Platinum Contributing Member Jimmy Snacks Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 (edited) Late 90’s to very early 2000’s which is the better option ZRT’s or Machs/F3? I owned a SRX and know they are great sleds but excluding them from the discussion.☃️👍🏼❄️ Edited January 5, 2023 by Jimmy Snacks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said: Late 90’s to very early 2000’s which is the better option ZRT’s or Machs/F3? I owned a SRX and know they are great sleds but excluding them from the discussion.☃️👍🏼❄️ Don't have a ZRT but love my 98 and 01 Tcats. I have a 00 Mach but don't have much seat time and just getting the motor back together. I think they are comparable and would come down to your mfg of choice. Vmax 4's are fun but chassis wise is far behind by that point. Never ridden or owned a late model XCR but hear about the same. Last horse for my stable I've yet to pull the trigger on. Edited January 5, 2023 by Highmark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Steve753 Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 ZR chassis by far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f7ben Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 I’d say if you’re going to ride it the aws4/5 would be better than the skidoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Depends what you are after. For doo the 96-97 Mach Z is best. The CK3 98-2003 are nicer looking sleds but the electronics are junk and getting really hard to find parts for. SRX are a nice 700 but they aren’t an 800 just never been excited about cat triples for some reason. But if you get one you need to do the stainless steel water pump shaft immediately. The mild steel shaft always goes then the bottom end gets destroyed. All Polaris triples were lame stock until the gen 2 XCR 800. But they need the carb slides changed to Arctic cat ones immediately too. The factory ones are junk and break and destroy the engine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Steve753 Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 2 minutes ago, ACE said: Depends what you are after. For doo the 96-97 Mach Z is best. The CK3 98-2003 are nicer looking sleds but the electronics are junk and getting really hard to find parts for. SRX are a nice 700 but they aren’t an 800 just never been excited about cat triples for some reason. But if you get one you need to do the stainless steel water pump shaft immediately. The mild steel shaft always goes then the bottom end gets destroyed. All Polaris triples were lame stock until the gen 2 XCR 800. But they need the carb slides changed to Arctic cat ones immediately too. The factory ones are junk and break and destroy the engine 97 mach z only came in that chassis one year correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Just now, Steve753 said: 97 mach z only came in that chassis one year correct? Yes they only built the 97 for one year tbh 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Steve753 Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 Just now, ACE said: Yes they only built the 97 for one year tbh I worded that wrong. It was a different chassis in 96 and 98 ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Just now, Steve753 said: I worded that wrong. It was a different chassis in 96 and 98 ? Lol yeah 96 was a 780 with the c7 rear suspension 97 was the 809 with the SC10 then 98 was the CK3 97 will ride better than the 96 but the 96 will handle and holeshot better. Performance is basically a wash between the two the engines are almost identical. The 809 has 1mm larger pistons and nikasil cylinders. 780 is iron sleeve and has more crank seals. I almost prefer modding a 780 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Steve753 Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 4 minutes ago, ACE said: Lol yeah 96 was a 780 with the c7 rear suspension 97 was the 809 with the SC10 then 98 was the CK3 97 will ride better than the 96 but the 96 will handle and holeshot better. Performance is basically a wash between the two the engines are almost identical. The 809 has 1mm larger pistons and nikasil cylinders. 780 is iron sleeve and has more crank seals. I almost prefer modding a 780 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plissken Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 They’ll both get stuck off trail about equally well but a 1996 ZRT 600 weighs 527 lbs vs 546 for a 1996 formula III so you’ll swear a little less digging out the ZRT in theory. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member steve from amherst Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 2 hours ago, Jimmy Snacks said: Late 90’s to very early 2000’s which is the better option ZRT’s or Machs/F3? I owned a SRX and know they are great sleds but excluding them from the discussion.☃️👍🏼❄️ Wanting to be part of the poll? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member steve from amherst Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 2 hours ago, Steve753 said: I worded that wrong. It was a different chassis in 96 and 98 ? I thought I was reading one of snowhumpers post for a minute there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member steve from amherst Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 2 hours ago, Highmark said: Don't have a ZRT but love my 98 and 01 Tcats. I have a 00 Mach but don't have much seat time and just getting the motor back together. I think they are comparable and would come down to your mfg of choice. Vmax 4's are fun but chassis wise is far behind by that point. Never ridden or owned a late model XCR but hear about the same. Last horse for my stable I've yet to pull the trigger on. Dont know what you are missing. Ive owned quite a few and loved em all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 39 minutes ago, steve from amherst said: Dont know what you are missing. Ive owned quite a few and loved em all. Just haven't found the right one yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRONDOG Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 ZRTs have much better cranks than the 3 cylinder Skidoos. Bigger bearings with steel ball cages rather than phenolic , labyrinth non-contact seals rather than rubber and just a lot easier to work with than the Rotax cranks. Cat crank parts are expensive though, and have way less aftermarket support like rods and bearings than Rotax cranks. But neither Cat nor Rotax can hold a candle to Yamaha crank reliability. There, I said it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Skidooski Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 The Mach Z is faster then the T-cat so you’ll be going even slower with the ZRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sled_Hed Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DriftBusta Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 7 hours ago, Plissken said: They’ll both get stuck off trail about equally well but a 1996 ZRT 600 weighs 527 lbs vs 546 for a 1996 formula III so you’ll swear a little less digging out the ZRT in theory. 7 hours ago, Steve753 said: ZR chassis by far. Yeah I like the handling, but having to carry a rollaway on the back to keep the thing running is a bit of a weight penalty. 7 hours ago, ACE said: Lol yeah 96 was a 780 with the c7 rear suspension 97 was the 809 with the SC10 then 98 was the CK3 97 will ride better than the 96 but the 96 will handle and holeshot better. Performance is basically a wash between the two the engines are almost identical. The 809 has 1mm larger pistons and nikasil cylinders. 780 is iron sleeve and has more crank seals. I almost prefer modding a 780 Dude you're like the professor CK3s. 7 hours ago, Plissken said: They’ll both get stuck off trail about equally well but a 1996 ZRT 600 weighs 527 lbs vs 546 for a 1996 formula III so you’ll swear a little less digging out the ZRT in theory. I'd take the ZR chassis for handling of that era over any CK3. But for pure top speed of that era, flip a coin, they were both honest 120 mph sleds. But I always thought the Doos of that era handled like ass. I'd still take an SRX just for refinement and reliability over the other two, even if they're not quite as fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Skidooski Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 55 minutes ago, IRONDOG said: ZRTs have much better cranks than the 3 cylinder Skidoos. Bigger bearings with steel ball cages rather than phenolic , labyrinth non-contact seals rather than rubber and just a lot easier to work with than the Rotax cranks. Cat crank parts are expensive though, and have way less aftermarket support like rods and bearings than Rotax cranks. But neither Cat nor Rotax can hold a candle to Yamaha crank reliability. There, I said it. Yeah my crank guy isn’t too happy to see me sone times. He dislikes working on the Rotax cranks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Skidooski Posted January 5, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 5, 2023 SRX has the vest rear skid. 😂🤣😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRONDOG Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 6 hours ago, Skidooski said: Yeah my crank guy isn’t too happy to see me sone times. He dislikes working on the Rotax cranks Who is your crank guy? - I may know him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenStreak Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 I had a 96 zrt600 never had an issue with it always ran good and it would run with (not beat) but would run side by side with my buddies 800 Renegade 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Crappie Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 14 hours ago, Jimmy Snacks said: Late 90’s to very early 2000’s which is the better option ZRT’s or Machs/F3? I owned a SRX and know they are great sleds but excluding them from the discussion.☃️👍🏼❄️ Xcr800 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Blackstar Posted January 6, 2023 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 6, 2023 Loved my '96 ZRT 600 until I bought my '98 ZRT 800. I owned a '00 Tcat a few years ago just for fun. There is nothing like the pull of that Tcat triple with grip on clean ice. I went 118 on the gun and sold it before I killed myself. Always wondered how the ZRT600 with power valves worked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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