What to look for in a used sled

[bgfish00]

Looking at used sleds, What should one be looking for to determine if a unit has seen better days, has been beaten, or is mechanically a lemon.

What is an acceptable mileage range you look for...

Any tricks to testing how a unit runs, the suspension, Compression....

Thanks for the Help and opinions....

[Steve Bakken]

one indicator of the type of care it's had is the color of the plastic. My wife's '92 EXT has always been stored inside the garage under the cover and all the black plastic is still as black and shiny as the day it was new. Usually a sled that't stored inside is an indicator of someone who takes decent care of his machinery. You can buy cheap compression testors for around 20 bucks and believe me, even if you only use it once every couple of years, they pay for themselves. Compression is probably the biggest indicator of the conditon of the sled.

[LOTWKIng]

Also, take a look at the track, make sure your not buying a sled with a bad track cause theres a cool 500 more to replace one of those. Look for: studs still in place and no fraying, also rust, and as said before the plastic.

[Steve Bakken]

look at the condition of the lugs on the track, too. Worn lugs is one thing, but if they're really tore up, it is an indicator of hard acceleration and skid braking- both telltale signs of abuse.

[Captain Ken]

Bought 2 used sleds same model year and model. 1 carb and 1 EFI. Artic Cat Wildcats. Carb model is all tuned real good and all. So is EFI. Must swear many times at Carb model as it is just plain hard to pull. EFI is a breeze. Part of my swearing involves declaration that I will never buy another carb model again and I will never buy one without reverse again either. Just me, but those are 2 things I would make sure to get. K

[honda400ex_treme]

check all plastics like said before, check the belly pan for cracks, major scrapes or other signs of abuse or excessive jumping/bottoming out. do some research check out weight of the machine getting stuck will wear a person out quick no matter how strong they are. Reverse is nice, efi is a plus (electronic fuel injection), electric start is nice if it's a larger bore sled 600-1000cc.check out the rear suspension to make sure the seller just has not tightened the suspension to hide the worn out shocks. There's a lot to find wrong on used sleds. Usually anything under 2500-3000 miles is okay. The less miles the better though.