Old set-up 121", 1.25 stock cat track with 168 1.325 megabites with aluminum backers. if I go to 136" x 1.25 ripsaw with no studs, will the weight savings offset the length and weight of new track so that my old gear set-up will be ok ? thanks

I think it does offset the weight to some extent, though maybe not 1:1. I went from the 1" track and 192 studs to the 1.375" track and no studs and didn't change gears, stayed with the stock 24/39 gears. I thought it ran great. However, just for the sake of experimenting a bit I'm going to change it up this year and go 23/40. Just want to see what kind of difference it makes.

What gears are you currently running?

Last year ran stock 24/39 with speedwerx single, rad valves, shelf removed in air box, clutching of course, at 7800 rpm and it was great . Im also 6'5" 270 lbs so theres a lot to pull around. I mark my clutches and it was fully shifting out so I knew I was close, almost all my miles were in the u.p. on the trails so I dont know what would have happened in some deep snow.

Most of my miles were on trails as well, however, I had no problems whatsoever in powder. I'd say try it and see what you think. I can't recommend any other gear ratios cuz I haven't tried any yet, but like I said, I'm going to gear down a bit just to see how it goes.

(01 800) I'm 200lb 121inch 244 studs I spend time in both UP and lower,
houghton lake area etc.. don't go down you'll get run over
by them damn F7's that motor loves to pull so don't worry
about that extra track and it being to heavy.
But if you do gear down, it will drink the fuel if at cruzing speed,
IE UP trails. I'm running 25/37 72pitch chain yes huge mph but
I only run 75 to 80 in the trails and it loves it.

I don't think you need to worry about the added length, it's really not that much. I still run stock gearing and don't run out of RPM's with my 136" 800. I still hit mid to upper 7's at WOT. I do have a nice clutch kit, but have done nothing to the gearing.

I did not mean that the sled only goes 70-80mph at WOT
It will acheive 110-115mph
I just like to run the UP highways at 75ish and with a slighty
taller gear it does quite smoothly 5500-6000 rpms
instead of having it screaming at 7500 plus.
Plus I run a 1.25 track so its good in the deep as well.
Later

How do you go about marking your clutches and checking to see if it is fully shifting?

i broke my drive axle in half mid season last year. i broke the chain and trashed the upper gear sooo i dropped a tooth on top and went with a 15 wide chain and upper gear. i didnt feel much diffference, but i did it mainly to make life easier on the belt on takeoff churring the 136x1.5 in deep snow. the first belt last season was cooked pretty good runnning stock cluching except for the ZR900 weights. it lasted over 1000 miles though before i pulled it for safety.

If you haven't, you could check the parts fiche on Browns website to see what similarily equipped 2002 MountainCat 800's are running.

http://www.brownsleisureworld.com/