there is almost no room to get at the recoil. Do I have to remove the whole frickin engine to replace the recoil rope?


2004 pro-xr c/w 700 ves engine

that would be the easiest.

pull the exhaust, carbs, and belt. Undo the 4 engine mounting bolts and lift a few inches up to access recoil?

Sound about what I have to do.

you will also have to remove the mounting screws for the oil pump , the good news is its only about a hour and half job. Dont disconnect any or the cooling system or the oil pump hose. To get to the rear motor mount remove the air box and loosen the carb rack and lift carbs out of the way (leave the cables in them but disconnect the fuel line). This will give you enough room for the rear mounts.

i have pod filters so removing the carbs and zip tieing them out of the way is pretty straight forward.

Thanks for the help.

I only loosened the right 2 mounts but mine is a 600 so your mileage may differ. On a 700 change out the water pump belt while you are in there.

get a recoil rope from 4Z at snowest, he has some tough ropes, wery impressive

As mentioned, if the motor has more than 2000 miles on it replace the waterpump belt. Replace the recoil rope with a 4Z rope regardless. The stock rope will most likely break sooner or later, unless you never let your sled sit outside a whole night at below zero.

As does SLP, 5000 PSI rope, unbreakable.


Don

they are probably the same make of rope..

They are different I'm pretty sure. I've got the SLP rope on my Pro-X. I think the 4Z rope is cheaper though and plenty strong enough.

got some good quality slp rope. The engine only has a few hundred km since its last rebuild so the belt should be good.

when i did my install of the 4z rope i had to use a saw to cut it, no pliers where able to tear it..

http://www.pixbox.se/pic_show_id20888966.html

That's how the SLP rope is, hard to cut with a knife or razor blade, I chop it with a small hatchet on a block of iron.


Don

I cut mine with a huge knippers we had at my dad's shop. Probably 1 ft. long handles on it. Definitly hard to cut which isn't a bad thing.

now I am jelous that I put mere mortal rope in my pro. Where do you get this 4z stuff?

From member 4Z on SnoWest.

FYI, Also check the metal flared piece that the rope goes through, it's riveted to the console, most are not tilted down enough and the rope frays from rubbing on the sharp edge instead of the rounded flared part like it should. I tilted it down on all of our sleds.

so I am finally doing the job. I got the 2 rear engine mounting nuts off and the front mounting bolts. The carbs are pulled as well as the belt and exhaust including y pipe. The engine stop is also loosened to the max.

The engine won't come out. It keeps hitting the steering post. I have removed the upper and lower steering post mounting joints but the post is still in the way. It almost looks like I have to remove the rear mounting bolts, not just the nuts.

I am going to change the track anyways but that was a job for later. If I pull the drivers, do I have access to the rear engine mounting bolts from underneath?

No, they are threaded into the bulkhead and you can't even see them from underneath.

That is 7mm climbers rope. it is available from most outdoor outfitters.

so I finally finished off last night. This is not an easy job with a big block engine.

1) the upper steering post and the lower steering post mounts must be removed. The steering post does not allow the big block engine to come up far enough to access the recoil cover bolts.

2) the handlebars must be disconnected from the steering post to allow it to rotate forward and out of the way

3) the mag side cooling lines have to be removed

This is definately a big job but that is the price you pay for owning a modifed sled. Total time was 4-5 hours, not including breaks for swearing and getting band-aids. I could probably cut that in half next time.

I took mine out without removing anything, doesn't make sense why you couldn't.

does the 03 pro-x have over the engine steering post?

My mistake, I did not realize you were talking about an '04 Pro-XR.

so I pull the rope and it didn't engage . I screwed up re-assembling the recoil. After yelling at my kids, cursing my dog, and renewing an old resentment with a high school guy I haven't seen for 20 years, I begin again.

2 hours later, job is pretty much done. The steering post does have to come forward but you only have to remove one coolant line - the inlet to the coolant bottle. It comes off too to make life easier.

All done, now it is time to make amends to a few people.

BTW, stubby ratcheting wrenches ( 9/16 and 10 mm) really helps with engine mounting bolts and one of the recoil cover bolts.

BTW, how do you like the 03? I am thinking of another project and am real close to picking up a 2003 race 440 pro-x. I have another 700 engine so it should get easier next time.

I haven't ridden an '04 but I love my '03. Only sled I'd trade it for would be an IQ or REV XP.

Just what I needed to see today. Finally got the 800 all put back together and second pull the @$*^^(*%$(&$$%@%$@*^% rope breaks off! I'm ordering SLP stuff today. Starting to think this sled doesn't want to be run ever again! Only good thing is I think it took about 5 minutes to get the recoil assembly off.