Came home from work today to see a little puddle under the rear of the quad. Hmmm... I checked it out and found that it was gear oil leaking from the rear gear housing. I took off the skid plate to see that it was good and cracked. Then I reached over and found that the drain bolt was loose. Not fall off type loose, just loose enough that the oil had slowly begun to seep out. I must have bashed a rock good and loosened it up. Why AC put it where they did is beyond me. It hasn't been driven on low gear oil, because I didn't drive it long yesterday, and the puddle wasn;t there the day before. I guess that differential oil change will be coming sooner than expected, because I'm going to have to refill it tomorrow. You guys might want to check this out if you ride creekbeds much. My guess is thats what happened do mine. That plastic cover doesn't provide a whole lot of protection from rocks. On one side of the drain bolt, you can see where the rock hit it. I'll have to check, but I don't think the bolt itself sustained any damage.

------------------
Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

The same thing happened to my old '97 454. After beating it on the rocks in the mountains for a whole weekend, I found the drain plug to be loose and the skidplate was GONE. As in not there. The aluminum housing was dented and bashed but still holding oil.

I sold the machine that way, but I would suggest to any Cat owners who ride in the rocks to keep an eye on the rear diff skid plate and plug.

------------------