Going through my 2008 Summit x154 800, I have noticed that it's not the same beast now as when I first got it. I took inventory of all the changes and thought I would post so the guys with the new ones could benifit.
I put about 2500 km's on last season and am very pleased with this machine.
Here is what I have done:
Clutching: 414 ramps, blue/purple spring, added 8mm of set screws of weight to the factory 12mm, added quick clickers, cleaned the pins with emery cloth. The ramps are only to smooth it out on the trail.
I also built my own clutch adjuster but now went to an aluminum after market one just because it was cool. I had to cut thin metal plates to glue to the inside of the plastic side panel so the clutches wouldn't drill holes through when the sled is on it's side. I highly recommend this to all especially next to the clutch. Both mine have chew marks.
Belt status. I went through 3 x 166 belts, 2 Gates, and 1 Ultimax. now have had a 377 on for the last 3 months of last season.
Alignment, the alignment was out and dealer did not correct. I drilled out the rear clutch side motor mount and realigned. Belt life was not an issue after this. Likely Revmans shim kit would have worked.
Venting, I only have a 4" vent near the shock, vents are over-rated. If your clutch is hot don't try a band-aid approach.
Drive shaft: Dealer paid to have the shaft welded last year after I pulled it out. Has not been an issue but now I'm at the back of the line for a new one.
Gearing: Dealer re-geared and paid for it, I opted for 20 tooth rather than 19. I will try a 19 this season only cause I just want to see the difference. By the way theses are really easy to change if you put the sled on it's side and elevate the rear bumper off the ground about 6 inches. No oil get spilled or needs to be drained.
Air intake: I cut some stainless sheet to fasion a cover over the air intake to protect it from snow causing bogging. It works well and looks good.
Ski's: From new I put outer skags on the factory skis. half way through the season I switched to Simmons as I was so impressed with these on my other sled. The Simmons skags seem to last for ever and don't dart. keep in mind any ski with an outer skag will make the sled harder to pull over on it's side.
Sway/torsion bar: I started by disconecting one side. I don't recomend this as the aluminum linkage damages the paint whe it hit the a-arm. Get rid of it all together.
Knee protection: I'm tall and hit my knees sometimes so I added aftermarket foam pads to the back end of the side panels. This works good but they are getting beat up after 1 season so I might have to replace soon. They were cheap though. If you don't add the pads, you can hit hard enough to break the oil tank, I also put rubber washers under the screws that hold the tank to give it a little movement.
Front Suspension: Run the front shocks with with springs set near 2. These shocks seem to ride ride hard. When I run my shock covers on warm days, on tbumpy trails they get so hot, I can't touch them. My buddy had the same issue but appearantly nobody else is reporting this
Rear skid: I added a second limiter strap and a couple of grease zirks. Added ice scratchers but have not really needed them. I added washers to spread the suspension wider at the rear pivot as the dealer was told by BRp that some are too tight and this stops free movement of the suspension. My shocks are fine but the straps needed new holes dilled to let them out just shy of the loosest factory setting. Don't run the loosest setting or the straps do nothing and the shock can get damaged. I weigh 175 prior to gear and run setting 2 in the rear.
A side note is that others and I have reported that the aluminum threaded part of the front skid shock is being damaged from the spring up and down movement. I will have the dealer make a warranty call on this.
Track and tunnel:
The track has some gouges out of the outer paddle edges from hitting a rivit but the I heard it was the bolts for the bumper so I changed all to round headed bolts. The bulk of the track damage was done after this so it must be something near the front of the tunnel.
I also added tunnel reinforcment brackets as early season scare tactics indicated that these footrest would not hold up. It was not necessary IMO.
I also installed a Smitty's 2 wheel kit for this seaon but modified it to fit all 3 wheels internally.
Engine: Nothing done yet but a MBRP can, works great. Waiting on an SLP Head now. Oh ya, lots of adjustment on the oil pump cable to reduce the oil from 18:1 now to 33 : 1
Stupid oil tank: Only because the tighter the cap is, the more it leaks. I proved this by adding a 2 foot hose to the breather and blew into it aand listened for the leak at the cap. Also leave this hose on and drill a hole by the shock tower to pull it through to drain out when you roll the sled over. If you leave it the oil vents and drains on the main electrical plug.
Chain case. when the bolts strip, change to closest imperial size and strip in easy. Also add a little inline filter to the vent tube to rduce spillage when you roll over.
Brake cover, These little shiny round headed bolts break off, replace with better quality. Bend the tab out that cover the disk brake cylinder and put silicon glue under it to stop the vibration.
Belly pan protector. The factory kit is good but the exhaust pipe needs to be removed to remove the inner foam and then put fender washers on the back of the rivits.
Speaking of foam: all foam, the tool kit holder and the plastic near the coolant resivour needs to be removed. I put the tools abouve the right foot rest and made another holder infront of the can.
Spare gas and tunnel bag: I used 2 hollow rectangle aluminum pieces to run down the rear part of the tunnel. screwed up through the tunnel into them. Placed 2 plastic battery trays on them and rivited down. One holds bag and one holds 2 gal. gas can.
Steering: added 2 inch rise with Isovibe. This saves my shoulders when hitting the rough stuff as the direct steering on these sleds transfer shock throught to the rider when. I also made extensions to reposition the tie rods 2 cm back farther to reduce steering effort. This will reduce effort by 15% (calculated) but I am waiting for this season to give a full review.
I also put on a harder plastic mountain bar to replace the sloppy strap. Oh ya, rotate the kill switch forward too so you don't hit it on a climb.
Wireless kill switch: for the last 3 seasons, I have been running several different versions of our proto-type wireless kill switch. The Teth-Air is still not in production but is working great. I am still working hard to push this project forward but there are alot of finacial and patent pressures against getting this things off the ground.
Gauges: Still need the new flash as they went a little screwy with some extra features that don't really work, and yes the dealer fixed the bar warmers last season,
I probably missed something here but it's getting a little over whelming.
And I do have photos but am lazy so if anybody has questions on any particular issue, I will post pics of that.
Last of all most changes have been tweaking and customizing of an already great sled.
Have fun with yours.
I put about 2500 km's on last season and am very pleased with this machine.
Here is what I have done:
Clutching: 414 ramps, blue/purple spring, added 8mm of set screws of weight to the factory 12mm, added quick clickers, cleaned the pins with emery cloth. The ramps are only to smooth it out on the trail.
I also built my own clutch adjuster but now went to an aluminum after market one just because it was cool. I had to cut thin metal plates to glue to the inside of the plastic side panel so the clutches wouldn't drill holes through when the sled is on it's side. I highly recommend this to all especially next to the clutch. Both mine have chew marks.
Belt status. I went through 3 x 166 belts, 2 Gates, and 1 Ultimax. now have had a 377 on for the last 3 months of last season.
Alignment, the alignment was out and dealer did not correct. I drilled out the rear clutch side motor mount and realigned. Belt life was not an issue after this. Likely Revmans shim kit would have worked.
Venting, I only have a 4" vent near the shock, vents are over-rated. If your clutch is hot don't try a band-aid approach.
Drive shaft: Dealer paid to have the shaft welded last year after I pulled it out. Has not been an issue but now I'm at the back of the line for a new one.
Gearing: Dealer re-geared and paid for it, I opted for 20 tooth rather than 19. I will try a 19 this season only cause I just want to see the difference. By the way theses are really easy to change if you put the sled on it's side and elevate the rear bumper off the ground about 6 inches. No oil get spilled or needs to be drained.
Air intake: I cut some stainless sheet to fasion a cover over the air intake to protect it from snow causing bogging. It works well and looks good.
Ski's: From new I put outer skags on the factory skis. half way through the season I switched to Simmons as I was so impressed with these on my other sled. The Simmons skags seem to last for ever and don't dart. keep in mind any ski with an outer skag will make the sled harder to pull over on it's side.
Sway/torsion bar: I started by disconecting one side. I don't recomend this as the aluminum linkage damages the paint whe it hit the a-arm. Get rid of it all together.
Knee protection: I'm tall and hit my knees sometimes so I added aftermarket foam pads to the back end of the side panels. This works good but they are getting beat up after 1 season so I might have to replace soon. They were cheap though. If you don't add the pads, you can hit hard enough to break the oil tank, I also put rubber washers under the screws that hold the tank to give it a little movement.
Front Suspension: Run the front shocks with with springs set near 2. These shocks seem to ride ride hard. When I run my shock covers on warm days, on tbumpy trails they get so hot, I can't touch them. My buddy had the same issue but appearantly nobody else is reporting this
Rear skid: I added a second limiter strap and a couple of grease zirks. Added ice scratchers but have not really needed them. I added washers to spread the suspension wider at the rear pivot as the dealer was told by BRp that some are too tight and this stops free movement of the suspension. My shocks are fine but the straps needed new holes dilled to let them out just shy of the loosest factory setting. Don't run the loosest setting or the straps do nothing and the shock can get damaged. I weigh 175 prior to gear and run setting 2 in the rear.
A side note is that others and I have reported that the aluminum threaded part of the front skid shock is being damaged from the spring up and down movement. I will have the dealer make a warranty call on this.
Track and tunnel:
The track has some gouges out of the outer paddle edges from hitting a rivit but the I heard it was the bolts for the bumper so I changed all to round headed bolts. The bulk of the track damage was done after this so it must be something near the front of the tunnel.
I also added tunnel reinforcment brackets as early season scare tactics indicated that these footrest would not hold up. It was not necessary IMO.
I also installed a Smitty's 2 wheel kit for this seaon but modified it to fit all 3 wheels internally.
Engine: Nothing done yet but a MBRP can, works great. Waiting on an SLP Head now. Oh ya, lots of adjustment on the oil pump cable to reduce the oil from 18:1 now to 33 : 1
Stupid oil tank: Only because the tighter the cap is, the more it leaks. I proved this by adding a 2 foot hose to the breather and blew into it aand listened for the leak at the cap. Also leave this hose on and drill a hole by the shock tower to pull it through to drain out when you roll the sled over. If you leave it the oil vents and drains on the main electrical plug.
Chain case. when the bolts strip, change to closest imperial size and strip in easy. Also add a little inline filter to the vent tube to rduce spillage when you roll over.
Brake cover, These little shiny round headed bolts break off, replace with better quality. Bend the tab out that cover the disk brake cylinder and put silicon glue under it to stop the vibration.
Belly pan protector. The factory kit is good but the exhaust pipe needs to be removed to remove the inner foam and then put fender washers on the back of the rivits.
Speaking of foam: all foam, the tool kit holder and the plastic near the coolant resivour needs to be removed. I put the tools abouve the right foot rest and made another holder infront of the can.
Spare gas and tunnel bag: I used 2 hollow rectangle aluminum pieces to run down the rear part of the tunnel. screwed up through the tunnel into them. Placed 2 plastic battery trays on them and rivited down. One holds bag and one holds 2 gal. gas can.
Steering: added 2 inch rise with Isovibe. This saves my shoulders when hitting the rough stuff as the direct steering on these sleds transfer shock throught to the rider when. I also made extensions to reposition the tie rods 2 cm back farther to reduce steering effort. This will reduce effort by 15% (calculated) but I am waiting for this season to give a full review.
I also put on a harder plastic mountain bar to replace the sloppy strap. Oh ya, rotate the kill switch forward too so you don't hit it on a climb.
Wireless kill switch: for the last 3 seasons, I have been running several different versions of our proto-type wireless kill switch. The Teth-Air is still not in production but is working great. I am still working hard to push this project forward but there are alot of finacial and patent pressures against getting this things off the ground.
Gauges: Still need the new flash as they went a little screwy with some extra features that don't really work, and yes the dealer fixed the bar warmers last season,
I probably missed something here but it's getting a little over whelming.
And I do have photos but am lazy so if anybody has questions on any particular issue, I will post pics of that.
Last of all most changes have been tweaking and customizing of an already great sled.
Have fun with yours.
