78 Arctic Cat Panther 4000..

[HondaClaw]

My cousin wants to sell me his 78 arctic Cat Panther 4000 for $300, he hasn't told me a lot, nor have I seen it. The windshield is cracked, he told me when warm it fires up 1st pull, but when cold it fires up on 3 pulls.. He also said it runs great. This may be my first foray into sleds.. I am wary. I'm gonna go look at it soon. But from the details I have, does this sound like a good deal???

[RIDE-RED 250r]

$300 for a running classic is a good deal where I come from..... So long as it not totally trashed other than the engine running

[HondaClaw]

I'll look into it, although now I need to replace the rear axle on my quad.. So it may be a while.. Thanks for your input

[trimoto.125]

These sleds were one of the biggest pieces of crap ever built. The suzuki motors always had blown pulser coils,primitive suspension, way to heavy.
can't steer for beans front end is too heavy, cleated track. Keep looking, I wouldn't pay more than $50 to strip it down for parts. If you want vintage get a polaris tx,colt, tnt with a aluminum tunnel, elan(check chassis for cracks on running boards near bogie mounts and near drive axel/pan area), yamaha enticer(watch out for wrotted pans and mufflers, cracked suspension arms,exciter, skidoo citation watch for pan again.
When I did have my 78 jag in my display pic it had a 340 rotax in it, long gone now...won't bring any more arctic cats home

[90guy]

Look at the track for rips or tears. They are farily simple to work on. Sounds like a normal sled in starting condtions. But if u want something cheap and want to get into sledding and its not seen better days this would be a good starte sled.

[sledcrazyinCT]

for $300 it should be a good running ready to ride sled especially if you are buying it from your cousin...... I see them around for $100 and up. Trimoto is pretty much talking about any sled built in the 70s when he was complaining about primitive suspensions, being heavy, etc. CATS are a fine brand and the suzuki motors are no worse than a fugi or a yamaha. Adjustments can be made to the track pressure to help it steer more easily or accurately. AND most times yo yos who say the stator or CDI are bad on a cat do not know anything..... just unplug the wire harness and 8 out of 10 times it is just a broken on off switch

[trimoto.125]

for $300 it should be a good running ready to ride sled especially if you are buying it from your cousin...... I see them around for $100 and up. Trimoto is pretty much talking about any sled built in the 70s when he was complaining about primitive suspensions, being heavy, etc. CATS are a fine brand and the suzuki motors are no worse than a fugi or a yamaha. Adjustments can be made to the track pressure to help it steer more easily or accurately. AND most times yo yos who say the stator or CDI are bad on a cat do not know anything..... just unplug the wire harness and 8 out of 10 times it is just a broken on off switch

I have 40 vintage sleds, I think I know what I'm talking about. The motors that had ignition problems were suzuki motors. They had a closed circuit ignition. The only way is to splice and bypass. Good suspensions, 78 tx-l, yamaha srx or exciter after fixing cracked arms,john deere sportfire,liquifire. The only way your going to make that pos steer is if you drill holes higher in the tunnel.

[sledcrazyinCT]

I currently own over three dozen arctic cats and never had a bad stator yet! My newest one is an 85 pantera, the mid 90 ZRs tend to burn up stators but have not seen that as a huge problem on their older motors.BTW the closed ignition is on the 80 and up cats not the 78 F/C panther. I just did not want to see you steer the guy from buying a cat, they can be set up to work properly. Heck the panthers were the most popular seller for ARTCO until the 79 jag came out so they ain't all that bad.


Not knocking you or your expertise with the iron dogs just saying CAT motors do not always blow up stators or CDIs is all. I have bought numerous machines where the seller says 'just change a stator I had it checked' or 'I know my machine needs a CDI' only to buy it with no spark, disconnect the main engine plug and BAM she is a runner. I buy the handle bar on off switches by the dozen since they always snap that little three inch long cable that connects it to the throttle cable, plus most every time with a no spark issue it leads back to either these kill switch or the key switch.











I would own a JAG over the Panther any day.

[sledcrazyinCT]

trimoto.125 did you swap the rotax into your JAG or did you buy it that way?

I own a 78 pantera that someone before me tossed a 503 motor in it. It goes quicker than any ski doo I own that has the same motor in it, I love my ROTAX CAT!

[trimoto.125]

I put the 340 rotax in it, the 340 f/a has no spark. bypassed, coil,cdi,nothing... I hope the guy didn't buy the cat, more than likely his vintage sled experiance will be ruined.