Thinking about..........jumping ship

[KnappAttack]

Well I'm not jumping ship. I got a chance to ride my buds XRS 900turbo today for a while. It is a nice sled, but just not for me right now. A stock 900t is really lame powerwise and not real exciting to ride. It's like riding in slow motion is the best way I can describe it. Why the hell they decider to turbo that 900 is beyond me.

I have my Winder really dialed in and can say I'm actually dang impressed with it now that I've gone thru it front to back with all the known issues. Even the stock rollers are still hanging in there now, and there is no way I want to give up the power of the beast! I honestly love the ride and handling of the Winder, but I have to work on keeping the front end down under acceleration and keep the plush ride. I don't see how some complain of lack of transfer on the LTX. Guess they just don't have the power or traction needed.

 

[journeyman]

Well I'm not jumping ship. I got a chance to ride my buds XRS 900turbo today for a while. It is a nice sled, but just not for me right now. A stock 900t is really lame powerwise and not real exciting to ride. It's like riding in slow motion is the best way I can describe it. Why the hell they decider to turbo that 900 is beyond me.

I have my Winder really dialed in and can say I'm actually dang impressed with it now that I've gone thru it front to back with all the known issues. Even the stock rollers are still hanging in there now, and there is no way I want to give up the power of the beast! I honestly love the ride and handling of the Winder, but I have to work on keeping the front end down under acceleration and keep the plush ride. I don't see how some complain of lack of transfer on the LTX. Guess they just don't have the power or traction needed.

I would like to take yours for a spin sometime....but then again maybe I shouldn’t......LOL!!

 

[Fleecer]

Up in "The County" in Maine he uses ALL of his 300 hp.
I know because i've ridden with the crazy bastard.
We have trails up there that i've personally seen 124 on my speedo & got bored.
Not that i'm condoning 500 hp on the trail, but FLEECER has been running big power for 20 years now.

The closer you get to Canada the crazier they get. That's why they call them Crazy Canucks...

Steve, thank you for the kind words!! I'm thinking of putting a sign on the rr bed near my house:

Welcome to Aroostook County
"THE AUTOBAHN FOR SNOWMOBILES"

 

[ClutchMaster]

LOL
Wtf.
Anyway I don’t worry at all when I hit the trail. Yea I know what can break so I drive it in a way not to break it.


You running Stm tunnel protectors
Probly save that hose

He who laughs last, laughs the hardest!

Been stranded several times, just lucky it wasn’t in the wrong situation.

I have a turbo sled to go fast, others may own one to talk about it, not me.

Do you have STM tunnel protectors?
What about a steel front skid shaft?
Had your chain case apart yet?
Checked your driveshaft bearing?
Checked the primary for cracks?
Epoxy your sight glass yet?
Roll over valve removed?
Better have some clutch rollers in your tool pouch.
Looked at your flexible exhaust coupler yet?
Best too keep an eye on that, one burnt to the ground up here a couple weeks ago.

Front skid spring broke on mine two weeks ago, just lucky it didn’t poke through the track at 100mph.
Found a broken boggie wheel mount also, hollow pot metal just doesn’t hold up well.

Sorry but I work for my money, I expect a little more than what’s being offered for the price. 5000 miles and throw it away? They got ya right where they want ya!

 

[J & J Racing]

Stm protectors. Yes
No(I don’t race sno cross with my sled)
But I did use them back in 07 f chassis racing cross country
Yes I changed my gear ratio 25 45
Yep it’s tight
I have a cat primary doesn’t sound like a bucket of bolts under hood
Epoxy my sight glass haha
Yep rov removed
No issues with rollers(cat)
Yep
Took out all suspension bolts when new and loctite

Did most of this when I took it out of that beautiful cat box

Check prices of other sleds
They aren’t cheep

 

[Fro-1]

Just run stock leave alone, a sidewinder is fine, add HP and #*$&@ happens, if your gonna buy a skidoo every two years you’ll be ok, my friends ride 800s and some of them have had crank problems, motors not great,you’ll be fine until warranty runs out, they do have nice accessory’s but you can put on winder, Good luck oh and stop reading on line.

100% right, if you can afford to buy a new sled every 2 or maybe if you are lucky to last as long as 3 years then by all means “do the doo” but the last time Ski-Doo made a reliable snowmobile engine was the 377cc.
Even the die-hard Ski-Doo owners I know will admit that by the 3rd year it’s time to buy new again but that’s onky if they aren’t fed up with having it back and forth to the garage during the first year when ironing out all of the starting and electrical issues they have.
I also couldn’t agree more on the crappy fit-a d-Finnish of these Arctic Cats. They look like they were put together with Kimpex parts and that’s a quote from the owner of a Sidewinder and Viper.

 

[20/80]

Had a chance to ride a SW last year and found the ride and seating position really nice, the motor is scary F#%king fast, over all its a nice sled, BUT, when you lay down over $20 grand here in Canada you should not have to worry about bearings, and clutches, and bent tunnels and that whole list of things to check, you are paying for all that engineering to be addressed before laying down your hard earned dollars, that's why you are paying the big bucks to have the best and the fastest, clearly the engineering is not there, yes the sled is hands down the fastest out there, but you are also paying for the best reliability and durability, reading some of the owners reviews it seems they are being ripped off and have to live with it.

 

[stevewithOCD]

Stm protectors. Yes
No(I don’t race sno cross with my sled)
But I did use them back in 07 f chassis racing cross country
Yes I changed my gear ratio 25 45
Yep it’s tight
I have a cat primary doesn’t sound like a bucket of bolts under hood
Epoxy my sight glass haha
Yep rov removed
No issues with rollers(cat)
Yep
Took out all suspension bolts when new and loctite

Did most of this when I took it out of that beautiful cat box

Check prices of other sleds
They aren’t cheep

So you DID the necessary things to have a reliable sled. That's a lot of work.
AND you didn't "Gas & Go" like you said. "Gas & Go" means you add gas.......................wait for it..............................................then go!
Not spend $1000's & multiple weekends ripping sled apart to fix stupid engineering mistakes and you only have 1800 miles on it.
You've had it apart to fix the stupid engineering issues that i'm talking about.
I bought mine new in '17 and WE didn't know all these fixes.
Although every sled can break down, these sleds break because of these "stupid engineering" blunders we have to fix.
Show me a guy that hasn't touched his sled, with high miles on it, that has been able to "Gas & Go".

So far i've spoken to dozens of 'Winder & TC owners on trail. Only 4 did no fixes. ALL 4 have been towed. Not ONE SINGLE SLED has not had issues.
Just towed my Buds STOCK Winder last week with only 4000 miles on it & he rides in the back behind the SkiDoo's.

And i believe this summer if i do the remaining couple fixes in chain case, i will have a trusty sled.
BUT, with over 10,000 miles it may be time to trade it in plus this summer i will have NO time for fixing so i might buy a sled that is actually "Gas & Go"

I really do LOVE this sled & the GEN 4 is just butt ugly.
I have big decisions to make this week.
I don't want to disappoint my TY cronies, but i may have to do what i need to do since my week long trip has been ruined twice so far.

 

[lovesledding]

FYI your sleds about to fall apart.

your a funny guy lol

i will keep you posted, no sign of that yet

 

[lovesledding]

So you DID the necessary things to have a reliable sled. That's a lot of work.
AND you didn't "Gas & Go" like you said. "Gas & Go" means you add gas.......................wait for it..............................................then go!
Not spend $1000's & multiple weekends ripping sled apart to fix stupid engineering mistakes and you only have 1800 miles on it.
You've had it apart to fix the stupid engineering issues that i'm talking about.
I bought mine new in '17 and WE didn't know all these fixes.
Although every sled can break down, these sleds break because of these "stupid engineering" blunders we have to fix.
Show me a guy that hasn't touched his sled, with high miles on it, that has been able to "Gas & Go".

So far i've spoken to dozens of 'Winder & TC owners on trail. Only 4 did no fixes. ALL 4 have been towed. Not ONE SINGLE SLED has not had issues.
Just towed my Buds STOCK Winder last week with only 4000 miles on it & he rides in the back behind the SkiDoo's.

And i believe this summer if i do the remaining couple fixes in chain case, i will have a trusty sled.
BUT, with over 10,000 miles it may be time to trade it in plus this summer i will have NO time for fixing so i might buy a sled that is actually "Gas & Go"

I really do LOVE this sled & the GEN 4 is just butt ugly.
I have big decisions to make this week.
I don't want to disappoint my TY cronies, but i may have to do what i need to do since my week long trip has been ruined twice so far.

i have not touched my sled, just added some power.

i don't even run tunnel protectors

Gas and go fast, again 6000 flawless miles

 

[ClutchMaster]

i have not touched my sled, just added some power.

i don't even run tunnel protectors

Gas and go fast, again 6000 flawless miles

With so many known issues not doing anything preventative shows your foolishness.

 

[Mototown]

Stm protectors. Yes
No(I don’t race sno cross with my sled)
But I did use them back in 07 f chassis racing cross country
Yes I changed my gear ratio 25 45
Yep it’s tight
I have a cat primary doesn’t sound like a bucket of bolts under hood
Epoxy my sight glass haha
Yep rov removed
No issues with rollers(cat)
Yep
Took out all suspension bolts when new and loctite

Did most of this when I took it out of that beautiful cat box

Check prices of other sleds
They aren’t cheep

Well I hope on March 5 Yamaha introduces a 100 % Yamaha sled & then in 2021 come out with a Yamaha replacement for the sidewinder,so u can love your Arctic cats & I can go back to not worrying about breaking down ... lol

 

[Motorhead]

I kind of expected a high maintenance sled when I bought this yamacat, but not quite as many as posted on here!

Pissing off a lot of guys when we refer to cat DNA, but it is what it is. These aern’t an Apex or Vector in any way shape or form.

Just talked to one of my brothers at Home Depot the other day, talking sleds and rides. He has 9K on his belt, I think 05 Vector. Still looks good, other brother still has his 03 RX1, much the same story with his way over 20K total mileage sled. But they do not need my kind of power and speed. Know what I mean ?

 

[lovesledding]

It's how you drive and maintain it.

Maybe its just my group of cat guys but we do not have any blown chaincases, roller falling off, blown hoses. I am not saying cat did a great job, just saying we canadians up here eh are not having all these issues.

my group has

5 thundercats
1 zr9000
1 srx which had a problem with flooding, nothing to do with cat DNA
1 sidewinder

they all have the same issue, they run trouble free

 

[ClutchMaster]

It's how you drive and maintain it.

Maybe its just my group of cat guys but we do not have any blown chaincases, roller falling off, blown hoses. I am not saying cat did a great job, just saying we canadians up here eh are not having all these issues.

my group has

5 thundercats
1 zr9000
1 srx which had a problem with flooding, nothing to do with cat DNA
1 sidewinder

they all have the same issue, they run trouble free

I don’t believe you