jrafter that was what i thought untill a very good friend became an Arctic Cat Dealer , and even then it was 6 yrs. after she opened her Dealership before i even thought about asking for the price's of the AC's ; when i did ask about the price of an AC i ask for the price of a manual shift quad !

But she didn't have any 400's left but 3 and they were Belt Drive when i ask her how good were the AC engine's she told me the 400's and 500's were powered by a Suzuki with Suzuki's Belt Driven Clutch Transmission , that was enough for me knowing it was powered by Suzuki ; but i was still not sold on the Belt Driven Clutch .

I could wait 3 day's for her to get one from another dealer out of state or 2 month's for the 2007's to come in , but after she told me that not one of the 400 Auto's had been brought in with a Belt Clutch problem since she started selling them in 2001 ; and she told me if i had a belt/clutch go bad before i got it paid for she would fix it out of her own pocket !

Her word was all i needed and the Suzuki Engine was a bonus , i'm a bilateral amputtee ( both legs off below the knee's ) on my first 2 quad's i had to mount a hand shifter ; so far i haven't found a hill i couldn't climb in high gear that i could on my old quad's with the semi auto's in first gear on the 350 Foreman and Suzuki LT4WD 300 KQ !

I bought a 2006 Arctic Cat 400 FIS 4x4 on Feb. 7th 2006 , and on my first ride i went up a creek that would've sunk my old 86' Honda TRX350 Foreman 4x4 ; and it would've been worse with the KQ so good luck with whatever you find !.....

 

like i said before, i love the mud. i usually dont ever go around them. the one thing you will need to watch on an automatic transmission( belt driven) is the intake usually located under the front rack. when you hit a mud/water hole deep enough water will splash up into it and sometimes get down on the belt and cause it to slip.not always though. mine is a manual shift and with them all you have to watch out is that the air intake stays out of the water. which is higher than my buddies 500 cat. his is snorkeled, for a very cheap price too. that being said the cats belt system is flawless as my dealer also has been dealing fo 11 years and has not yet sold a belt. if you do decide on a new one, the grizzly, 400cc and up arctic cats, kawasakis, and i belive the suzukis have a diff lock. which means you have 2 wheel drive, 3 wheel drive or limited slip and the locker for a true 4 wheel drive. the other atvs im not sure about. oh and yes you should be able to fit a 9x28x12 on your stock rims. all my tires are the same size 9x28x12 but on after market rims.

 

Actually, the 450 griz is a pretty impressive machine. IRS, Locker, good reputation for reliability. I saw a guy claw his way through a hole after me, that I figured he'd go around... I believe the yamahas also use a sprague/clutch type belt drive.

 

Im looking at the after market rims and they are all 12x7, how are you supposed to fit a 10 or 12" wide tire on there? Am i missing something? Can i fit some 9" or 10" wide tires on factory front rims for 8" tires?

 

9s will fit, 10s should also. have to ask the dealer when or where you buy your tires. the tire dont have to match up to the rim like your thinking. i like it a little wider myself, helps with the rocks not gouging into my rim as easy.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mudslinginfool

9s will fit, 10s should also. have to ask the dealer when or where you buy your tires. the tire dont have to match up to the rim like your thinking. i like it a little wider myself, helps with the rocks not gouging into my rim as easy.</end quote></div>

+1
I have 26x12x12's on a 7" rim,plenty of protection plus they look good!

 

mudslinginfool i wish Arctic Cat would use the same stock rim's that the Suzuki LT4WD 300 King Quad had on them , i got my late cousin's 1993 Suzuki LT4WD 300 KQ 4x4 a few yrs. after he passed away from his youngest brother ; now these stock rim's were bullit proff from the get go !

The metal these rim's were made of was the thickess metal i have ever seen on a quad , if only they had the same bolt pattern as the one's on my AC 400 without having to use adapter's i would've swaped them over from the KQ to the Cat because they were 12' inch wheel ; and as for the Snorkle's on my AC 400 they are mounted high up in the plastic's near the handle bar's !

And the ground clearance of the Cat is 12''s with the stock setup , me and my brother who i sold my old 86' Honda TRX350 Foreman 4x4 rode up this creek that i had alway's had to get out of the creek bed and go around the bank and back in the creek in a sallow end to get up to this earthen dam to a lake on the hill the creek led to ; but this time with my brother going around the bank i just plowed right on through the creek !

My little brother looked shocked when i kept going up the creek while he had to go around the creek bank , the water only came up to the floor board's on the Cat and when we got to this 6" PVC plastic sewer pipe they used to drain this lake it was easy to get over the pipe ; when we got to the spillway this sallow drain ditch we alway's went through to get to the lake my brother went around these huge rock like boulder's i stopped and ask him why he didn't go on through !

His reply was that the ditch full of water was alot deeper than it was the last time we went through it before , and he said we would have to go around the ditch this time ; but the path he was taking would scratch up the plastic's on my Cat and i told him i was going through the drainage ditch !

He warned me again that it was to deep to go through , he said the water came up to the seat of the Foreman witch has the fuel tank mounted under the seat and he couldn't go that way ; it didn't look that deep to me and when my front wheel's dropped into the ditch the water came up to the bottom of my headlight's and my brother looked at me shocked that i was going to try it with my new AC !

But i just eased on through it and up the dam onto what was left of the spillway , after he got around the brush pile and up to where i had parked and shut down the engine ; then he said he didn't believe i would try this deep ditch and said man that was a deep hole you went through !

When we got back to the house i got out the manual and read the part about how to drain the clutch housing , when i removed the drain plug and reved the engine a few time's but nothing came out the drain hole ; so the next day i called the Dealer and asked her how deep is to deep for the Cat ?

That's when she told me ithey were up high at the handle bar's , and even though the manual say's not to go through water over the floor board's she said i could go through water to the head light's if i took it slowly ; i thought the 86' Foreman was big compared to the KQ but when my brother first pulled up to the Cat on the Foreman i had to look down on the Honda !

That is the only thing i was worried about it was the seat height , after setting the shock;s and fooled with the tire air pressure ; i got it locked i got to where it ride's the best for me ; and since i have gotten the hang of it i'm proud of this quad !.......

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>the one thing you will need to watch on an automatic transmission( belt driven) is the intake usually located under the front rack.</end quote></div>

The air intakes are higher than the front racks. they are at gastank high on most makes I know of.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: jrafter

i would not own a beltdrive quad............hondas arent belt</end quote></div>


When was the last time a "Utility ATV" with belt drive did not win every shootout comparison , mud run contest , pull contest and top speed acceratation contest there is?

Name a great performing manual Utility ATV thats top it its engine size class.

500 utility comparison look whos last.

Another newer Comparison.

Utility shootout once more.

If its not belt drive it came in dead last.

Cant have a "Big bore" shootout because only the 680 Rincon the only Utility ATV thats not belt drive and its far from the top of the hill in that class.

If belt drive is not a option than your section of machines just went down by 90% because there are not many Manuals made any more and none over 500cc or impressive.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: TLC

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>the one thing you will need to watch on an automatic transmission( belt driven) is the intake usually located under the front rack.</end quote></div>



The air intakes are higher than the front racks. they are at gastank high on most makes I know of.



When was the last time a "Utility ATV" with belt drive did not win every shootout comparison , mud run contest , pull contest and top speed acceratation contest there is?



Name a great performing manual Utility ATV thats top it its engine size class.



500 utility comparison look whos last.



Another newer Comparison.



Utility shootout once more.



If its not belt drive it came in dead last.



Cant have a "Big bore" shootout because only the 680 Rincon the only Utility ATV thats not belt drive and its far from the top of the hill in that class.



If belt drive is not a option than your section of machines just went down by 90% because there are not many Manuals made any more and none over 500cc or impressive.</end quote></div>

 

sorry tlc, i dont even know how i copied what you just said. i just meant to reply.

i never said the automatics were bad, i was just stating what ive seen with others. automatics are great. im getting one this year,hopefully. my friend drowned his in a mud hole once then snorkeled it and never had a problem(its the 650 in my pics.) autos always win mud runs because they use biggest of big bores which are all autos and they accellerate faster and you dont need to worry about shifting in the thick mud which would take your momentum away.