Used Arctic Cat

[fishadb]

 Going to look at a '11 550 EFI and an '08 700 EFI. Anyone got either of these and how do you like it? Also anything in particular I should look at on a used four wheeler? Mostly going to be used for ice fishing, currently have a 1990 Polaris 250 and I get a little nervous every time I take it out that I might not make it back. Thanks!

[CaptainMusky]

For used ATVs I would look at the welds on the frame to make sure this no rust or paint chipping off. If the paint is chipping off that means it has been stressed at some point. I haven't seen many that have that problem, but they are out there.

I don't have either model, but I have a 2007 650 TRV. My dad has the same machine as me and he has 57,000 miles on his. I only have 1400.

The 650 has the same bottom end of the motor as the 550. The 550 will have more than enough power and you will really like efi. I would recommend having a trickle charger plugged into it at all times though. EFI takes some juice and these are big single cylinder motors so they tend to turn over hard and a weak battery will be found in a hurry.

[leech~~]

Mechanical shape is what is really important to me. I would take one wheeler at a time, start it and listen to the motor at idle, then rev it up and down a bit to hear for any little noises or misses in the motor. Then put it in gear and run slow for a while then pick up speed to see how it rides at different speeds and if any noises happen at different speeds in the drive train? Then take some slow speed hard turns right then left in forward and reverse to see if any of the differentials start grabbing or clanking to see if they are shot or not or any other worn drive train noises happen. Doing a compression check is something I like to do as well.  Good Luck.