What is the true cost of owning a sled with a Turbo

brandon1 · Oct 24, 2017

Beyond the obvious cost of the Sled and Turbo setup of your choice, what additional maintenance costs are there, where are the hidden costs, and on and on. This means time and money.

For example;
Most of the kits right now have clutching included, is this really it or will you end up with additional hundreds in clutching cost? I understand that I can choose to spend countless $$$ on clutching as there's several ways to skin a cat. But what if I choose to keep what comes in the box?
Belt life?
Clutch cleaning/rebuild etc. how much sooner will a clutch need work than a slightly tweaked NA sled?
More power means more wear and tear someplace, where is that? and what's the reality of that work?

I'm trying to establish if it's worth it to me to buy a Sidekick for my 17' with a 174, or if I invest in keeping it naturally aspirated. I'm just fine with the mechanical aspect of things, installing the Turbo myself doesn't bother me in the least. While the Axys platform is new to me overall sled work isn't.

I however don't feel like spending nearly $4,000 just to need to throw another unknown amount of money after it in hidden costs OR have to spend a bunch of additional time in the Garage between rides to keep up on maintenance.

I think this isn't the first thread about this but my search Foo sucks right now apparently.

JJ_0909 · Oct 24, 2017

brandon1 said:
Beyond the obvious cost of the Sled and Turbo setup of your choice, what additional maintenance costs are there, where are the hidden costs, and on and on. This means time and money.

For example;
Most of the kits right now have clutching included, is this really it or will you end up with additional hundreds in clutching cost? I understand that I can choose to spend countless $$$ on clutching as there's several ways to skin a cat. But what if I choose to keep what comes in the box?
Belt life?
Clutch cleaning/rebuild etc. how much sooner will a clutch need work than a slightly tweaked NA sled?
More power means more wear and tear someplace, where is that? and what's the reality of that work?

I'm trying to establish if it's worth it to me to buy a Sidekick for my 17' with a 174, or if I invest in keeping it naturally aspirated. I'm just fine with the mechanical aspect of things, installing the Turbo myself doesn't bother me in the least. While the Axys platform is new to me overall sled work isn't.

I however don't feel like spending nearly $4,000 just to need to throw another unknown amount of money after it in hidden costs OR have to spend a bunch of additional time in the Garage between rides to keep up on maintenance.

I think this isn't the first thread about this but my search Foo sucks right now apparently.

As they say "that all depends".

I ride a Silber kit. Only thing I change is the helix (and drop a bit of weight) as I find its better on the belt. That has to do largely with riding style.

I'd set aside a few hundred for clutching, you may or may not use this money. Otherwise, the only thing you will spend more on is fuel, as yes, you should run some AV gas.

Cost of ownership over a dead stock sled, for me, is probably no more than riding a dead stock sled at sea level as a 5psi sled at 8000 feet isn't putting down THAT much more power. If you are pushing crazy boost, that all will obviously change as you will find weakness in the driveline. QD system, stock drive shaft (in a pro), stock drivers, etc all seem good for most people in the mountains (eg, above 6-7K) up to about 7psi. Above that, well, you need to change stuff.

I haven't found anything that wears out on a "small amounts of boost" turbo sled "faster". I do find myself doing more PM, but that's just cause I'm neurotic. I'd do the same on a stocker.

Things I generally replace at 500 miles...

Primary clutch spring and weight bushings
motor mounts
take a hard look at my belt (probably done around here)

At 1000 miles I look at the top end. Likely done at 1200-1500 miles, again, preventative.

M8Chris · Oct 24, 2017

Ran a sidekick for two seasons just pull and go. I used the clutching from boondocker didn't spend money on different clutching. Sold the sled and I'm doing the same set up this year.

tdbaugha · Oct 24, 2017

Depends on how you ride and how lucky you are.

My crew and I are really hard on stuff. We're running 9psi at 6000'. We spent the entire season trying new clutching and shock setups. Blew up countless belts. I'm talking 1 every ride or every other ride till we found something that works. Now its ever 4-5 rides. I easily spent $1000 on belts and clutch components last season. We tested multiple motor mount setups, those all broke. Replaced the stock mounts at 500 miles. Multiple parts have melted on us. So you gotta keep that in check.

Clutches are very worn out at the end of the season, needing full rebuilds. Tracks are borderline needing replaced. Multiple components of the turbo kit needed to be replaced throughout the season (springs, hoses, clamps, etc).

You're also riding a LOT faster and semi out of control. So you hit more trees and rocks and stuff. When you wheelie up hills at 30 mph and hit a stump, well stuff breaks. That doesn't happen with a stock sled, because you can't do that.

As far as time goes, you legitimately should look your sled over like every single week. With stockers you can pretty much ride it over and over without caring. That takes a lot time.

Pull and go turbos don't exist, unless you don't ride very aggressively or are extremely lucky.

Octanee · Oct 24, 2017

I just bought a 12 pro, with a boost it kit, now not knowing it's exact history but i know it was ridden hard and chutes, when i got it, it had an issue that, took, for ever to solve, ended up, being plugged turbo injector screens. Somehow they plugged up. Then once it ran, the first good rode I snapped the jack shaft... Bad luck I'll say, then from the issues of the plugged injectors causing it to back fire and stuff, by 2nd ride my reeds I assume are shot, so then I parked it for thr summer. Oh and rear skid is shot. Fun! Lol so I'd say be cautious of who ever you got it from previously.

Coldestwinter1 · Oct 24, 2017

Count on clutching weights helix springs you’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table if you don’t dial it in short of that keeping the boost around 7 in elevation and 3 at sea level you won’t need much else but some AV. I put 1k miles on a belt and it’s still going last year. Piston reeds after 1500 miles to protect your investment. You don’t wanna send shrapnel into your turbo.

gonehuntnpowder · Oct 24, 2017

I had 1 turbo. In my opinion I didn't mind initial cost, I didn't even mind the most to keep it running (one top end and turbo rebuild). The part that hurt was the fact that it was worth less when I sold it than a similar sled stock. With that in mind I am thinking about another. Boost is snowmobilers crack. You know it's bad, but it's addicting as hell.

aksledjunkie · Oct 24, 2017

A lot of good advice on here. I changed a lot of Clutching over the course of the season and had fairly good luck. Only blew one belt. Running 5# of boost at 250’ -2500’.

Did a top end rebuild this offseason as I lost roughly 15# in each cylinder.

MikeM1000 · Oct 24, 2017

not gonna blow smoke up your bum.. there are set ups that work and ones that don't. no 2 sleds will work exactly the same.. and the end of the day you either like to hear that beautiful sound of a spooled up Turbo or you look at what it cost

Ricks 32 · Oct 25, 2017

There are a lot of misconceptions with owning turbos. Many of which have been eliminated by the kit builders recently.

Do yourself a favor and spend the money early by going with a good complete kit and an install by someone who knows what they're doing. I choose Boondocker. Their electronics are superior and run as advertised. I run 12 lbs boost on a 3" track.

I have the primary clutch balanced every 500-600 miles. Even on my Cats with an inferior clutch I had great performance for 3500 miles at 15lbs boost.

Make sure you're getting fresh cold air into the clutches and an exit for hot air to escape. Doing these things will provide great life with belts and offer good performance too.

I run AV fuel and non/Ethanol 91 at 50/50. It's more money for sure, but I'm always consistent and motors love it at high boost.

My Polaris' have been amazing on reed life, where my Cat was hard on reeds, about 600 miles and I had to change.

I've put over 10,000 mountain miles on turbo sleds and I've had excellent luck.

Routine maintenance with bolt tightening just like a stock sled needs and all of the above will give you good results.

Have fun!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wheel House Motorsports · Oct 25, 2017

I think the biggest issue is boost levels. Sticking around the 5-7psi for mountain riding seems to barely wear things more then stock since we are exceeding sea level HP by a little but nothing huge. When you start cranking things up you really start to see the wear and tear on driveline, motor mounts, bushings, etc etc.

Pump gas boost levels you might want to be a little more active in replacing clutch components but its nothing like when you crank it up.

I run the silber kit and IMO the clutching works for 90% of riders out of the box. Some of us like to tinker and tweak a little more but there is really no reason to spend any extra money besides keeping the sled running good. Most of the things that need to be replaced wear out just as fast with a really aggressive rider on a stock sled.

Motor mounts every 1k
Cluch springs and weight bushings every 500
Fresh belts
A couple of extra exhaust springs
More oil (oil pump is turned up on silbers)

clean your clutches, check your sled over. Its a lot more fun to work on your sled in the shop then on the side of the hill, but this goes for anything, not just boosted.

aksledjunkie · Oct 25, 2017

Wheel House Motorsports said:
I think the biggest issue is boost levels. Sticking around the 5-7psi for mountain riding seems to barely wear things more then stock since we are exceeding sea level HP by a little but nothing huge. When you start cranking things up you really start to see the wear and tear on driveline, motor mounts, bushings, etc etc.

Pump gas boost levels you might want to be a little more active in replacing clutch components but its nothing like when you crank it up.

I run the silber kit and IMO the clutching works for 90% of riders out of the box. Some of us like to tinker and tweak a little more but there is really no reason to spend any extra money besides keeping the sled running good. Most of the things that need to be replaced wear out just as fast with a really aggressive rider on a stock sled.

Motor mounts every 1k
Cluch springs and weight bushings every 500
Fresh belts
A couple of extra exhaust springs
More oil (oil pump is turned up on silbers)

clean your clutches, check your sled over. Its a lot more fun to work on your sled in the shop then on the side of the hill, but this goes for anything, not just boosted.

Agreed. Last year was my first boosted sled but far from my first modded sled. Even past builds required maintenance in the garage on the weekday evenings. No more or less than the turbo sled does.

AKFULLTHROTTLE · Oct 30, 2017

Hard to put a price on the smiles!

JJ_0909 · Oct 30, 2017

Wheel House Motorsports said:
I think the biggest issue is boost levels. Sticking around the 5-7psi for mountain riding seems to barely wear things more then stock since we are exceeding sea level HP by a little but nothing huge. When you start cranking things up you really start to see the wear and tear on driveline, motor mounts, bushings, etc etc.

Pump gas boost levels you might want to be a little more active in replacing clutch components but its nothing like when you crank it up.

I run the silber kit and IMO the clutching works for 90% of riders out of the box. Some of us like to tinker and tweak a little more but there is really no reason to spend any extra money besides keeping the sled running good. Most of the things that need to be replaced wear out just as fast with a really aggressive rider on a stock sled.

Motor mounts every 1k
Cluch springs and weight bushings every 500
Fresh belts
A couple of extra exhaust springs
More oil (oil pump is turned up on silbers)

clean your clutches, check your sled over. Its a lot more fun to work on your sled in the shop then on the side of the hill, but this goes for anything, not just boosted.

Compared to stock I'm not sure it'd be that different...

idahoskiguy · Oct 31, 2017

During the 90's and thru the 2000's built and rode mod sleds, spent a lot of $$$$'s doing so and have no regrets.

However todays mtn sleds are really good, better in fact than most of the mod sleds from the past.

So would a turbo be nice? Sure.

Is a turbo really necessary give the new mtn sled provide such a high level of performance? Given it voids the warranty not so inclined to do a turbo, even though I really want one.

Betting an OEM turbo mtn sled is coming in the near future.

Just my $.02

M8Chris · Oct 31, 2017

AKFULLTHROTTLE said:
Hard to put a price on the smiles!

What he said

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