Over the last summer, myself and a buddy took our 2012 Pro-RMK 163" 800's to IndyDan to have him put in his long rod kit. The motors were basically identical when we brought them to him - approx. 150 miles, 1 trip (in deep powder), and otherwise stock.
We both also went with the Team Tied secondary as well as his helix. The differences were mainly in springs, weights and gearing.
I'm a big guy - and we geared mine 18/43. His is 19/43, and he's shorter and lighter than I am.
He's running all stock springs and 10-xx weights (not sure the weight amount). I'm running SLP Blue/Pink spring and SLP MTX weights.
We were at Cooke riding on Dec 29-30-31. Unfortunately for us, snow conditions weren't great. Great base, but mostly setup and lots of tracks. We did find a few areas of powder, but nothing bottomless.
There was a stock 2013 (first ride), stock Ski-Doo eTek, and stock Arctic Cat.
What I noticed first was that the sled *felt* significantly stronger and the low-end grunt was noticable. The first climb, I wasn't ready for the power, and I literally "overshot" a climb, going straight up where even last year I had to make a climbing S turn because I didn't have the power to attack it straight-on. Again, remember, snow wasn't great, but it definitely pulled hard. The eTek made a high-mark and I easily out-did it w/o even going WOT! Then he rode it, and he climbed even higher than I could (he's a better rider than I am). We then passed sleds around, and our Long Rod sleds easily had more power than ALL of the competitive sleds. We didn't get a fair comparison against the stock 2013, only because of snow.
Most of them commented that my buddies "was snappier" than mine. Not sure if that was the clutching (my assumption), or the snow conditions. I'm going to wait to do anything to mine until I get some deep powder riding in.
So, the big question that I'm sure you're asking - was it worth it. While he does NOT mention HP/Torque gains, I feel that they are there. But the reason I did this was NOT because I was after HP/Torque (though I wouldn't want to lose them either), but for the longevity and reliability. I felt I gained that, plus some HP/Torque.
My two complaints:
1. My arms and hands hurt more from how hard it pulls.
2. Dang thing will trench WAY faster now with the new motor.
Want to know anything more? Ask.
PS - I received NO special compensation/consideration/etc. from IndyDan. I just wanted reliability and I went to him. I did consider STRONGLY the RKTech 858 kit as well. Main reason was IndyDan was closer and I could go "choke" him if it wasn't reliable!
Jay
We both also went with the Team Tied secondary as well as his helix. The differences were mainly in springs, weights and gearing.
I'm a big guy - and we geared mine 18/43. His is 19/43, and he's shorter and lighter than I am.
He's running all stock springs and 10-xx weights (not sure the weight amount). I'm running SLP Blue/Pink spring and SLP MTX weights.
We were at Cooke riding on Dec 29-30-31. Unfortunately for us, snow conditions weren't great. Great base, but mostly setup and lots of tracks. We did find a few areas of powder, but nothing bottomless.
There was a stock 2013 (first ride), stock Ski-Doo eTek, and stock Arctic Cat.
What I noticed first was that the sled *felt* significantly stronger and the low-end grunt was noticable. The first climb, I wasn't ready for the power, and I literally "overshot" a climb, going straight up where even last year I had to make a climbing S turn because I didn't have the power to attack it straight-on. Again, remember, snow wasn't great, but it definitely pulled hard. The eTek made a high-mark and I easily out-did it w/o even going WOT! Then he rode it, and he climbed even higher than I could (he's a better rider than I am). We then passed sleds around, and our Long Rod sleds easily had more power than ALL of the competitive sleds. We didn't get a fair comparison against the stock 2013, only because of snow.
Most of them commented that my buddies "was snappier" than mine. Not sure if that was the clutching (my assumption), or the snow conditions. I'm going to wait to do anything to mine until I get some deep powder riding in.
So, the big question that I'm sure you're asking - was it worth it. While he does NOT mention HP/Torque gains, I feel that they are there. But the reason I did this was NOT because I was after HP/Torque (though I wouldn't want to lose them either), but for the longevity and reliability. I felt I gained that, plus some HP/Torque.
My two complaints:
1. My arms and hands hurt more from how hard it pulls.
2. Dang thing will trench WAY faster now with the new motor.
Want to know anything more? Ask.
PS - I received NO special compensation/consideration/etc. from IndyDan. I just wanted reliability and I went to him. I did consider STRONGLY the RKTech 858 kit as well. Main reason was IndyDan was closer and I could go "choke" him if it wasn't reliable!
Jay
