Bought an M8 need advice.

yamahauler16 · Dec 26, 2011

Hey guys, bought an M8 last week and have been doing my research. It is a 2010 m8 sp 162 with 1100 miles. I havnt received it yet because it is being shipped. So I havnt been able to go through it with a fine toothed comb.

Here is what I have gained from my research.

I need to change the Bearing in the DD. BDX is the best place to get the bearing

Clutch alignment and setup is critical. I am coming off a Yamaha so this is new to me. Their clutches were pretty decent. I ride in Southern Colorado so altitude is 6-11000 feet. What should I do to the clutch so the sled runs good but mainly so that it is reliable.

I plan to vent the sides but am concerned about snow getting to the clutch. MOflos seem to be the only brand with some additional filtering. I also have gathered that the gauge vent kit really works well and plan to do that too.

I know clutch offset is critical so I need a clutch bar alignment tool. Where is the best place to get this and which one? I also have seen clutch alignment tools. Do I need this also? Basically I am a bit overwhelmed with the clutch. I really want reliability more than anything. I have searched and read everything I could find on clutch info and still feel lost. I appreciate any help and really enjoy the site. This is my first time off a yamaha since I started sledding as a child. Some friends had these sleds and I was impressed last year. Hope this sled was as clean as it looked in the pictures.

diggerdown · Dec 26, 2011

Sounds like you've done your homework and like everyone else mainly concerned about the clutches. Mine blew at 1100 miles, warrenty covered it but there just should not be as many early failures as there seems to be. The bearing is easy and cheap to address. The 162 does push in the corners but coming of a Yamy you will be amazed at how easy these are to ride. Imposssible to clutch for 5000 ft. elevation change, I guess somewhere in the midddle and call it good or go with some like daltons that you can turn a screw in with minimal hassle. Friend of mine wrecked his Apex turbo last year and rode a M8 to finish the trip off, right away he missed the power but found out how much more fun he had on a nimble sled.

MT rydn · Dec 26, 2011

consider antistab kit for safety

Frostbite · Dec 26, 2011

Welcome fellow EX-Yamaha rider. I too came off Yamahas. The last was a mod RX-1M, MSRX and a MM700, Exciter, Etc...... I still have a MM700 my son rides and a 99 Phazer Mountain Lite my wife likes to ride. My daughter came over to the dark side with me and is on a M-5. I like Yamahas but, I feel like we didn't leave Yamaha, they left us. The options they provide for the mountain sleds just aren't competitive without spending at least $4,500 for boost and gauges.

Anyway, welcome. Yes, Cat clutching is much different than Yamaha clutching. They use a non-torsional secondary. I still think that is strange. There are aftermarket companies that sell them, RKTEK and Cutler come to mind. I guess I got used to having my Shockwave adjustable helix on my Yamaha and I could dial in more or less RPM as needed.

On the primary watch for harsh engagement. If you have it, it will more than likely be from weights that are too tight or too large of a gap between the belt and the sheave or a broken primary spring.

Yes to the dual row bearing, the gauge lifter and the hood venting.

Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies. :welcome:

CATSLEDMAN1 · Dec 27, 2011

m8

no magic in torsional sec springs, but you need the 05 -06 ADJUSTABLE SPRING PRESSURE Helix KIT for your M8, call BDX, learn to tune secondary..........easier than your Yam just different, same concept ..............secondary must follow primary, test and tune, try full range. Owned both Yam and cat, DD new technology, Yam old technology, old habits sometimes die hard. MDS weights you will like. Don't bother to ride around with your nose on the tach. Adjust for rider feel instead, more importand.........again old habits, must adjust to new. Must have the high mark sled ? Just turbo..........don't waste money on incremental engine parts, again way old school.

live2rideyamaha · Dec 27, 2011

Yami to cat

I too just switched, I came off of an 05 viper ( great sled just found my self always tooling on it to try to keep up with the 800s I rode with) Just bought an 11 M8 Snow Pro 162. 100% stock with 350 miles on it. picked it up for $8200 plus tax, which i thought was a great deal, Im gonna be keeping an eye on this one to help me out also because I am lost with this thing so far, have not seen much on the DD for the 11 I know they say on the 09 you can take the bearing and spacer out and just replace with no hassle but on the 10s you have to get the shaft milled down, are the 11s the same ??? and what is the bearing number, is it better to go with BDX or just get it at a parts store.
thanks for all the help guys

flynfvr · Dec 28, 2011

BDX all the way

Im gonna be keeping an eye on this one to help me out also because I am lost with this thing so far, have not seen much on the DD for the 11 I know they say on the 09 you can take the bearing and spacer out and just replace with no hassle but on the 10s you have to get the shaft milled down, are the 11s the same ??? and what is the bearing number, is it better to go with BDX or just get it at a parts store.
thanks for all the help guys[/QUOTE]

Just replaced my 10 with the bdx kit. Jeff is a great guy to deal with. I did NOT have to turn my shaft down, get an arbor press, pull the spacer and push it on all the way. Jeff stated a lot of guys are not getting the bearing all the way down. I measured mine before it went on And I was nervous that it wasn't going to work. Call Jeff at BDX i would have to assume the 11 is the same as the 10. I put all five new bearings in mine because the output bearing on the track side was rough from running in metal. Good luck.

backcountryislife · Dec 28, 2011

yamahauler16 said:
Hey guys, bought an M8 last week and have been doing my research. It is a 2010 m8 sp 162 with 1100 miles. I havnt received it yet because it is being shipped. So I havnt been able to go through it with a fine toothed comb.

Here is what I have gained from my research.

I need to change the Bearing in the DD. BDX is the best place to get the bearing

Clutch alignment and setup is critical. I am coming off a Yamaha so this is new to me. Their clutches were pretty decent. I ride in Southern Colorado so altitude is 6-11000 feet. What should I do to the clutch so the sled runs good but mainly so that it is reliable.

I plan to vent the sides but am concerned about snow getting to the clutch. MOflos seem to be the only brand with some additional filtering. I also have gathered that the gauge vent kit really works well and plan to do that too.

I know clutch offset is critical so I need a clutch bar alignment tool. Where is the best place to get this and which one? I also have seen clutch alignment tools. Do I need this also? Basically I am a bit overwhelmed with the clutch. I really want reliability more than anything. I have searched and read everything I could find on clutch info and still feel lost. I appreciate any help and really enjoy the site. This is my first time off a yamaha since I started sledding as a child. Some friends had these sleds and I was impressed last year. Hope this sled was as clean as it looked in the pictures.

Ok, here's on thing to keep in mind that you won't find on the interwebz.

Listen carefully, cause I can only say this once without being banned...

Some of us...(wait for it...) just ride our sleds. :bolt:

There, I said it.

We don't ALL waste hours messing with the clutch, we don't ALL have issues with the diamond drive, we don't ALL have an alignment bar.

I ride 60-70 days a year, I run big boost, I have a sled that nobody EVER gets off of without a big STOOPID grin on their faces... and I've got 1900 miles on the original DD (my last two DD's didn't last that long, so no guarantees), I've never messed with clutch alignment, and my belts last me a reasonable amount of time (not gonna get into what that is because there's always some powderpuff who gets 1500 miles to a belt because he doesn't climb much or never rides DEEP).

The DD bearing... EASY & CHEAP, just do it, it's worth it.
The clutches... go ride, if you're blowing belts in under 300 RIDING HARD or 600 riding like a sally, then maybe work on them.

I've had 7 M sleds, all strongly modded, all ridden VERY hard, and the 1000's went through belts at 3-400 if I rode them hard, but the 8's lasted longer, even with boost (I pull them at 400 anyhow on the turbos, but on somewhat stock 800 got around 800-1000). After spending time aligning, setting up, and spending money on my clutches I got the exact same results. HOW you ride, and how the sled is vented make much more difference than alignment imo.

Riding the same sled my wife will get easily double the miles from a belt that I do... because she takes a break here & there, and doesn't hit a hill over & over trying to find the dumbest lines she can, how you ride is HUGE.

diggerdown · Dec 28, 2011

backcountryislife said:
Ok, here's on thing to keep in mind that you won't find on the interwebz.

Listen carefully, cause I can only say this once without being banned...

Some of us...(wait for it...) just ride our sleds. :bolt:

There, I said it.

We don't ALL waste hours messing with the clutch, we don't ALL have issues with the diamond drive, we don't ALL have an alignment bar.

I ride 60-70 days a year, I run big boost, I have a sled that nobody EVER gets off of without a big STOOPID grin on their faces... and I've got 1900 miles on the original DD (my last two DD's didn't last that long, so no guarantees), I've never messed with clutch alignment, and my belts last me a reasonable amount of time (not gonna get into what that is because there's always some powderpuff who gets 1500 miles to a belt because he doesn't climb much or never rides DEEP).

The DD bearing... EASY & CHEAP, just do it, it's worth it.
The clutches... go ride, if you're blowing belts in under 300 RIDING HARD or 600 riding like a sally, then maybe work on them.

I've had 7 M sleds, all strongly modded, all ridden VERY hard, and the 1000's went through belts at 3-400 if I rode them hard, but the 8's lasted longer, even with boost (I pull them at 400 anyhow on the turbos, but on somewhat stock 800 got around 800-1000). After spending time aligning, setting up, and spending money on my clutches I got the exact same results. HOW you ride, and how the sled is vented make much more difference than alignment imo.

Riding the same sled my wife will get easily double the miles from a belt that I do... because she takes a break here & there, and doesn't hit a hill over & over trying to find the dumbest lines she can, how you ride is HUGE.

Now you went and done it.....it's the end of the forums as we know it. Just go ride, never hear a more ridiculous statement!

yamahauler16 · Dec 28, 2011

backcountryislife said:
Ok, here's on thing to keep in mind that you won't find on the interwebz.

Listen carefully, cause I can only say this once without being banned...

Some of us...(wait for it...) just ride our sleds. :bolt:

There, I said it.

We don't ALL waste hours messing with the clutch, we don't ALL have issues with the diamond drive, we don't ALL have an alignment bar.

I ride 60-70 days a year, I run big boost, I have a sled that nobody EVER gets off of without a big STOOPID grin on their faces... and I've got 1900 miles on the original DD (my last two DD's didn't last that long, so no guarantees), I've never messed with clutch alignment, and my belts last me a reasonable amount of time (not gonna get into what that is because there's always some powderpuff who gets 1500 miles to a belt because he doesn't climb much or never rides DEEP).

The DD bearing... EASY & CHEAP, just do it, it's worth it.
The clutches... go ride, if you're blowing belts in under 300 RIDING HARD or 600 riding like a sally, then maybe work on them.

I've had 7 M sleds, all strongly modded, all ridden VERY hard, and the 1000's went through belts at 3-400 if I rode them hard, but the 8's lasted longer, even with boost (I pull them at 400 anyhow on the turbos, but on somewhat stock 800 got around 800-1000). After spending time aligning, setting up, and spending money on my clutches I got the exact same results. HOW you ride, and how the sled is vented make much more difference than alignment imo.

Riding the same sled my wife will get easily double the miles from a belt that I do... because she takes a break here & there, and doesn't hit a hill over & over trying to find the dumbest lines she can, how you ride is HUGE.

I like this. I hope that my new ride is decently setup. I do ride them in the steep and deep but wont be the guy who is always tuning on the damn thing. I am after reliability and reasonable performance. I will change the DD bearing and make sure it is not out of adjustment and I will ride it. Thanks for the reply. I guess when all you seek out is what is wrong with the sled than it messes with your head a bit. I am anxious to test this thing out.

backcountryislife · Dec 28, 2011

It's easy to look on here & see nothing but issues, and they DO exist, but there are TONS of sleds out there without them...

You'll like it, GREAT sled!

Knox · Dec 28, 2011

backcountryislife always makes life so simple.....its kind of nice haha

yamahauler16 · Dec 28, 2011

Alright guys. Got the sled tonight from the transporter. Looks pretty decent. Few small things I can take care of. Heres the fun part

Had the sled backwards on the trailer for the short ride home. Hood blew off ripping off both side panels. Pull over. Flip hood back and strap down while traffic is barreling down on me at night. No chance to look for side covers. I go back to find side covers and they are laying in the middle of I 40 untouched. Until I get out of the truck to watch them get run over by 9 of the 18 wheels on a semi. What a kick in the balls.

Anyways, **** happens. After closer inspection I find that most parts on the sled are good and this seems like a pretty solid design. Looking at the clutch though I found that every other roller is flat spotted in the helix. Is this normal? Do I need to replace these with different ones? Is this indicative of another issue? Or from reverse usage?

Thanks for the help this far. I hope I got the bad luck out of the way with the hood deal tonight. All I could do is laugh and thank god I didnt lose the entire hood.

boondocker97 · Dec 28, 2011

In my experience the stock white rollers in the secondary don't hold up for more than a season (probably less in some conditions). The Rock rollers from BDX seem to hold up better. They are kind of a pain to change the first time you do it. You have to drive out the roll pins and then use a curved tool of some sort to push the pins out from the inside to the outside.

Heat the screws that hold the helix in before trying to remove them and put loctite back on them when you reinstall them. I use blue on the screws in my M7 and red on the ones for my M1000 as it seems to loosen them up if I don't.

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Bought an M8 need advice.

yamahauler16

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diggerdown

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MT rydn

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Frostbite

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CATSLEDMAN1

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live2rideyamaha

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flynfvr

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backcountryislife

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diggerdown

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yamahauler16

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backcountryislife

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Knox

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yamahauler16

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boondocker97

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