I was wanting to know what kind of 4 wheel drive it has, if its just limited slip on demant or all time 4x4 or if it has both. Also how do you engage the 4 wheel drive for either way because I heard something about pulling a lever.

 

It has the best of both worlds. At the flip of a switch it has "On Command" 4x4 with limited slip (some call it 3x4). It also has a lever which locks the front differential, giving it true 4x4. The 4x4 can stay engaged at all speeds, unlike polaris which is speed limited.

I did not like the grab lever when I was shopping for quads. But, now I have ridden with it more, I like the lever the most, since I can grab it while I am still moving, any speed. I can let go whenever I want too and no electronics to decide it for me. No rev limit, no bull, no nada. Works perfect.

Some people like the grizzly system, even though you hafta stop and it is rev limited, you can leave it locked without having to grab anything. This is a slow speed advantage.

 

Just like the Yamaha, a very poor limited slip, but with a locking feature to give ultimate traction. This is easily the best kind of setup. Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda have crappy limited slip differentials. At least for traction. They allow for good steering, but slip like hell. The three feature setup though gives you everything you want. 2wd, easy steering 4wd, and fully locked for getting out of anything. Much better than having the visco-lock, on-demand, or ratchet & cone AC systems in my opinion.

Basically, I will spin out in 4wd on my 660 before my Arctic Cat would, but the 660 has the option to lock it up where the 500 doesn't.

 

Andy is 100% about the visco lock, it is made for easy steering. They should call it visco slip.

My friend has a polaris, but he is selling it. He bought a 660 and thinks that the diff lock is wonderful.

He has noted the following about his "On Demand" polaris system:

On the good side
- at low speeds, it works incredibly well and is smooth. There is not anything better than a working polaris 4x4 at low speeds.

On the bad side
-it doesn't work all the time (he is meticulous about maintenance too, so that's not a factor) and it leaves him stuck sometimes. This is rare, but it causes severe anger.
-it is speed limited and won't engage at a higher speeds, sometimes he needs that on slippery hills.
-way too much stuff to grease and shange fluids.
-Sometimes the hubs don't disengage and he gets a pretty big steering jerk.

So after riding his griz and the polaris long enough, he has decided that he hates the polaris 4x4 system so bad that he is going to get some kind of smaller Yam or Kaw, even if all it has is full time visco lock 4x4.

I have not seen an arctic cat up close, nor heard one run, so I have to take other people's word on it.

 

severe anger- Ha ha! That killed me. I've demonstrated that a time or two when my Arctic Cat would 3wheel on me.

 

My 500 Quadrunner uses the ratchet and cone same as the Cats.You could "fool" it by using a little front brake and lock both front wheels.It didn't take much pressure and worked good in slow spots.Too bad for Cats, though,cause they have single lever brakes.
Little yellow lever is only way to go, though!!!

 

dirtyhowies is working on a locker for the 500i

 

Who or what is dirtyhowies? Over in the Cat forum Highlifter said that a locker wouldn't fit because of the design of the diff.