01 Summit 700 summer maint and upgrade questions?

[FNG]

Ok so some summer maintenance and upgrade questions from this FNG.

At the beginning of last season I bought a 2001 Ski-Doo Summit 700, 144 track (ZX chassis). The only mod it had was an after market can and it ran great last season and after cleaning the carbs and tweaking the air/fuel mix a bit the jetting seems to be spot on for my altitudes (5000-8000 ft). I did have the clutch serviced mid season and according to the local clutching guru it was very much in need and hadn’t seen a clutch service in a few seasons. I also added a 6” riser which was made inevitable after rolling the sucker a couple of times, the riser and the appropriate line extensions helped make the sled fit my 6’-1” 180 lb frame better .

Anyway a couple of questions:
1) Over the summer I filled the tank with gas (adding stabilizer) and basically run the sled about once a month for 10 min or so to warm it all up and then shut-er-down until I get out there the next month. Is that the thing to do or should I just let the beast rest till the snow flies (starts up on the second or third pull consistently and had about 130 lbs to both cylinders if I'm remembering correctly).
And # 2)

Summer upgrades:
I find this sled a bit hard to pull up on edge for turning in deep snow and was thinking of changing from the stock Summit Mtn. ski’s (6 ¾ wide) to some Simmons Gen 1 ski’s…Good idea? I tend to ride probably 25% off trail and 75 % trail but hope to reverse those percentages over this next season doing much more boondocking and (hopefully) not slowing my friends down so much and thereby getting called out for more rides. I have no intention of becoming a high marking fiend or learning to jump my sled over small buildings or anything so being new to the sport at 50 I just want a very capable back country machine.

I will also probably add some snow eliminators as this thing really packs up the snow under foot when it gets heavy around here (Bend OR).

Currently my skills are holding the machine back and not the other way around, still I think that snow eliminators and a lefty throttle would be good ergonomic helpers, and some better ski’s may help keep the front end up when off trail and ? make it easier to pull up on edge for deep snow turning and side hilling???

(I suck at side hilling btw! but next season will be better)

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[xpdfcwut]

every 2500mi. or so the crank bearings sould be repacked with grease, trust me, its fairly easy if you have mech. ability. check your reeds once a year and clean your power valves at least once if not twice a year. the simmons are an excellent choice and help emmensley on the trail and hold the side hills much easier. another add on that will help you a ton being tall is a Boss High rise seat if you can afford it.

 

[FNG]

Yes, the sled has 2700 miles on it at this point and I was planning on re-packing the crank bearings this fall as part of a pre-season major service. I am reasonably mech inclined and do my own motorcycle and auto maintinance for the things that I can do. Snowmobiles are a new thing to me but I find that it really helps in a pinch and gives me peace of mind to know my way around the engine and basic mechanical systems of whatever is taking me out into the boonies. I'll check the reeds and power valve while I'm in there btw...

Any good write ups on that crank bering job that you can stear me to? Having a play by play never hurts, sometimes I find the the manual to be a bit lacking.

Thanks

 

[Summit8]

Ditto on the Boss seat, you'd be comfortable with a couple more inches of riser, take the sway bar off if it's still on there, tighten up the front springs a little after taking sway bar out.

 

[Ox]

An '01 with only 2700 smiles under i's track?

If the clutch springs aint been replced in a few yrs - those need replaced at least.

Bearing grease job would be good idea...

Simmons or Doo knockoffs are a major upgrade for that sled.

BTW - that's a Zx chassis. Not XZ.

.

 

[FNG]

An '01 with only 2700 smiles under i's track?

If the clutch springs aint been replced in a few yrs - those need replaced at least.

Bearing grease job would be good idea...

Simmons or Doo knockoffs are a major upgrade for that sled.

BTW - that's a Zx chassis. Not XZ.

.

Um, yes, Zx chassis, Doh!!!, and 2700mi. on the clock of which I put 500 on last year, the former owner was selling for lack of use.

May do the clutch springs this fall, any suggestions on spring weights? like the name suggest, I'm knida a noob at this sled stuff, or how do I find out more about cluthing to make a good choice in upgrades.

Clarify something for me: in reading the manual it looks like have to pull the engine, take the top end off (may as well rebuild that while it's apart and on the bench), then crack the bottum end to pull the crank and bearings, of which probubly only the outer 2 need repacking with Iso-Flex...correct?

Is there something that I am missing or is there some way to simply pull the engine, pull the drive pulley on the PTO side, pull the magneto, pull the outer seals and beaings with some kind of tool and not have to crack the case???

Cracking the whole engine just seems allot of work to service some lower bearings that Ski-Doo knows will need service.

Is this to early to be considering doing this service?

 

[xpdfcwut]

Yes, you will have split the cases and No, 2700 isn't too early mine were dry and spun at 2300 mi. Had to replace the bearings on the mag. side. The dealers around here couldn't help me with parts, said they could try to order them but no promises, called Rexburg MS and they had them on the shelf.

 

[Ox]

Now yuh gots me thinkin'.... Oh .. I don't doo it often ....


I have never wanted to split the bottom w/o having werk to doo in the cyls too, but I don't think it is actually neccessary to take the jugs off to just shoot a wee bit'a grease in there....

I think you should be able to flip it upside down and yank the bottom off just as well as the other way. No bolts inside that I can think of. ???

Also - it is the outters that have the most issues. I kant say that I have heard of someone blowing out the inner(s)?

I tossed my first Mag at somewhere near the 3000 mark? (Seems like it may have been 4350 klicks for some reason?) Dealer replaced that bearing and then a cpl yrs later I heard that sucker going aggin, ahhhh but the joke was on IT this time! The skirt left loose first!

When I took it apart the second time (myself this time) I went ahead and replaced the whole crank - but koodn't see for sure bearing damage - but then at hand spinning speeds ... ???? I remembered that sound tho!

Be carefull not to overpack. Need some air / heat expanssion area in each cavity.

The mags seem to go most often as they have much less extra grease cavity room there.

Personally I said Piss-on-it and drilled the cases (2 sleds) out for fuel lube and jerked the seals out. Twice was enough for me. one motor has 2 yrs and the other 1-1/2 yrs now. However we have not gotten THAT much riding in the last two yrs. (Best two snow yrs around here in a decade too!)

.