2014

[Ak Yammy]

Well I did receive some news today that further enhances this subject. My source says you can take it to the bank. Apparently Arctic Cat is building a snocross purpose sled in Thief River Falls for Yamaha (Blue of course) with a Yamaha 4 stroke motor and drive system.

If the Yamaha engine AND drive train part is true it will rock. But I really hope it will be Yam clutches, shafts, gears and chain as this is all I read and hear about from Procross owners. Suzuki motor is great but all the drive train components and clutches have been very problematic.

 

[AKrider]

Disclaimer - before you decide to bash without reading everything, skip down to the last paragraph. Hopefully you will see the point I'm making

From what I've seen with my friends' Pro-climb Cats (1100T and 800) the stock driven clutch has issues. My one buddy flew over the bars this past weekend on his 1100T when it exploded a belt while he was making a long climb up a glacier. The sled lost momentum so quickly he flew over the bars and landed in front of the sled. But, in all fairness to Cat, my buddy figured he had too much tension on the driven clutch and it got hot. My other buddy also has an HCR 1100T with a 3" 162 and he had zero belt problems and was working the sled making high marks everywhere. I recently saw another friend's Cat 800 explode a belt on flat ground at speed and it took out some plastic ramps.

Too many Cat 4-strokes.

It appears the fix is a different brand rear clutch like a Team. In any case, I agree, the Yamaha drive train is more reliable and the belts are way cheaper to boot!

I don't see Yamaha ever going back to a 2-stroke sled. That would contradict 11 years of marketing and they'd be admitting the competition had a better plan (as evidenced in overall sales, Yamaha is dead last). But, I hope they don't go back to a 2 stroke and instead continue developing the 4-strokes. If they can make them lighter and better handling, they WILL gain market share.

Got to ride the 1100T with the 3" and it was modded to make crazy power. I rode it with the dial set at 220 HP at around 3000' in knee deep powder. The power has awesome, but I already knew it would be. What I focused on was the chassis and the Cat Pro-climb HCR is much easier to throw around and sidehill than either my Vector or Nytro ever were. It felt heavy in the front compared to my RMK but that's no surprise. What I liked was how a 4-stroke sled could be manufactured and not give up a bunch in handling. The best analogy I have is a dirt bike one. Where my 600 RMK feels like a 125 or 250 2-stroke the Cat 1100T feels like an XR 600. It has lots of power, revs slowly and handles just fine but you can feel the weight. It didn't do anything weird, the ergos were comfy and it wasn't hard to get used to.

Reason I write all this is because it is exciting to think that Yamaha has had 2 seasons to test and compare the 4-stroke Cat's to their sleds and improve upon them. If they can come out with a 2014 sled that rides and feels similar to a Cat with none of the issues, they will have a winner! I hate to get my hopes up but the 2014 could possibly be the sled I thought I was buying back in 2008. It will be really interesting to see what they've come up with!

 

[n.e.mich]

My Attak is the pefect sled for riding the 1500-2000 miles of groomed trails a year without mechanical problems. I will never sidehill at 3000' and have no use for a dirtbike with ski's.

 

[yamajammer76]

Well I did receive some news today that further enhances this subject. My source says you can take it to the bank. Apparently Arctic Cat is building a snocross purpose sled in Thief River Falls for Yamaha (Blue of course) with a Yamaha 4 stroke motor and drive system.

If the Yamaha engine AND drive train part is true it will rock. But I really hope it will be Yam clutches, shafts, gears and chain as this is all I read and hear about from Procross owners. Suzuki motor is great but all the drive train components and clutches have been very problematic.

Arctic Cat drive trains are junk. They have had issues since way back in the days of the hex clutch. With that said there are a lot of other quality and reliability issues with the Cats. I will be very sad if Yamaha becomes a Cat re-badge. I'm really hoping the rumors of this happening are wrong.

 

[Dano]

Well I did receive some news today that further enhances this subject. My source says you can take it to the bank. Apparently Arctic Cat is building a snocross purpose sled in Thief River Falls for Yamaha (Blue of course) with a Yamaha 4 stroke motor and drive system.

If the Yamaha engine AND drive train part is true it will rock. But I really hope it will be Yam clutches, shafts, gears and chain as this is all I read and hear about from Procross owners. Suzuki motor is great but all the drive train components and clutches have been very problematic.

Arctic Cat drive trains are junk. They have had issues since way back in the days of the hex clutch. With that said there are a lot of other quality and reliability issues with the Cats. I will be very sad if Yamaha becomes a Cat re-badge. I'm really hoping the rumors of this happening are wrong.

I don't think there is anything to worry about. Yamaha knows the cat issues and Yamaha knows that it's customers know as well.

Dan

 

[adubs916]

Just watched the latest episode of SnowTrax TV. They had a quite lengthly interview with the head of Arctic Cat and he discussed the move away from Suzuki motors and to bring them in house to build. The way he spoke led me to believe that all their new motors will be in house built, not outsourced at all, just like their ATV's. He noted that they have been working on this move for a few years now. As far as the Yamaha / Cat partnership goes with motors, after seing that episode I would think Yamaha would be getting 2 stroke Cat motors, not the other way around. Sounds stupid I know, so I don't think the motors are involved in the partnership at all.

 

[ViperTurboPete]

The rumour of Cat building a sno cross purpose sled with a Yamaha engine and drive train sounds very realistic. This concept sounds believable? The only thing is the consumer won't be able to buy one...yet. I guess the best place to test it would be on the race track. It is kinda like that trick Nytro front end that wasn't available to the regular buyer.

What I liked about snow cross sleds is that you were able to buy "basically" the same sled on the showroom floor. Doesn't seem that way with the Yamaha's.

 

[sweetrides]

Well I did receive some news today that further enhances this subject. My source says you can take it to the bank. Apparently Arctic Cat is building a snocross purpose sled in Thief River Falls for Yamaha (Blue of course) with a Yamaha 4 stroke motor and drive system.

If the Yamaha engine AND drive train part is true it will rock. But I really hope it will be Yam clutches, shafts, gears and chain as this is all I read and hear about from Procross owners. Suzuki motor is great but all the drive train components and clutches have been very problematic.

Arctic Cat drive trains are junk. They have had issues since way back in the days of the hex clutch. With that said there are a lot of other quality and reliability issues with the Cats. I will be very sad if Yamaha becomes a Cat re-badge. I'm really hoping the rumors of this happening are wrong.

lol I think Yamaha is great but this made me laugh cause im sure the cat guys think the same about Yamaha

 

[rupprider]

What would you guys think about a joint effort in the side-by-side UTV market? Haven't had a new Rhino since 2004 and the Cat UTV is very similar. (And maybe needs a new engine as well)?

 

[sweetrides]

What would you guys think about a joint effort in the side-by-side UTV market? Haven't had a new Rhino since 2004 and the Cat UTV is very similar. (And maybe needs a new engine as well)?

that would be cool... poor Yamaha help make the utv market they got lawsuits and everyone else jumps in to the market and makes profit ..

 

[sweetrides]

What would you guys think about a joint effort in the side-by-side UTV market? Haven't had a new Rhino since 2004 and the Cat UTV is very similar. (And maybe needs a new engine as well)?

that would be cool... poor Yamaha help make the utv market they got lawsuits and everyone else jumps in to the market and makes profit ..

im curios how come brp isn't getting sued all time as there macine is really top heavy and rolls over pretty easy !!!


back to topic . would be cool to see one 2stroke Yamaha . or one heck of snopro kinda fourstroke ..

 

[yamahabandit]

So let me get this straight. Doo, Poo and Cat sleds are all junk and all of us that jumped ship in the last 3 years don't have any idea a good sled is.
To me, a good sled is much more than a great engine. I know some will say go back to dootalk or Catchat but when I came back to Yamaha 6yrs ago I expected more than I recieved especially from my Nytro. My buddy and I limped home more than once on our Yammies. Not engine issues for sure but 8sets of slides,3 sets of exhaust doughnuts and 3 sets of balljoints is totally unexectable in my view.
Sorry Team Blue I came to you for 4 stroke reliability and got that but not much else. Now there are other performance 4 strokes out there and your losing ground. Better hit a home run soon or yuor done.
Sorry about the rant! I'll stop now,I'm foaming at the mouth.

 

[yamajammer76]

Well I did receive some news today that further enhances this subject. My source says you can take it to the bank. Apparently Arctic Cat is building a snocross purpose sled in Thief River Falls for Yamaha (Blue of course) with a Yamaha 4 stroke motor and drive system.

If the Yamaha engine AND drive train part is true it will rock. But I really hope it will be Yam clutches, shafts, gears and chain as this is all I read and hear about from Procross owners. Suzuki motor is great but all the drive train components and clutches have been very problematic.

Arctic Cat drive trains are junk. They have had issues since way back in the days of the hex clutch. With that said there are a lot of other quality and reliability issues with the Cats. I will be very sad if Yamaha becomes a Cat re-badge. I'm really hoping the rumors of this happening are wrong.

lol I think Yamaha is great but this made me laugh cause im sure the cat guys think the same about Yamaha

Say what you want, but I owned many Arctic Cats before I went to Yamaha with an '05 Rage. I bought some that came right from the factory with loose bolts and screws. On one the hood never lined up properly and it could not be fixed because the whole front end was assembled about 1/4" off. Drivetrain issues and poor bearings have always been an issue with Cat. Within my family alone we have had two AC primary clutches fall apart and damage the sled. My Dad has an '07 Z1 AC 4-stroke and that thing is always having problems. Last issue is the gas tank just cracked at the seam. Lots of cracking plastic over the years with the Cats and underhood heat issues on his 4-stroke Cat hasn't helped with the poorly formed plastic.

I know Yamaha isn't perfect, but if you really think that Arctic Cat builds high quality products you will be in for a suprise if we start getting AC re-badges as Yamahas. If you think that Arctic Cat has the same level of fit and finish and assembly quality as Yamaha does I think you will be in for a shocking suprise. That brown Behlen building called a factory in Thief River Falls does not put out the same level of quality as Yamaha's world class factories in Japan do.

"yamahabanditSorry about the rant! I'll stop now,I'm foaming at the mouth.

You can foam at the mouth all you want. I'm sure your new Cat is great, but speaking in general terms Arctic Cat Inc. does not produce or assemble with the same level of quality and precision as the larger companies do. If you have ever spent any time up in TRF at the factory you would see it really is a little "hometown" operation and the factory floor does not inspire confidence.

I'm glad you love that new Suzuki turbo and I don't doubt it is a great engine, but AC claims they are going to be building all of their engines next year. I assume this also includes a complicated multi-valve 4-stroke. You can have that home-grown engine. I don't want it.

 

[kingedwards99]

I don't see why Yamaha would help out another compeditor or vise versua? What would be the purpose? I never thought the nytro handled that poorly! actually think its one of the best sleds i rode, it just needed to be setup. I know there a little heavy but i think the torque makes up for it. I know others that have rode my sled liked it as well an like to trade me at times to have fun. I Have rode the skidoo 800 xrs and was board with the motor and my knees were cramed against the pannels the front suspension felt like it was to close to the ground. I also rode a polaris rush 600 liked the suspension but turning was a little tippy had to get off of the throttle more. Engine no torque like the 4 stroke. One last thing if they really wanted the nytro to do better in snocross i think they could've, Money talks i think they just needed bigger and better riders or more time with the ones they had, Its like they gave up on the snocross.

 

[yamahabandit]

Sorry, I can see this is going nowhere so I'll retire to the cheap seats.

By the way I've always stated that quality of build in the Yamaha is far superior to everyone. Can't understand why a $15000 sled has a skidframe 20yrs behind and 50lbs heavier than the competition.
The very fact that Cat is a small manufacturer in the middle of nothing is more reason why Yamaha should not be second to anyone let alone 4th. Funny of the all Cats I've owned and raced from T-Cats to 440 ZRs never blew a clutch just lucky I guess.