2005 900 engine rebuild

[410Fortune]

yes there is a clip that holds the line in place here, both of our 2005 are routed like this. Thanks guys!! AS long as I keep the oil level above the rise in the line it will feed!
Looking forward to hearing it run, but it may be a while before I get to ride it, with this weather its almost time for tires not tracks, in FEB???? SOB

We are looking to move further north in a few years, we want to be able to ride right out the back door from our next house. Looking around Steamboat, Craig, Northern CO, Wyo, Montana and others.....

So this sled needs to last me forever!! LOL

 

[410Fortune]

BILLET FOR THE 900?

Anyone still making billet chaincase covers for the 05? How about the 06?
Anyone making billet engine crossmember for the 05 & 06?

I have another sled to build and I know there are other guys fixing these 900's too. Looking to see if anyone has any left or would like to make another run!!

 

[TriumphoverU]

In the following video, if you move ahead to the 2:40 mark, this is how I rewind the spring if I ever have it come out while I'm working on it. I don't know who that is in the video, but I seen this method in a snowmobile magazine many many years ago, and it has worked great every time I have had to use it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt2zgQDS_48

On a side note, what did you use to clean up the engine compartment so nicely? I'm scrubbing and scrubbing with some degreaser, but I cant seem to get all of the oil/belt residue off of the chassis.

 

[410Fortune]

putting the recoil spring back in was a bitch! Once I had a method, it worked okay. I had to re seat it at least 3 times to get it into the final resting spot properly.
I will check out the video for sure, I knew somebody had a method for this.. would love to see the factory tool or winder or whatever Polaris does?!?!?

Castrol Superclean is my de greaser of choice + lots of elbow grease.
Assortment of soft plastic /wire bristle brushes, a drill motor in some places, and rags!

being a mechanic you learn how to clean stuff!
Most cleaning on snowmobiles I do here by hand. I do have a parts washer but its a small one and pita to setup, I will use it when I rebuild my other Liberty 900 engine!
I see some ATV guys use ultra sonic jewlery cleaners for small parts like carb bodies and butterflies, etc.
I plan to pick one of those up Harbor freight has a good small one.

For the places these machines will take you, it is important to me that everything works better then factory
The pride I take in my work, I hope shows through!! I have stepsons and grand kids I teach these skill sets to so its nice to hear when people take notice
and when I finally do get to go ride....oh man that's when its all worth it!

hoping to button my 900 up this week, work and other projects take me away from it.....

My SLP pipe and can have a very very slight amount of rouge coming on, anyone have any suggestions to treat? I have tried naval jelly in the past with no luck. I dont want to remove the heat treatment but if possible I would like to slow down the rust?

I might have to steal the SLP setup off the other 900 we have and swap them over

I am also looking into cooling mods, possibly adding a second rear mounted cooler, hoping to make her a bit more trail friendly / all around sled

 

[410Fortune]

Finally getting into the clutches

I have the clutches from my sled and the clutches from the parts sled.
I know I went through my primary and secondary a few years back and this setup has probably 300 miles on it, cannot find exactly what I did I do know the primary has black/green spring. I will run my old clutches on my next build.


Now the clutches that came with the parts sled (blue 900) look very promising!!. I think I am going to run them, because they went with this same engine I am running now, it looks recently built and quite possibly balanced.

First off primary body has a Polaris build date of 1999 on it, a hand scribed X for assembly and the initials E.C.
I wish I knew who built that parts sled! Somewhere around Colorado Springs?

When I take it apart we find the perfect primary spring, the 7043342
140/330 I think?

The weights are "10-70". One of them is a little sticky so I am going to service the whole clutch
my sled has 20/43 gears installed currently
I am not sure what helix I have, we will find out soon.


This is the info I have from Mountainhorse for perfect 900 clutching:

Change the stock helix

Here is what has been working for me... I've refined it a bit.
Stock 900 with SLP can, no other mods (NO pipe,reeds,head, reflash etc)

All of this info is given assuming that your Belt side clearance on the primary is set to .010" - .020" with the belt you are using AND the deflection is set correctly.

All of the great clutching in the world wont mean squat if these things are not taken care of...

Deflection is easy, side clearance requires specialized tools and holding fixtures and must be done with the clutch removed from the sled.

Secondary

64-42 helix
2 delrin washers in the cup
RED-PINK secondary spring (140-260) [I switched from Red/Black...140-240]

Primary
First and foremost... the primary must be tight, have the faces smooth and be balanced.
11-68 weights
Polaris Almond spring (140-330) or the new spring sytem black-3342 (pn 7043342)

Gearing
19-42 for the 151" and 159"
19-43 for the 166" (requires a 76 pitch chain)


All of this is a bit of science and a lot of trial and error. Find what works for you.

IMO, on the 900's ONLY run the 3211115 belt. It is hands down the most heavy duty belt for these sleds... it only takes one belt blowing under heavy load (when the break most of the time) to snap a crank... The 115 belts usually outlast anything else out there.

any tips or advice as I go here is appreciated!
Sled is now a 2005,
SLP head
SLP mid pipe and can
162" Power Claw track

20/43 gearing?? I know when I installed the arctic cat driver into my 900 I used a 43 tooth lower, polaris gear would no longer fit. Pictures I have show a 20 tooth upper
(should I change top gear to 19T?? I think I have one)

I have three secondarys (driven) to work with, all from 2005 900's:
First has 64-38-36 helix
Second has 62-46-46 helix and red/black spring (140/240)
Third has 58-46-46 helix
Which one should I run? 64-38-36?


Holz front and rear suspension: HRP spindles, HRP control arms, with Fox shocks, Powder Pro skis

Here is the clutch I am going to run, after a full service: I need to choose a helix for my secondary

 

[410Fortune]

Okay so I am trying to educate myself about the helix and how it works
I get the basics
First and second numbers are the angle cut into the helix
The third number is the duration, or physical distance in inches how far up the first cut was made

This does not tell me alot about what I should be looking for in a helix it basically just tells me how it works, applies pressure to belt as it provides resistance to the shift? okay cool

Why does one of my helix have TWO sets of numbers on it? Found the answer, simple this helix has two different sets of ramps cut into it, you can choose which to run. In my case either 58-46 or 56-44 on the twin trax helix

What is the stock helix in a 2005 900? (So I know what I am changing and why)

Again I have 3 helix to choose from:

First has 64-38-36 helix
Second has 62-46-46 helix
Third has 58-46-46 & 56-44-46 stamped on SAME helix, = twin trax helix

So I can see on the twin helix, this sled was running the 58-44-46 side, no wear marks on the other side.

I am leaning towards running the 64-38-36 based on the awesome information I just found here:
http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115861

I wonder what made the previous owner choose this helix

 

[410Fortune]

ITS ALIVE

Its running really really well

I spent the last few days getting her all ready to fire up.
Clutches were serviced/built.
installed clutches and belt (belt cleaned in hot soapy water)
Added coolant and let it weep out the thermo housing with front of sled 3' in the air
I mixed up some 91 octane gas with some ethanol shield, some 2 stroke oil and added the 5 gallon mix to the tank
I powered up the fuel pump with my jumper box and let the system run for 30-40 seconds, to mix the fuel and prime the rail. I checked carefully for fuel leaks.
( Found the information about priming the pump in the stickies on top of this page, along with many many other useful posts that helped me refurbish this monster)

installed new fuel filter, air box, SLP pipe, EGT sensor, and unknown brand can, and finally the hood.

checked for oil and coolant leaks, all is well

Then I dropped the thermostat housing bleeder screw into the sled and spent about 2-3 hours looking for it with a magnet and inspection camera.
gave up on screw spent next hour finding suitable replacement
(screw is still in there somewhere! I will keep checking bulkhead for it
checked all wire routing, etc
added some more heat protection

finally time to start it.

Fires up on first or second pull every time
On first start I used coat hanger to hold oil pump full open
Dash shows full voltage, headlight is steady bright, no surging
Vibrations are non existent, sled is running really really well

Let it run to 100 degrees and shut it down
checked everything again
started again let her run to 135-138 degrees and shut her down

Running better then ever!!!

Idle is at 1600-1700 then it climbs to 2100-2200 Going to have to look into this, adjust tps, set throttle screw etc. 2200 seems a bit high

no codes, no leaks, exhaust smells/looks correct
so far so good!!

Tomorrow I will adjust idle?? and take for a test run around the neighborhood!!

Thanks for all the help guys this sucker is almost back on the trail!
Now I can rebuild the other 900

Pics:

Primary clutch taken apart cleaned and re assembled. Primary is balanced I believe, running 70g weights and 140/330 spring. One weight was sticking before all of this. The spider did not have a smooth action as the sheaves opened and closed either, everything was cleaned with brakeclean and then hit with pb blaster, cleaned some more.

Secondary was just serviced not 100 miles ago, so it was just cleaned and the 64/38 helix installed

Secondary has SLP red/black spring, derlin washers and has been spaced for belt alignment

Primary taper & crank taper cleaned with alcohol, clutch mounted and torqued to 96 ft lbs

secondary shaft lightly greased, loctite on bolt, torqued to 12 ft lbs. secondary has less then 1/4" of float on the shaft.
Belt washed and installed so you can read the letters

SLP scatter shield installed, clutches are done!
Airbox heat protected and installed

Console was installed and recoil/pull handle completed:

exhaust on!

SHE RUNS!

Now tomorrow more pictures in the snow finally

check throttle cable, set screw, tps see why the idle is climbing to 2200??
Runs perfectly aside from this! I had adjusted this TPS about 100 miles ago...will see if I can find my tester


VERY HAPPY!!!

 

[bobbylong907]

Dang! good post man lots of good info im probably going to use you for a lot of my rebuild lol!

 

[410Fortune]

Thanks and Please do!

this is my way of giving back to the community for all the help and knowledge I have gained since we bought our first 900 in 2007!!

More snow coming! If I can finish my work I can go for a test ride!!

 

[Алекс]

http://www.snowmobile.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=103810#inline1 привет с дальнего востока Россия

 

[Dartos]

I'm putting my 975 back together and saw this thread, wow lots of info and pictures.

Good stuff for sure.

 

[410Fortune]

It's 2019
We moved to North Idaho in 2018, now I can snowmobile out my back door!
I am riding my 900 now, the idle is still waaaaay tooooo high climbs to 2800-3000
Center crank seals are leaking so the oil level drops until it gets below the center oil bath fill line> Pretty sure the oil is going inside the engine? It can be hard to start when it has sat then it smokes pretty good for a minute. Assuming center crank seals
Could this be why the high idle?

I may have to rebuild the old red top engine after all........otherwise this thing straight runs and with the 162" track and holz rear suspension she is very rider friendly compared to a stock fusion 900

My stepson is now lot manager at the local Polaris dealer! So that might help.....
The 2005 is now 14 years old, but I still love this sled!

 

[94fordguy]

Center crank seals are definitely suspect for your oil loss, however you won't be pulling air into the engine from them. I would recommend looking very carefully at your intake boots between the throttle bodies and the reed cage. I had a high and hanging idle a few years ago and that was the issue, the boots were majorly cracked open letting in excess air. Well known issue on the 900s after some miles and a reasonably easy thing to check/fix.

 

[410Fortune]

Okay thank you!!

now I know where to look
The center crank seals will not create an air leak, excellent information, exactly what I needed to know.

I replaced all the boots when I re did the engine in this sled, but I will check the intakes/carbs and such to find the issue.
I will report back!
We have been getting lots of snow here in North Idaho late Feb, HOORAY!!