Looking to do more mods to my sled, need advice

[SpencerA]

So I have a 97 XLT 600 that I'm modding out. My mechanic is so far is working on the following

Drop and roll
Gear and clutch and jet for pipes
Cutting stock tunnel and shorting up
Adding tunnel extension
Raising front end
Adding SLP skis
SLP Tripples
Dragon seat and tank
6" risers
Long track, we're looking for a good used track so we're not sure what size we're going yet. Once we get the track he is going to fab some extensions
He decided not to weld the crank due to the sled has 4k miles and felt if the crank was going to go it would have already. He is going to change the seals though. As far as the motor heads look good, previous owner had the thing really rich so it was well lubed.

So besides these mods what else do you guys reccomend for better performance on this sled? I only weight 140lbs so even know its only a 600 it should be plenty of power.
If you ask why all the mods on this old of sled? The guy doing all the work for me is trading me so I'm not out any money. Just parts. Tons of labor involved in this project so this should be a nice sled when done. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[X2Freeride]

Blue print and balance the crank and then weld it. Go to the larger "tough boy" style outer bearing on the PTO snout. Its a whole different ball game on this crank when your going to triple pipes. Plus with 4000 miles on it already you need to freshen it up anyway. It wont last when you start spinning higher RPM's with pipes.

 

[SpencerA]

I'm confused on what to do on the crank! I hear some people say to weld it which to me makes since but then I read a whole article on these XLT's claiming that welding the cranks is a bad idea and it listed all the reasons why.

My mechanic said welding them is very important but then had second thoughts about it since it had so many miles on the sled and figured if the crank was going to go bad then it would of already. I'll probably have him weld it just to be safe.

 

[modded93xlt]

...

 

[slash]

if you're that far into the motor, might not be a bad time to invest in vforce reeds, good for a couple horse power.

ya just stuff them in with the new muffler brgs

 

[SpencerA]

Do they make V force reeds for that motor?

 

[SpencerA]

I found some SLP heads for sale for a decent price. What do you guys think about running them as well?

 

[X2Freeride]

Do they make V force reeds for that motor?

Its a piston port engine.. It has no reeds.


Run the SLP heads they really wake the XLT up.

Also, weld the crank, trust me its more than worth it. With the pipes and that many miles it will twist out of index in no time. Dont assume just because it made it X miles it will be ok... Theres no magic time line that that it gets too or past that means it will be ok... It could go out tomorrow with zero warning. Thats a lot of miles on a crank that was never touched to begin with let alone now your putting pipes on it.

I had 3 xlt's over the years and a XCR with the same engine. Every single one of them piped. The two that the cranks were not welded broke in a very short amount of time less than 500 miles each. The welded, blue print and balanced ones, one made it 8800 miles with just rings the other made it 5500 miles before beings sold. The ran smoother and never missed a beat.

 

[SpencerA]

Yea we definately decided to weld the crank. No use taking any chances and most likely I think your right that it would put too much strain on that crank. We're also going to take the ACS off and run some different carbs. Heard horror stories about those carbs acting up.

With the new heads on there will the increased compression also make my SLP pipes sound different?

 

[SpencerA]

I also wanted to research possibly putting air filter pods on but I've heard if I ride powder then there a no go. So Does the SLP air box work better then the stock? Don't know if I could even find one but sometimes they come up on ebay. Or do you guys have any better suggestions over the stock air box?

 

[slash]

Keep the stock box just remove the shelf , then get a set of UFOs , just because it has triple pipes doesent mean you have to clutch for 8800 but it will make more hp up there

 

[slash]

My wifes XLT has SLP heads , UFOs ,single pipe, 38mm carbs ,151 ser 4 track ,7 tooth drivers, walker evens shocks in a extra light skid . It was just under powerd for me..