anything good or bad about a artic cat zrt 800

[kinrob1234]

i was wondering if anyone could tell me anything good or bad about a 7-95 date it was made artic cat zrt 800 triple thanks

 

[Arctic37]

I've got a '96 Thundercat 900 tripple, virtually the same engine as the 800 zrt, and I love these big trips. One of the most common problems with them though is the water pumps seals. If you notice antifreeze leaking look up at the bottom of the water pump and see if it's comming from the small weap hole, it's a small square slot notched into the bottom of the case. The cure is just to do a comeplete rebuild with all new seals a propeller. The pump shaft may need to be replaced to if it is pitted really bad. The shaft can be a bit tricky to get out, if your interested let me know and I'll send you some pics of a small puller I used to get it out. Another problem I've read about in other forums is that the bearings on the blance shaft go bad because of lack of oil getting to the bearings. I personally have not had a problem with this yet but I plan on doing a tear down of the engine next season and I'll take a look then to see what condition the bearings are in. Other than all that I really like my sled, yea their a lot heavier to ride on the trails and it can be hard to keep up with people on newer sleds, but out in the open, on hard pack trails and lakes nobody can touch you.

 

[dudley68]

I have to replace my waterpump impeller shaft and would like a picture of your puller! It would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ZO_Woody]

I could use the direction to pull the shaft also.

Thanks

 

[katmandoo]

Regarding changing shafts. Make sure you really need to , double check where the seal actually rides. I bought a used sled that someone drove the seal beyond where it needed to be. Drove seals to proper position with no problem. Repair manual is very helpful.

 

[Arctic37]

I have to replace my waterpump impeller shaft and would like a picture of your puller! It would be greatly appreciated!

Let me get some pics together and I'll get them to you as soon as I can.

 

[Arctic37]

I have to replace my waterpump impeller shaft and would like a picture of your puller! It would be greatly appreciated!

Alright here we go, this is going to be a little harder to explain than I thought but here it goes. In pic#1 I have it arranged in pieces so you can see what I used. The gold colored washers need to fit around the outside of the water pump shaft, you will need several of them. The sleeve is just a piece of 3/8" steel pipe that I cut to where it is about a 1/4" longer than the water pump shaft. The smaller silver washers have a hole large enough for the bolt but must be wider than the end of the sleeve. The nut is what's called a "fat nut", they are slightly longer than a standard nut of that size. If you can find them you need a grade 10.8 or harder, I used 12.9's, these are metric nuts and bolts. The bolt is a hex head 6.0mm x 1.0, 12.9 grade. Unfortunatly, these bolts are not threaded up far enough so you will have to use a die and thread the bolt as close to the head as you can, just take your time and go slow do a little at a time back the die off and thread some more.
Once you have that done your ready to go, pic#2 shows the puller assembled. What you need to do is thread the nut up onto the bolt as far as it will go, next slide on the smaller washer, use two if you can. Slide the steel sleeve over the water pump shaft, then thread the bolt into the end of the water pump shaft. Turn the bolt until it bottoms out on the threads but only make it finger tight. Next turn the nut down towards the steel sleeve until it is snug against the washer. Before starting to use a wrench try to make the steel sleeve as centered as possible around the water pump shaft. You will need a socket type allen wrench to fit into the end of the bolt to hold the water pump shaft still, a regular allen wrench will work but a ratchet will give you much more leverage and make the job easier. It also helps to keep the engine from turnning, what I did was to slide a steel rod through the pull start catch, you'll see what I mean when you remove the pull start cover. Ok, with everything in place while holding the bolt still start to tighten the nut this will start to draw the shaft out. As the shaft bottoms out on the nut and washer you will need to remove everything add the larger washers to the bottom of the sleeve and start again. You will have to keep doing this until the shaft is out. If you can find a longer bolt you won't have to worry about adding washers, but bolts in this size are hard to find any longer than 2 1/2". Anyway just take your time and keep adding washers until the shaft falls out, it can be a stubborn little bastard so don't get in a hurry.

Reinstalling the new shaft is a little easier. If you look at pic#3 you'll see two bolts the one on the bottom is what the one on the top started out as. What I did was thread one of the nuts up onto the bolt and very carefully using a grinding wheel took the threads off the end of the bolt about 5/8" from the bottom then remove the nut, this will clean the threads so the bolt can thread into the end of the shaft. The reason for this is that you want the bolt to bottom out inside the shaft passed were the threads are. The threads in the shaft only go in as far as the flat sides that the propeller slides on to and if you use these threads to hammer in the new shaft you can actually snap off the end of the shaft or ruin the threads for the propeller bolt. You need that bolt to push deep inside the shaft were it is thicker. You will also need to cut another sleeve that is exactly the length that the water pump shaft needs to stick out from the balance shaft, mine was 1.580" pic#4. Once you have everthing ready to go, pic#5, thread the nut onto the bolt put on one of the smaller washers used in the removal then thread the bolt into the new shaft until it bottoms out, just make it snug with your fingers, then turn the nut down towards the shaft until the washer is tight against the end of the shaft. Take the bolt, nut, washer and shaft and stick it in the freezer overnight. I know this sounds a little weired but it will make reinstalling easier. Pic#6 is how you want everything to look when your ready to put the new shaft in. You'll want to use a pen torch, pic#7, to heat up the hole in the end of the balance shaft that the shaft goes into. You don't want it red hot, you just want it hot enough to expand the metal a little, that's why you stick the shaft in the freezer to help it slide in easier because it is an extremely tight fit. Get everything lined up and using a heavy hammer start tapping it in. Start off gently at first to get it started you don't want to get that thing cocked in there because it won't go any further if you do. Once you get it started go ahead and tap it in until the sleeve becomes snug. If you cut your sleeve right the shaft should be sticking out the exact length you need.

Please forgive any spelling mistakes. I hope this works for you guys.

 

[kinrob1234]

i no longer have this sled

 

[zrt800triplem]

The bearing on the shaft behind my water pump is bad. How do I change that?