timbersled MH/LT gearing

[raleigh111]

Hey boys. Problem is wide ratio trans sucks on yz450fx in mountains. I can get by okay at sea level.

2016 yz450fx with recluse at sea level I can put it in 3rd gear and pretty much leave it there all day in the pow. Dont care about trail riding.

At elevation, we ride 8-11k, Second seems to low and it cant pull 3rd very well and find myself shifting down to second and it is too low for my style of riding.

So gear it up to get second at sweet spot of gear down for 3 to be sweet spot??

First approach was to replace 13 front sprocket with a 14 but chain is so close to timbersled frame and adding a link makes it to long. This would be to get second more track speed.

Second was order 16-18 gears to replace 17-17 in chain case. and gear down to get third as sweet spot or go 18-16 to get second more track speed again.

Third is try to run 16-17 but chain looks to be tad long and may rub on case, taking 1 link out may make it to short?

I know there are a lot of these combos out there lt/mh yz450fx and curious if anyone played around with this same issue??

 

[heliwrench]

I had the same issue with my ktm 500 and 2016 TS LT. I know its not the same bike but both are wide ratio trans. I ran 18 over 16 in the chaincase and it worked great. Turned 2 into more like 2.5, and made cruising on the trail better as well. I tried 16 over 18 as well, which makes 3rd gear pretty much identical to the 2.5 with 18/16, but it was way too slow on the trail.

 

[raleigh111]

I had the same issue with my ktm 500 and 2016 TS LT. I know its not the same bike but both are wide ratio trans. I ran 18 over 16 in the chaincase and it worked great. Turned 2 into more like 2.5, and made cruising on the trail better as well. I tried 16 over 18 as well, which makes 3rd gear pretty much identical to the 2.5 with 18/16, but it was way too slow on the trail.

Heli
That is exactly what i was looking for and thanks for the reply. I found this after the post after and was helpful https://www.snowest.com/forum/threads/16-timbersled-st-gearing-300xc.419948/..
I guess I will try it both ways. My first thought was to go 18 over 16 because first gear is so useless with 17 over 17. I should just swap out the tranny gears for f model gears but then i have to split the case.