Pro-RMK cooling??

[1080paul]

I'm looking at giving the RMK a try but I'm NEW to Polaris and I'm not sure if I should get a Pro or a standard or even a SBA? My first choice is the Pro but I'm concerned about the cooling. I'm a flat lander that rides mostly in the UP of MI and we are on the trail a lot and set up snow.

Will the Pro just run a little hotter under these conditions or will I be looking at an over heat light all day? I found a SBA for under $10K new but then I have to buy a deep lug track and deal with that wide front end.

 

[milo303]

I'm curious why you would want a mountain sled when you don't ride mountains or deep snow?

Would you be taking trips to get deep snow?

My pro stays down on temp with the scratchers down on groomers. If you're talking about riding on stuff so hard that the scratchers won't be able to do their job, then you may want to look elsewhere.

The pro for sure needs some assistance with cooling when not in powder

 

[GoBigParts]

I run a pro155 and with scratchers down i always stay cool. Even in lower mi.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[Skeld]

My experience also. If the snow is fluffy and you can keep speed up a little it's fine without scratchers on the trail. If it's not fluffy you need the scratchers, but as long as you have them, you're fine.

 

[TNTCOPP]

What is the deal here? There are a couple of Cat guys in my group considering going Poo next year but between the cooling issue and motor reliability concerns, we are skeptical. I have 2200 trouble-free miles on my M1000 - Cat motors are just that way.

Are there no tunnel coolers in the PRO ???

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

There are tunnel coolers, but in an effort to save weight I believe the cooling system was downsized a bit. They removed the front tunnel heat exchanger and a couple quarts of antifreeze to shave weight. I feel they did a fantastic job, the cooling system is 100% adequate when you have loose snow, the sled will run 127 degrees all day long. When the snow on the trail gets hard, just drop the scratchers and 127 degrees comes right back. I haven't found it to be an issue at all, my old VE 800 performed the same way.

 

[rotax]

What is the deal here? There are a couple of Cat guys in my group considering going Poo next year but between the cooling issue and motor reliability concerns, we are skeptical. I have 2200 trouble-free miles on my M1000 - Cat motors are just that way.

Are there no tunnel coolers in the PRO ???

No front bulkhead cooler, and the ones in the tunnel are small and run more so along the top corner edge of the tunnel.

I wouldn't find the Pro a best trail sled around tbh...

 

[wi.switchback]

i run a sba with a 1.352 track and i've had heating problems on marginal snow conditions,scratchers and a longer snowflap take care of any heating problem, i ride northern wi. and u.p.also, the sba compared to the pro the sba is better suited for the area you ride in, just my opinoin

 

[1080paul]

Thanks guys this info has opened up my options. I've been riding M's with 2.25 power claws on groomed trails without scratchers with no problems on most days. Glad to hear the PRO with scratchers works fine.

I do most of my riding in some pretty good off trail areas of the UP but I do have to ride the trail a lot more than you guys out west.

 

[Demo250]

I was worried about cooling with all the talk on here.... to the point that I almost bought a standard RMK over the Pro for the extra cooling. It's a non issue though as far as I'm concerned. Scratchers down on the trail if there is no snow and it runs 125 all the way in / out.

 

[FCR112]

Thanks guys this info has opened up my options. I've been riding M's with 2.25 power claws on groomed trails without scratchers with no problems on most days. Glad to hear the PRO with scratchers works fine.

I do most of my riding in some pretty good off trail areas of the UP but I do have to ride the trail a lot more than you guys out west.

In my experience it IS an issue on icy marginal snow and scratchers are easily wrecked or bent jumping or hitting things on icy marginal snow...
and that's in the mtns, if I were back in the land of cheese there would be no way I'd have a Pro. Get a standard or the SBA and make it what you want. I have seen your sleds in the Cat section, you'll be able to make a Std RMK look great. Adding the cooler surface area or volume necessary for average midwest trail conditions would be a real serious beeeatch from everything I can surmise. I'm not saying you're a diehard trail rider, they are just necessary getting where you want to go so much in the midwest.

I rode my M8 on the trails in the midwest across the lakes and snirt one trip with no problems also and I don't believe for one second my Pro could have handled it without serious cooling issues... Well maybe with ski scratchers, track scratchers, water wetter, a 37foot snowflap, extra bogey wheels, and dish soap or maybe laundry soap on the hi-fax...and a box to hold 5 shovel fulls of snow behind the seat on top of the tunnel coolers

The Pro is purpose built for Powder riding, that became obvious to me the first few rides. Heck, I am seriously concerned about late season (May,June) cooling out here in CO. IMO you would be doing yourself a favor NOT buying a PRO.RMK for primarily WI/UP riding.

Fricken fantastic sled in the powder though!

 

[TurboMatt]

In my experience it IS an issue on icy marginal snow and scratchers are easily wrecked or bent jumping or hitting things on icy marginal snow...
and that's in the mtns, if I were back in the land of cheese there would be no way I'd have a Pro. Get a standard or the SBA and make it what you want. I have seen your sleds in the Cat section, you'll be able to make a Std RMK look great. Adding the cooler surface area or volume necessary for average midwest trail conditions would be a real serious beeeatch from everything I can surmise. I'm not saying you're a diehard trail rider, they are just necessary getting where you want to go so much in the midwest.

I rode my M8 on the trails in the midwest across the lakes and snirt one trip with no problems also and I don't believe for one second my Pro could have handled it without serious cooling issues... Well maybe with ski scratchers, track scratchers, water wetter, a 37foot snowflap, extra bogey wheels, and dish soap or maybe laundry soap on the hi-fax...and a box to hold 5 shovel fulls of snow behind the seat on top of the tunnel coolers

The Pro is purpose built for Powder riding, that became obvious to me the first few rides. Heck, I am seriously concerned about late season (May,June) cooling out here in CO. IMO you would be doing yourself a favor NOT buying a PRO.RMK for primarily WI/UP riding.

Fricken fantastic sled in the powder though!

x2 on all of this. I live in WI and own a PRO. BUT I don't ride much in WI anymore. I go up to the UP for a few weekends a year & do most of my riding out west 4-5trips a year. I know what you encounter riding here though. I haven't had a chance to ride my PRO yet down here in southern WI, because of no snow this year, but I'm not sure its even gonna be possible(FYI: this doesn't really bother me). I think the standard RMK with the extra cooling cap. is a better option. Not having to deal with scratchers for short 5-10 trail spurts would be nice. With the Pro you can't go 5-10 miles down the trail on hardpack without overheating. The temps spike up quick,real quick.

+ I don't really think you are sacrificing that much by getting the standard PRO. The shocks are the big thing, but you can just upgrade those pretty easily if its a concern. Alot of people don't like the PRO taper bars, I like them, so if thats a concern you could upgrade bars pretty easily as well. Theres a could other small differences between the 2 but nothing thats a deal breaker.

 

[jakey-boy]

I bought the STD RMK and the money I saved covered the cost of my shock upgrades. The cooling is noticeably better on the trail. If you ride a lot of trail I would definitely say do the STD. If you ride less than 10 miles trail a day the PRO with scratchers is adequate but the RMK with scratchers even better. As far as im concerned the weight difference is negligible.

 

[ApeSh*tBananas]

I bought the STD RMK and the money I saved covered the cost of my shock upgrades. The cooling is noticeably better on the trail. If you ride a lot of trail I would definitely say do the STD. If you ride less than 10 miles trail a day the PRO with scratchers is adequate but the RMK with scratchers even better. As far as im concerned the weight difference is negligible.

The question is though will the STD rmk have the belt drive and extras for 2013 or will it be the same as the 2012.

 

[jakey-boy]

The question is though will the STD rmk have the belt drive and extras for 2013 or will it be the same as the 2012.

Almost included that. My guess is that the 2013 will not have the belt drive. If that's the case and I get a 2013 I will definitely get the pro and replace the Pro Taper bars with something else. I ride very little trail so the cooling definitely wouldnt be a deal breaker for me if the sled is 22 lbs heavier.

 

[Ex-Flit]

if I ride my 163 in MN and MI I just plan on using my scratchers and when they wear down I take a torch heat them up and bend them again to get a few more rides out of them. I don't ride at home more than a couple hundred miles or so a year. I even leave them down as I cross roads I just figure on replacing them once and a while I have over 3000 miles on my sleds and have only replaced them once

 

[Skeld]

These are all good points against the Pro, I will just say I have 850 miles on my Assault and it hasn't been a problem but I have leaned on the scratchers pretty heavily, but mostly for hyfax issues and not cooling. Another person in the group has a 600 RMK with the 5.1 track and they haven't had the issues that I have with the Assault track as far as hyfax. Lesson learned there.

Keep in mind I haven't been riding groomed trails at all, but I do have to travel on the tracks of other sleds some of the time, I picture it being like what you mountain guys ride when you have to go in and out of your good spots. Ungroomed, moguls, one sled wide at times.

 

[scha0786]

this is funny cause I ride only UP of michigan and 1 trip out west a year. Just bought a 12 pro rmk 600 155, lol. Oh well, my 800 rev extended uses scratchers all the time so I am very familiar with this game.

Heading up to the cabin next week for like 7 days, time will tell

 

[GoBigParts]

I ran 8" of snow in the Lower P of mi last weekend for the first time. Trails were groomed and pretty nice. Scratchers down on my Pro I never ran over 127. If I were to buy another 2012 I would get the std RMK and turn it into what I want. It just when I ordered my 2012 I wanted a pro and didn't know there was a heat exchanger difference. Now I do. Just one less thing to worry about. I accidently backed up for the first time with my scratchers down. Pissed me off. I was able to bend them back and still use them. I knew at the beginning of the season to carry and extra set in the trailer. My goal is to not need to bolt these on at all this season. The stock ones I bent back seem to be working fine.

Now for 2013 I would probably buy the pro if the belt drive is not offered on the std.

 

[Skeld]

I ran 8" of snow in the Lower P of mi last weekend for the first time. Trails were groomed and pretty nice. Scratchers down on my Pro I never ran over 127. If I were to buy another 2012 I would get the std RMK and turn it into what I want. It just when I ordered my 2012 I wanted a pro and didn't know there was a heat exchanger difference. Now I do. Just one less thing to worry about. I accidently backed up for the first time with my scratchers down. Pissed me off. I was able to bend them back and still use them. I knew at the beginning of the season to carry and extra set in the trailer. My goal is to not need to bolt these on at all this season. The stock ones I bent back seem to be working fine.

Now for 2013 I would probably buy the pro if the belt drive is not offered on the std.

This is my first sled with scratchers and I have been impressed. I would have thought the first stick I came to they would be ripped off but not the case. I have driven over logs, rocks, alders etc. for probably 500 miles with them down and they are slightly worn at the end but still have plenty of life in them.