What was your worst snowmobile

snomoman

snomoman

Active member
After seeing all the other previous threads, I just had to post this one, my worst snowmobile was a 1997 Yamaha Vmax 500, what a dud, usually only 7 to 8 miles to the gallon if you were lucky, well with this snowmobile I got to know Kip pretty well LOL, I guess that was a plus after the snowmobile was gone, we now know each other a little better because of that vmax wanting to spend so much time at Pat’s Motorsports
 
I

Iowarider

Member
I can not say the worst sled but the I had the most problems with was a 99xc 700. Lost right side piston when water pump belt broke. Replaced piston and cylinder. It happened shortly after that again. That was a fast sled. Traded. it for a 06 Switchback 600
 
Admin

Admin

Administrator
Staff member
This one is easy. 04 RMK 700. It was a good sled for Independence Day, the way it kept blowing up!
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
1996 Arctic Cat 580 Efi ext Ran like $hitt day one swapped out chips 3 or 4 times. Skirt broke off piston first 500 miles 30 miles + from Bergland just off south boundary road. Ugh! Rear shock broke. Dealer took it back to TRF still had throttle lag. I hated that sled swear it was trying to kill me. Lol. Hurts me to see Yamaha to be so involved with Cat because Yamaha has such great engines now their sleds are more cat than Yamaha and I can’t forget how bad that 96 ext was to me.
 
X

xcr440

Well-known member
I have to feel lucky - the worst sled I've ever owned was the one before the next one I bought, they kept getting better. Never really had a total dud, that I didn't get at least 8000 miles out of before needed major repair outside of basic maintenance. Maybe the maintenance is why? Not really sure, just saying. Sleds have been good to me for the most part.

In that sense, I could say my first sled, 1972 ATX 335, and that's probably because it NEVER got to 8000 miles!
 
V

vector06

New member
Not sure of year but a Yamaha Exciter....omg it was cold as heck and wandered everywhere. Tried everything to correct it....just a lemon of a sled. I was young so i gave it heck and it was nice a looking red....
 
gary_in_neenah

gary_in_neenah

Super Moderator
Staff member
It'd have to be the family's first snowmobile, the 69 Panther. Gas tank leaked, headlight would burn out repeatedly, (we had to be home by dark) and would throw steel cleats at anyone following on the trail. Slow and heavy for it's time, 35 mph on a good day.
 
hermie

hermie

Well-known member
I will have to say my 2009 dragon 800. Most inconsistent running sled I have ever had. Tried a fuel controller to get it to run more consistent but no luck. One day it would run like an 800 next day it would run like a 600. Knock sensor would would keep going off on any full throttle pulls.
 
L

Lost Sheep

New member
2006 Renegade 800....such a POS , clutch, electrical, recoil, etc. The only sled I've ever owned that had a name, Betty!
 
M

mikes99ss

Well-known member
I had a 2000 Mach Z. What a POS. Every time I rode it something different would break. Owned it for 3 months and that was 3 to many.
 
J

jr37

Well-known member
'89 Yamaha Exciter. Blew the 1st engine at 500 miles. The 2nd went at 1700 miles. Didn't even fix it. Traded it on a '91 Ext Special. Been on Cats ever since.
 
E

elf

Well-known member
1997 Polaris XLT Limited. Nothing wrong with the sled at all but it was just blah. Did everything fine but nothing exceptional.
 
S

soxfan3

Member
92 Artic Cat Prowler - sled would dart so bad it would almost throw you off the seat. Adjusted everything I could think of, nothing helped.
 
bearrassler

bearrassler

Well-known member
elf said:
1997 Polaris XLT Limited. Nothing wrong with the sled at all but it was just blah. Did everything fine but nothing exceptional.
Click to expand...

I was going to post the same sled. The one I had was just boring. Never broke down and no problems, just boring.
 
C

chunk06

Active member
2014 Yamaha Viper. Bought it reasonable with low miles to try out a four stroke, thankfully it had Yamaha's good warranty. Next would be a 2005 XC700 with the M-10 rear suspension . The sled looked great and was reliable, but the rear suspension sucked all the power and traction out of it. All my previous Poo 600 and 700's would run circles around it. The fuel mileage was also horrible
 
snomoman

snomoman

Active member
soxfan3 said:
92 Artic Cat Prowler - sled would dart so bad it would almost throw you off the seat. Adjusted everything I could think of, nothing helped.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of a story that I would like to share with everyone, back in the 80s I had a friend who had an old alluette snowmobile, this thing wouldn’t steer worth a darn, he was complaining about it so we came up with the “bright” idea of welding angle iron on the bottom of the skis, so we welded a 1” x 12” piece of angle iron and then he took it for a ride and after getting flipped off of it for about a dozen times he came back complaining like heck, so then we cut the angle iron off with a torch and he went back to no steering LOL
 
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