tracks on a 500 arctic cat?

[sidehillgouger]

I have a 2006 500 AC manual quad with 1597 kms on it and am thinking about putting camoplast tracks on it for work in the oil field. Wondering if it would have the power for tracks and how much speed would i lose. Is it a waste of money? should i look at getting a bigger quad first? Thanks in advance.

 

[Megrizzly]

My grizzly 700 has had camoplast tracks on it for 3 years and use it year round. I do have a lot of experience riding it and would say buy a newer, bigger bike for three main reasons. First, get a bike with a automatic transmission with high low etc. Second, power steering is really good to have. Lastly, tracks do take some power to run and i have no doubt your 500 would turn them well in good conditions, but once you start to push it, the extra torque is neccesary. Also, the bigger bikes can run a bigger? sprocket which equates to faster speeds. I can still run down muddy trails with a fully loaded cart and either keep up or leave them in the dust.

Figure about 30% loss of speed. But the torque and traction more than make up for it. I run almost always in high gear and can run up to about 60 km/h on the road true speed. I would look strongly encourage you to look at a Grizzly or maybe a can am. A manually locking front diff is extremely beneficial and there is no fear of breaking axles. Put on some heavy duty bumper, overfenders, good winch, a chainsaw, a tool box with tools, etc and your ready to tackle anything.

 

[Mongrol]

Sound advice.

 

[sidehillgouger]

Thanks, i think you confirmed what i was thinking. I need to get a bigger quad first and i never weven thought of power steering, great idea, good advice.