Powder Special/Extreme

Momma · Sep 5, 2009

Powder Special 500 said:
Does anybody still ride Powder Specials and/or Powder Extremes?

Yup, I have a 600efi Powder special for pulling my kids in the skimmer and as a back up sled. It was my primary sled last year. I love that sled. Just easy to ride, easy to start, anyone can ride it.

Cracked my window when I ended up upside down the week before when I was fooling around. Not when I was pulling the kids.

Momma · Sep 5, 2009

Rprecision said:
Leason learned.................................

When the speedo stops working ya better be heading for the truck ! When the driveshaft bearings go out the speedo quits working, its a good time to start limping back !

For what they were, those sleds worked rather well !

Yup!!! That happened to me last year on the Powder Special. I thought Ohhhh maybe it's just the speedo cable, even though I was told it was probably the driveshaft bearing. Hard lesson learned, but a good lesson.
I learned a heck of alot about my sled in the week it took to fix it.

WAmtnsledr · Sep 7, 2009

thanks everyone for all the replies and pics, keep them coming!!

WAmtnsledr · Sep 13, 2009

this thread should be moved to the PS section....

CascadeXP · Sep 17, 2009

Still got my 98 600 EFI Powder Special. Runs great, and is my extra sled for when I take friends, or the wife. I usually trade off at some time during a trip and It's really a blast to ride. It won't go through the deep like the new sleds but otherwise you can sidehill, flip it around through the trees, and just have a blast. There was a reason it was the sled of the year in 98. :beer;

:beer;

Spike7ss · Sep 18, 2009

I still ride my 99 600 ps efi LE, but its been rode hard and put away wet for the last 2 years. This year im hoping to upgrade to something with a bit more power and longer track

sdsnocop · Sep 20, 2009

Still riding my Powder Special. Had it for 5 years bought it cheap with burned down motor. Runs great, boondocks very well after modifications.
97 580 carbed
Wisco pistons
AC roller secondary
UFO's on carbs
141 1.75 track
4" riser with mountain bar
Home built fuel can rack
Sport Tech windshield

WAmtnsledr · Sep 20, 2009

awesome sled sdsnocop!!

:beer;

sdsnocop · Sep 23, 2009

Powder Special

I was boondocking through the internet and found a site that indicated the 97 Powder Special was Snowest's mountain sled of the year.

Engine Pro 5x · Oct 1, 2009

Oh yeah. We still ride this one with over 3000 miles on it !!

WAmtnsledr · Oct 2, 2009

that is one clean sled!!!

Engine Pro 5x · Oct 3, 2009

Hey thanks P-S-500! We try to take good care of our sleds. Here we are pushing our way through Heavenly Valley at Grand Lake !! >>>>.

wildcard28 · Oct 3, 2009

I still have my Arctic Cat 580 Powder Special, still fun sled, Wife rides it now.

All stock other than I put 8th drivers to install a 136 x 1 3/4 Challenger Track, and mover steering post forward about 2 inchs and a 4 1/2 bar riser, alot more fun sled.

Would like to put bigger motor, or a triple in it. but fine the way it is now.

Only pic I could find now, maybe try more later.

thunder1000 · Oct 4, 2009

my youngest daughter rides a 97 580 efi ps, oldest daughter rides a 98 600 efi ps, and the wife rides a 99 zr 600 efi. just finished the oldest daughters sled. painted it in oregon duck green and yellow, post pics this week.

geberhard · Oct 5, 2009

sdsnocop said:
Still riding my Powder Special. Had it for 5 years bought it cheap with burned down motor. Runs great, boondocks very well after modifications.
97 580 carbed
Wisco pistons
AC roller secondary
UFO's on carbs
141 1.75 track
4" riser with mountain bar
Home built fuel can rack
Sport Tech windshield

What did you do to put the 141 on it? Looking at this for my brothers Powder Special.

Engine Pro 5x · Oct 5, 2009

Here's a shot later in the day when the Pow got a little DEEPER !!! >>>>.

sdsnocop · Oct 5, 2009

A 141 1.75 track is an easy modification on that sled. The 1.75 lugs fit without changing drivers or grinding fins off the heat exchanger. To accommodate the longer track I relocated the skid frame back 2.5 inches. I redrilled the front mounting bolts 2.5 inches back and built a drop bracket that relocated the rear mounting bolts 2.5 inches back and 1.5 inches down. It bolts to the original rear susppension monting tabs. The homade drop bracket can be seen on the pictures in my post. I did not need a tunnel extension I just added a couple of pieces of alluminum to hold the snow flap back at an angle for clearance. Moving the skid frame back changes the front angle of the track on the snow similar to rolling a chaincase which improves performance in the powder. This is an easy modification that has worked very well for this sled.

Good Luck!

geberhard · Oct 13, 2009

sdsnocop said:
A 141 1.75 track is an easy modification on that sled. The 1.75 lugs fit without changing drivers or grinding fins off the heat exchanger. To accommodate the longer track I relocated the skid frame back 2.5 inches. I redrilled the front mounting bolts 2.5 inches back and built a drop bracket that relocated the rear mounting bolts 2.5 inches back and 1.5 inches down. It bolts to the original rear susppension monting tabs. The homade drop bracket can be seen on the pictures in my post. I did not need a tunnel extension I just added a couple of pieces of alluminum to hold the snow flap back at an angle for clearance. Moving the skid frame back changes the front angle of the track on the snow similar to rolling a chaincase which improves performance in the powder. This is an easy modification that has worked very well for this sled.

Good Luck!

I am guessing the front mount at 2.5" is straight back correct? I would be interested to see some better pictures of your set up. I was under the impression the 141" track was 3.0 pitch . The 136" is a 2.52 pitch I thought drivers would have to be changed.

Thanks

Idcatman3 · Oct 13, 2009

geberhard said:
I am guessing the front mount at 2.5" is straight back correct? I would be interested to see some better pictures of your set up. I was under the impression the 141" track was 3.0 pitch . The 136" is a 2.52 pitch I thought drivers would have to be changed.

Thanks

Not all 141" tracks are 3" pitch. That is one of the lengths that happens to come in both 2.52" and 3" pitch. There are many good 2.52" pitch, 141" tracks.

sdsnocop · Oct 13, 2009

geberhard said:
I am guessing the front mount at 2.5" is straight back correct? I would be interested to see some better pictures of your set up. I was under the impression the 141" track was 3.0 pitch . The 136" is a 2.52 pitch I thought drivers would have to be changed.

Thanks

I will try to post some close-up pictures in the near future. When I redrilled the front holes I believe I cheated them a little lower but wished I went further down. I will verify for you. Also when I replaced the track I was not aware of different pitch tracks but must of gotten lucky. I will also get you the brand of track. My sled is in a storage unit untill winter. (however I did drag it out yesterday and rode 1/2 mile down the ditch and back in the 4" of snow we received this weekend.)

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