This may be a stupid question, cause i see alot about it, but I was just wondering why this is done. Thanks.
Why the Rad Delete on the 900?
- Thread starter SwitchbackRick
- Start date
Shave some weight and you dont have to worry about hitting something and poking a hole in the radiator.
That is what I thought, just was wondering if there were other advantages. Sounds like a summer job, have to change the stator and hope that's the problem and I can ride again.
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Danbot
Well-known member
Removing the rad also made my sled run cooler in all conditions. The rad loop in the coolant system is a shorter and less resistant path, and so I believe a larger percent of the coolant flow was going through the rad loop which is way less effective than the heat exchangers.
Some guys say that it is useless and slows the coolant from geting to the tunnel cooler where it actually does some good. So they take it out and lose the weight.
Makes good sense. My machine runs hot on hard pack or pulling a sleigh, Haven't put scratchers on yet. It's going to happen soon.
anyone know how much it costs to do it yourself and then maybe an approx. for a dealer or someone else to do it? also is there anyone out there in MI that is reading this that has had there rad. taken out?
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Danbot
Well-known member
I bought a hose coupler to replace the T, and plug for the hose off the coolant bottle from my local hardware store for about $5. I made the block off plate from a spare chunk of tin. Almost free.
how long do you think it took you to take the rad. out and get everything running back to normal?
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Danbot
Well-known member
About an hour I think. It's a very straight forward job if you have some basic tools in your shop. If you chose not to try fabricating the block-off plate, the SLP rad removal kit is reasonable in price and comes with a nice plate. I do recommend that you completely remove the rad hose loop instead of using the other parts and instructions in the SLP kit. If you want some pictures let me know I have some saved somewhere in my pc.
alright. is there anything else i would need to know. im not to familar with how to do it, but im sure i could figure it out. i just bought the 06 900 brand new back in november. so it has a couple hundred miles on it now. the temp doesnt seem to be a problem now but i know i can knick some weight off if i take it out i see.
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High Velocity
Well-known member
After you've removed the rad and refilled the cooling system, it is critical that you bleed it. The most effective way I've found is to get the front end of the sled at least two feet higher than the back end (my sled deck ramp works great for this), then crack the bleeder screw on the thermostat housing to allow trapped air out. Leave bleeder open until coolant starts to come out. Close bleeder, then start and run engine for a few minutes, keeping an eye on the coolant level - top up as needed. Shut sled down and open bleeder again to check for trapped air. If more air comes out, repeat procedure. Sometimes it can take two or three times, but it's worth doing right to avoid overheating on the trail.
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Danbot
Well-known member
Great job, my only concern with this is that you should not use the SLP hose union as it has a flow restrictor in it... go buy a free flowing hose coupler.Awesome schematic of entire system DiscoDan, Thank you.
Here's a pic of just the rad delete I took off another thread, wish i could remember who to give credit too.
Excellent point, I forgot to add that important bit of info
It's done mainly because Polaris engineers are complete idiots. The sleds stay COOLER without this front radiator in place....suffice to say, without this radiator in place, if you hit a rock you don't loose all your coolent, and you save about 10 pounds.
Polaris engineers were all smoking excessive amounts of crack when they designed the 05' and 06' IQ sleds .... so was their marketing department, accountants, pretty much every one there was apparently smoking crack during the years preceeding the release of the IQ sleds.
Great thread, I need to do this as well, got 1 or 2 other small things to do first, but this seems to be a must!
