Proud New Owner of Hawk has Questions

[egert23]

I am proud to say I am now a hawker. Thank you Tony for your help and guidance on the phone during my purchase process. I picked up a 2002 503F ST in Michigan. I plan to use it for the trail as well as off trail backcountry riding. It has the trail ski adapter, the new ski with ski trackers and seems to run very well. I appologize ahead of time for the length of this post, but after reading on here I would like a better list of things to go through and check during the offseason. I plan on doing the fork oil change and hopefully find an 8 gal. gas tank that doesnt drain my wallet and install that as well. Are there bushings in the rear suspension that need to be looked at? How do you tell if the shocks need rebuilt? The previous owner had shock covers on them, should those stay or go? Also, what type of slides are you guys using? I think I want to start the next year season with a fresh set. Any other suggestions about what to look at or go through? Bushings in the primary? I am also not very tall, 5' 6'', so if I crank down the rear a bit on that linkage what will that affect? What kind of chain setup are people using? Is that something I should look into with the 503? Thank you for all your help and support as I try to spread the word on these GREAT machines!!

 

[buffaloHAWK]

great vid on youtube!

 

[TLKDPROD]

Gongrats for your purchase

Here's what I'd suggest :

-Trail adaptor & twin axis ski with snow Trackers may be the first update anybody need to do on these older 503s.

-Then a bigger tank as you said.

-Jet it right according to your elevation.

-Add filter mesh to your primary opening in your belly pan otherwise snow will get in there and primary will slip.

- Secondary clutch Driving shaft & bottom driving shaft bearings : check if ADB put good quality bearings in there, most of us have replaced the china bearings we had with SKF or NTN units. But you may have good ones since yours is older... ! '02 was the golden days of Hawks, the future of the machine looked so bright...

- If you want more HP : dump the primary (& maybe the secondary) and get a P-85 primary (and maybe an Arctic Cat Secondary). This is where most of your gains in HP will be.



By looking at the condition of your Hawk on the photo, I wouldn't bother with bushings in suspension or fork seals if they're not leaking. I'd say the following: add premix gas and enjoy ! This thing looks like it just rolled out of the showroom floor !

And there's certainly something else I forgot for sure that somebody else will mention.

 

[snowhawkaddict]

No appologies needed.

I appologize ahead of time for the length of this post, Thank you for all your help and support as I try to spread the word on these GREAT machines!!

Just ride the he11 out of that thing and hook as many riders as you can, bet your friends are allready jealous of your find!

Good job on getting the video on Youtube so soon, that's the best exposure just got to take the time to film and download.

 

[snowhawkaddict]

Wow!

These things are getting expensive, we must have been on to something.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SNOW...0369975141QQitemZ250369975141QQptZSnowmobiles

 

[Hawkified]

on to something comment

I agree Tony we are on to something, perhaps the supply and demand is whats keeping the value of these things up. Hope AD starts making em again cause they sure are fun

 

[buffaloHAWK]

just maybe...

in our troubled economy we can make up a story about "team snowhawk" and we are struggling to keep this cutting edge company afloat and we need a bailout plan for say 10 million... nothing like the auto makers that are making millions are asking for... then we can buy out ad boivin and make snow hawks in the usa! i think since tony and tammy have the most knowledge, they could call the president and get the bailout rollin,maybe invite him to hawkfest so he can see what its about...