Hi,

I've been looking to buy used for a while. I want a utility ATV to pull my trailer around my 3 acres and maybe to push some snow. This is the first AC I have looked at and I wonder if its a good buy for me. Its a 2001 300 manual 4x4 and it has 200 miles on the odometer. It looks like its a month old. There is no paint missing on any of the frame and no rust that I could find. It ran great as far as I could tell. i got it up to about 35 after some getting used to the heel/toe shift.

He wants $3000 for it. It seems like a good buy, my greatest concern is the size. Its hard for me to tell if its up to the task.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Harry in PA

 

WOW, that looks super nice and very low miles. They are a good machine but the price is at the high end. But then again the machine looks real good. Last year I saw a 2001 300 in much worst shape for $3000 too. It is actually a bit smaller than the bigger Cats and I rode a 2001 250 for over a year and now the wife rides it and the only problems have been a couple of torn boots and a shifter cable (I updated to the linkage system on the later machines for less money than the cable cost). Oh yeah, and a carb problem that the guy before me took apart and left a part out of. Of course because it didn't run right I got a good deal, but it wasn't in the shape that one is. BTW, the 250 has gone everywhere my 400 has and gets thru tight places easier than the 400 too.

 

I agree with Bear, I have a 1999 300 and it will go anywhere. Also with the 3 speed trans you can keep on pushing/pulling as long as you can get traction. These are tough machines, just not speed demons.

 

Pull a trailer and plow snow not a problem the 300 and 250 have a great lowrange lots of power....I had a 250 and it would work as hard as my 400...Personaly I think the 300 and 250 are great quads also good on gas.

 

We have both a 300 and 400 (2003 models) and for just working around the yard (5 acres), the
300 is better. As the other two guys stated, the 3 speed reduction gear is great and it works in
reverse unlike the low range on the 400. It can also get into tighter places than larger machines.

We haul wood, logs and whatever with our 300. We don't have a plow for it, but with some
chains it ought to do well in the winter.

Dave

 

I cannot say any much more than has already been said .... except....you also get an rear independent suspension. I don't think you will find that in any other 300 class quad. One of the girls I ride with has an 03 300, basically the same as the one you are looking at I would guess. She puts it through the ringer and it keeps on coming back for more. I have ridden it several times and like it alot. The only thing I had to get used to was the shifter. I drive manual A/C myself so the heal/toe thing was not a problem. Her 300 does not have the "click" between gears that my 400s have. Not a problem, I actually sort of prefered it after a few minutes.

Brent

 

I want to thank everyone for all your advise. I picked it up yesterday but it was too dark out to play with it until this evening.

I have tons of questions but I will wait until the ink on the title is dry before I start asking them. The only one I will ask now is what could be the reason that after 15-20 minutes of running it stalls out and although it will kick over it won't idle without stalling? Touching the throttle stalls it out instantly. I am thinking too rich a mixture but thats just a wild guess.

When I rode it at the sellers house I drove it for about 12 minuntes at a time with no problems. I thought the gas might be old since the unit was not used very often in the past year but that usually translates into hard starting.

If it is the mixture how would I adjust that? I did not see it in the manual.


Thanks,
Harry in PA.

 

Its a little late so my brain is not working all that well, but I still want to take a swing. I am not a carb guru by any means so I can not tell you if there is a air bleed screw on that guy. The overall mix should be set via fixed jets, nothing to go out of adjustment there. If it has sat for a while I would drain the old gas all the same. Throw in a new plug and clean the air filter if for nothing else so that you know what you have. Other than that I would ask if you are using the chose correctly? Down is choke, up is no choke. On my 01 I screwed it up right out of the gate, left me scratching my head as to why it was hard to start then tan like crap!!! On the girl's 300 I mentioned above, we had a similar situation on a ride once. Ran like crap when warm. Turned out she some where, some how, fliped the choke all the way down. It cut out while riding, it would only idle a few seconds and die. I looked it over, pulled the plug to check it, scratched my head, stared at it, pondered, then happen to look at my hand, which was resting on the left side of the bar, then noticed the choke was closed.

 

I agree, get a new plug, drain out the gas, and clean the air filter. Also when you drain out the gas there is a phillips head screw on the bottom of the carb. Open this up and it will drain out the old gas in the carb. Also when you drain the tank put it on reserve and you will get everything drained out of the bottom of the tank. Might even add a half gallon back in there after it drains out and then drain that out to make sure you might have rinsed out anything in the bottom of the tank. One more suggestion is that I picked up a in line filter for the gas line on mine as they don't have one already on them. Pick one up at a parts house. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks all,
I replaced the plug and drained the gas. The whole bottom of the plug was Black. The air filter looks brand new so I did not touch that.

It started right up with no choke and ran great. If its does not foul right up again I'll guess its fixed.

Bear, you mentioned a new shift linkage replacing the cable system. I saw it on the 250 they had on display at the dealer.

What did it cost and was it easy to retrofit? The cable system seems mushy and does not have a positive feel. It works but if I can make it better I would.

Harry in PA