Well, I just went out to my Jimmy to go looking at buying a new snowmobile and what do I find? Almost all of my coolant in a puddle below my truck. Crawled underneath to discover it was coming from the freeze plug on the passenger side. I JUST REPLACED THAT THIS SUMMER!!! I love my Jimmy but it sure is a money/time pit!

 

Replace and buy new sled...

lol

What were you looking at?

 

A 2000 Arctic Cat 700 Mountain cat. The guy selling it was only asking $800 because the hood is a little busted in the front from hitting a tree. It would be a huge upgrade from the 1995 Yamaha V-Max 500 i've got now lol!

 

Yes it would be lol... That's a good freakin price too.

The only thing is if you'd like a Cat mountain sled is to look at something a little newer. 2001+ has the Arctic Power Valves which act to change the torque/hp curves at different RPM's. I tell you this because we had a 2000 ZR 700 and a 2001 ZR 600 with APV and the 600 SPANKED the 700. It also got amazing gas milleage. The valves change the size/shape of the exhaust ports of the engine. They do need cleaning every now and then but if you stay away from the 600 they're real easy to do, especially now that Arctic Cat has their **** together with their synthetic oil. I literally take my valves out and just wipe the crud off, before you'd have to clean them with a wire wheel on a grinder lol. The only thing with a 600 APV engine is the valves are in 3 pieces... they go together like a puzzle but if you frig it up you screw up your piston/valve. The 800 and ALL 2003+ engines are a guillotine style that are one solid piece and are super easy to clean.

You'll love the chassis of the mountain cat because it corners FLAT but a 2001+ mountain Cat 800 or 900 would make a good sled due to newer engine technology, even better would be a much newer M-class, like the M7 or the M8's of late. They're super refined and much lighter.

What length of track? Do you do alot of powder riding? I ask because if the track's too long then it affects cornering... sorta like driving in a parking garage with a locked axle in your truck...

ANY questions about Arctic Cat, just ask I've been wrenching on them since I could walk and at 20 years old I've already had 3 Cats and 2 of those I currently own lol.

 

I believe it's got a 136" track, I was going to go look at it today until I found out I was going to be able to drive anywhere haha. I was really just interested in it because he was only asking $800 for it. I don't know much about Cats because we have always owned Yamaha's. I always get stuck with the old sleds as they get passed down from my dad lol. In your opinion, would the mountain cat be worth the money? Even if the hood and fron bumper needed to be fixed or replaced?

 

The hood and bumper are the same from Pantera's, and ZR's from that era (2000+) so if you could find used you'd keep the price down.

a 136" track is the same as a 2-up sled so expect a nice supple ride still with good cornering. Coming off a 95 V-max you'll love that thing. The only thing I can tell you would be to drop the rear suspsension (4-bolts, easiest if you have a buddy helping you, and compress the suspension) go through ALL of your bearings in the rear skid. Make sure to grease the speedo bearing as well, it's behind the secondary clutch by the left foot well.

Make sure the rollers aren't seized on the primary and secondary clutches because you'll increase engagement RPM's and lose power.

Track, no tears, those thing are expensive. You may be able to pick up the hood you're looking for on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ARCTIC-CAT-2001-Z...item563ec33c36


graphics don't match? Peel them and stick these:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Arctic-Cat-ZR-ZRT...item20b43a45a9

 

Thanks for the tips, hopefully something will come of this. I called the guy selling it earlier and he said that it has a white hood on it like you would have gotten on the Powder Special but it doesn't have any decals on it. Depending on how bad the damage really is, it may be fixable. He said it runs excellent. But for the price he's asking, I'm thinking it's either really ugly, something major is broken, or he just has no idea what it's worth.

 

That's a powder special, that being said, you'll need a hood from a 98-99 ZR...

If you get me a pic of your hood I can hook you up with some part numbers so you'll be ready to go when you call a dealer for a quote, if you're lucky they'll have a used hood on hand. I may be able to get you a black ZR hood which would look sexy as hell on that sled and shipping to Minessota can't be that bad... even if you want to drive up how far are you from the border?

 

I'm probably a good 6-8 hours away from the Minnesota/Canada border. I haven't yet seen the sled, as he has not posted any pictures. I plan on going to take a look as soon as I fix my Jimmy, I just gotta find some time between classes and get a few tools to get the job done. Hopefully it'll be a simple fix and I'll just tighten the rubber plug I put in this summer.

 

Alright, good luck.