[Bob M]

Does anyone that owns the new side x side have front suspension noise ?
Mine is so excessive that it sounds like something loose and ready to fall off.
I took it back to dealer and engineers told them it was natural. They went through all the bolts. I can't believe they put that much time into development as they say and then put it out to the consumer like that. I Don't recommend one of these to anyone. I'm affraid something is going to break or wear out just after warranty with the load clunking coming from the front end. You hit a crack in the pavement going down the street and it clunks. I was looking at court, but there telling me can't for suspension noise. Amazing just road in anther brand with 13000 miles on it, no noises and it was not a Polaris. Always been a Cat owner on everything but I see that changing quickly.

 

[EastCoastWest]

Does anyone that owns the new side x side have front suspension noise ?
Mine is so excessive that it sounds like something loose and ready to fall off.
I took it back to dealer and engineers told them it was natural. They went through all the bolts. I can't believe they put that much time into development as they say and then put it out to the consumer like that. I Don't recommend one of these to anyone. I'm affraid something is going to break or wear out just after warranty with the load clunking coming from the front end. You hit a crack in the pavement going down the street and it clunks. I was looking at court, but there telling me can't for suspension noise. Amazing just road in anther brand with 13000 miles on it, no noises and it was not a Polaris. Always been a Cat owner on everything but I see that changing quickly.

Did you ever find out the problem? I have the same unit doing the same thing, as far as I can see there is slack in the sway bar links when riding over uneven terrain and the clunking is when the slack gets taken up. There is really noting else on the front end that would make such noises. If tightening the link nuts does not fix it, I might just remove the swaybar outright. Other than that it's a really nice unit although slightly under powered (it's a crew cab).

 

[doorfx]

Does the sway bar have bushings?

 

[ArcticFrost]

Suspension bushings get dirty then wet and some will squeak. The best option is to grease them or get UMHW bushings which also tighten up the handling.


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[ArcticFrost]

The bushings I circled are probably made of plastic similar to my ATV. I removed the swaybar and have had no squeaks. If you want to leave the swaybar just clean and grease those bushings up and you should be good. You could try spraying them with wd40 before you get into it!

Here’s a video I made when I took it off my ATV. It’s similar to the mounts on the Prowler pro.

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[EastCoastWest]

Mine did it from brand new and it has less than 100 miles on it now. It's not so much of a squeak as it is the sound of smacking two pieces of aluminium pipe together - hard - when hitting a pothole at anything above 10 mph. It's almost like they forgot to put the bushings in, it sounds like the front end of a Dodge pickup with 300,000 miles on it. I've pulled on everything on the front end with it up on a jack and everything feels tight as a drum, I'm stumped. I'm calling the dealer tomorrow to get it looked at, it's under warranty for 2 years. I'm lucky that there is a long time dealer right in my back yard that seem to have good techs. Other than this issue I am happy so far. Will keep everyone posted.

 

[EastCoastWest]

So my dealer got it in the day after I called which was super but they could not find anything wrong which isn't what I wanted to hear. I wasn't surprised at this though because I checked multiple times myself and could not find anything either. They did do an update on the front brakes while it was in so it wasn't a total loss.

I asked the service advisor about potential warranty issues if I removed the swaybar and he said to just put it back on if I had to bring it back. I suspect that it's related to the swaybar because it seems that the noise only happens when only one front tire hits a bump or takes most of a hit.

I'll probably just remove the links to test it out, and zip-tie the swaybar up out of the way so it doesn't flop around and damage anything. Will post results of this test.

 

[paddyc73]

Did you ever find out the problem? I have the same unit doing the same thing, as far as I can see there is slack in the sway bar links when riding over uneven terrain and the clunking is when the slack gets taken up. There is really noting else on the front end that would make such noises. If tightening the link nuts does not fix it, I might just remove the swaybar outright. Other than that it's a really nice unit although slightly under powered (it's a crew cab).

I had the same issue. Running over a rock 5 inches high the suspension seemed solid. However if you hit a small pothole it sounded like the front was falling off. Thankfully the dealer in Gander, NL cpmotorsports.ca helped me out. The noise is coming from the top two coils in the spring separating then closing quickly creating the knocking noise. Since there were no recalls on the issue from Arctic cat, the mechanic placed rubber between the top two coils and the knocking is gone.

 

[EastCoastWest]

double post in error..

 

[EastCoastWest]

I had the same issue. Running over a rock 5 inches high the suspension seemed solid. However if you hit a small pothole it sounded like the front was falling off. Thankfully the dealer in Gander, NL cpmotorsports.ca helped me out. The noise is coming from the top two coils in the spring separating then closing quickly creating the knocking noise. Since there were no recalls on the issue from Arctic cat, the mechanic placed rubber between the top two coils and the knocking is gone.

That makes a lot of sense, I am going to have to give that a try. Like you say, you can hit a rock or bump and nothing but as soon as your wheel drops into a pothole and then impacts coming out of it, bang!

I thought for sure it would have been related to the swaybar because the rear end doesn't do it and the biggest difference is no sway bar in the rear. I ended up taking my links off but there was no change so I but them back and while I was at it, I put on an aftermarket grommet kit made from polyurethane which is much stiffer than the soft rubber ones that came stock. The grommets I put on are Daystar KU08004B and are the same dimensions as stock. They come with washers but I did not use them because the threaded ends of the links are not long enough. The washers aren't really required anyways because the nuts are of the flanged type.

Did you have any issues with the rubber coming out of the springs or did the mechanic attach it somehow so it couldn't work it's way out? I'm actually over in Corner Brook and bought my pro crew at Western Motorsports which is literally a 2 minute drive out my back yard. I was up there a while ago getting a small coolant leak fixed (they should be using worm gear clamps rather than the spring type) and the last word was they were waiting on a fix from Cat.

Thanks a bunch for the tip by the way, I had not replied sooner because I must have logged out of the forum at some point so didn't get a notification...

 

[EastCoastWest]

I just checked the microfiche, my 2020 list part # 1503-219 for the front spring while the 2021 lists 1503-825, calling my dealer tomorrow.

 

[paddyc73]

The dealer put hard rubber between the top two coils and used tie wraps to hold it there. I think something synthetic like nylon would be better since one of the tie wraps are now broken (rubber still there). I think you'll eventually get the same knocking on the rear springs as well. The rubber was put on all 4 springs. I'm surprised AC didn't recall this issue.

 

[EastCoastWest]

The dealer put hard rubber between the top two coils and used tie wraps to hold it there. I think something synthetic like nylon would be better since one of the tie wraps are now broken (rubber still there). I think you'll eventually get the same knocking on the rear springs as well. The rubber was put on all 4 springs. I'm surprised AC didn't recall this issue.

I did the same thing with my own last night and I plan to go up to the dealer sometime this week and look at the 2021s to see what the updated springs are like.

 

[EastCoastWest]

The springs on the 2021 are totally different, the coils are equally spaced from top to bottom. I rocked the machine side to side and could not replicate the noise that is in mine when I do the same. I called my dealer and they said to call Cat which I did, the rep said they were going to refer it to the technical department and someone would contact me.