I bought a Skidoo 850.... switching to the Dark side.....

1100

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Ds3 are a darty trail ski. Awesome on the mountain. I also like the old side hiller skis that came on the 03-05 summits. So my opinion might be different than most.

looked like a good first outing!
 
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skegpro

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Transitioning you say?
c5fae784895ab722fe7c28e02bb216d5.jpg
 

kanedog

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Got out for a ride yesterday. Pretty decent snow for November 10th. Got lucky a few times, bounce off a few rocks. But luckily it was right in the middle of the track. Took all of 20 minutes and felt right at hime on that Gen 4 chassis. Some immediate things i noticed. The front end darts all over the place up the trail, was almost scared to go fast. The shocks are even worse that the standard walker evans that come on the Axys. The rear suspension does handle whoops very well. Actual mountain riding, I found the Gen 4 easier to ride than my axys but isn't as precise. Power is really good... the bottom and mid range is super strong. Still need to tweek a few things to get the top end where I know it can be. Here's a quick video. Cheers,
https://youtu.be/eZNSw7lEfKE

Well this video will cause at least 4 totalled sleds, 3 sets of a arms and two tracks. All the yahoo Bertans be wanting dat fresh pow be thinking dis place gots da goods. It gots da rocks too but sum bro’s just can’t wait. Way to go Dragonweld. Bahahahahaha
 

dragonweld28

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To be honest, the riding i have been doing has been very simple, easy riding. This Gen 4 seems very good for that. Havent tired running it hard on anything steep yet, so its kinda tough to tell. The steering is no big deal. Not sure what people complain about all the time. I dont like how far forward you are, seems to mess with the weight balance of the sled. The gauge and top area is literal a shelf for snow. You would think they could have thought of a better set up. The boards flex so bad, when you put your weight to one side to manuever the sled, the boards flex before the sled moves. Makes the sled feel almost bouncy. The shock are so bad. Motor makes good power, gearing is really good, tuning on this pdrive and QRS secondary is a nightmare. I honestly think the frenchies did that on purpose.

The best part of the sled.... SHOT. Every sled should have this.

More testing to come next weekend.
 

catrutt

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Just interested on your findings . Did you find many gains in the clutching?
To be honest, the riding i have been doing has been very simple, easy riding. This Gen 4 seems very good for that. Havent tired running it hard on anything steep yet, so its kinda tough to tell. The steering is no big deal. Not sure what people complain about all the time. I dont like how far forward you are, seems to mess with the weight balance of the sled. The gauge and top area is literal a shelf for snow. You would think they could have thought of a better set up. The boards flex so bad, when you put your weight to one side to manuever the sled, the boards flex before the sled moves. Makes the sled feel almost bouncy. The shock are so bad. Motor makes good power, gearing is really good, tuning on this pdrive and QRS secondary is a nightmare. I honestly think the frenchies did that on purpose.

The best part of the sled.... SHOT. Every sled should have this.

More testing to come next weekend.
 

dragonweld28

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You bet. ill be advertising a clutch kit next week.

Here is what i have found in the testing that maxwell and I have done. First off, the quick clickers aren't the best of transferring power. Lots of shift force lost due to all that mass close to the pin. 86 grams of total weight. The primary spring is very stiff to offset all that mass. the 175 sleds are the worst. They have a 170/400 spring, while the 165 and 154 have a 170/350. I went with a softer primary spring and adjustable weights to use all the power

The secondary spring is too soft and the straight 40 helix doesn't use all the power the 850 etec has. So, i use a multi-angle to harness the low end power and to maintain proper RPM at WOT. The stock secondary spring is a 157/221 which isn't enough when your adding more pull from a now more efficient primary. So a stiffer secondary was needed. i also added a thin bearing behind the spring to make sure that there is never any bind.

Over all, the bottom end is significantly improved, with much better on off throttle response, while picking up 4-5 km/h track speed on the top end. We were able to gain more top end track speed but lost overall rideabilty... it thats even a word. So we went with a strong consistent set up.The kits will include some nice flange bolts to replace the stupid torx bolts that hold the helix in. ill post pics of everything that is included. Pricing will be a bit more than my other kits due to a few extras that were need to finalize the package. Should be right around $525.
 

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Has anyone changed the chain case gearing to help the clutching?
 

kanedog

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Has anyone changed the chain case gearing to help the clutching?
Yes. I changed from a 21 to a 19 top gear on a 2017. Do a 19 or 20 top gear on 2018+ will save mucho hundreds in belts. The 17 g4 19 top gear was the cure all fix all for belt probz. Belt temp went from 210+ to 190 and below. Not a big temp change but just enough to keep the belts from going kablooey.

Doo went from a 21/51 in 2017 to a 21/53 for 2018+(Or 2019+, I can’t remember.) The gear change wasn’t quite enough to get rid of the belt shredding. So do a 19/51(2017) or a 20/53(2018+) for delicious results. 19/53 if you are adventurous but I have no first hand g4 850 experience with 19/53.
 
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Caper11

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Yes. I changed from a 21 to a 19 top gear on a 2017. Do a 19 or 20 top gear on 2018+ will save mucho hundreds in belts. The 17 g4 19 top was the cure all fix all for belt probz. Belt temp went from 210+ to 190 and below. Not a big temp change but just enough to keep the belts from going kablooey.

Doo went from a 21/51 in 2017 to a 21/53 for 2018+(Or 2019+, I can’t remember.) The gear change wasn’t quite enough to get rid of the belt heat. So do a 19/51(2017) or a 20/53(2018+) for delicious results. 19/53 if you are adventurous but I have no first hand g4 850 experience with that ratio.

Im testing 20/53 this weekend. Figured id give it a try.

The 21/53 worked well for me for 500+ miles, and I haven’t blown a belt yet.
 
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