My 858 sux

[ndfb35]

Cat will never do enough for anyone it seems. So what if good riders are able to go along the same places as great riders on turbos. It’s just the curse of the cat. Good news is it looks as if their parent company may not care as much about them as they thought. Who knows it may be a dying breed.

Nope, there's always something to complain about with Cat... it felt great to get off my Matryx and onto the Catalyst but the riders in my group said I was crazy because the Matryx is sooooo much better. If that was the case, I would be the limiting factor on where we can go but that has never been the case...

 

[Rob.G]

Competition is always a good thing. Polaris and Doo only is still a bit limiting. Imagine if we only had Ford and Chevy. Dodge adds more to the mix and makes everything better due to competition. And interestingly enough, Dodge (Chrysler) is in sad financial shape too just like Cat.

 

[Vern]

Cat can’t win no matter what they do. I’ve been hearing for years on social media how my ascender and previous proclimb were garbage, yet I’ve never had any issue hanging with, or in some cases out performing the all mighty poo poos in my group. One thing I can say is none of my cats have came out on the end of a rope since i switched to cat in ‘06, but I’ve watched or towed out numerous blowed up poos over the same time frame. Hopefully the 858 will keep this track record going.

 

[Rob.G]

I started out with a first-year Ski-Doo Rev for winter 03-04. I HATED that sled (a long but separate story)... but where I'm going with this is the motor problems. Those 800's had ring delamination issues and were failing frequently. I know of one guy who had a long extended warranty and rode a LOT (he's here on SnoWest but I won't name him) and word has it he got two new motors a year the whole time he had the sled... one at midseason and one at the end of the season (or start of the next).

Then there's Polaris... remember how the 800 had crank issues where the primaries were snapping the end of the crank? The 700's seemed good, but the 800 was a problem.

Then there's Cat... I don't recall them ever really having motor problems. I've heard many stories of their motors (back when they were Suzukis) lasting thousands of miles without a top end job. I haven't really heard of problems since they switched to their own motors either.

Yamaha... I haven't paid much attention but I don't recall really hearing much about motor issues. But their motors also got used in motorcycles and other things so they got a LOT of use and testing and refinement. Look at the power you can get out of any of those 4-stokes with a turbo. Yikes. This was before they started selling rebranded Arctic Cats.


My point is that the two main players in the sport (Polaris and Doo) seem to have had some significant engine issues over the years. Even today, Polaris seems to have recall after recall. My '23 Khaos 850 has had two recalls... the last one was that one about having to use ethanol fuel because of some ridiculous 0.01% chance of a fire due to static buildup... yet Polaris has been known to deny warranty claims when they do fuel sample tests and discover ethanol. Seems pretty shady to me. And my new 2024 Sportsman 850 that I bought last March... less than two months later it got a stop-ride recall, something about a possible leak from the fuel pump. They didn't have a fix until SEPTEMBER. That's absolutely unacceptable.

All in all, Cat seems to be a pretty reliable brand.

 

[hansenmac]

checked my power valve cable alignment and could see where it was binding. bent it ever so slightly so it seemed to clear in all ranges of motion. havent ridden it yet so dont know if it woulda been a problem or not.

 

[Rob.G]

See pic... is this the power valve cable you guys are talking about? Mine looks completely straight, near as I can tell. If not, what am I looking for?

 

[koolaid]

Below that bracket is where you want to look. Post #50 shows what the issue is. There is a rod that goes up and down inside a tube. It may rub against the inside of wall during its travel, causing a bind. You can cycle the servo by hand by pushing up and down where that rod connects to a black plastic housing. If it does rub, simply bend that bracket with some pliers till the rod clears the inside of tube without rubbing.

 

[joshkoltes]

I was just curious if you found the source of the bog and correction for it.

Haven't had time or ambition to mess with it yet.
Not too excited about it currently

Dealer has been trying to reach me almost every other day. They have a new flash for the computer.
I currently don't have any wheels to make the five hour one way drive

Been buying a boat load of parts to add to my twentythousanddollar sled to make it work might see that ibex tuner thing in a couple weeks, got a bunch of speedwerx clutching