And like RKT has managed to show us time and time again..........engineers are dead wrong sometimes.....a notepad might show you the equation for the answer, but real world shows us a different path......and there's no hype I've boughten into....I have a track dyno to verify my results.....and consistent(as we can get) runs to show differences.
I don't run any idlers at all(on my Rev I do run two in the front because of rail profile)....and get very similar miles as you. About 2 seasons average out to 3000-3500km for me and a set of sliders.
I'm sorry but are we talking speed here? Hate to be rude but I could give 2 sh*ts about 80-90mph....my sled is geared for under 80mph because in the mountains - where I ride....I barely see over 60mph when climbing(My Rev).....and can't go more than 60mph when hammered down on a 3-4ft moguled trail without being WAY out of control.....again....when did we start talking speed?
Sorry but a very simple test I've done with my sleds are as follows: All used the same force and body weight to start the push....varies after the sled started rolling. (two hands on the rear bumper and most of my body weight behind it)
New track no holes, 1" sag......sled skids along concrete floor for 3-4ft before slowly rotating as I gather speed. Slow down the force of me pushing and track starts skidding along the floor again.
Track is now broken in - tighten track tension back up to 1" sag and try rolling sled across same concrete floor. 3-4ft before it starts to rotate again, onylt his time it keeps turning even if I reduce pressure(just don't stop)
Track with 3" sag and it DOESN'T skid at all.....just rolls
Track with 3" sag and ported 2-3-2 pattern and single handed the track DOESN'T skid, and effort to roll is dramatically reduced. Infact I have pushed my sled with one hand while walking to the side of it while I was pushing it 30ft across the shop floor.
All of this has been done before, but the last time was about 3 months ago when I put a new Camo Extreme 156 on my Mod.
Engineers have degrees and the smarts.....but nobody is gonna tell me my "redneck" testing methods prove anything other than what I saw for myself.
Bunch of smart fellas at Camoplast no doubt - but they need a major re-do in the marketing dept with the whole delaminating issue and warranty being voided on 80% of all failures in the past few years. I don;t blame the engineers for that, they made a track like they were supposed to(processes aside) just nobody in marketing felt the need to tell the consumers what everyone inside Camoplast knew already.....but that's another thread entirely.
Sorry to take such a strong stand against you here, but between my "testing" my track dyno, and what I see day in and out......this is a discussion where you aren't going to change my mind.
One other thing.......University of Alberta made their own dyno when competeing in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge and found that rolling resistance is enhanced with a boatload of extra wheels....might not achieve top speeds(who are we here? Midwest forums?) but when it came to coasting tests......a sled with 10+(can't remember the number they ended up with as they were testing weight versus performance) idler wheels far outperformed a sled with the standard 4-6 idlers.
I usually like to find some common ground on topics....but I can show you real world results over and over and over again to prove my point versus yours. I liken our thoughts to that of clutching - 2 totally different aproaches net very similar results.
Again, another thread, another time. You answered the OP's question and I've de-railed the thread far too much already.
Cheers!
To your PS and PPS -
I got a customer who refused to use semi or syn oil in his wife's fancooled sled - because the owners manual calls for nothing but mineral....he also uses semi-syn in his SDI and nothing more....because the manual says....now his E-Tec - he uses Full Syn but only after me reading to him the bulletin from Doo stating to run full Syn cause on his oil tank and in his manual it says semi-syn only....but he runs full synthetic oils in all his vehicles because Dodge says at MINIMUM user Mineral and better quality oils are recommended for engine longevity.....but doesn't believe the same to be true with his bikes and sleds......cause BRP doesn't mention at MINIMUM. They just say...USE THIS.
Despite what OEM's tell us - a lot of us beat to a different drummer.....BRP said they achieved the perfect clutching on the 2010 Summits(Engineers words not mine) and yet I still managed to find 15% more power to the ground than stock clutching.....so much for OEM's knowing what they are talking about eh!
And unlike the masses - just because OEM's go off the deep end with certain aftermarket upgrades(porting a track) doesn't mean they don't work. What next? Are we gonna see steel skis and suspensions filled with idler wheels again because an engineer sells marketing onthe pros vs cons? Deep lugs, scratchers, 2 wheel kits, coil over skids, float skids, plastic skis, extroverts, etc etc are all products of the aftermarket - If we believed everything the OEM's said withblinders on we'd still be running around on 9700 Blizzards and Indy 500's!
