opinions on a 2003 mountain cat 600

I had an '04 600EFI 144 that I rode for for five years. It was a great sled! Sold it to a buddy, and he's still riding it. That chassis was perhaps the best of the old school sleds. (Non rider-forward) Compared to my '09 M8, it's a little harder to carve turns in powder by "steering left to go right". It also needs to get RPM's up pretty good to get the power valves to open, but once they do, it's a screamer!

The only downside that I can think of is that in '03 they rolled the chain case down, which gave the track a better approach angle, but also hung the drivers below the belly pan a little, so if you blast a stump or a rock in the middle, the drive axle can take a hit and bend. Once you bend it, it fatigues and breaks fairly quickly I think... Some people have put on smaller drivers to tuck them back up and re-geared with good results. I just rode a little more carefully, and didn't blast over nasty stuff.

Nickskraba said:

how'd it do in the deep stuff?

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I don't know where you ride, and "deep stuff" has different meanings in different places...

In the Snowies, I had it in powder that was chest deep if you stepped off and it still got around, but pretty much right on the bar, and the sled was under the snow about half the time. Zero issues with choking on snow or anything like that. But I HAD to keep it moving, and aim smartly, and only stop back on a track of some kind or I was screwed. But so was everyone else in our group, no matter what they were riding. I've only seen conditions like that ONE TIME in all my riding. It was a truly sick week, where it snowed FEET every day were were there all week.

I lived in MI and rode some in the UP between trips out west, and in "deep" snow in MI, it was UNSTOPPABLE.
I honestly don't think I ever got it stuck in MI.

Since moving out west and onto an M8/153, I can tell you the M8 does better, both in the deep, and on the steep. (Duh, right?) But it also tires me out a little more when I ride it, or at least it did for the first few years. And I was more comfortable picking through places I probably shouldn't have been on the 600... Like off camber turns in the trees... On set-up snow I'd rather be on the 600. The M8 needs powder to turn easily, as you kinda have to carve the turn, and that's a lot of work on set up snow.

Even after 5 years of riding it, the M8 still occasionally takes ME for a ride, and then I have to deal with the consequences... The 600 always did what I told it to.

If you're not trying to keep up with bigger sleds all day in chest deep powder, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I have a 2001 Mountain Cat 600. The 136 will work great in set up snow but you will be somewhat limited in the deep powder. I upgraded mine to a 144 16 inch wide skidoo track. Makes a huge difference in off trail performance. The 16 inch 144 track has the same footprint as a 154 15 inch wide track but the lug pattern on the Skidoo track is much more aggressive than the Arctic Cat. Swapping from a 136 to a 144 only requires a rail extension, no tunnel extension is needed. Mine also has anti-ratchet drivers so I can run the track a little looser without slipping.