This time my left axle shaft broke and I wasn't even driving it hard. I went to cross this huge log and my front tires went over and my rears didn't I got hung up, I gave it some throttle and rocked it a little and snap! I thought it was the log breaking or some sticks or something so I gave it some more throttle and went no where. I looked down to see what was blocking me from moving and guess what, one of my rear tires were not spinning!!! I knew right there that I couldn't be so lucky as to have a broken cv-joint, I knew it was the axle.

I'm calling my dealership to get them to send me an axle and my friend and I will replace it this week, if I get it in time. Once its fixed its going up for sale, I had enough of this quad. It lets me down like this way to often, Arctic Cat just lost me as a customer forever. I think I'll just drive my sport quad and forget about 4x4 quads.

Damn it, I'm just so ticked off at this thing!

 

Sorry to here about your bad luck BB.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

Can't say that I blame you for being POed. How big was this tree and what size tires are you running. The only reason I ask is due to the fact larger more aggressive tires will cause a lot more driveline problems (sure you already know this... Just wondering). Right now I'm thinking a solid rear either an ACT or typical swing axle is the way to go for durability. It's too bad Cat isn't offering a 500 ACT anymore, it was nice having a choice of tranny and rear suspension.

 

On the rear I run 26x12x12 outlaws on 12x9 steel offset rims. I think my problem is to much dead weight. I haven't weighed one of the rear tires but I would think about 50 lbs per tire would sound about right. The log was very big, the biggest one I tried crossing, I would have made it if the axle didn't break. The log was about 3 feet off high off the ground, a monster log!

The dealership called back this morning and the parts are on there way today or tomorrow. I should have it fixed by this weekend.

 

I just ripped down the back left end of the 500i, pulled what was left of the axle out of the differential and now I'm waiting for parts from my dealership which should be here tomorrow or the next day.

I'll give Arctic Cat credit, they sure make it easy to work on the rear of that quad!

 

Brent, how many problems have you had with your 500i?
Do you contribute any to things that you changed?
Do you have any on going problems?
How many miles do you have on it now?
What's the most major repair you've had and did you do the work yourself?

I'm looking for information and nothing else. I'm sorry to hear you're having problems. I've had a few. My 500i, 2002, has had problems but the dealer is very good at taking care of me. He generally sells these to farmers, not riders like yourself and me.
So far, this is all I can come up with when it comes to quality items:
1. Speedo broke. Replaced by dealer.
2. Recall for ball joint studs. Steers much easier after work completed.
3. Headlight taking on water. Replaced the cover at top.
4. Skid plate vibration (we all have this one).

I have 700 miles on mine. Need to replace the front brake pads now.
Thanks for your input.
Chuck

 

bbertram,

Why are you being so hard on AC? From looking at your pics i can see that you don't take it easy on the bike (not that you should). Do you think other brands would have held up that much better?

In your first post of this thread you said "I wasn't even driving it hard". Then in your next post " The log was very big, the biggest one I tried crossing" & "The log was about 3 feet off high off the ground, a monster log!". That sounds a little like driving it hard to me.

I hope you don't take my post the wrong way, i'm not bashing you, i just don't want to see AC buisness driven off because their 4 wheelers are not as tough as hummers. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

bbertram, I found an axle site for you . Check this out[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

By the way there is a guy who has an 02 660 grizz with the same type of tires you have and he broke his rear axle too. Just thought I pass this info on. Check out the nation under canada ram river ride aug 23.

 

My friend had the same thing happen to his 2000 Grizzly a couple years ago. He was running 27" Vampires at the time and broke a gear in his rear differential crossing some railroad tracks I believe. His dealer fixed it under warrenty, but he said it was probably the tires that caused it.