as long as you realize you atv isnt a boat nor is it a submarine go for the auto i am not easy on my auto by any means and it has never let me down. you can forge water up over the motor before you have to worry about taking on water. the snorks for the belt and motor are just under the plastics so you can almost go to the fenders before you risk taking on water. i was skepticle about the auto too but now will never have it any other way. it has never failed me never in almost 2 yrs. i plow, i rock crawl, i mud, i tow my boat down to the lake and ive even towed my 1500# enclosed trailer, 15ft downed trees etc etc. always use low range for pulling or trail riding. high range is for dirt road riding or just easy riding. and never pull in reverse or you will smoke your belt but even that takes a bit. so again realize there are limitations and if you dont plan on exceeding these limitations without some modding go auto and im sure youll never look back except to make sure your buddys are still there lol goodluck

 

thanks a lot. I remember when my buddies Yamaha (forget the name) had the belt get wet. We had to toe him while after we pulled the drain plug on the belt cover. Worked fine afterwards tho. I think you answered another question I had. I was wondering in another thread if the 400 had Hi/Lo tranny with the DIFF loc.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>s long as you realize you atv isnt a boat nor is it a submarine go for the auto </end quote></div>

Don,t know about AC but on mine the belt air intake and carb air intake are at the same hight above the gas tank,so even if the ATV was a shift model the water sucking into the carb will stop you as well anyways.

 

I edited this reply on 12 - 07 - 2007

Yes they have Hi / Low and Reverse with a front Diff Lock and on the fly 2x4 4x4 switch on the right handle bar , i just make sure my wheel's aren't spinning when i switch to and from 2x4 /4x4 ; and i alway's stop before i flip the Diff Lock lever !

And it would be nice if it had a low/reverse but i don't tow heavy load's and i'm not really into heavy mudding except when there's no other way around it , and after Engine Breakin the only time i have ever had to use low range is when loading it into the bed of my pickup or when trail get's almost vertical or when rock crawling and going over big log's that are in the way ; i thought my old Foreman was big untill my brother rode up to the Cat !

Almost a foot and a half taller than the Foreman , so it will go through deeper water or mud and with the crappy tire's that come on them from the factory ; i've not had any of the problem's other's have had with their's and i ride some of the most rough and rocky terrain in north ga, i just avoid riding them over pavement at all cost !

The first day i got my AC 400 Auto i went up a creek that i had to go around a deep part on my first 2 quad's ( 86' Honda TRX350 Foreman 4x4 and a 93' Suzuki LTF4WD 300 King Quad ) because they were to low , but on the Cat i rode straight on through the creek and a water hole that had gotten deeper since i bought the Cat ; when i went through the creek instead of getting out of the creek bed like i had to do on the Foreman or KQ my brother was leading the way on the old Foreman !

He had a shocked look on his face when i kept going through the creek the water just came up to the floor board's on the cat , but this one hole at the bottom of the dam was deeper than it had ever been before ; i had driven the Foreman through the same hole before and i was surprised when my brother wouldn't go through it !

I asked him why was he going around the small hole , he told me it's to deep now and that it would get in his fuel tank whitch was a metal tank under the seat of the 86' to 89' 350 Foreman's ; but i hit the hole slow and the water came up to the bottom of my headlight's on the Cat my brother really gave me a shocked look when i went on through the hole !

I asked my Dealer the next day how deep was to deep for the Cat , she told me the snorkle's where high under the front plastic's and that if i thought i got water inside the belt housing to just remove the plug and reve the engine a few time's to dry out the water ; i took the plug out but there wasn't any water to blow out and the belt never slipped !

One other thing after you get your ring's seated , whitch mine were at 100 mile's with my 400 Auto ; that's what i was saying in my first reply about getting use to a higher reving engine at slow speed's the engine RPM's make seating the the ring's and valve's easier than a manual shift Transmission !

On my 86' Honda Foreman and the 93' Suzuki KQ i broke them in keeping the RPM's high instead of taking it easy , i didn't have to ride it half throddle in the higher gear's like all my freind's did their quad's ; and my engine's last longer than the rest of my freind's did !

I tried telling them they didn't need to ride it like they stole it , like so many Technician's suggest engine breakin in these modern engine's ; just keep the RPM's high enough on breakin and they will last a lot longer without beating the crap out of the rest of the quad !

So if you deside to buy the Auto or the manual you won't regret it , they're both tough as nail's and if i ever buy another new quad ; it would be the new designed chassis of the ThunderCat 1000 with a 400 Class engine the 950cc engine would just be to way to much overkill for me !..........

 

Interesting. So it does have a low range, but it's only forward?

 

I like the manual. It took a little getting used to it but now that I've had mine I would get the manual again if there's a choice.

 

I've edited this reply for some error on this date 12 - 07 - 2007

Yes Tom the Hi / Low Range is only forward , but i've never had a problem backing up any hill ; even on one hill where i ride some Ga Power Line right of way's that's almost veritical with no problem at all after Engine breakin !

But i wasn't trying to back up any hill's with a loaded trailor behind me , if i'm not towing anything heavier than what the front and rear rack is rated at say only my weight whitch was 137 it's now 126 as of 12 - 07 - 2007 and 200 lbs. of gear i can climb some of the steepest trail's that i ride on in the mountain's of North Ga. ; with only one or two time's that i have had to hit low range the rest is all high gear !

Well i will have to take that back , there is one other time i alway's go to low gear when i ride it up the ramp's into and out of the bed of my pickup ; i forgot about that it's a tight squeaze to get the Cat into the bed of my 87' Chevy S10 Tahoe longbed pickup it just barely fit's into the bed enough to close the tailgate !


And the front and rear tire's are wedged between the fenderwells of the S10 , and i do mean it's wedged in there so tight i don't have to worry about it rolling forward ; backward and side to side and i only need one of the 3 in. ratcheting tie down strap's to keep it from bounching up or down inside the bed !

And the Suzuki 376cc engine doesn't really wake up untill you've put 500 to 800 miles on them , or that's what everyone say's on the forums about them ; that i'v read on the Arctic Cat thread's
and i've read most if not all the AC thread's having to do with the AC 400 FIS Auto's !

But when my 400 Auto had the first oil change and the first complete service with 100 mile's on it the owners manual says not to go over half throddle untill breakin , but my ring's were sealed and valve's seated at 190 mile's and the engine was brokein in at less than 250 mile's ; i started feeing a big difference after the 250 mile mark !

Me and my brother had run through some trail's where he lives he was on his 98' Yamaha 350 Wolfverine with a new 2006 engine he had already had his breakin with 350 mile's !

On the way back to his house i would let him runoff and leave me , and hit the gas just under half throddle and i would be on his bumper in 2 to 3 second's ; and when we got to his house i ask him how fast he was going !

He told me he didn't know because he doen't have a speedometer on the Yamaha , but he said he was almost at wide open throddle all the way up to where the pavement end's and the dirt road begain's ; when i would let him get ten quad lenth's or so ahead of me and like i said i would hit the throddle at just less than half throddle 2 to 3 second's i was tail grabbing his rear !

And going up this steep hill that goes to his house i would have to really hold on tight as i could to the handle bar's because it would feel like i was going to be sucked off the quad , i know many may think i'm streaching the truth but if this engine wake's up anymore ; i will have to install a set of seat belt's to stay on the seat !

And that is pure Gospel , and i know it's because the ring's were sealed and the engine was broken in faster by the high RPMs of the Auto Tranny that keep's the RPM's high at fast or slow speed's that sealed the ring's so fast ; that is the way i alway's break in an engine wheather it's a manual or Auto the key is to keep the engine's RPM's close to redline on the breakin and with the Auto Tranny or a manual shift you don't have beat the crap out of the rest of your quad during to breakin if you keep the engine in the right powerband whitch the Auto does this Automaticly !

There is one thing i did to my AC 400 Auto that not many do , is i mixed my fuel with Sea Foam fuel cleaner
/stabilzer that keep's the fuel system clean and it also clean's the combustion chamber of carbon deposit's that build up in the combustion chamber !

I know i was sceptical of the all this product claim's to do when i was first told about it by my brother who got the tip on these forums , after being in the Small Engine Service and Repair Industry for over 20 yrs before i retired and closed up my shop ; but it was only $5.99 plus tax from O'Reillys Auto Parts Store for a 16 oz. can that treat's up to 25 gallon's of gas and or diesel fuel and it's safe for 2 and 4 stroke engine's so i gave it a try !

And i had tried every fuel treatment i had heard about in the past 20 yrs. and i'm here to tell you it works as good if not better than it's claim , it saved me from selling my 88'GMC S1500 Jimmy 4x4 MPV because it had so much carbon builtup in the combustion chamber that it started smoking !

I poured a 16 oz. can of Sea Foam in the tank and drove it till i had burned a half tank of gas , when i topprd off the tank i was going to sell it to my brother after i had used the gas ; but after topping off the tank ; and started home i got stopped at a traffic light and when it turned green to go i looked in my driver side mirrow expecting to see a cloud of smoke when i took off ; but this time there wasn't any smoke and it has been smoke free over 7 month's !

So if you haven't used it before i highly recormend the Sea Foam and it has a drying agent to help keep morture from forming in your tank and keep's your gas fresh longer !............

 

thanks williebee

 

I edited this reply on 12 - 08 - 2007

You're welcome tom , and i'm not just trying to get you to buy the Auto because i did you may deside to go with the maual and like i said in my first reply that if you love to shift gear's the way most quad rider's do because they love the Sports Car feeling you get when you're driving a Jaguar , Corvette , Ford Shelby Crobra or a Dodge Viper ; you would like the manual better !

When Honda first put the Automatic Transmission on their Street Bikes for 1 or 2 yrs. ( I don't Remember the yrs. ) but they discontiued the Auto because they wouldn't sale ; everyone who bought the Street Bikes wanted the fully Manual Transmission because they bought them for the Sports Car like ride of the above menitioned ( Sports Car or Musle Car's of the late 60's and mid 70's ) to them it was like putting an Automatic Transmission in a Sports Car !

They just didn't sell so Honda discontinued them in their bikes , they wanted a chain drive and later the shaft drive ; and they were the poor man's answer for the thrill of owning a Jag , Vette , Shelby Crobra or Dodge Viper in other word's a true Sports Car without the cost of a Sports Car !

But about the AC 400 Auto not having a low range reverse , about 3 month's after getting the Cat i was going to the creek i menitioned earler in my first reply and i didn't want to drive over paved road to get there with my tire's ; i went straight across the paved road and down into this steep ditch whitch is about 5 or 6 feet deep and almost veritcal and when i went into the ditch my front wheels turned as far to the left as they would turn !

I was in low forward gear when i went into the ditch the nose of the cat was touching the bank on the other end of the ditch , i was stuck even in forward low range with the front diff lock on i couldn't get out of the ditch in forward gear because the nose was touching the bank ; i started freakin out here i am stuck in a ditch wth no leg's and remembering what i had read on the forums about not having a low reverse gear !

Then i thought i'll just have to try reverse anyway and if it burns the belt i'll stop trying and crawl up the bank to flag someone down that comes out the road , then i put it into reverse and gave it the throddle ; the Cat started clawing it's way out of the ditch and i turned the handle bar's straight and eased off the throddle letting the quad ease back into the ditch with the wheels straight i went to high forward range thumbed the throddle and it went straight up the bank and out of the ditch !

So the no low gear reverse wasn't needed after all , on the road side of the ditch is higher and alot steeper than the other side of the ditch that's why i didn't need low gear getting out of the ditch and this ditch is so deep a car coming over the road couldn't see my quad ; and i'm possitive that the cat would've clawed it's way up the deep nearly vertical ditch in reverse if i had kept on the throddle but i wanted to go over to the creek without having to ride over the paved road to get there !

Pavement is the worst thing to ride on any set off atv tire's no matter what the Brand or thread pattern you choose , unless you get a set of D.O.T. Certified tires made for black top paved road's ; you can get better tire's than the one's that come out on my 2006 AC 400 Auto with a thicker ply tire and more agressive thread pattern with steel belted radial tire but they aren't made for paved road's and highways !

And once again i'm not trying to get you or anyone else to buy an Auto of any brand make or model atv , i just know that i love my Cat and if my Dealer had a manual shift 400 left in stock i would've gotten the manual because i didn't trust a CVT drive system ; untill my Dealer told me how strong the Auto system's really were !

Since i had known my Dealer for 37 yrs. when she rode moto cross at the age of 4 yrs. old , and won the National Championship in her age group at 8 yrs. old and she went all the way to Nascar Bush Series Racing ; and she had been a KTM dealer in moto cross bikes then to being the first KTM Hushkvarna and Arctic Cat Dealer in 2001 !

In all that time she never tried to get me to buy a quad from her , and i got all my parts for my 86' Honda TRX350 Foreman 4x4 and my old 93' Suzuki LTF4WD 300 King Quad from her ; sometime's for less than half price what the Honda and Suzuki Dealers wanted for the same part's !

When i rebuilt the carb on the 86' Honda Foreman i only needed the O'Ring type gaskets to do a carb cleaning , and the Honda Dealer didn't have all the gaskets or a kit in stock ; they sold me two of the gaskets they had in stock for $11.00 plush tax and i got a quote on the rebuild kit (jet's and all ) for $68.97 plus tax from Honda Dealer !

I needed the parts right then because me and my bro were going riding the next day , so i went over to Tammy's Arctic Cat Dealership to see if they had the gaskets ; when i went in the show room and got to the parts counter i ask the guy who run's the Dealership when she's racing and i ask him if they had the gaskets !

He ask what yr. and model then looked into the computer , and said i think we have the complete rebuild kit with Jets seats and all ; he looked behind him on a shelve and said here it is !

I asked him how much it cost , he said $15.00 plus tax and he knew me and that i had ran my own Small Engine Service and Repair Shop he told me the list price for the kit was $35.19 plus tax ; but Tammy must've told him we were good friend's because he told me i could have it for $15.00 even !

I don't think i need to tell anyone on the forums who i bought parts from that day on , and this was over 4 yrs. before i ask her about the Cat's ; the day i went to her Dealership i was only going for a carb rebuild kit for the 93' Suzuki KQ the parts guy looked for the kit but they didn't have it in stock so he called their parts distributor to see if they had it in stock they said yes and i had him order it for me !

He said it would take 2 day's for deliverly , and while i was sitting there i started looking at this huge Arctic Cat 650 V-Twin and man it looked big ; while i was lookin at it Tammy came in from the back and picked up the phone and told someone she had on hold that yes your part's are here you can pick them up today or tomorrow !

After she hung up the phone i said hello Tammy , she looked down and saw me in my wheelchair and hey willie what are you up to is someone waiting on you ; i told her her parts guy was ordering the carb kit on the KQ she said we may have it in the back we just got some part's in today !

She said is it your Foreman or your KQ , and i said the KQ she starting to turn around to go look when the parts guy told her he had gone through the boxes that came in at noon and there wasn't any carbs kit's in either of the 2 boxes and told her he ordered it a minute ago ; and said they would get them friday so Tammy said i bet you were going riding this weekend !

I told her that me and my brother and sister inlaw were going to Rock Creek or Wendy Gap , she said well they should be here intime to ride on saturday ; i had been wondering how much the new Cat's sold for and i asked her Tammy how much are these Arctic Cat atv's ?

She said i will let you have one for $100 over my cost , and she asked whitch one were you interested in and i told her not this big monster 650 V Twin something smaller than it ; she told they were all the same size chassis with different size engines !

She said i've got a 650H1 a 500 and a 400 and i rolled over to look at the other one's she showed me the 500 and the 400 and i ask her if she had a 300 or a 350 , and she told not in 4 wheel drive and that AC only made the 300 4x4 till 2005 and the 400 was the smallest engine with 4x4 and that the 400's were her best seller she didn't have but 3 of the 400's in stock ; she gave me a quote on the 500 because i told her i didn't think i would like a Automatic !

But when i saw that the 500 was liquid cooled i told her i didn't want a liquid cooled just a lot more part's to replace for me , then she said the 400 is the only air cooled with a oil cooler with fan ; so i ask how much for the 400 !

She went behind the counter and got out a clip board and showed me what her cost was , and she told me she would let me have one for $100 over her cost and there would be no Dealer Prep or other fee's only sales tax and what ever the Financing Company charged ; i told her then i didn't think they would Finance me becaused i had been turned down in 1989 when i tried to get a Suzuki and a Honda !

But she told me a guy had come in a couple of week's ago and his went through and she said she wasn't using AC Financing anymore because they had higher Finance Rate than the one she was using now , she told me i could fill out an aplication and it souldn't take 30 minutes to see if i was approved ; so i said let's do it !

After filling out the forms she went into the back to call it in , and i'm sitting here in my wheelchair thinking i was wasting Tammy and my time trying to get Financing ; but in less than 3 minutes she was back and told me i was approved at 5.9 % fixed rate !

I couldn't believe it i said are you sure you didn't get a wrong number ???? She laughed and said i don't think so do you think i should check it again ? And that made us both laugh at the same time !

But after she had filled out all the paperwork she said shoot willie , i forgot i only have 3 400's left and they're all Auto's ; and she knew i wanted the manual shift but dhe told me she could get me a manual by the end of the week and that she would have to charge the same price as the Auto because she would have to get it from Chattanooga TN the Auto's were $100 more than the manual shift models !

She told me that i would love the Auto's with me having to put on a hand shifter but she knew i built my own so it wouldn't cost me anything because i still had a lot of part's left over after i closed my shop , i ask her how good were the belt drive and the Arctic Cat Engines and she told me the 400 was powered by the Suzuki 376cc Engine and The Suzuki Duramatic Beltdriven clutch and not one had been brough in with a Belt clutch issue since she started selling them in 2001 and that chinch the deal !



So good luck with whitch ever one you deside on beacause they are great quad's , but you can get lemmon's in anything built by man ; so find a good Dealer you can trust that will give you a good price and one who know's how to keep them running after the sale ! ......