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5 Mountain rides in, pros and cons

Z
Jan 26, 2011
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They have a different sound, very quiet at idle like a Doo till you crack the throttle then it's noisier. Trying to figure out what that wine is at the bottom end of the throttle., could be the other belt. Runs really fat also for the first five hours I've been told.
Ever since they went to the bearing on the Primary, the noise has been there. It is in the clutches, not the belt. The belt is whisper quite.
 

BeartoothBaron

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Historically cat has overbuilt their motors. The Suzuki 800s were supposedly 20lb heavier than a Polaris 800 at the time. They would handle big bores and boost until the cows come home. M1000 were the same. Even the 800 ctecs run 220hp on boost without touching the engine. I heard RMSHA guys were running 20psi on the supercharged 600s lol! Granted they only had to survive a couple runs up the hill.

Maybe the 858 will only be good to 200hp.
I think half the trouble with the Dragon/Pro 800 was they were trying to make the lightest motor possible, and they played too close to the edge without spending a lot more time working out the weak spots. A little metal can cover for a lot of engineering, but every little bit of weight shed helps on a sled, and 20lbs is huge. So engineering out any unnecessary weight is a big priority, but it generally means less power potential. It also means you need better QC on engine components, or you'll face a lot more failures.

I'm guessing we'll have a good idea by the end of next season how much the 858 can handle - there are definitely some people chomping at the bit to turbo it. Fine with me if it won't take much more than stock as long as it holds up well as-is. One thing that's telling is that the Doo and Polaris turbo sleds don't push much more power at sea level. I'm sure a lot of the reason for that is because the failure rate would skyrocket if they were pushing 200hp. I'm not sure you'll be able to hit, let along push past 200 on any stock engine in the near future; band-aids might take you a little further, but it won't be far to the next failure point. With the weight game being critical, and modding being such a niche thing anymore, trading away that 20-30-40HP of margin to cut a few pounds is probably going to be what everybody chooses.
 

tenacious84

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Nov 19, 2010
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to the guys that were dismissing me earlier in this thread when i was saying there is no way the 858 is lighter than the 600 and that Arctic Cat made an error when they announced it at hay days and the guy on last week's snowest podcast was just talking the company line....


Last sentence in the above article, "Now, imagine how this sled will feel with an 858 under the hood knowing the 600 is only one pound lighter!"
Sounds like they are finally correcting their previous mistake.
 

Hawkster

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Apr 22, 2010
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Ever since they went to the bearing on the Primary, the noise has been there. It is in the clutches, not the belt. The belt is whisper quite.
I know what your saying about the needle bearings. I was riding today and it's the secondary belt, my Hawk does the same but it's only noticeable riding that with the hood off.
Probably because the Jaws pipe is so frickin loud besides the rage cages high pitch coming threw the pods. That one is just deafening and not ridden without ear plugs.
So this is like a church mouse, it has a cold start high idle that got a chuckle out of me when it dropped off.

By the way, that inner sheave on the secondary is like a boat anchor, I'll definitely be doing a complete kit to shave off that flinging weight, should of weighed the little piggy.
 

Hawkster

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I think half the trouble with the Dragon/Pro 800 was they were trying to make the lightest motor possible, and they played too close to the edge without spending a lot more time working out the weak spots. A little metal can cover for a lot of engineering, but every little bit of weight shed helps on a sled, and 20lbs is huge. So engineering out any unnecessary weight is a big priority, but it generally means less power potential. It also means you need better QC on engine components, or you'll face a lot more failures.

I'm guessing we'll have a good idea by the end of next season how much the 858 can handle - there are definitely some people chomping at the bit to turbo it. Fine with me if it won't take much more than stock as long as it holds up well as-is. One thing that's telling is that the Doo and Polaris turbo sleds don't push much more power at sea level. I'm sure a lot of the reason for that is because the failure rate would skyrocket if they were pushing 200hp. I'm not sure you'll be able to hit, let along push past 200 on any stock engine in the near future; band-aids might take you a little further, but it won't be far to the next failure point. With the weight game being critical, and modding being such a niche thing anymore, trading away that 20-30-40HP of margin to cut a few pounds is probably going to be what everybody chooses.
I was and still in the game with the POS, it's got an Indy Dan long rod after the rod cut the jug and case in half.
It was a complete nightmare and Poo and the minions made a killing, injectors, TPS, ES, over non, etc,etc,
The problem went away when they finally came out with a stator for a fuel injection system instead of carbed.
They borrowed it from Doo's old technology but no one paid any attention to that :)
 

Chewy22

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and I'm still correct
Now factor in the difference with the engine mounts and is it possible the 858 overall will be lighter? Say what you want, but the engine is worthless without the mounts so at the end of the day it should be factored into the total engine weight. What is not exactly clear in that last sentence is, are they talking just the engine or the whole sled? :p
 

IDspud

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You’re dismissed simply cuz you give a **** about fighting a pointless fight over one pound and think one more article declares you king by one pound.

Get a life.
 
P
Dec 15, 2018
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Say what you will but one pound is a lot in the gram counter world. In fact how much does a pound cost in titanium or custom carbon fiber? Seriously asking
 

turboless terry

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Jan 15, 2008
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Say what you will but one pound is a lot in the gram counter world. In fact how much does a pound cost in titanium or custom carbon fiber? Seriously asking
1 pound doesn't mean sh!t here. Especially when it's low and centered up. People on here will try and make like it's a huge difference and i can feel it. BS. Waste away. Been there and done that. Find out for yourselves. Not like the 90s or early 2000s where stuff made a big difference. Learn how to ride will get you farther than this bs.
 
P
Dec 15, 2018
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Hahaha it’s what the whole snowmobile world harps on! Only the big one of two or three bragging rights in the whole industry. Bet most all guys could easily shed 20-35 lbs off their sleds by not eating cheeseburgers and drinking beer lol!!
 

boondocker97

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Oct 30, 2008
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1 pound doesn't mean sh!t here. Especially when it's low and centered up. People on here will try and make like it's a huge difference and i can feel it. BS. Waste away. Been there and done that. Find out for yourselves. Not like the 90s or early 2000s where stuff made a big difference. Learn how to ride will get you farther than this bs.
Agree. 1lb on a 500lb machine is only 0.2%. If you're trying to pull 1lb it needs to be part of a collective plan that nets a loss of 10lb+ collectively or it's not really worth it. To that average person that's probably not even worth it. Some people are definitely more perceptive than others though. Setting shocks to one setting and leaving them forever boggles my mind, but a lot of other people don't notice the difference or care.

Setup has a huge impact on feel too. Similar to a Kahos vs Std. RMK feel. Hence the phrase "Weight on the scale doesn't translate to weight on the trail." When I first put a Kmod skid in my 2014 it made the handling feel heavier than it did before. So much so that it didn't really feel like a lightweight sled anymore, but it made it a much more capable sled in deep snow or when pointed uphill. After spending a bunch of time on setup I found the middle ground that worked for me.

That being said, life's too short to ride heavy sleds!
 
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