Buying a used sled advice? NF

[Tjames09]

Looking for a sled for ice fishing this year. My budget sticks me around 2005-2008 era it seems. Any brands that I should avoid? Anything I should be looking for when I check it out? 

 

Thanks. 

[DRIFTER_016]

I've never been a big fan of Polaris.

Yamaha and Skidoo are both excellent sleds.

[irishfield]

Buy an air cooled ....

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, irishfield said:

Buy an air cooled ....

This...my liquid cooled 2005 mxz can be a total pain in the ass in the spring when the snowpack is tight. Last year it was -25 and the damn thing was overheating because I was on a tight bumpy bush trail and couldn’t get the sled going quick enough to kick up enough snow to cool the pan.

id personally get a Yamaha, I don’t trust anything made by bombardier anymore. Basically there’s 100000 annoyances with our mxz’s, the kill switches fail, the gas gauges were broken from new, the keys seem to keep having issues that cause the sleds to shut off forcing us to buy new keys every few years, we’ve had an entire engine fail..just all sorts of stupid stuff enough to scare me away.

 

chatted this year with a guy on the lake riding a 2003 Yamaha, thing was bone stock he said he’d never had a single issue with it...I wasn’t surprised.

don’t buy Polaris, and definitely don’t buy an arctic crap. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by AKRISONER

[BillM]

1 hour ago, irishfield said:

Buy an air cooled ....

Just not a 550 Polaris  

[Tjames09]

Thanks guys. I thought Polaris was the only ones to make fan cooled sleds.

lol the two sleds I’m looking at are an arctic cat t570 and a Polaris edge grand touring 700.

[Terry]

Lots of skidoo 550 f  

machines out there 

[misfish]

Look for any damage on the sled. Really look close to the under carriage. Look for anything that looks bent,cracked or what ever. If you can,have an experienced sledder with you when checking it out.  Capt Steve is one guy that can look at a sled and tell you weather it has been rode hard. Maybe he will chime in. Careful with those sellers that say,I,ll bring it to you.

[irishfield]

I go anywhere and leave the lads behind at times with my '1998 Skidoo Touring 500 Fan. Lloyd's liquid cooled he spends half his life chipping ice because of the intercooler above the track. Leah's '95 Polaris 500 Trail Deluxe is about as unstoppable as my Skidoo.

[Old Man]

Check the compression before buying. Pull the plugs, put the tester on . Pull over a minimum of 5 times with throttle held wide open. Both cylinders should be with in 10 % of each other and no less than 120 psi. Then reinstall . Start the sled an let warm up to idle. While idling, spray a little ether towards the crankseal behind the primary clutch. This tests for leaking crankseals. If the engine idle increases when the ether is sprayed, the seals are leaking and the motor will burn down from running too lean.  Check track conditions,  running gear, sliders, and suspension. Also drive belt, primary and secondary clutch condition. 

My 2007 AC Panther 570cc  Fan Cooled has been a great sled for ice fishing.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Old Man

[Tjames09]

I’m trying to find a two up machine. Not sure who makes them two up with fan cooled. I haven’t found any for sale yet. Everything is liquid cooled

[DRIFTER_016]

My 2008 Yamaha RS Venture GT.

1000 cc liquid cooled 4 stroke. 

It has only overheated once while pulling 2 loaded boggans over hard pack in the trees at very slow speed.

No issues on the lakes or open trail.

As for running in the spring or on hard pack, ICE SCRATCHERS!!!!

Edited September 29, 2019 by DRIFTER_016

[Tjames09]

That’s a nice machine. That’s exactly what I’m looking to get. How do you like it?

[chris.brock]

Are you going to be heading into back lakes where you might have to break trail and bush wack? Drifter's sled is exactly what you don't want for that.

I just skimmed through a bunch of sleds on kijiji, I didn't see anything suitable. It could be tough to find something.

JMO, avoid Ski doo for sure, avoid liquid cooled performance Cats, Yamaha would be me 1st choice and Polaris 2nd.

 

[Old Man]

38 minutes ago, Tjames09 said:

I’m trying to find a two up machine. Not sure who makes them two up with fan cooled. I haven’t found any for sale yet. Everything is liquid cooled

In the year range you specified, both AC Panthers and the Bearcat came in 570cc fan cooled. It’s a good solid motor with good power for a fan cooled.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Old Man

[Old Man]

7 minutes ago, Tjames09 said:

That’s a nice machine. That’s exactly what I’m looking to get. How do you like it?

Love it. It has good power, great in deep snow, handles and rides nice. Pulls my portable loaded down with no problem. Ownedit since new and has been a great sled.

[Tjames09]

What would be considered high mileage for a 10 year old or more machine? Seeing lots of 10,000km machines

[AKRISONER]

10,000k is what i would consider to be high mileage. Especially on skidoos from 2006ish to 2015ish when the e-tech series sleds came out

That 10 year period after the requirement for sleds to start going to direct oil injection. Those sleds because of the new tech are known for oil starvation issues while they tried to figure out how to get enough oil into the cylinder on two strokes. You have to imagine how many compressions and precise oil deliveries those engines have to give every second with the timing.

A 4 stroke two up might be a solid choice for you. Yamaha made some great sleds during that era. They are a bit heavy for breaking trail, but i dont think you are neccesarily going to be  using your sled for serious back lake back country bush whacking. If your plan is to ride the sled around home and out on simcoe, youll absolutely love your 4 stroke.

Edited September 29, 2019 by AKRISONER

[Rod Caster]

You need this

I picked up this 98 XC700 this past April. Can't wait for the season to start. 

Wayne's fan cooled 488 2-up Polaris gets my vote for price and reliability. I also have a 94 Polaris 488 Indy Trail 2 - up that I  just picked up for under $1,500. Lots of them to choose from on the used market. Having said that, every brand has a few really good models, especially in fan-cooled form. Luckily, the internet tends to agree on which sleds are very reliable models (Polaris 488 fan engine) and which one were bombs (older Polaris 550 fan engines) so do some cross-referencing before you buy.

 

My general advice is to buy one in MINT condition. Pay the extra couple hundred bucks to get a squeaky-clean sled and you will not regret it. There are tons of junkers out there... avoid them at all cost! 

[iFish4real]

11 minutes ago, Rod Caster said:

You need this

I picked up this 98 XC700 this past April. Can't wait for the season to start. 

Wayne's fan cooled 488 2-up Polaris gets my vote for price and reliability. I also have a 94 Polaris 488 Indy Trail 2 - up that I  just picked up for under $1,500. Lots of them to choose from on the used market. Having said that, every brand has a few really good models, especially in fan-cooled form. Luckily, the internet tends to agree on which sleds are very reliable models (Polaris 488 fan engine) and which one were bombs (older Polaris 550 fan engines) so do some cross-referencing before you buy.

 

My general advice is to buy one in MINT condition. Pay the extra couple hundred bucks to get a squeaky-clean sled and you will not regret it. There are tons of junkers out there... avoid them at all cost! 

Don't listen to this guy, he's very jealous on my Skidoo 4 stroke ?

I have a Yamaha Apex for sale, btw ?

[cisco]

Call sled dealers and tell em what you're looking for. Bet they can use you to upsell an existing customer. Or maybe they know a possible deal. 

[iFish4real]

This 2006 Yamaha Apex is doing exactly what you're looking for.

You can have it for a good price ?

[DRIFTER_016]

On 9/28/2019 at 6:27 PM, Tjames09 said:

That’s a nice machine. That’s exactly what I’m looking to get. How do you like it?

It rides like a Caddy, gets great gas mileage but it is heavy so it sucks when you get it stuck. 

Oh, it goes like a raped ape too!!!!  ?

I bought it new in November 2007 and it's been great. Only mechanical issue I've had was my own fault. Got stuck at my cabin and spun the track and threw a rock into the rad. Had to replace it which was a pain.

[NAW]

If you going all the way back to 2005-2008...Why not get one of these bad boys!!  This one is an 87..Still starts first pull and never lets me down...Ever.  Ok, maybe I fowled a plug once.

[Sinker]

Just stay away from the high performance sleds if you want to ice fish with it. They are practically useless, unless conditions are perfect for them. They are built to go fast, and that's it. Hauling gear, with a passenger, they are useless most of the time.

I have a 2000 yammy venture 500 fan. Its been bullet proof. My next one will be another venture with the genisis 4 stroke engine.They are bullet proof and rarely get hot. Can't go wrong with any yamaha IMO. I'd avoid polaris like the plague, and consider a Cat (they have yammy engines) and The skidoo utility sleds are decent too. 

Some of the skidoo machines now have a liquid cooled rad, AND a fan, so they are fairly decent. 

S.