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16 driveshaft 3" vs 2.6" comparison

colorado_matt

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Hey guys. Here are a few photos I took at the Sneak Peek. Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer based off of experience from the day that I rode the 2016 Pro RMK 155 2.6 or I will find out the answer. It was awesome seeing and talking to so many people excited about the new sled. It really is going to take some time for everyone riding it to truly appreciate how good it is and how much better it is than the 2015(which is a pretty amazing machine).

Here is somewhat of a rundown from the conversation that I had with CO 2.0. He asked if I had any driveshaft problems. I never have. On the 2013's we added the clamp the day it was available and I have not personally had a failure there and I have had 8 different belt drive Pro RMK's. Then we moved on to my experience with QD belt failures and talked about changing one out on the mountain. On my 2013 models, I had multiple QD belt failures and was honestly quite frustrated. One turbo sled and one stock. For 2014, word was that they changed the makeup of the belt compound and that it should be much better. That season I ran the stock setup on a stock sled with 0 QD belt failures. I ran a TKI belt drive on my turbo sled to test different gear ratios and the durability and was very happy with 0 belt failures. For 2015, I have 4 belt driven Pro RMK's. 2 stock, 1 turbo with stock drive, and 1 turbo with another TKI setup. I have had 0 QD belt failures on those 3 sleds. I am confident with their QD up to a certain amount of horsepower. Moving on to the new 2.6 vs 3........ Unfortunately, I only have experience with the 2.6 so I cannot say anything honestly based off of experience about the 3". With that being said, I think that a person should ask themselves what they plan to do with their sled. If you're only going to ride deep fresh snow, it's a no brainer. Go with the 3". If you do a lot of diverse riding in diverse conditions, I think the 2.6 will be a better all around option. This new 2.6 is a pretty impressive track. I have been a big fan of the current 5.1 track and we have to keep in mind that the new series 6 track is lighter and has taller lugs. It worked very well the day that I rode the new sled. We also had to switch back and forth with a bone stock 2015 so that we could conduct fair comparisons. With that being said, my snowcheck sled that I will be ordering this week will be with a 3" track. It will also be running a high pressure turbo and many other aftermarket parts including a narrower front end. Not sure if I will like how everything works, but I am going to find out through experience and will make changes if necessary. I will have the 2.6" track on my other sled that I will pick up at the beginning of next season that will remain stock and be ridden across a much broader variety of conditions. I always like to hear thoughts and experiences from others! Hopefully we all have so dang much snow next year that we all wish we had 3" tracks on all of our sleds :)

Thanks, Matt

New rear suspension drop bracket will collect and hold 0 snow.
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2.6" 163 and a whole lot of orange.
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Good look under the hood shows just how tucked in and narrow this new chassis is. Also a good look at the new air intake which is incorporated into the dash panel rather than the center hood section. Pretty cool that the side panels and center hood section can be removed in about 30 seconds and no tools required.
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New air intake ports. I like that they are facing rearward and the top sticks out farther than the bottom.
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3" track and a good view of the new single bolt rear axle. I also noticed that all of the cross shafts have gone to a torx head bolt. Not sure I like that in regards to changing parts. But I imagine it's part of the weight savings and the round heads probably attract less snow.
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The new SKS is a good looking sled.
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I could not stop looking at this red one!
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tdbaugha

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Thanks for the pictures Matt!

The 3" looks VERY similar to the X3. Can anyone comment on the differences between the two?

I see that neither of the tracks have outside alignment nubs... Is that true or is the picture deceiving?
 

Reg2view

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They don't. It's how they cut weight off the track.
 

Merlin

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With the collar on the Aluminum driveshaft... which I still can't believe that they run on the sled, like wearing a bandaid for 4 years....

I couldn't agree more!

Either change the manufacturing processes of or redesign the shaft completely.

To continue to run the extruded driveshaft w/collar is absurd! :face-icon-small-dis
 

Trevor83T

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I find it kind of funny so many people have an issue with that collar. I mean if they would have put the collar on there from the beginning before they released that shaft in 2013 no one would even be mentioning it right now. But just because they broke without them, and now they have remedied the issue with a collar all of a sudden it is a huge deal to continue to use it, even though it's working just fine. Don't get me wrong I'm sure there are alternatives to the issue, but making a whole new driveshaft could have lead them right back to where they were before they implemented the collar.
 

Reg2view

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Collars are cheap marketing. They had a mfg issue, too, in 13 that was resolved.
 

SRXSRULE

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Thanks for the pictures Matt!

The 3" looks VERY similar to the X3. Can anyone comment on the differences between the two?

I see that neither of the tracks have outside alignment nubs... Is that true or is the picture deceiving?


I think its a lot different then the X3. the 7.1 track has 2 lugs per pitch and just alternates the pattern side to side every other pitch. The X3 has 2 outside lugs on one pitch and then just one center lug on the next pitch and repeats that pattern.
I was also told by the polaris engineer that the 7.1 series track is 11lbs lighter then the X3.

I'm going to look at both of them in person tomorrow and check the durometer readings on both the 2.6 and 3" tracks. Eric
 

Sheetmetalfab

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……..
I think its a lot different then the X3. the 7.1 track has 2 lugs per pitch and just alternates the pattern side to side every other pitch. The X3 has 2 outside lugs on one pitch and then just one center lug on the next pitch and repeats that pattern.
I was also told by the polaris engineer that the 7.1 series track is 11lbs lighter then the X3.

I'm going to look at both of them in person tomorrow and check the durometer readings on both the 2.6 and 3" tracks. Eric

The 7.1 also has tower lugs on the backside of every lug.
 

tdbaugha

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I realize that the lug configuration is different. But the individual lug shape is pretty dang close.

11 lbs in a lot! I was looking at my 156 X3 the other day and thinking about where 11 lbs could come from. Clips and outside alignment nubs are probably good for 3-4 lbs I'd guess.
 
A

assault11

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I realize that the lug configuration is different. But the individual lug shape is pretty dang close.

11 lbs in a lot! I was looking at my 156 X3 the other day and thinking about where 11 lbs could come from. Clips and outside alignment nubs are probably good for 3-4 lbs I'd guess.

I think the 2.6 is 11 the 3" is 7 pounds lighter
 
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