F
Looking t buying a 2000 t-cat, only 1000 miles on it, but know very lil about cat triples... What should i look for or should i just keep walking on buy? lol
Thundercat, good or bad?
- Thread starter funkyrider63
- Start date
Keep walking, don't buy.
HEAVY!!!! HEAVY!!!!! HEAVY!!!!
If you are on the trail it might be an ok sled, but not off.
HEAVY!!!! HEAVY!!!!! HEAVY!!!!
If you are on the trail it might be an ok sled, but not off.
B
Lots of info on hardcoresledder.com and arcticchat.com. If you're buying it for the mountains...i think most would agree that although they have good power the older chassis and weight make them not much fun in the steep and deep. If you're a trail rider then they are pretty good and you can mod them pretty easy.
A
You know for what they are, they are a pretty good sled.
Sure they will not compete with the new chassis but for their day they were a runner. Back in the day we used to run the PSI triple pipes, add a timing key, change the needles, some suspension work, and a 151. (now a 162) track and they ran pretty good.
So if you are looking for something to get run around, and on a budget they aren't to bad.
One word of caution, we had a lot of water pump drive gear failures. Some guys could get 10,000 miles out of them, we had a hard time getting 3,000. Don't know if it was the riding style, mountains vs lakes or what but we had issues.
So if you want a reasonable sled and picked it up for 1,500-1,800 you are probably ok. You won't find any other sled with 172HP out of the box in that price range that's for sure.
Ill post a youtube video later of a good running T-Cat.
Thunder
Sure they will not compete with the new chassis but for their day they were a runner. Back in the day we used to run the PSI triple pipes, add a timing key, change the needles, some suspension work, and a 151. (now a 162) track and they ran pretty good.
So if you are looking for something to get run around, and on a budget they aren't to bad.
One word of caution, we had a lot of water pump drive gear failures. Some guys could get 10,000 miles out of them, we had a hard time getting 3,000. Don't know if it was the riding style, mountains vs lakes or what but we had issues.
So if you want a reasonable sled and picked it up for 1,500-1,800 you are probably ok. You won't find any other sled with 172HP out of the box in that price range that's for sure.
Ill post a youtube video later of a good running T-Cat.
Thunder
0
I had a 01 Tcat sold it to build a mod sled, Wish I never did now! Great trail sled! not bad off trail either and that was with the 121 track! Only down fall is Heavy.
Looking back I should have put the 144 tunnel on the Tcat, this would have made one great all around sled for me.
The water pump is a issue, but can be fixed! I would look at it !
Never heard of water pump gear failure? In a triple the WP is driven off the Counter Balance, All Tcat engine trouble starts at the water pump seal(s) and leaks into the counter balance shaft area, then in turn takes out the CB bearings. MY02
Looking back I should have put the 144 tunnel on the Tcat, this would have made one great all around sled for me.
The water pump is a issue, but can be fixed! I would look at it !
Never heard of water pump gear failure? In a triple the WP is driven off the Counter Balance, All Tcat engine trouble starts at the water pump seal(s) and leaks into the counter balance shaft area, then in turn takes out the CB bearings. MY02
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We ran a couple T-cat mountain sleds for a few years. They worked alright, but they wore you out by the end of the day. We dropped them for the 800 twin when it came out, and I think it was the right choice.
F
I liked them for Ice racing as they were so damn heavy you got zero ski lift, Trials they were ok until you got into the real bumps. I didn't mind it for the deep but you really had to pick your line and like the others you were dead at the end of the day. Think about what your going to use it for, I found that i don't really need a ton of hp i like the 150-170hp range with a really light chassis but set up for 80+ footers. I was sick of digging the things out when stuck felt like i was digging out a tank and not being able to roll it over in the deep on a hill Iam not weak by all means but when i ride i burn out after about 3-4hours depending on what were doing.
R
THUNDERCATS ARE POINT AND SHOOT MOUNTAIN SLEDS! HUGE MOD SLEDS WILL CLIMB. ANYTHING WHEN SNOW IS SET UP! HEAVY IS RIGHT BUT AT THE TIME GETTING STUCK IN PLACES WHERE THE TINY TWINS COULDN'T GET TO! SO HELP WAS SCARCE! BUY IT AND ENJOY AFTER ALL ITS LIKE THE NEW 4 STROKERS JUST IN AN OUTDATED PACKAGE! LOL.
I never owned a T-cat, but both my dad and one of my brothers had them. I couldn't tell you what year models they had but they both had the 900 and then bought the 1000cc. Both had more than one failure with the counterbalance gear. It was obvious that the gear wasn't getting any lubrication when the motor was torn down, which caused the failures. I don't remember all the details but they ended up drilling the case just above the gear and putting a jet in the hole and ran a line from the oil reservoir so it would drip oil onto the gear. After doing that they didn't have any more issues, and they were both on bone stock sleds.
"Might be ok" ?? What are you that uninformed?
There is no better on trail sled for speed and power. And as long as you have 96 or newer along with the ZRT triple's, the ride is great too.
By The time you add the turbo's and all the crap to a new machine to make it go that fast, oh wait, it still won't, it has close to the same weight. Plus it takes a 162 track to do anything compared to a 121 to 144 for the Tcat.
Good luck turning that 162 on the trail.
It does not take much to see 125mph plus on a Tcat or 118mph on a ZRT triple.
Just as true today as it was in the day.
PS - have not posted much here after Animal left us and wish I could have gotten my posts count back on the second go around.
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