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2018 M8000 SE (standard)

Yaeger34

Well-known member
Premium Member
Dec 12, 2015
327
155
43
St cloud mn
So I know its all alpha talk on here but I need to learn about cats quit. Came off a turbo axys with raptor shocks, kmod a arms, etc etc


Can't find any research on the SE's. Find plenty on the mountain cat and sno pro but not much on the basic SE. From what I gathered is it didn't get the new 5lb lighter seat which I don't really care, the basic crappy coil shocks, and unfortunately has the 2.6 track with the 7 driver I assume. Anything else I am missing?

Picked up the 18 standard with 3k miles. Thing was a well maintained sled, not a crack, tear or anything on track, honestly the whole sled looks cleaner and better taken care of than my sleds with 500 miles! And at $5700 I figured this would do the trick.

I priced OEM top end parts and figure it is around $350-500 to rebuild. I haven't dealt with a cat since my snocross days 7 years ago. I hear you can get 5k miles out of them......I would like to wait until about 4k miles to rebuild, this sound reasonable? And I saw the clutch is about $300 for a primary? So sounds like price wise some of the bigger maintenance items are reasonable.

So I need to find an option for better shocks, Prefer to be in the $500-$750 range, my days of dropping $16k on a sled are over when I get 3 trips out west, can no longer justify it.

What about a tether?

drive belt?

Bumpers? how do you grab this thing, even just moving it into my garage was heavy and awkward...

At most I am thinking a quiet can, any recommendations or is stock reasonable weight. I just want a sled that can be jumped, and take a beating and have a very reliable machine.

thanks
 

Yaeger34

Well-known member
Premium Member
Dec 12, 2015
327
155
43
St cloud mn
also thoughts on oil? I have about 4 gallons of polaris ves I would like to burn up, any issue with that?
 

ARCTIC

Active member
Lifetime Membership
Nov 29, 2007
138
25
28
Boise, Idaho
I own a mountain cat 162 and an SE 153. They have the same seat. They have the same driver I think. The SE didn’t have a goggle warmer. $35 on eBay. My wife rides the SE and those shocks work for her. The 3” track retails for about $300 more than the 2.6”. The 2.6” is a great track imo.

My opinion on newer sleds is they perform well from the factory and I am happy with the stock set up. You could put an Alpha skid on it for about $3500 with the QS3 shocks and for under $10k you would have the latest and greatest.

Sounds like you saved enough cash to go hog wild on upgrades. These sleds are the best performing out of the box sleds that Arctic cat has ever made.

Btw, I purchased both sleds used. The mtn cat had 52 miles and the SE had 182 miles. I saved about 8k off retail. I won’t be spending it on upgrades tho. I love these machines just the wat they are. When I sell them I won’t take the hit on the upgrades that traditionally are worthless monetarily speaking.

I own 6 sleds and all but the 18’s have thousands in upgrades. None perform as well as the stock 18’s. My wife says her ears don’t ring any more after riding due to the quiet factory mufflers. I think I am done with those loud can days.:music:
 

madmax

Well-known member
Lifetime Membership
Nov 26, 2007
4,485
3,137
113
Salt lake city
Pretty sure the SE has 8t drivers with the 2.6 track. You got a smoking deal on that sled, that leave s lots of money for upgrades!
 

ultrasks700

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Premium Member
Jul 7, 2009
462
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MAINE
tether: Stock or Pro armor(what I have now) works great. 2019 has the new magnetic tether that is supposed to be pretty good and is available for the 18's

Bumpers: Front bumper...cat has a pretty good selection, I have the "pro"(cow catcher bumper) and like the coverage. Rear...look up Backwoods BMP. I think its one of the best Proclimb bumpers available. A little expensive but worth it. Cat also have a decent selection of rear bumpers and arnt too expensive.

Shocks: I would give the zero pros a chance. They are actually pretty good shocks. @ 3k they might need a rebuild but I always loved the Zeros on my M-series. If you do want to update, theres sometimes QS3 floats off the MC floating around, or the 1.5 QS3's that they are now putting on the Hardcore.

Mufflers: Most recommend the Diamond S, its quite and produces HP, but its expensive. SSI and the Speedwerx L2 are a less expensive option but are louder.
 

BD-Xtreme

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Nov 26, 2007
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