The 300's are great little machines. Fairly slow but very capable.

As for the battery staying dead, I would suspect the voltage regulator first off. They are prone to fail, although a lot of the time they overcharge. Either way it should be fairly simple to troubleshoot.

As for the lift kit, the little spacer lifts are probably the cheapest and easiest but I hear they make for a stiffer ride.

If the 2001 is still the old body style(I think it is?), you can actually set it up for differential lock pretty easily. Do a google search and there are instructions out there. Basically though, the cat has a Suzuki Differential which has 3 positions on the shift shaft. 2wd/4wd/4wd lock. In stock form Cat decided not to use the diff lock position for some crazy reason. Basically with some slight re-clocking of the lever on the shift shaft, and some 4wd cable modifications that allow for slightly more travel, you can have all three positions the front diff offers which allows you to have full power to all 4 wheels when needed Cat happy

With the performance, im afraid there is nothing cost effective really. Improving the airflow on both sides and a jet kit is probably going to be the best you can do as far as bang for your buck.

Here are a couple pictures of my old 300. It was pretty rough when I bought it but it was always fun to ride. Cat happy

 

Thanks for the info. Speed isn't that important to me. This is just going to be a spare ATV to have in the event I have a guest that wants to go for a ride.

I've been doing some research and a lot of people agree with your voltage regulator theory. Seems like a pretty simple fix.

Yes, the 2001 is the same body style as your old one. I actually sold my 2000 300 in order to but my current 450. It was definitely a tough bike. I'll look into finding some instructions on getting the front diff to lock.

 

I'd try just a new battery, once the cell walls collapse it will be super inconsistent with keeping a charge.

i'd just put a decent set of lightweight tires on it, forget the lift, keep it a low and light off-camber beast, it'll be a fun ride at a nice low weight like that.

 

After speaking with the owner, he stated that the battery has been replaced and that he has to keep a battery tender connected to be able to even start the machine.

I had planned to replace the battery at the same time as the voltage regulator. And I was thinking of just putting on a set of 27" skinnies. Nothing too heavy, but something that has decent tread.

New question: This model came with a one inch difference in tire size front to back. Would it really be that hard on the front diff if I went with equally sized tire all the way around?

 

Yes it would be very hard on it

 

I had 26" tires all around on mine. If you only use 4wd when you need it, it won't be a problem. If you run 4wd on the road or hardpack often, it may eventually wear on the front diff. I only use 4wd in tough situations so it wasn't a problem for me.

Before replacing the voltage regulator, start it up and test the voltage at the battery with a volt meter. If the voltage is 13-14.5, then it's probably charging fine. If it's. 15+ or 12 and under, the regulator is likely bad.

 

I also found a thread explaining the diff lock mod. Disregard the first few posts and read the long post by "RubiconMudder". I never did the diff lock mod on mine because I only had it a few months, but had I kept it longer I was going to

http://forum.highlifter.com/m3463421-print.aspx

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at the link you provided and compare it to the one I found.
Arctic Cat 300 Front Locker Mod

http://www.quads.ca/tech.php

I also did some more digging into the gear ratio difference in the front and rear diffs. It looks like the front runs a 3.1:1 and the rear is 3.6:1. That's about a 15% difference between the two. I think I'll keep the different sizes so that I don't have to stop and switch from 4wd to 2wd every time I come out of a hole on to hard pack. I was thinking about going with the Silverback X-Lite in a 26x9 and 27x9 since all four rims are the same width. And they aren't a very heavy tire.

 

The 1" front-back stagger is to compensate for the gear ratio difference. Went up an inch front and back with news Zillas on mine and the wife's 250's. No binding noticed on pavement, hooked up nice in the snow (until I high centered).

 

CumminsDriver, it looks like our two articles are just copies of each other. Thanks again for the help.
I may go talk the owner this weekend and see if we can work a price. I'll update this thread with some pictures if I end up with the machine.

 

Not bad for $500. Apparently all it has ever done is ride around his farm. The farthest it has been ridden in 2 years was when i loaded in my truck. Looking forward to building this thing up a little bit.

 

Something doesn't seem right with the gears and tires size. 1" difference in tires is about 4% The ratio is 15% different? I dunno

Stick to 1" tire size difference and it will work.

How wide is the rear rim? I don't like 9" tires on a wide rim. I would go 10" minimum.

 

FirecatV2, I've see the gear ratio listed like that on a couple different forums. I haven't looked on the diffs myself to see what is stamped on them yet.

All four rims are the same size. I believe they are 12x6.5

 

Rim are 6.5, then your good with 9" Cat happy

 

Factory specs for the 250/300 showed 10" wide rears. Stock tires I had were 9". Went to 10" with the new Zillas, nice difference in the mud and snow.

 

KrautKat, I looked at the parts diagram for the "wheel & tire assembly" and it looks like they are showing a SRA. The rims in the diagram look to have very different offsets, but if you look at the pictures I attached previously that is not the case. I will take a closer look at them tonight when I get home.

If the rear rim was 10" it would have about 8" of backspacing. That would put the tire almost touching the battery on this machine.

 

Im jealous! Looks like a heck of a deal for the price. Even though they are slow, they are still one of my favorite machines.

I have a Suzuki King Quad 300 right now that I bought in a million pieces and am just putting the final touches on as far as getting it back together. If the 300 Arctic Cat had a standard toe shifter, and came with the 3 shifters right on top of the gas tank like the old king quad does and had the factory diff lock setting, it would be about perfect. The A/C uses the KQ300 engine, but I like the frame and size of the AC better. Both great machines.

Its funny, even though I have the 650H1, I still have just as much fun on the smaller 5 speed machines.

 

Rims are the same size front and back. Original tire heights were 23" front and 24" rear. I went to 24" and 25". The 9" and 10" I was referring to was tire width for the rears, from factory spec. Ja, a 10" wide rim would have some issues!!

 

CummingsDriver, this machine will actually run about as fast as my 450. It currently has 25/26 f/r on it and still does about 42mph. My 450 has 27s and only does about 45. I don't really care about top end speed, as long as i can get the tires to spin over in the thick stuff. And I know from my previous 300 that I wont have a problem with that. Hopefully next weekend I can work on the diff lock mod, that's really the only thing I didn't like about my last one.

KrausKat, sorry about that, I read you post wrong. The machine currently has 25x10s and 26x12s on it. The reason I was looking at the 26x9s and 27x9s was just to get a little more height and keep the weight down. But none of that is set in stone. Tire selection will most likely come down to budget restrictions.

I've also been looking at lift kits. I'm considering the HighLifter 2" shock relocation kit or the spring spacers from Rubberdown Customs. Anybody have an opinion either way on these tow?

 

Ive heard the spring spacers make them ride really rough where as the HL kit doesn't since it changes the geometry instead of just stiffening the springs. I have no experience either way, that's just what I have heard.

 

Regarding your power drain-

Disconnect your positive (or negative, it doesn't matter) battery cable, put a multi meter between the battery post and the cable and set the meter to DC voltage. Remove and replace 1 fuse at a time until the power draw goes away or changes significantly. Once you find the circuit that is drawing down your system, isolate the components in that system (using the same method) until you find the problem.

 

New question: Why cant I find a free copy of a service manual for this machine? I have found them down to the 2003, but that's it. I've looked at all the normal sites that everyone keeps posting, but cant find what I'm looking for. Should I just break down and buy one?

Freak11970, thanks for the tip. I'm not much of an electrical guy, but this sounds simple enough I can probably handle it.

 

Try mygreenmanuals or midwestmanuals

 

So I started mocking up a snorkel for this thing. I have the clearance to make it work, but I'm not sure how this Sch 40 is going to handle the heat of the exhaust and motor. I plan to use some of the adhesive heat shield, but I'm not sure if it's going to be enough. Also thought about possibly using heat wrap for headers or down pipes.

Any thoughts?

 

On the area where my piping gets closer to the exhaust I used insulating tape on the piping. I didn't touch the exhaust with anything. Haven't had any problems in years and I have about 2" of clearance between the exhaust and the pipe