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Bitching is easy. Doing something takes more effort.

It looks like you already discovered what I was going to mention. They reduced the parts list. The same bushing is used in a lot of places on the Catalyst. I replaced all of them during the season. I was surprised the steering post used the same bushing.

Part number 18 is the only bushing assembly on Catalyst A arm mounts. It is a straight bushing inside the tube with no collar on the end. The tube ends of #16 are in direct contact with the ears on the front frame. The wear is happening on #16 tube ends and the front frame ear assemblies. Look at the 21 RXC numbers 18 & 21. Those are both collared bushings. Ironically, the collars are placed on the end where the Catalyst assembly is showing wear. The worst wear on Catalyst sleds is on the rearmost end of the rear mount. If you have a Catalyst with some miles put the front up in the air. Turn one ski while holding the other or push back on the lower A arm. You will be able to see how much it is worn. You can do that test without pulling the rubber boots.

We need something like the second linked product. Unfortunately, they would not fit without machining the A arm tubes. The current setup has the tube ends right against the frame mount brackets. There is not much tube length left to machine off the ends.

I sure hope someone comes up with a decent bushing kit or reinforcement for the lower A arms. Those guys have a "bushing kit", but it doesn't address the wearing of A arms and frame dog ear brackets. There is no bushing between A arm tubess and frame brackets. It is a rapid wear point. I installed one of their "bushing kits" and ended up pressing out the whole works because the A arm tubes were still wearing too much. The inside of the tubes is fine but the ends are wearing shorter.

That was my assumption. Funny thing about this, they were also in the process of moving to a new item# system. The new numbers, three - five digets. (001-00001), do not apply to the helix. The new numbers show up in strange spots on parts diagrams. One example, the 858 primary uses the old style numbers except for the screw bushings under the cover. The 858 motor shows old numbers except on the cylinders and gasket "sets"? It's odd that some obviously new parts don't use the new numbers system while some new parts fall under the updated system.

The RXC 858 helix is stamped 56/49 and is superseded with another 56/49 number. I don't know what is up with the discontinued number. There are quite a few different part numbers for stock 56/49 helixes. I'm not sure if they changed the rate of progression? I do understand the part number change when they switched to ADAPT vs Team, but I don't know why they show differently between models in the MY 25 sleds.

Just got back from the UP today. We rode in those temps. I don't mind doing that once and awhile. It's easy to stop and hang out. Traffic was super light. We had a few stops completely to ourselves. Hardest part were the nights that froze everything into solid ice, Cooling was tricky. We only did a little over 400 miles and one set of carbides.

When was that? We were up there on Wednesday. On the way back we stopped on a Trail 1 turnout to enjoy the day. I saw a black dot on the trail while we were sitting. I went to investigate and it was someone's gas cap. The cap is sitting on a big ol rock on the first turnout south of the tower station.

Pretty cool. He's a great guy. Always a straight shooter. I didn't realize he had so many historical machines.

Loose and rough sugar snow is brutal. I ended up swapping skis and did some shock tweaking. We rode in some heavy traffic and trails were a workout. This group of sleds came home with quite a few different or missing parts. The 858s held up fairly well with only one snow flap a flappin. The 800 had a ring gear snap off and went through a clutch swap. The 600 went most of the week with no flap. The 9R was wearing right side A arms and bodywork off a Boost most of the week. Dang tree hugger. Sure it was a rough week, but it was riding.

I have an RXC and bud has ATAC version. Both are around 1,500 mile clicks. We typically swap sleds and ride the backups at some time during most trips. All sleds have the 137 skids. Backups are, 22 RR, 22 ATAC 800 and a 24 Catalyst ATAC 600. 858 motor does vibrate and growl if you want to do slow cruising. If that's your gig, go to the 600. It's smoother and really easy to ride. The old 800 has less growl at low speeds but riding the chassis is more work. If the clutching was a little better on the 858, they would be close to having it great. Top speed is so so. Mid range is ok but not fantastic with stock clutching. We have found that the new 858 primary is holding up much better. That one detail is worth a lot in our world. We did some bombing around on the 22 sleds and they are cushy. The seats feel like a couch. I have the RR suspension dialed in perfect for my weight and it runs well. Both 22 sleds have new clutches and the RR has a fresh motor. So, in short, the comparison is new running metal. The miles are going on the 858 sleds this year. Two guys can only ride two sleds and we keep going to the 858s. They are easy to ride and they are responsive to input. One caveat is the dang snow flap. Buddies kids backed over a couple already. I'm reattaching the RXC flap every 5-600 miles. The mount system isn't great for a long flap. The upside is that the cooling works great with or without flaps on 600 and 858 sleds. It's just a sloppy mess to ride without.

The guy could do a comedy routine. Pretty damn funny.

Snowball maker. Temps must have been just right. Bag was empty and the inner flap was closed. We opened it up to throw empties and there were a dozen or so perfectly round little snowballs. Oh, and the trail report? Club says trails were great. I'm familiar with that club's creative writing technique and it was in true form with their latest report. Rough trails can be fun. It's a good workout and the riff raff usually stays away. Unfortunately, it looked like they read "great conditions" and showed up. Tons of putt putt riders and quite a few part droppers. Lost and found bins should be full around there this spring. The irony of that day was finding a good stretch to use go fast levers. Saw a few sleds with side panels open with a crew of belt chunk diggers. Three sleds on ropes within a twenty mile stretch.

RXC uses the same rotor as Procross RR sleds. The Catalyst RXC is delivered with pads that are the better version used on earlier race sleds. Many of the brake components are interchangeable with Procross.