At last, I found a used ATV I could afford for our 160 acre farm, a '97 bearcat 454 4x4, first Atv I have owned - and I 'm in my 50's.... My first intention is to use it to help in logging our hilly terrain.
Just got it at a DNR auction - where none were started, & I haven't gotten it started yet, repair manual will hopefully show up in the mail in a day or two. Shows 1,300 miles, looks clean.
Questions:
Any aging things I should look into in this 9 year old model ?
I couldn't find an owners manual for sale anywhere on the net, any ideas?
Any batteries bigger than 200 cca available? (was minus 12 here last night)
How about some kind of radiator / block heater?
I think this atv will really change things around here for me once it gets going, can't wait.
thanks for any advice! Del

 

Man!!!! Minus 12? Geesh!!!!! And i thought the 22 degrees that we got tonight was bone chilling!
Anyway, congrats on the "new" atv. I dont have many answers to your questions but from what I gather off of this forum, alot of the members here are from your neck of the woods and would know more about the sub-temp issues then I would from here in the south. Maybe you could give us a little better idea as to why the bike aint cranking.

 

Welcome to the forum Del! YOu got a good ATV there, those things were like tanks. You are not going to brake any spee records with it, but it will haul and work on your farm all day long.

1) I would just be sure to change the oil - use synthetic (espicially up here in MN). Arctic Cat sells a nice kit, or if you get more adventours I recommend the Amsoil 4-stroke stuff.

2) Also might want to change the antifreeze

3) Check Fleet Farm for a battery, but you might be out of luck.

4) They do make a block heater for the Arctic Cats. I think it just slices into the radiator hose. Another option is to use a oil pan heater. They work excellent

5) Clean the air filter too

6) That is about it, nothing to greese on these suckers or anything so you should be set. GOod luck to you. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

bigdcred owns a 98 454 he just bought a whole new rear end under it, but has over 16000 miles on it! he uses the bike for EVERYTHING and if you have gone to the rocky moutain jamberee in richfield utah you have seen him his biggest complant it is always in 4x4 and it does a number on his arms by the end of the day.

welcome to the pride!

 

welcome n congrats on your first atv , hope ya get it runnin soon ......

 

You might to check the CV boots. That old and sitting, they could be checked or cracked and need replacing.

 

In addition to what has been posted, you may also want to check the valve clearance to make sure they are adjusted correctly.

If the valves are out of adjustment it can make it hard to start, especially when cold.

Welcome to the forum and nobody here will blame you if you start riding the machine for fun as well as work.

SJ

 

(I tried sending this yesterday but didn't see show it yet - so am resending)

Thanks Everyone.
1. The repair manual just arrived! so now I have a bit more confidence about diving into it and why it turns over - but makes no attempt to start. I'd taken one look into the carb ....and decided it was one way different animal than my '52 farmall or '72 Massey!
2. In town today I saw a $35 radiator hose heater that's available, but haven't located an oil pan heater locally, found one online for $42, I like the sound of that better.
3. Located Ams oil 0-40 today for $6.50 qt, I'd never heard of it before now, farm store mechanic also said it was the best for these motors
4. 'Choke not closing' is my first suspicion for it's not kicking , but I've found no mention of one anywhere in the repair manual in either the troubleshooting or fuel/carb sections, strange, hmm.
5. Farm store has Champion batteries in both open and dry types. They no longer rate by CCA. I've been doing a bit of net search on atv batteries and see more possibilities yet, will report here when I gather all my info together, interesting trail to learn about.
6. CV boots look fine , no hair-line cracks
7. Will see about checking valve settings, good idea too.
Thanks everyone for the fine welcome and useful imput.

 

i would say deffinately take the carb off and clean it. i know i gotta do that with my v-twin. and congrats on your atv it sounds like a good workhorse for what you intend to use it for. you are lucky with that being a first time atv user alot of people just buy and they get a machine designed for another use then what they want to use it for. i hear ya with the cold weather it got to -22 here the other night and i hate winter more and more i guess it is time to take the ole zr out of the shed [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

There is no Choke valve like on most carbs. There is an enrichment valve the allows extra fuel to be pulled in to the engine for starting. They can stick but if you are hitting the throttle lever at all while trying to start, they won't "pull" the fuel into the motor and the engine won't start. Try fuel choke, no throttle and crank until it fires. Pumping the throttle does nothing but insure a no start.