well, my old mud four wheeler, the arctic cat 500 4x4 has finally died out. the owner before me didn't properly adjust the valves, i was riding one night and heard a loud pop, after that its never ran above 15mph, and currently wont even start. checked the valves, the intake had no slack, the exhaust was fine. so, my question to you is, do i have to remove the gas tank to get the head off? and would you go ahead and put rings in it? it used some oil, but not to the point you couldn't see behind it. just when you went down a hill is when it smoked. (Bad valve seals) also, the block is broke where the starter gear went on. but when i first got it i could pull start it no prob. so you guys think that will be a problem? give me your ideas!

 

pull the motor and tear it apart to see what you got. you may have bent a valve, give it a compression test for giggles before hand. you may be able to find some place to weld the block for the it apart put in new piston and rings and chece starter, and then beings you have it apart put in new piston and rings.

 

do you apsolutely have to pull the motor? or can you get the head off while its on the bike?

 

im sure you can do it inside the frame but i personally like to pull it all the way out and put it on a workbench so you know what you can see better what you are dealing with in your case. if it was just a ring job i would leave the motor in and work around the frame.

 

If you remove the fuel tank (assuming its the one in front of the seat), the seat, side panels and air box you can probably do it with the engine mounted on the bike.

When I rebuilt the top end of my 400 I removed the engine from the machine. To me it gave me more room to work and get my torque wrenches where I needed to. When I did mine I have to replace the whole top end as it siezed up from lack of oil. I also took the can off and did the rings.

Cost me about $1300 but I ordered my parts though a dealer that was charging me too much. Afterward (of course) I found them cheaper. You won't know until you get it apart for sure whether you can fix what it there or replace it.

Hope this helps

Swampy

 

well.. if you have to pull the motor, what all is in order to get it out? is it as much work as i anticipate? (probably 3 days, all day just getting the motor out for me) lol

 

never took one out of an arctic cat before but all i can say is take your time, if you get to a part you might find confusing putting back together later on then may i recommend taking a picture of that area before pulling it apart. also if i take a bolt out of something i like to just finger tighten the bolt back in the threads if possible so you know the right bolts go in the right area. remember you are not in a race so take your time and i don't think it should take you more then a couple hours to pull the motor.