04 MC gearing for climbing....

[Rush44]

Hey old Mountain Cat guys! I've decided to make a few changes for my last year on this sled (last year as main sled... she'll stay as my backup and "loaner sled"). I've been wanting to gear my sled down for the last few years to help improve track speed while climbing.

Any success stories out there? I don't need the sled to do 100mph.... to be honest 60mph is plenty fast where I ride. I want to maintain the correct gear ratios when I gear down so I need to know what top tooth and bottom tooth sprockets work well together.

Thanks in advance!

 

[1Mike900]

20/46 Hyvo setup! Much stronger chain than the AC. Kinda spendy but well worth it. Look them up on WPS, Kinda confusing but it is the Polaris 3/4 wide lower sprocket, And the AC upper sprocket because of different spline config.
Stock gearing is 2.26, this setup is 2.30 And use 74 pitch chain.

Mike

 

[Rush44]

Isn't stock MC gearing 19/43?

Does that 20/46 gear it down enough for a noticeable track speed increase on the hills?

 

[diggerdown]

It's true that 20/46 is not much of a gearing change, but the 20 top gear provides less bind on the chain and does help transfer the power better. Getting the clutching right will give you more. There are way too many variables to always have it just right for all conditions. To hold 60 mph track speed on the hill your gonna need more than gearing and clutching!

 

[Rush44]

Oh I'm not looking for 60MPH track speed while climbing.... I'm just saying that is really all the faster the sled needs to run anywhere.

I just want more climbing track speed than I have now. I feel the gearing is too high and the sled power falls off at the peak of a climb (right when you need the power/track speed the most). I will be considering other mods too... but this is one I wanted to get out of the way first.

 

[76FOMOCO]

along with the HYVO 20/46 make sure you change the secondary spring EVEY YEAR! red/w in the middle hole.
What helix are you running and what alt?

 

[Arctic Thunder]

Can you get a 46 tooth bottom gear to fit in the chain case?

If you can it has to be very tight.

The ONLY concern I have every had with the larger bottom gear is if you ever blow a chain you can pretty much guarantee a new chain case will be in order. There is no room for the knotted up chain to clear blowing the bottom of the case out.

You can get lucky with a 43 or 44.

I have tried several combinations to increase track speed. Bottom line unless you plan to do a good job of clutching the stock gearing works pretty well.

Nothing worse then running around in first gear all the time because you geared down.

On most sleds with HP increases you will see a trend to gear them up to get the track speed.

Just my opinion. Leave the gearing stock, dial in the clutching.

Thunder

 

[untouchable]

Change out your drivers, that will eliminate the issue of breaking chains. I run a 18/43 with 7T 3.0 Drivers. (Ya ya I know its hard on the chain for that short of a raduis, but I love the torque!!!!) The 19s do ok on the chains, but the 20s are best. If you want a good reliable back up sled, go with 20/46 15W and run the smalles driver (and you may as well go with extroverts). As far a clutching I run a SLP 60-49 Variable Shift helix with a Red/White spring with the most backshift.