2500 dollar repair I thought that was what I would be looking at also. All told doing the labor myself and with friends parts piston rings and full gasket set( I bought from Suzuki -Eieger 400 as Arctic Cat sells gaskets individually) $297.00.

Sorry so long of a story...But it has happened to other 400's. That being said I love my AC 400I just will need a little customizing to protect that area. Cannot wait to get it back together and do some riding.

03classic700

 

I agree, it's a pretty stupid design. Yeah, MOST people will probably never be effected by it, but it's not the smartest thing I've ever seen. But I do not put blame on AC for it. I say fix it and keep wheelin. Put a skid plate there. Buy one or spend a few hours and fab one up. That's half the fun of wheelin, is fabbing up your own parts.

I guess I compare atv's to Jeeps. I used to wheel jeeps all the time. Capable wheelers right out of the box, but if you want to get real extreme, you've gotta do some work to them. Lift kits, hardened axles, skid plates, rollcages etc. Atv's are no different. For driving down the road and through an occassional ditch, there is nothing wrong with the design. If you're gonna do some extreme wheelin, then you'll need to make a few modifications. Small price to pay to play.

That being said, I'm not a hard core AC guy or anything like that. In fact, I'd love to dump mine to get a sportsman :-) So, I'm trying to take a fair side to this, and not take Bear's side just because he's knowledgable and helpful to everybody here, and not take your side for any particular reason.

 

Whew! Lotsa grumpy people here, eh. Sorry to hear it. But my wife found the infamous AC 400 oil cooler flaw on Sunday. She got stuck in some ruts going around a corner & ran the quad straight into a tree doing about 5 or 8 mph. The quad has the big plate steel bumper on it & pushed back a bit, along with the winch, right into the cooler. And ultimately tearing that little nipple off the bottom of the cooler & spewing all the oil out on the ground. She noticed it right away & stopped the engine so I don't think there is any damage.
But I'm looking for a replacement oil cooler & AC wants a wopping $419 for this POS. Anyone have a line on where I can get one used, aftermarket, a retrofit or ????
I'll also be trying to build up the strength of the front end. Probably a skid plate & two additional cross members from the bumper to the top of the shock. Hopefully it'll keep that bumper a bit more stable.
Some pics of the damage are here on the Arctic Chat site.

Thanks for any help guys.

 

How the he!! is it a flaw when you run into a tree. Cops call that driver error where I come from. And hitting trees is expensive so you will learn not to do it again. Also this isn't grumpy, you haven't a clue what grumpy is.

 

Sorry man. It was a play on words based on things said in this thread. The fact that I'm workin on fixing it & not pissin & moanin about it should indicate what I think about it. Believe me, I gave her plenty of crap for hittin the tree. I doubt she did it on purpose though. And if I can make the quad a bit tougher this time around, it might save me from hassling with it again.
Thanks for the suggestion on the radiator shop. I'm there in the morning.

 

You're right bear, it isnt being grumpy....it's just plain being a dick. I've been around here for a bit off and on, and I know you're not always like that so...

Anyway, sorry to here about the cooler...that just plain sucks. I had no idea they would cost that much. Makes me think I'll be a bit more cautious with my front end. When the thread first started I went out and looked at my machine (2005 AC 400i auto) and how much clearence there is between the winch and the cooler and unlike some Ive heard say that are resting directly or almost directly on it, I've got about 1/2 -3/4 inch space. Not MUCH, but hopefully enough for a light jarring. Anyone ever move the cooler to a different spot? Ive never looked to see if it can be, or how much work it would be, but it's an interesting idea.

 

Of course I'm not always right, but you are the name caller and if I really was a "dick" I'd report you to the mods and get your butt chewed. As to the clearence from the winch and the cooler, ever looked at any rig with a front radiator or cooler and the winch, there just isn't room to give you enough clearance to ram into trees. Just can't be done and still have a small enough machine for good trail riding. The reason the cooler is up fron is because it need air to flow thru it to cool the oil. You know, you can alway put a front reciever on the machine in place of the winch and then make up reciever hitch mount with welding calbe plugs for the power connection. But again you are not suppose to run into things with or quad, car, motorcycle, truck, boat or any vehicle. They bend and break and it is not the machine's fault, it is operator error everytime in that case. That's not being a dick, it's the way it is. I don't blame AC and call design flaw when I roll, flip or crash into things. I accept my responsibility as driver and accept the fault for the problem, not blame someone else. It's the kind of thing a man does.