Just bought this sled for my boy. A big step up from his puma. The sled has 2.3k miles. I am a carb man and never owned a sled with efi. Are there any problems I should be ready for? I already pulled the track suspension and found one bad Idle wheel bearing. The jack shaft was tight. The speedo works. I found a front right motor mount broke and ordered a new one. I plan on studding the track, any suggestions on the size and amount of studs need for basic trail riding. Should I put dooley carbides on? I want this sled to be as safe handling as I can. He's only 14 and very cautious now but with a few more years of riding I want a sled thats forgiving and responsive

as far as the efi is concerned I had it on a bunch of sleds with no issues, just don't run thee tank dry.

while its apart I would replace the jack shaft bearings, it's not too bad of a job.

inspect the chain and gears for wear, if anything seems out of spec you should replace them all at once, the oem gears are pretty cheap in my opinion, price wise, not quality that is.

forget the dually's you don't need them, just a nice set of 6" woody's would be fine.
it may dart a bit more but will corner better with a basic runner, i have found.

I think 72 studs is perfect with 6" runners, that 2-2-skip-2-2-skip2-2-skip.
you don't need a ton of studs, 96 would be the only other option, 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-...you get the picture, 2 per lug.
save some money and just run 72, trust me you'll be fine. worse case go back and add 2 studs to the lugs you skipped and you'll be at 96.

This is the set up on my wifes zl 500 which I think is perfect, I ran this same set up on 2 earlier model zr 580's, which i thought was a good balance.

you may want to tighten the limiter straps a bit to add more ski pressure, not so much it becomes hard to turn but enough to keep the front end down so the runners bite harder in the turns, which will prevent the sled from pushing through the turns. these chasis are pretty good though you should nat have any real difficulty.

grease all fitting before you put the skid back in.

Change the chain case oil, you may see some metal flakes in it, this is common, especially with reverse.

if you ar not familiar get the clutches inspected sand serviced by a reputable dealer.
put on a new belt.

have fun and enjoy!!!, your son will love it, get him involved in the work, if you have not already,it will make for a great experience and he should understand how all the components work.

I had a 97 ZR 580, I'm not sure if they made any improvements on the engine by 2000 but there are a few things you need to keep an eye on with this motor. It is a strong runner and is surprisingly powerful for a 580, however, I believe because this engine was pushing the envelope from the factory they could develop a crank imbalance. With only 2300 miles on it this shouldn't be a problem but I would check it out to be sure. They can test to see the deflection with a certain tool at any Cat dealer. If the crank is imbalanced, other things on the engine could shake loose. The part that did come loose on mine was the recoil cover. I went though 1-2 of these a season. You said the engine mount was broken, I would get a dealer to check through CatTracker to see if the sled has been in for any servicing that may suggest it was in a collision. Do any body parts look newer? When I bumped a tree with my ZR I broke a motor mount and it was because I jarred the frame and it did tweak slightly. I'm not trying to scare you, just letting you know what to look out for.

-Ryan