Grizzly to Cat Update
#1
12-26-2000, 12:45 PM
Update to earlier post. You know it's really to bad we can't back up more than 2 weeks, so now I am forced to post again.
In an earlier chapter, my 98 Grizzly was in the shop for a "no spark" issue. One day it is running fine and the next day no fire. We are now on day 32 of the "Grizzly Hostage Crisis" with still no end in sight. The Yamaha/AC shop is making plenty of effort, just very little success. After waiting for nearly 2 weeks for a replacement Grizzly service manual. They have replaced the following parts;
stator, coil, spark plug, spark plug wire, rotor, magnet, and did several continuity checks of the wiring harness. The thought now is that it must be something in the wiring harness. They even took all of the parts that had been taken off of my Grizzly and put them onto another one and it still runs ok.
So to make a long story longer, here is what they have done for me. Back in Novemeber (the early days of the Grizzly hostage crisis), the dealer loaned me an AC 2000 400 2X4 for deer hunting as a loaner, which was a nice extra. However since that time we have had over 30" of snow and I have a 5' Moose plow in the garage that I could not use on the AC 400, nor woudl the 2X4 have supported it. Thanks to the generosity of a neighboor I have been plowed out several times. After some pretty serious harrasement my dealer has now picked up the 400 and loaned the provided me a new 2001 AC 500 manual with a plow mount and winch setup similiar to my Grizzly. This is very nice of them, but after a month of having my Grizzly I am not as moved by this action as I should be. Of course he is trying to get me to trade in the Grizzly and $2k extra for the AC.
After using it this weekend to plow and play, I have made the following obversations;
Nice suspension, real nice ride and stabile.
Good torque and power, similar to the Grizz
I miss the automatic, shifting into reverse for plowing is tedious.
Turning radius is terrible and even worse in 4X4 mode.
Moose winch mount for AC is upside down. I can't see the wraps of cable on the spool. Not sure how you would see if you are getting it wrapped back on straight.
Rear drive shaft is exposed. That seems VERY dangerous to me. Wrap up on some weeds, exposed bailing twine, tow strap, or worst case the rope from a childs sled.
Heel toe shifter is going to take some getting used to.
Love the quiet engine and liquid cooling.
Still not sure this is the machine for me. I understand the need for a manual transmission for what I do (plowing, mowing, towing trees and firewood), however I must admit I prefer the automatic transmission. I am going to use it
until the Grizzly is back and then decide if I want to keep the Grizzly in hopes of a late 2001 liquid cooled Grizzly, opt for the loaner AC manual, AC auto, or move away from this dealer to a Rubicon after the prices drop some.
Thanks - Allen L. Grooms
98 Grizzly One HOT Machine
AC 2000 400 2X4 - used and returned
AC 2001 500 4X4 - currently on loan
In an earlier chapter, my 98 Grizzly was in the shop for a "no spark" issue. One day it is running fine and the next day no fire. We are now on day 32 of the "Grizzly Hostage Crisis" with still no end in sight. The Yamaha/AC shop is making plenty of effort, just very little success. After waiting for nearly 2 weeks for a replacement Grizzly service manual. They have replaced the following parts;
stator, coil, spark plug, spark plug wire, rotor, magnet, and did several continuity checks of the wiring harness. The thought now is that it must be something in the wiring harness. They even took all of the parts that had been taken off of my Grizzly and put them onto another one and it still runs ok.
So to make a long story longer, here is what they have done for me. Back in Novemeber (the early days of the Grizzly hostage crisis), the dealer loaned me an AC 2000 400 2X4 for deer hunting as a loaner, which was a nice extra. However since that time we have had over 30" of snow and I have a 5' Moose plow in the garage that I could not use on the AC 400, nor woudl the 2X4 have supported it. Thanks to the generosity of a neighboor I have been plowed out several times. After some pretty serious harrasement my dealer has now picked up the 400 and loaned the provided me a new 2001 AC 500 manual with a plow mount and winch setup similiar to my Grizzly. This is very nice of them, but after a month of having my Grizzly I am not as moved by this action as I should be. Of course he is trying to get me to trade in the Grizzly and $2k extra for the AC.
After using it this weekend to plow and play, I have made the following obversations;
Nice suspension, real nice ride and stabile.
Good torque and power, similar to the Grizz
I miss the automatic, shifting into reverse for plowing is tedious.
Turning radius is terrible and even worse in 4X4 mode.
Moose winch mount for AC is upside down. I can't see the wraps of cable on the spool. Not sure how you would see if you are getting it wrapped back on straight.
Rear drive shaft is exposed. That seems VERY dangerous to me. Wrap up on some weeds, exposed bailing twine, tow strap, or worst case the rope from a childs sled.
Heel toe shifter is going to take some getting used to.
Love the quiet engine and liquid cooling.
Still not sure this is the machine for me. I understand the need for a manual transmission for what I do (plowing, mowing, towing trees and firewood), however I must admit I prefer the automatic transmission. I am going to use it
until the Grizzly is back and then decide if I want to keep the Grizzly in hopes of a late 2001 liquid cooled Grizzly, opt for the loaner AC manual, AC auto, or move away from this dealer to a Rubicon after the prices drop some.
Thanks - Allen L. Grooms
98 Grizzly One HOT Machine
AC 2000 400 2X4 - used and returned
AC 2001 500 4X4 - currently on loan
#2
12-26-2000, 01:39 PM
I understand not having your equipment can be frustrating. I'd personally be exceptionally happy that the dealer loaned any ATV while mine was in for service. That my friend is called "good customer service". Which is extremely rare nowadays. Stick with it, they'll fix it. The sooner the better.
#3
12-26-2000, 02:50 PM
I agree with hiofcer, sounds like a very helpful dealer to me. My Dad's AC 500 is having a problem blowing the ignition fuse, we are trying to figure it out ourselves because we don't want it to end up in the shop for 2 - 3 months with them scratching their heads. It is an intermitant problem which makes it even more difficult to figure out.
I read with great interest your likes & dislikes of the AC 500. It's always interesting to hear honest opinions from someone with experience on another brand of ATV trying out an AC. I guess, backing up whether I made the right decision or not going with AC. I have the Auto, so I can sympathize with the desire for an Auto. I however think I can do all of the chores needed with the Auto with no problems. The turning radius is pretty big & that can be restrictive, I also think the steering effort is a little too much, but I think that can be fixed with more aggressive tires or more air pressure in the tires. I've never even thought about the driveshaft being exposed, guess I figured they are all like that. About the winch being hidden, I guess it is restrictive in sight, but it is also pretty well protected & it's out of the way considering approach angles & for rack loading & such.
Overall, I think you would be very happy with the AC, I'm sure it would perform great for you.
Lance
I read with great interest your likes & dislikes of the AC 500. It's always interesting to hear honest opinions from someone with experience on another brand of ATV trying out an AC. I guess, backing up whether I made the right decision or not going with AC. I have the Auto, so I can sympathize with the desire for an Auto. I however think I can do all of the chores needed with the Auto with no problems. The turning radius is pretty big & that can be restrictive, I also think the steering effort is a little too much, but I think that can be fixed with more aggressive tires or more air pressure in the tires. I've never even thought about the driveshaft being exposed, guess I figured they are all like that. About the winch being hidden, I guess it is restrictive in sight, but it is also pretty well protected & it's out of the way considering approach angles & for rack loading & such.
Overall, I think you would be very happy with the AC, I'm sure it would perform great for you.
Lance
#4
12-26-2000, 03:11 PM
Customer Service/Support - I am all for it.
I work in a customer support position, but sometimes enough is enough. When they loaned me the 400 2X4 I thought that was great (1 week into this nightmare). Above and beyond the call of duty, however a month later and now it is just getting old. Here are the down sides.
No Grizzly owners manual, appears that previous mechanic took it with him as he exited. This dealership seems to have a REAL employee retention issue, and there mechanics are quite often sub-par. It took them nearly 2 weeks to get a replacement manual.
Then is was assured it was a bad stator, waited 3 days for that part, did not fix it. At this point they refused to continue to work on it until they got the manual. I called the parts person every day to see if they had received it. When he finally told me they had received it, I thought great, now we are going to get somewhere. Three days go by and I hear nothing, so I drop by, the owner/salesman and now head mechanic had no idea it was even received. Once he was aware that they had received the manual they proceeded to replace the afore mentioned items, each time assuring me that it would be fixed, with the current part.
In the meantime it has snowed 30 inches and his snowmobile business is going nuts and ATV's are being pushed to the back burner even though I have been assured that my "been there for a month already" Grizzly is TOP priority. However every time I stop by to get a progess report it hasn't moved from the spot it was in several days earlier.
I have to continually stop by personally to get any status update as they seem to be incapable of calling me, or maybe they are just to embarassed.
So yes I am thankfull that they have now, for a second time loaned me a unit, however (sounding rather selfish now) I believe that I am due. I never asked for a new unit from stock, just something to get me by until his "mechanic of the month" completes his Grizzly maintenance training at my expense.
So in summary I am thrilled that I have been given a new 2001 AC 500 with plow mount and winch as a loaner, and I am disgusted that the service is so poor that it has had to come to this.
Allen L. Grooms
98 Grizzly - Down for a month
2001 AC 500 on loan
P.S. My next closest Yamaha dealer is about 40 miles away.
I work in a customer support position, but sometimes enough is enough. When they loaned me the 400 2X4 I thought that was great (1 week into this nightmare). Above and beyond the call of duty, however a month later and now it is just getting old. Here are the down sides.
No Grizzly owners manual, appears that previous mechanic took it with him as he exited. This dealership seems to have a REAL employee retention issue, and there mechanics are quite often sub-par. It took them nearly 2 weeks to get a replacement manual.
Then is was assured it was a bad stator, waited 3 days for that part, did not fix it. At this point they refused to continue to work on it until they got the manual. I called the parts person every day to see if they had received it. When he finally told me they had received it, I thought great, now we are going to get somewhere. Three days go by and I hear nothing, so I drop by, the owner/salesman and now head mechanic had no idea it was even received. Once he was aware that they had received the manual they proceeded to replace the afore mentioned items, each time assuring me that it would be fixed, with the current part.
In the meantime it has snowed 30 inches and his snowmobile business is going nuts and ATV's are being pushed to the back burner even though I have been assured that my "been there for a month already" Grizzly is TOP priority. However every time I stop by to get a progess report it hasn't moved from the spot it was in several days earlier.
I have to continually stop by personally to get any status update as they seem to be incapable of calling me, or maybe they are just to embarassed.
So yes I am thankfull that they have now, for a second time loaned me a unit, however (sounding rather selfish now) I believe that I am due. I never asked for a new unit from stock, just something to get me by until his "mechanic of the month" completes his Grizzly maintenance training at my expense.
So in summary I am thrilled that I have been given a new 2001 AC 500 with plow mount and winch as a loaner, and I am disgusted that the service is so poor that it has had to come to this.
Allen L. Grooms
98 Grizzly - Down for a month
2001 AC 500 on loan
P.S. My next closest Yamaha dealer is about 40 miles away.
#5
12-26-2000, 05:50 PM
if it were my dealer i would be happy for the loner and ride the crap out of it!the dealer here locks the doors for x-mas vacation through new years,mine is still under warranty the winch quit working,can't use my plow unless i want to fix it my self,i'm not too happy about it,besides it's deer season,we have a lot of snow,there is a good chance i will need my winch!but i hear what you are saying!
#6
12-26-2000, 08:00 PM
I don't understand what you mean about the plow mount being upside down. Is it REALY upside down or do you wish it was fliped over?
About the driveshaft, don't worrie. In my 2600+ miles of owning my cat I have NEVER EVER had anything tangle up in the rear drive shaft. I have had brush rap around the front Cv's(even with the Ox-Lite Boot guards) and rap around the rear wheel hubs, but NEVER the drive shaft.
About the driveshaft, don't worrie. In my 2600+ miles of owning my cat I have NEVER EVER had anything tangle up in the rear drive shaft. I have had brush rap around the front Cv's(even with the Ox-Lite Boot guards) and rap around the rear wheel hubs, but NEVER the drive shaft.
#7
12-26-2000, 08:54 PM
Bone Man,
It is not the plow mount that is upside down it's the winch mount. The Moose winch mount for the AC essentially replaces the front mesh grill plate. The Superwinch ATV2000 mounts to that plate in a manner that I consider to be upside down. The flat base plate is high and the spool is hanging below it. Since the spool points down, and the way in which it is mounted its virtualy enclosed, you can't see the cable as it is wrapped onto the drum. Therefore if you ever use your winch and want to wrap the cable back in tight and nice, as it should be. You have no way of knowing if you are getting it layered back on correctly.
I take some assurances in that you have never had an issue with a live drive shaft spinning openly at massive RPM's. but it still scares the sh*t out of me. It's like to exposed PTO shaft out the back of my Dad's old Ford 8N tractors.
In reading my own posts I sound harsh and ungrateful, and I am not. I TRULY appreciate my dealer providing me a loaner AC, however if he could keep a decent mechanic on hand, he wouldn't be in this situation. I don't know if the pay isn't competitive or what, but every time I am in there, he is breakig in some new "Skippy" who is more worried about clearing up his bad complection before prom than he is about repairing an ATV.
Thanks Allen L. Grooms
It is not the plow mount that is upside down it's the winch mount. The Moose winch mount for the AC essentially replaces the front mesh grill plate. The Superwinch ATV2000 mounts to that plate in a manner that I consider to be upside down. The flat base plate is high and the spool is hanging below it. Since the spool points down, and the way in which it is mounted its virtualy enclosed, you can't see the cable as it is wrapped onto the drum. Therefore if you ever use your winch and want to wrap the cable back in tight and nice, as it should be. You have no way of knowing if you are getting it layered back on correctly.
I take some assurances in that you have never had an issue with a live drive shaft spinning openly at massive RPM's. but it still scares the sh*t out of me. It's like to exposed PTO shaft out the back of my Dad's old Ford 8N tractors.
In reading my own posts I sound harsh and ungrateful, and I am not. I TRULY appreciate my dealer providing me a loaner AC, however if he could keep a decent mechanic on hand, he wouldn't be in this situation. I don't know if the pay isn't competitive or what, but every time I am in there, he is breakig in some new "Skippy" who is more worried about clearing up his bad complection before prom than he is about repairing an ATV.
Thanks Allen L. Grooms
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#8
12-27-2000, 03:04 AM
#9
12-27-2000, 11:12 AM
Bone Man,
It is not a Superwinch mount it is a Moose mount. The Moose setups utilize a Superwinch ATV2000 winch. The reason I chose the Moose/Superwinch setup is for plowing. The Superwinch does not draw the amperage that the Warn does and therefore can use a handlebar mounted rocker switch. Where as the Warn (to the best of my knowledge, I have never had one) requires the big round rack mount twist switch for the A2000 and the pistol grip on the A25000. I like the convenience of the rocker switch on the handlebars for plowing. I can raise and lower the blade without stopping or taking my hands off of the handlebars. The same Moose/Superwinch setup on the Grizzly is not mounted in this inverted position and you can easily keep an eye on how the cable spools back onto the drum.
Take Care - Allen L. Grooms
Temporary Cat Owner
It is not a Superwinch mount it is a Moose mount. The Moose setups utilize a Superwinch ATV2000 winch. The reason I chose the Moose/Superwinch setup is for plowing. The Superwinch does not draw the amperage that the Warn does and therefore can use a handlebar mounted rocker switch. Where as the Warn (to the best of my knowledge, I have never had one) requires the big round rack mount twist switch for the A2000 and the pistol grip on the A25000. I like the convenience of the rocker switch on the handlebars for plowing. I can raise and lower the blade without stopping or taking my hands off of the handlebars. The same Moose/Superwinch setup on the Grizzly is not mounted in this inverted position and you can easily keep an eye on how the cable spools back onto the drum.
Take Care - Allen L. Grooms
Temporary Cat Owner
#10
12-27-2000, 11:18 AM
BuzzSaw,
My fellow Iowan, you must either be hunting late muzzleloader or late bow season, because Iowa's gun season is over except for a few very southern counties that have an extended doe only season. I bow hunt as well but I am not willing to sit in a stand when it's only single digits outside. I will go out and chase some rabbit's around where I can be moving, but I can't sit still and freeze.
Good luck on getting your winch fixed after the holidays.
Allen L. Grooms
Temporary Cat Owner
My fellow Iowan, you must either be hunting late muzzleloader or late bow season, because Iowa's gun season is over except for a few very southern counties that have an extended doe only season. I bow hunt as well but I am not willing to sit in a stand when it's only single digits outside. I will go out and chase some rabbit's around where I can be moving, but I can't sit still and freeze.
Good luck on getting your winch fixed after the holidays.
Allen L. Grooms
Temporary Cat Owner