2010 M8 Trenching

[qbeam]

Just had my first ride on my M8 this last Saturday. I must say it is an awesome sled. I just came off of a 07 Rev 800. I was constantly tipping the thing over every time I wanted to do a powder turn. Most of the day I struggled to get the feel for the sled. I was doing better by the end of the day.

Early in the ride I was constantly digging trenches trying to get up a modest incline. The guys I rode with all had 09 cats and they seemed to do fine. The snow was 3-4 feet deep and had no base. One of the guys there said that my shock setting on my tunnel was to high-160psi. He also thought that my track was engaging at too high an rpm which caused the track to spin and dig a hole before it could gain traction. We changed the psi to 98 on the shock but I never tested it out since the snow for the rest of the ride had a much better base to it. Does anyone think that the track engagement is too high? What can I do to keep the sled from trenching? I heard a comment that with a brand new sled the track is pretty tight and requires more rpm to engage and that as it breaks in the track will loosen and engage at a lower rpm.

 

[WyoBoy1000]

the track doesn't engage at rpm your clutching does. the faster the better I think you can always feather the throttle. Pick the sled off the ground and loosen your front skid shock until the spring has no load on it. then tighten it about 3/8" then put 145-150psi in the rear. this is close to as good as it gets for not trenching. I have tested it all different ways and anything less than 140 psi in rear shock it just trenched worse. it is also key there is not to much pressure in the front. do a search there is tons of info on this. search " fox float"

 

[KAWGRN]

I think the engagement is WAYYYYYYYYYY to high!!!

 

[skimike]

I bought the 2010 m8 snopro last friday and so far its been a wonderful fast sled it really hauls I had it at 100 mph on a trail the first day, but it seemed like if I got the rear shock pressure over 125 it rode like a brick i the back, I am starting to get a little bang when the clutch engages ,I prolly need to check the belt deflection. I now have 100 miles on it, I couldnt find anything it wouldnt climb. oh btw I am a novice I have only rode a sled for the first time a month ago, I also have a 02 moutain cat 800 efi 144 that I bought as new old stock, it now has 200 miles. I guess you could say Im hooked like a research monkey.

 

[diggerdown]

You never said how high your engagement was, there definitly is a point of being too high.

 

[hammo]

I've got 600 km on my M8 and it definitely does not trench. It gets on top of the snow like no other sled I have ever ridden. I think you just need to get used to the new sled. I am coming off an 09 XP, so it was a different ride for the first few days, but I would never go back!! My M8 consistantly out climbs Revs, XP's, Polaris, 09 M8's and M1000's. It is hands down the best production mountain sled of 2010.

Other sleds need to track poach to follow me and my buddies on our new M sleds! It was very surprising the first time we were riding and 09 and 2010 XP's couldn't even follow in our tracks.

 

[jonny ringo]

belt clearance

I agree on too high engagment, mine is coming in at 5100 - 5200.

I also noticed my belt/primary clearance was easily .035 or more. This is too much clearance. Most time when the primary engages it bangs in on the belt with that much clearance causing instant track spin, not good. I plan to re-shim my primary to get it down around .020 - .022 clearance. I'll still need to go with a lighter spring to lower the engagment.

 

[KAWGRN]

My belt clearance ,,new was about 10thou and its 20 now with a broken in belt I used a polaris spring that they rate at 110-330 and in a cat clutch its 100-315 measured on a REMAC my engagement is 4000 and final shift is 8250 at 10000 ft my stock spring ,,black orange measured the same way was 145-305. the weaker botom rate also acts like 2-4 degrees more inital helix angle ,, and no bog ,,also have an HPS can,,,,,,,, its all good!!!!!

 

[jonny ringo]

KAWGRN, sounds like your spot on, that's where I want to be. I've got a little work to do.

 

[1BIGCAT]

I had the same problem with my m10 a couple weeks ago and the guy's I ride with helped me out, what I did was air up the back shock to about 140 and the front track shock I let the spring out so that there was about a 1/4 inch of threads left and air up the fronts to about 60-65. We went out last weekend and did much better. I rode a doo last year and it felt like a tank compared to a cat, cats are much easier to lay over.

 

[Insaneboltrounder/sjohns]

I've got 600 km on my M8 and it definitely does not trench. It gets on top of the snow like no other sled I have ever ridden. I think you just need to get used to the new sled. I am coming off an 09 XP, so it was a different ride for the first few days, but I would never go back!! My M8 consistantly out climbs Revs, XP's, Polaris, 09 M8's and M1000's. It is hands down the best production mountain sled of 2010.

Other sleds need to track poach to follow me and my buddies on our new M sleds! It was very surprising the first time we were riding and 09 and 2010 XP's couldn't even follow in our tracks.

Uh huh