king cat 900 and trails

[04kingcat900]

hi all i know im new but i need to know i live in pa. I just bought a 2004 King cat 900 i got it with 750 miles in the intentions of trail riding with it can anyone tell me how it trail rides i would really like to know so i can maby trade it for a trail sled even tho i have turned to extremly likeing its looks did i make a mistake buying it around here, where all i do is trail ride? and if i do trail ride it will it hurt the suspention? i really need the help i realy appriciate it and sorry for some of the spelling some of my keys are sticking

 

[Ancient Sledder]

I hope I can be of help. I have one and it is not made for the trails. The jetting in the midrange is wrong and it will burn down the engine. You have to change the needles, I believe. The timing advance is wrong for low elevation and that will damage the engine. The track and suspension are wrong for the trails. I will not jump mine on hardpack, it is way too soft. It is geared to climb so it has no top end. If you gear it for 100 mph then the track can't take the speed. But, if you ride it at high elevation in powder, you won't be able to wipe the smile off of your face. I ride mine in northern British Columbia at 6000 feet and I love it.

 

[finndoo]

I hope I can be of help. I have one and it is not made for the trails. The jetting in the midrange is wrong and it will burn down the engine. You have to change the needles, I believe. The timing advance is wrong for low elevation and that will damage the engine. The track and suspension are wrong for the trails. I will not jump mine on hardpack, it is way too soft. It is geared to climb so it has no top end. If you gear it for 100 mph then the track can't take the speed. But, if you ride it at high elevation in powder, you won't be able to wipe the smile off of your face. I ride mine in northern British Columbia at 6000 feet and I love it.

Yeah pretty much what he said. I rode mine for 3 seasons and it was a good mountain sled but on the trails she was a handful, those tall bars, no sway bar, 162 inch track made her less than ideal for running hard pack. The thing about the midrange lean spot on a carbed KK, all too true as I found out the hard way. I put EGT's on mine and could watch the temp get dangerous on the long trails to the hills, in my case I would just throttle back briefly and continue on. If you do run trails a lot with yours on the trail put scratchers on and vary your throttle position and clutch it accordingly.

 

[Modman]

What they ^^^ said. Also, the taller track will cause problems if you are riding on low snow or hardpack because it may not kick up enough snow for cooling on the sliders or the tunnel coolers. A 2" track needs at least 1.5" of soft snow at all times to keep sufficiently cool IMO. Many western riders melt their sliders or overheat their sleds every year in the hard spring snow, which is much like your trails out east from what I've seen and heard. I would buy a set of scratchers and install them or swap the track to a lower lug.

If you have any icy trails out your way, the taller lugs will not help you stop either, because they tend to just fold over and slide on the ice, instead of digging in like picks do.

The mountain sleds do not corner well. The longer tracks and rails (and softer suspensions in this case) allow a lot of weight transfer to the rear, so the steering is light compared to a short track, so don't expect to rail corners at 90 mph like you would on a short track because the skis will likely push through the corners and you'll be off in the weeds. You can buy some aggresive skis to help this, but the real issue is the weight transfer. The longer suspension will likely give you more bridging over the smaller stutter bumps and maybe a smoother ride on your trails, but you will be giving up a lot of performance for that ride.

As stated, the gearing is much lower and it takes more power to turn a bigger track so don't expect to win any lake races against your buddies. The motor may be revving higher than desired all the time due to the gearing, especially if you are running fast trails for most of the riding. Extra RPM for hours on end could be harder on the motor than a sled with gearing.

I don't think you're going to hurt the sled by trail riding it moderately, unless you overheat it or melt the sliders, or keep it pinned across a lake for an hour, but you may find yourself fighting it in the corners and wishing it had more top end across the lakes or down the straightaways.

 

[2004ingcat900]

thank you to all who is helping me the guy i bought it off of gave me and switched every thing over from 6000+ feet over to where i ride in about 2500 ft he changed the cdi, needles, jets, and helix and clutch weights i guess i should have told you guys that will this stuff help some of the problems i will have with this sled and this is still 04kingcat900 i dont know why my member name changed

 

[capri1]

i have a 2004 king cat carbed. live in saskatchewan. all i did was put in boyseen reeds; ed@d complete exhaust system and run 460 jets. the clutch i pulled the weights and put in 84 grams. ran er for 3 years and never had a problem.
also i agree on the scratchers huge difference