Ever since the first "laydown" style engine in 2003, Cat has had the most reliable two strokes in the business, and it's not even close. Believe it or not, your 580 design has been obsolete for over 20 years, and has no bearing on what the company has built since then.
What was your worst snowmobile
- Thread starter snomoman
- Start date
Ever since the first "laydown" style engine in 2003, Cat has had the most reliable two strokes in the business, and it's not even close. Believe it or not, your 580 design has been obsolete for over 20 years, and has no bearing on what the company has built since then.
Doesn’t matter I’m off and running with skidoo turbo 4s won’t consider AC or Yamaha don’t like them steer too hard for me and no faith in either long term snowmobile divisions. Buds have also started to convert from Yamacats to skidoos. Better mouse traps imo.
Our 2014 Yamaha Viper. The motor was fine, it rode well but everything Cat broke or wore out premature. The tri-hub, bearings in the suspension and 2X the bearing behind the secondary went out. My Nytro has had basically no issues compared to the Viper and it is a lot faster and no gremlins with the motor or calibrations the Viper had.
skidoodoug
Member
1983 V-MAX (wish I still had it though)
xsledder
Active member
1983 Polaris Cutlass SS. I have to say, I am seeing a pattern here of Polaris and Yamaha followed by Ski-doo as the worst sleds. Amazing, because there is a large contingent on this site that says Cat has the worst quality, yet, they haven't been mentioned much on this thread to this point. Just an observation.
Are you counting Yamacats mentioned here?
The Vipers are definitely winning! And the Yamaha part of it wasn't the problem. I said a prayer every time I cold started mine, even after it had the updated flash.
dfattack
Well-known member
Only breakdown I ever had on a trail was with the 2015 Viper. it was the cat related part that caused the problem.
heckler56
Active member
2015 Viper. Became a pos after they forced me to flash it or lose the warranty. Next cold morning, kaboom, blew the muffler apart. My problem with the sled was all Yamaha failures..
xsledder
Active member
No, I have the inverse it a Yamacat sled, a 16 Cat with Yamaha motor and have not had any real issues with it. Yes, I have broken a few parts but then again I am not the easiest rider on my sleds either. I like to push them hard so most of my issues are my doing. Can not blame that on the manufacturer. Because I ride them hard, I put a lot of TLC in them, look over the sled really good and replace parts pre-failure before each season.
Also, why would I include Yamacats as Cats? Doesn't Yamaha have reps overseeing the manufacturing of their sleds built by Cat? Doesn't Yamaha use some of their own parts on the Yamacat sleds?
Not much anymore just painting 2s sleds blue. Yamaha supplies 4s engines for their models and the Thundercat all the rest are AC parts and 2s engines. Only engine cat uses now is the Yamaha turbo for the TC AC dropped use of the 3 cylinder non turbo a couple of years ago. Yamaha sleds are blue Cats these days. The early Vipers had lots of problems from both the AC and Yamaha sides. Every rider that I know had problems with Vipers. Probably were some good Vipers just not in my experience everything from bad rivets to elusive electrical problems not to mention chain case self destruction. All mfgs have lemons just the way things happen.
xsledder
Active member
I agree. All mfgs have lemons. While there are a lot common between the sleds, there are a lot of differences too. For one, I have Team clutches on my. My friend who has a '15 Viper, has Yamaha clutches. The chain cases are also different, I have an auto chain adj, his is manual. I have to ask this because I haven't researched this, are the Vipers gears Borg-Warner gears? I know the Cats are Borg-Warner gears. The tri-hub in the rear suspension are also different. My bearings in the trihub are replaceable, his are not. I have a different engine calibration from a Viper. I can go on but I will run out of finger tips typing it all. One thing I am trying to point out is that while there are a lot of Vipers listed here, I don't see a lot of the Cat version of the Viper listed. So there must be enough difference between the two to not equate them as the same sled. That is all I have to say about it.
Mine was one of two breakdowns I ever had, the other was a XC 700 with 7500 miles on unopened engine. When my Viper went down they had to wait for back ordered parts from Japan so it was down for two weeks in the month of February
For me Yamaha/Cat cooperative has evolved to the point where to me Yamaha sleds are more Cats than Yamaha. Nothing wrong with that just a fact in 2021 it is very difficult to separate the 2 from one another. To me this gear or that gear is meaningless or different shocks or tracks. Yamahas are more cats than Yamaha just the way things have evolved. Painting 2s sleds blue with Cat engines and chassis come on those are AC sleds sold thru Yamaha dealers. It’s obvious Cat won Yamaha lost. This is probably a bad thing for sledders because the market has lost the Yamaha brand. The SW seems to be a better collaboration than the Viper but lots of problems with the SW too. Yamaha and AC has broken into 2s and 4s approach to the market place but Yamaha 2s 2021 sleds are blue painted AC models both engine and chassis. It is what it is and Covid could make it worse for snowmobile production we’ll just have to see when winter arrives what OEMs can deliver and hope for a positive outcome.
xsledder
Active member
I am just pointing out that while there might be a fair number of people with issues with the Viper, that doesn't appear to be the case the other way around to this point. So, there must be enough difference between the two sleds to be causing a disparity in satisfaction between people with Vipers and people with comparable Cats. It could be some as small as the gearing difference. I am not saying it is but then again I have seen crazier stuff make a difference.
Here is my take...i am SUPER rough on sleds...i started out a yamaha man....but am now a cat man....the reasons are simple....a yamaha is riveted together which does not hold up as well as bolts....cats are bolted...cats have a break away design so parts can be rebolted very easily and driven home with broken parts....yamahas take a hit and usually cannot be driven home...this is why yamaha went with cats chassis like it or not....yamaha takes months to get parts from overseas....cats hours....yamahas hit a tree and disintegrate.....cats just crush or snap.....again...easy fix if not disintegrated....a cat is like a jeep....meant to go off road....aka...snowmobiles....a yamaha is like corvette.....not meant to go off road...so not a competent snowmobile....its why they don't race at the track any more....like it or not...i speak the truth...remember I was a yamaha man....i learned to run the best off road sled....not my heart
G
G
Guest
They don't race at the snocross track any more because they are too heavy. Not competitive. That is also why they eat themselves. Too heavy. There is a huge weight difference between a Sidewinder and -say- a modern 600 class sled. Close to 200 lbs. Just think of hitting a series of big bumps. The heavier sled requires better and more expensive suspension components and it is still not going to be as controllable as a lighter sled. For a little while a good rider will keep up on a heavier sled. But not very long. Yup, the 2 smokers go boom. Especially the 800's of all flavors except Cat. I have high hopes for the 650 Pol. Maybe best of all worlds.