How much weight is too much?

garyl62

garyl62

Active member
Got a relative that always wants to borrow my sled. Only reason I even consider letting him is that its always hard to be polite and still turn down someone your related too, and...... he lives right by the trail and will let me park them in his garage for free all season if he can ride one. Here is the problem: He weighs over 300 and he takes his young son with him so together they are over 400 lbs. I have an older (2000) ZL 500 EFI with 5,000 miles on it. I'm not in a position to upgrade and I don't want to trash what I have. How can I find some sort of a weght limit for this sled so I have something to back me up when I turn him down. Last time he rode it I watched him ride away with the snow flap dragging the whole time.
 
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markf419

New member
400lbs is a lot of weight for the stock rear susp not to mention pullin it with a 5k mile 500... :( My brother weighed about 350 and had to buy a heavy duty spring and re-valve his shock on his Yammy a few yrs back. I don't know if there's a written limit on a sled but you can go thru the manual if you have it. Your manual or safety booklet will state that it's designed for one person only and damage or injury may result otherwise. Just say... well .... mmm... NO!
 
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big10champ2003

New member
Gary.... I shouldnt laugh but this is a good one! Anyways thought I would my thoughts. I am about 285lbs... I rid my stuff hard and have never had any trouble with the suspensions, I did have the heavey duty rear springs though. The reason my info may be relevent though is 2 yrs ago while in the UP. I broken my chain in the woods, and I had to ride 40miles back to the cabin with my buddy who had a 98 zl 500. That sled never missed a beat... though it was riding low...really low! but made for a good laugh. (There was about 475lbs on that thing). The other thing... I have an old 1990 indo 500 with a 133 track on it. It has 5500 miles on it. That sled has been to the U.P. the last 5yrs and never had an issue..... and I let a buddy ride it.... who himself weights at least 375lbs.....though he wont admit it!

My points.... if he is not riding it hard and is just trail riding (which if he is going with his son he most likely is) I would not be to worried to let him ride it. Just let it be known that if something other than normal wear-n-tear happens to break he would be responsable....thats fair. I think he would understand. I have that agreement with my buddies and I have never had an issue. I would be more worried about him blowing a blet than anything. But if your still not comfortable with the whole idea....well then you can just say NO.

Heck it might be cheaper to just pay him like 50-100 buck to park there.... cause if he blows a belt or rides often then he is using oil....if your paying for that it aint cheap. Good Luck!
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
Going to need stiffer springs for that load. Typical OEM set up is not for big guys & is about 180 pounds then you stiffen cam blocks which stiffen springs. When that does not work & you still bottom stiffer rear springs are needed. If that doesn not work you need to stiffen shocks. New rear springs are about $100 shock rebuild anout $100 per shock maybe a little less. I still have 2 stock springs for doo zx hanging in garage useless to me @ 225lbs geared. Bigger guys know what they have to do to make sleds handle & ususally take care of it out of the box.
 
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ezra

Well-known member
forget what he weighs tell him to get his *** shopping and buy his own toys. these things are not free and don't last forever. just let him know it costs close to 2 bucks a mi if all goes well.
I am all for letting some one ride a extra from time to time like same guy less than 1 time a yr.and if a guy has issues and has to use the extra on a trip, the extra is going to his house and getting the full grease wipe down and bolt check after the trip . tell him you are selling the zl and ask him if he wants to buy it. if not you know his stance on the issue
 
garyl62

garyl62

Active member
Thanks everyone, most of you have the same idea I had, just say no and tell him to buy his own. Already started that conversation so we'll see if I'm still on the Christmas list!
 
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