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Summit 850: Ratchet, Slap, Rocks and Carnage!!

christopher

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. No issues with my 17 850 and feel it's the best sled for me. I hit a rock with the right ski pretty hard going down hill and got thrown off, all i could do is watch it head straight for a tree, luckily the ski hooked another ski and stopped it. No damage. I'm at 270mi. and look forward to every ride.

Ride on !!
 
N
Oct 25, 2009
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In my opinion and that's all it is, BRP could easily save face in this matter if they are making a new bulkhead by replacing those that fail with the new updated one. I for one Doo have insurance on my sled and if the bulkhead were to fail it would be awesome to know that the new one was redesigned or "recast" with a better metal.
Simply replacing it with another that has the same issue does not resolve the problem.
I love my 850 but I do not love having to look at aftermarket parts to beef up a flawed part that should be addressed by BRP. These sleds are not cheap and most of us count on the resale value of such sleds to help when we decide to purchase another.
To sit silently in the background with no comment (BRP) is ludicrous and by making this decision to do so will have me rethinking further purchases of any product by BRP. I am sure that I am not the only one here that is on this thought wave.
 

turboless terry

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I still think this is all blown out of proportion. Maybe the bulkhead could be stronger but people are bashing stuff. I even heard one post about the 06 rev bulkhead being weak and that's why they quit skidoo. I had an 06 with 4000 miles and no trouble. I bent a arms but I had titanium arms because I always thought skidoo arms were too strong. It even had a cmx belt drive with no tensioner since new. I have an Axys with crappy arms and guess what, mine are fine.
I guess I'm not going to live my life based on a few people's bad luck or in some cases, bad decisions of riding with a lack of snow.
I have a buddy, that quit riding skidoo, because his 01 summit kept blowing up. We'll the moral of the story was he put twin pipes on and everyone, that I knew, that did that burnt down. He still argues with me but, I say, it was his fault. For all those that aren't going to buy a sled because someone else hit something and broke their bulkhead seems silly to me. Keep looking on the Internet, and pretty quick, you won't leave your house.
 
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mountainhorse

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what better time than now

Just curious, have you now added the grip and rip or any other brand of front end strengthening?
Don't have any of the three sleds back yet to even touch.

The time to install these braces is now... when the sleds are apart and opened up... LOTS of saved time... and..well... you already know that the sled is prone to issues with "OOPS!!"



.
 

christopher

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The time to install these braces is now... when the sleds are apart and opened up... LOTS of saved time... and..well... you already know that the sled is prone to issues with "OOPS!!"

.

I suspect I will be KNEE DEEP into mods on all three of these sleds all summer long.

I have to admit, I REALLY look forward to seeing sleds in my garage up on the lift once again this summer. Its been YEARS since i had a garage full of sleds and BOXES of shiny new aftermarket goodies to bolt on.

I SOOOOO enjoyed all the mods I did to the yamahas.
What a great way to spend your summer.


Which reminds me.
I need a NEW LIFT.

The lift I had for the Yamahas does NOT fit these 850s well at all..
One more thing for the list.

NEW TOOLS TO BUY!!!!:face-icon-small-hap:face-icon-small-hap:face-icon-small-hap
 
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xc6rider

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How come, as a basic member, i can read thru all these pages about tin can skidoos, but all the good reading is blocked after 100 posts or whatever??

All my reading entertainment has to come from the doo section, as somehow i can read everything here. It has been entertaining though, let me tell you!!

Been a member since 2000 and usually keep my premium paid up, but thats lapsed and just havent repaid yet. But whats the deal??
 

mountainhorse

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limited exposure.

And to that end I DO PLAN ON SNOW CHECKING more of these sleds in February at the 2018 rollout.

[/B]

Are these the first lightweight 2-stroke sleds you've Owned??

You really should take up charlie on his offer and ride an Axys...and/or Cat for that matter.... you really need to have some breadth in your exposure to the sleds...as the Admin of the site... unless of course, BRP is cutting you a sweet deal on (or a deal of any kind) on what you have already.


My 2¢







.
 

christopher

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How come, as a basic member, i can read thru all these pages about tin can skidoos, but all the good reading is blocked after 100 posts or whatever??

All my reading entertainment has to come from the doo section, as somehow i can read everything here. It has been entertaining though, let me tell you!!

Been a member since 2000 and usually keep my premium paid up, but thats lapsed and just havent repaid yet. But whats the deal??

100% MY FAULT.
We created this new forum and I forget to set the permissions on it.
Will get it taken care of this weekend.

meanwhile , RENEW your Premium Membership so you don't see ANY restrictions anywhere on the forum!!!
 

christopher

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Are these the first lightweight 2-stroke sleds you've Owned??

You really should take up charlie on his offer and ride an Axys...and/or Cat for that matter.... you really need to have some breadth in your exposure to the sleds...as the Admin of the site... unless of course, BRP is cutting you a sweet deal on (or a deal of any kind) on what you have already.

My 2¢

.

Its a support issue for me Eric.
I don't even want to think of what it would take for me to support multiple different brands of sleds simultaneously in my garage. For now, the next few years, I will commit to Ski-Doo, just as I had to Yamaha before that.
 
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freekweet mods

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Feb 3, 2008
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Bent the bulkhead on a 04 rev; twice,wish the arms would have crumple instead. It has been a weak spot for years.
 

Wapow

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As for the pennies comment, i am referring to the value of them next season when people have the option of a 2018 with all the bugs worked out and most importantly a stronger bulkhead. who in their right mind would buy a used 2017 with an eggshell bulkhead when they can buy a 2018 that you know will be rock solid? If i had one i would be trying to sell it immediately before next season. don't kidd yourself, this is a MAJOR flaw, not just a part that can be easily swapped and your good. you know the resale wont be pretty next season and beyond...unless of course you get lucky and find an unsuspecting newbie that doesn't know any better. This is why i believe its a good idea to push brp for answers- for the sake of the guys that made the investment in a 2017.

Perhaps we could compare this to the epic fail of the polaris 900 RMK with major crank/vibration problems. guys lost their *** on those sleds and could not give them away a year or two later. Polaris never did chit for the owners, other than some half assed updates as i recall unrelated to the crank and the vibration nightmare.

As for your dislike of my "delicate flower" comment and approach to handling this defect, we will have to agree to disagree on that. definitely not my approach. Personally, i choose to hold a company accountable if they put out a defective product and i happen to buy it. it is indeed possible to be forceful and respectful at the same time. Also depends how much $14 g's means to you. if you are swimming in cash, no biggie. if you worked your *** off for it, its a much bigger deal.

for those that think i'm just on here bashing for fun, you are incorrect. I had money down on an 850, i backed out and glad i did. i would not enjoy riding the sled thinking about the iffy bulkhead and whether i would be stranded that day if i hit something, i would feel like i had been "had". I am definitely snow checking a 2018 again though, looking forward to it. i'll bet a paycheck the bulkhead is beefed up even though brp likely wont advertise it.

hitting stuff is part of snowmobiling, early season, late season, low snowpack, big snowpack. Here in colorado we can have lots of snow, but there are still those wind scoured areas all season that once in a while have a landmine. or what if you catch a ski on the trailer, etc. the sled has to be able to take a decent hit, period. and the a-arms should be the failure point, not the bulkead, period. if that does not happen, which is the case here, the company f'ed up.

Lots of flaws in your reasoning IMO. First off, the modules fail due to a particular type of hit, not from ordinary riding. And, the XP/XM have had the same exact issue since their inception. Doo has sold tons of both and never improved the modules, with zero effect on resale value. Second, when the modules break, you can still ride out. I have yet to hear a single example where a module failure caused a stranding. I think that is partly why they haven't designed an easier failing a-arm. If history is any indicator, Doo won't be making any changes to the modules next year. And, even if they did, would you really trust them to "solve" this? If you love how this sled rides (and who wouldn't), and are likely to bash buried rocks when carving, then put on braces and Alt Impact a-arms (for a total cost of about $750 - and maybe way less if you sell the stock arms) and hope for the best. If that does not sound like a reasonable approach, get a Poo or a Cat and deal with their issues instead. The thing that keeps getting omitted in this discussion is that the sled is a real performer, especially for the intermediate riders. That alone will keep sales high.
 
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paulharris

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Dec 12, 2007
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its going to be a very tough argument to compare this gen 4 to previous generations. this is a very different animal. the large thin Cast gen 4 bulkhead E and S module castings suffer a catastrophic loss of all structural integrity when they crack and break, like an egg-nothing significant left to hold things together. the previous generations had a combination of cast and stamped aluminum parts (which will tweak and bend)- if one of the much smaller cast pieces crack things tend to stay together and allow you to keep riding, albeit things may be tweaked. Very unlike the gen 4 which will essentially "crumble" in on itself if you keep riding and its over. as currently built, it makes this machine a very high risk to ride if you hit something right (or wrong) the consequences are severe.
 

2Huskies

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Well this is the loaner for our trip to Tog with Mike Duffy for the Avy 1 course. Snowest was kind enough to let me borrow a 600! Meanwhile my skidoo is on its way to getting better lol

I hope there's more news soon!

0b43038b33c8f1a2455ac61f72a3e107.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
P
Nov 30, 2015
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Well this is the loaner for our trip to Tog with Mike Duffy for the Avy 1 course. Snowest was kind enough to let me borrow a 600! Meanwhile my skidoo is on its way to getting better lol

I hope there's more news soon!

0b43038b33c8f1a2455ac61f72a3e107.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please report back on the 600 Cat! Not to many reviews out there for it and I am shopping for a 6.
 

christopher

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its going to be a very tough argument to compare this gen 4 to previous generations. this is a very different animal. the large thin Cast gen 4 bulkhead E and S module castings suffer a catastrophic loss of all structural integrity when they crack and break, like an egg-nothing significant left to hold things together. the previous generations had a combination of cast and stamped aluminum parts (which will tweak and bend)- if one of the much smaller cast pieces crack things tend to stay together and allow you to keep riding, albeit things may be tweaked. Very unlike the gen 4 which will essentially "crumble" in on itself if you keep riding and its over. as currently built, it makes this machine a very high risk to ride if you hit something right (or wrong) the consequences are severe.



Exactly the OPPOSITE of what we have witnessed FIRSTHAND with our sleds.

When the E-Mod and S-Mod failed the sled kept on going for DAYS!

We didn't even find the damage until we tore into the sled looking for a different problem.

This sled never left us stranded!
 
D
Nov 26, 2007
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100% MY FAULT.
We created this new forum and I forget to set the permissions on it.
Will get it taken care of this weekend.

meanwhile , RENEW your Premium Membership so you don't see ANY restrictions anywhere on the forum!!!

Being a basic member I have enjoyed this shared information :face-icon-small-hap
 
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paulharris

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Dec 12, 2007
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Exactly the OPPOSITE of what we have witnessed FIRSTHAND with our sleds.

When the E-Mod and S-Mod failed the sled kept on going for DAYS!

We didn't even find the damage until we tore into the sled looking for a different problem.

This sled never left us stranded!

well that is indeed good!!
 

Ski-doo#1

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I've bent my s-mod on my T3 I used to have and as long as I didn't hit anything else to completely mangle the front end I'm betting I could've left it broken and put many more miles on it. The skis were out of alignment but really that is still better than something that can't move.

BRP has a reputation for 2-stroke longevity thanks to the e-tec. That's the reason I buy them and I'm sure the same goes for many others. Look Christopher didn't even know his sleds were busted and he still was enjoying the H*** out of them. Sucks but at least it doesn't prevent you from absolutely having to get off the snow!
 
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