High miled 2010 and 2011 m8.. good deal?

[Sean847]

Hey all, new here..


I am looking at getting back into sledding this winter, I had an 08 m8 that I sold in 2015 but I love the chassis and I know how bulletproof the Suzuki 800 can be.


I am looking at 2 sleds (one for the gf and one for myself) and have a fairly tight budget. Both have high mileage and are rough around the edges.


Sled #1: 2010 M8 basic non-snopro, 5500km (3400mi), rusty pipe/suspension, rip in the seat cover, stock except can. This sled I have not seen in person but the guy is moving and said he is motivated to sell so I threw him a low ball offer of $1500cad and he agreed. Normally I wouldn’t buy a sled sight unseen but this seems like a good deal after looking at pictures and video of it running.


Sled #2: 2011 M8 snopro, 8300kms (5200 MILES) on the clock, he says the top end was rebuilt at some point by an arctic cat dealer and the guages were replaced with a higher mileage sled and that this sled doesn’t have the mileage indicated on the odometer however he has no proof so I have to assume it is a 8300km sled that has never been rebuilt. There is a few cracked paddles (minor) and a crack in one of the skid cross members that had been welded and fish plated at some point. Some bushings in the skid could also use replacement. New-ish clutches. I offered him $2000cad and he agreed.


So for $3500cad ($2566usd) I could buy both.. Seems like an OK deal to me although they are higher miles and could use some maintenance. Thoughts? Should I try to argue them even lower on the price? Thanks.

 

[kiliki]

The clutches are the ware items. The DD is the maintenance item and the rest are cosmetic. The zuki ho motor likes pistons at 3k miles and reed's about the same. The 2.6 track is as tough as it gets.

 

[boondocker97]

Probably a fair deal on them. I'm with kiliki the clutches are a real known problem so I would plan on a set of those for the first one. Break open the diamond drives, inspect, and give them new bearings - this is something I'd recommend for almost any used M-series that you don't know the history on. Could do a leakdown test on them when they get home and compare. If the second one is better than the known high mile first one it adds some validity to the claim of "new top end." If they are equal then both probably need pistons before one comes apart.

 

[Sean847]

Probably a fair deal on them. I'm with kiliki the clutches are a real known problem so I would plan on a set of those for the first one. Break open the diamond drives, inspect, and give them new bearings - this is something I'd recommend for almost any used M-series that you don't know the history on. Could do a leakdown test on them when they get home and compare. If the second one is better than the known high mile first one it adds some validity to the claim of "new top end." If they are equal then both probably need pistons before one comes apart.

Grabbed the 2011 today, the rear axel broke as we loaded it into the truck lol luckily didn’t take out the wheels/blocks. Compression tested at just under 140 on both cylinders. Found worn rollers in the secondary and almost non existent A arm bushings. He is going to go good for a new axel. He also threw in a bunch of frog skins and spare parts so I couldn’t argue paying the $2000.

 

[bnorth]

You got your work cut out for you before being confident those are ready for the mountain but lots of time until the season starts and not too hard to find guys parting them out. Get after it.