Best gearing for these 998’s

[Fleecer]

Fleecer did you lose any bottom end with the 22/41 gear, verse the 21/41 stock set up? Was it soft out of the hole??

Didn' notice any loss of bottom end, but in soft conditions snow/slush may have suffered a little bit in the midrange....say from 80 to 115 mph.

Running a big tune helps alleviate this loss and hence I would not advise running anything taller than 21/41 unless you are running 250hp or higher.....but just my opinion.

The benefits are faster speeds on hard packed surfaces and stellar fuel mileage. I've done 17-18 mpg many times with a world record of 19.4 mpg in perfect conditions.

 

[Beerman]

Fleecer did you lose any bottom end with the 22/41 gear, verse the 21/41 stock set up? Was it soft out of the hole??

Not that you're asking me, but . . . I didn't feel like it lost out of the hole, but last year, with the 21T top I didn't have any belt issues. This year with the 22T top I blew 5 in 1800 miles. To be fair, I did also go from EcoTrail to PowerTrail as well. Still.

 

[Fleecer]

I can flirt with 130 when the conditions are ideal. My sled has stock gearing, TD (Dalton) clutching, TD Max Spool 17, TD CAI, TD Turbo Force muffler, Turbo Smart BOV, & GAP 3 Bar MAP sensor.



My only problem is poor belt life. Aggressive trail riding with some lake running only yields about 300 - 500 miles of belt life before the belt fails catastrophically. It usually happens after getting out of and back into the throttle (backshift) which snaps the shredded belt in half.

Blue Dave,
I feel your pain and I believe the belt issues are caused by a multitude of issues. I feel the biggest issue is heat. I too run a CAI, which I mounted as high as possible to let as much air in to the clutches as possible. I then drilled an extra 52 holes in the clutch guard to maximize airflow.

This is not the end all/cure all....but it helps!!

 

[Doowithblue]

For me the two belts I have blown did not appear to be a heat issue. Nothing was hot. Stumped.

 

[Fleecer]

Blue Dave,
I feel your pain and I believe the belt issues are caused by a multitude of issues. I feel the biggest issue is heat. I too run a CAI, which I mounted as high as possible to let as much air in to the clutches as possible. I then drilled an extra 52 holes in the clutch guard to maximize airflow.

This is not the end all/cure all....but it helps!!

Also put a 3 inch moflow screen in the bottom panel.

Funny thing.........when running cat procross turbos I would flog it until my left foot would start to get warm, at which point I knew my clutches were smoking hot and blowing a belt was imminent. Hence, I'd back off and hold steady speeds to let air through and cool them off a little, then repeat.

I found it peculiar that my winder, my left foot would never get hot, yet clutches run feloniously hot. Why??? Lack of airflow!!

With the additions I've made, my left foot will now feel warm after some hard flogging.....which means air is flowing around the hot clutches to my foot....which means this volume of air is cooling the clutches as it passes around them.....which is a good thing in my opinion!!

 

[Fleecer]

For me the two belts I have blown did not appear to be a heat issue. Nothing was hot. Stumped.

Although the 8JP performs well....I just don't think it is strong enough for the power output of the winder. A dozen heat cycles weaken it severely and then a day later when you are minding your business the thing breaks in half for no reason.

 

[DMCTurbo]

I'm going to try 21/37 or 22/37 next year.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Not that you're asking me, but . . . I didn't feel like it lost out of the hole, but last year, with the 21T top I didn't have any belt issues. This year with the 22T top I blew 5 in 1800 miles. To be fair, I did also go from EcoTrail to PowerTrail as well. Still.

Im going back to stock 21/41 next yr for sure......I never even got to run mine on gun over 125 anyway, and id really like to setup for more corner to corner and increase belt life.

I never blew a belt first 500 miles, however it was stock ECU, stock everything for break in....and when I tuned it, I also did the gear swap.....so belts after this were not holding up for 500. lol

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

For me the two belts I have blown did not appear to be a heat issue. Nothing was hot. Stumped.

I agree.....I have very cool clutches, and even cooler now that im down to 58.7mm offset. Hard to imagine heat has anything to do with my belt when they were cool.

Honestly when mine went it was from pounding it corner to corner for an entire morning hard on 270map, and that just has to take a toll on a belt, tore it into pieces, it did have 700 miles on belt at time.



It did well on last trip with new lower offset so that is positive. Next fall Ill go back to stock gears and see how things shake out.

I know Soupy has that thread about vents, however If I recall his belt blower always ran hot clutches/belts so in his case it surely has helped to cool things.

Dan

 

[Blue Dave]

I guess we are off topic a bit with the belt discussion but in case it is related to gearing as Art believes then it is worth being discussed in this thread IMO. In each of the three instances where I blew a belt apart I was able to handle my clutches bare handed. They were very warm but not what I would call hot. Like Dan said, full throttle corner to corner, backshift, full throttle corner to corner, repeatedly really stretches the belt until it snaps.

 

[Beerman]

I guess we are off topic a bit with the belt discussion but in case it is related to gearing as Art believes then it is worth being discussed in this thread IMO. In each of the three instances where I blew a belt apart I was able to handle my clutches bare handed. They were very warm but not what I would call hot. Like Dan said, full throttle corner to corner, backshift, full throttle corner to corner, repeatedly really stretches the belt until it snaps.

@**sj** is the one that opened my eyes to the gearing and my belt issues. Credit where credit is due.

 

[See n blue]

Anyone use cat gears on the winders?

 

[Motorhead]

I put the 22 T on mid season. Noticed that I may have lost a bit on the low end mid range, but also noticed that I gained on the high end of mid range. What do I mean? With eco trail smm and 21T, it would run to 114 speedo pretty quick and then tic away slower for more mph. With the 22T and same set up, it did not seem to have that low speed grunt but it would run to 117 before it slows and tics away.
Last weekend installed the Max Spool 16 sm with partially modified sm, and a 35/39 helix and kept the 22T. Put 400 hard miles on the sled and noticed a big difference power wise. Pulls hard everywhere and seeing over 120 on speedo before it ticks away, but that is on late season, very warm, mealy trail conditions.
Stock belt 1100 miles, second belt 2200 miles, now at 3100 and my season is over I think. Trails upcountry are still reporting great riding, with more snow coming this week. If I did not have to work!!!
That thing would have some real good midrange with the 21T. Not sure what I shall run next season whereas I shall also add the TS BOV and Dalton primary clutch kit. Running all stock clutches with added weight to tip. “Well primary was machined and so was the secondary coil spring pocket.”

Oh well, next year I shall see how many more I get on that belt.

Thanks for sharing your info everyone.

 

[Beerman]

Anyone use cat gears on the winders?

That’s what I think we’re all using for the 22T top. It’s an Arctic chaincase.

 

[74Nitro]

That’s what I think we’re all using for the 22T top. It’s an Arctic chaincase.

Yep, I went to the local Cat dealer for the 22