How many miles on your Sidewinder?

[Turboflash]

I'm not familiar with overheating on my sled. Always runs right at stat temp unless I'm on icy surface with not enough snow dust. Then I just put my scratchers down and it cools right down. Something some of those with overheating issues may want to try is take thermostat out and drill a couple of 1/8" holes beside the towers through the base plate to allow coolant to always be circulating and more importantly prevent air lock. I always have done this and never have had any airlock issues.

 

[kinger]

I'm not familiar with overheating on my sled. Always runs right at stat temp unless I'm on icy surface with not enough snow dust. Then I just put my scratchers down and it cools right down. Something some of those with overheating issues may want to try is take thermostat out and drill a couple of 1/8" holes beside the towers through the base plate to allow coolant to always be circulating and more importantly prevent air lock. I always have done this and never have had any airlock issues.

Dealer has 4- 2017 SWs in for overheating, new T stat coming tomorrow for mine. If that doesn't fix it, I'm doing this!

 

[Turboflash]

I forgot to mention another advantage (IMO) to doing this is the coolant warms up gradually and uniformly in the whole cooling system. You never have a situation where the coolant on engine side is really hot and then suddenly the thermostat opens and engine suddenly gets quenched with the cold coolant from the heat exchangers. If you use only 1/8" or less holes, it doesn't affect how thermostat works once coolant gets to normal operating temp. If your holes are too big, it will border on having the effect of gutting the thermostat which causes big swings in coolant temp. Don't want to do that.

 

[stevewithOCD]

It takes over a 1000 miles before the motor stops over-heating.
50/50 & WaterWetter & NEVER even comes close to over-heating.

 

[actionjack]

3200 miles on my Winder. Rode Kathadin region last week with hard freeze after mid 30s day and had plenty of limp mode. I know the coolant change worked well on my Attak. Where would I drain the Winder and where is the bleed? BTW we would just take some unplowed roads off the trail and temps would drop quickly to 170º. Cannot idle my sled more than 1 minute anywhere without breaching 200º coolant temp.

 

[snowbeast]

3200 miles on my Winder. Rode Kathadin region last week with hard freeze after mid 30s day and had plenty of limp mode. I know the coolant change worked well on my Attak. Where would I drain the Winder and where is the bleed? BTW we would just take some unplowed roads off the trail and temps would drop quickly to 170º. Cannot idle my sled more than 1 minute anywhere without breaching 200º coolant temp.

Yes Jack,these sleds don't have a fan like our apex did,so yes you will find it overheats quickly when just idling.

 

[craigwsrx]

So far to date I have 17,500 not trouble free miles. I have had the usual problems with the Cat part of this sled. 3 drive axles ( finally cured), Tunnel ripped loose from heat exchanger from ice, punctured heat exchanger hose under tunnel, leaking oil tank, top gear bushing, and reverse issues. I do get great belt mileage and haven't blown one yet (knock on wood). Still this is the most fun and powerful sled I have had to date. Engine runs flawless and has been TD tuned for 12,000 miles. In my opinion Artic Cat sleds are not designed for longevity or dependability. They are designed for Snow Cross racing and your typical Artic Cat rider who rides up north with his Artic Cat coat on because he doesn't have heat in his truck and only rides 500 miles a season. It only took them 41 years to finally win the Soo I 500 race which is truly and endurance test of machine. Depending on what Yamaha does in the future I may have to keep this sled for squirting through the trails and get me something else for my mileage trips around the UP and Quebec, although I don't know what to get as I have never ridden anything but Yammi. As solid as Yamaha has been with all their other products it's hard to accept them being so wishy washy with sleds.

 

[slimjim2525]

So far to date I have 17,500 not trouble free miles. I have had the usual problems with the Cat part of this sled. 3 drive axles ( finally cured), Tunnel ripped loose from heat exchanger from ice, punctured heat exchanger hose under tunnel, leaking oil tank, top gear bushing, and reverse issues. I do get great belt mileage and haven't blown one yet (knock on wood). Still this is the most fun and powerful sled I have had to date. Engine runs flawless and has been TD tuned for 12,000 miles. In my opinion Artic Cat sleds are not designed for longevity or dependability. They are designed for Snow Cross racing and your typical Artic Cat rider who rides up north with his Artic Cat coat on because he doesn't have heat in his truck and only rides 500 miles a season. It only took them 41 years to finally win the Soo I 500 race which is truly and endurance test of machine. Depending on what Yamaha does in the future I may have to keep this sled for squirting through the trails and get me something else for my mileage trips around the UP and Quebec, although I don't know what to get as I have never ridden anything but Yammi. As solid as Yamaha has been with all their other products it's hard to accept them being so wishy washy with sleds.

This. I ride with Craig and he puts on the miles, as do I. Coming up on 6k miles on my sled which I got 1 year ago. Upper gear bushing, junk. Screw backing out of tensioner, is all I had to deal with. Luckily I caught those before they became a problem. Got 3400 miles out of my original belt, then it blew. Have the oil tank gasket from BOP, which i will install next week. Did spend some money though to get it more reliable, most of the stuff from BOP's.

 

[kinger]

3200 miles on my Winder. Rode Kathadin region last week with hard freeze after mid 30s day and had plenty of limp mode. I know the coolant change worked well on my Attak. Where would I drain the Winder and where is the bleed? BTW we would just take some unplowed roads off the trail and temps would drop quickly to 170º. Cannot idle my sled more than 1 minute anywhere without breaching 200º coolant temp.

Attached is the service manual process. Also there is a 13mm bolt on top of the cast housing next to the ROV on the oil tank side. I also cracked that and lots of air then coolant came out eventually. I do this while the sled was running. Its almost like bleeding a brake, I also drive the exhaust side up on a snow bank when I cracked that bolt. I had tons of air in mine.

 

[actionjack]

Attached is the service manual process. Also there is a 13mm bolt on top of the cast housing next to the ROV on the oil tank side. I also cracked that and lots of air then coolant came out eventually. I do this while the sled was running. Its almost like bleeding a brake, I also drive the exhaust side up on a snow bank when I cracked that bolt. I had tons of air in mine.

View attachment 152904

View attachment 152905

Thanks I appreciate it.

 

[alain langlois]

2018 ltx-dx , with 6500 miles, new drive shaft installed under waranty, shaft worn .030 after 4500 miles.
Installed shaft saver so far so good after 2000 miles no play. thanks to BOP. very smart devices.
Machine is stock.
Suspension tweak by star suspension.
Issue with fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator (under investigation).
Upgrade the 21T gear with 3 lubrification holes.

 

[Motorhead]

About 6K on mine.
Max Spool 16 3bar version with BOV and 22T upper gear.
Stock clutch components with tip weight added to primary weight.
Machined clutches. Primary cleaned up and secondary .070” taken off coil pocket to prevent coil bind with stock spring.
JT stealth 4 wheel kit! Gave my hardly used tri-hub to buddy and it failed soon after.
Warranty issues have all been addressed by dealer and there have been many.

Also had overheating issues.
Sled use to overheat even with a couple inches of snow on groomed trails, never mind those frosty mornings once the trails set up and stay bulletproof for the day!

Tried burping the system many times during that 2.5 seasons of overheating.
Learned to set all shocks on 1 to lower the sled a bit, that and ski scratchers from BOP helped me manage but it was the worse sled ever for easy overheating.

Also noticed that I needed to add a bit of anti freeze to my system many times during the winter.
Yes it had 50/50 and water wetter on second year of owning this sled. Just decided that scratchers were always needed and when trail conditions were not perfect for cooling, I ran all shock settings on 1.

Then last mid season I noticed that it no longer needed that 1/2 cup of coolant added anymore and that my cooling issues had subsided greatly.

This year I put a stock track back on with 144 studs down the middle and I can say my overheating issues seem completely diminished. Heck we got turned around one of our first ride of the season and had to run down a plowed road for miles because we missed the hardly used trail, and then had to turn around and look for it again.

Saw 186 while we let them idle at the end of road deciding where we went wrong. Years prior overheating would have happened many times during that adventure ride.

Yep, 50/50 and water wetter did help a bit.
After many overheating events, the system must have purged all the air out of that system finally.
And studs seem to make a huge difference on getting snow to that rear cooler.
Oh and added new 6” SJ to my Curves this season. Wow what a combo..

PS: Stock track unstudded for 300-400 miles, then swapped out to an Ice Attack for another 4K or more.

 

[hellflyer]

My 20 ran cooler with 200km on it Than my buddy’s 18 50th with 3000km on it on our first ride and we re not easy on them. His actually went into limp mode once but I think he lets it idle to long when we wait for others.

 

[mooser17]

About 6K on mine.
Max Spool 16 3bar version with BOV and 22T upper gear.
Stock clutch components with tip weight added to primary weight.
Machined clutches. Primary cleaned up and secondary .070” taken off coil pocket to prevent coil bind with stock spring.
JT stealth 4 wheel kit! Gave my hardly used tri-hub to buddy and it failed soon after.
Warranty issues have all been addressed by dealer and there have been many.

Also had overheating issues.
Sled use to overhear even with a couple inches of snow on groomed trails, never mind those frosty mornings once the trails set up and stay bulletproof for the day!

Tried burping the system many times during that 2.5 seasons of overheating.
Learned to set all shocks on 1 to lower the sled a bit, that and ski scratchers from BOP helped me manage but it was the worse sled ever for easy overheating.

Also noticed that I needed to add a bit of anti freeze to my system many times during the winter.
Yes it had 50/50 and water wetter on second year of owning this sled. Just decided that scratchers were always needed and when trail conditions were not perfect for cooling, I ran all shock settings on 1.

Then last mid season I noticed that it no longer needed that 1/2 cup of coolant added anymore and that my cooling issues had subsided greatly.

This year I put a stock track back on with 144 studs down the middle and I can say my overheating issues seem completely diminished. Heck we got turned around one of our first ride of the season and had to run down a plowed road for miles because we missed the hardly used trail, and then had to turn around and look for it again.

Saw 186 while we let them idle at the end of road deciding where we went wrong. Years prior overheating would have happened many times during that adventure ride.

Yep, 50/50 and water wetter did help a bit.
After many overheating events, the system must have purged all the air out of that system finally.
And studs seem to make a huge difference on getting snow to that rear cooler.
Oh and added new 6” SJ to my Curves this season. Wow what a combo..

PS: Stock track unstudded for 300-400 miles, then swapped out to an Ice Attack for another 4K or more.

What lug track did you have that sled overheated badly with?

 

[Motorhead]

What lug track did you have that sled overheated badly with?

Stock track for first 400 miles unstudded.
Ice Attack is a 1.22” with 258 pre studded.

I really think that the sled had an air pocket in the cooling system that just would not purge.

Limp mode occurs on my sled at 211 and that was my norm many times on most days if trails were not perfect conditions, even with scratchers down I had to run at a good clip to keep it from entering limp mode.
Sled had a second mode at 246 on mine.

Have not seen limp mode for many many miles now!