Is this a good buy? 1998 ZR600EFI 4300 miles, no accidents, studded, riser bar, new cover, mod chip, other spare parts. Looks really good except for tear along the back seam in the seat. Should I jump on this? What should I be awware of?
HELP!

Be advised that the 98 and 99 eat crank bearings!! If they are nor changed they will tear up crank and also the stator from the end bearing play . Over 4K miles watch out.

In Canada you would be paying 3500 for that sled at a minimum. Sounds like a deal to me.

Eating crank bearings????? :sarcasm:

I believe the only problem they had were the recall on the cylinders on certain 600s

My bud has a 98 ZR6 efi LE with over 6000miles no problems

$1500 sounds like a decent deal IMO

They are going for $3000+ here

:withstupid: Caleb, I saw you post this on a different topic. I have never heard of these things having bad Cranks either.

Got two 99's, one with 5,500 miles, another with 6,000 miles plus.
Both have new top ends and don't intend on redoing the rotating end until 10,000 mi.
Have had many customers have 10,000 + on the crank and bearings with absolutely ZERO problems. saying the 99's eat bearings is just plain madness.
Both my sleds have eaten stators, but normally they go before 4,000 mi.
Powder and mountain riders may eat stators more often due to snow injestion.
Oh, the going price for that sled around here is $2,200 - $2,800.00
Try this web site www.snowmobileauction.com
Go to the price reports and see what that sled is bringing at auction.

$1,500.00 sounds like a great deal to me, you sure will love the sled IMO

Vman

you can also check www.kbb.com,,,,they will tell you what its booking for

Go for it! 1500 sounds like a good price!

1500 for that new of a sled, sounds like you have a good deal on your hands. I would purchase, but it's the wrong color for me. :cool:

Sounds like a great deal. In addition to the cylinder recall, some of the 98's did break cranks, but mostly just on the mountain sleds where they were under a heavier load all the time. They stiffened up the crankcase in 2000 to help with this problem. I wouldn't worry about it. I have also never heard of them "eating crank bearings." Their crank bearings seem to last as long as most any other two stroke.

They did still have the 41 inch ski stance on 98 ZR's, so they were a bit more tippy. For 1500, I think you can live with that. :D

The 98s had crank problems. That is an awesome deal. You could take the sled into a shop before you buy it and have them measure crank play. I had the crank go out on my 98 ZR500 and it was expensive. With that milege, the sled is ready for new pistons and rings. The 98s were a really good handling sled. My 98 handled better than the 02 ZR6 that I had.

How much would it cost me to have a top end job done? What about pistons and all? I'm thinking it's worth the 1500 either way to buy it. If I do buy it, what's the first thing I should have done to it? :huh:

It sounds like a good deal and yes there was a cyclinder recall. We had a 98 zr600 carb and that was the worst sled ever, had lots of problems with it but it was just a lemon.

I found out about the crank problem this way:

Brother's sled locked up last feb. Thought he seized it as the t-body boots had been cracked before the recall was done. Pulled it apart this fall and cylinders were fine. Started working the primary back and fourth and she freed up but made a noice in the recoil assembly area. Turns out the stator and flywheel completey grenaded getting parts jammed up thereby seizing the rotating assembly. Fine, 500 for a used stator,flywheel, drum and it's running. Put it together , starts right up. We shut it off as he intends to take it to the auction.Reason being is the crank end looked to be moving alot and had free play by hand. Not a good sign. Day before auctiuon starts it , pulls out of barn adn 15 feet later she won't gain rpm's. shut it off anfd pull rope and that wonderful grinding noise is back. Pull it into the barn and take it apart again and the drum magnets came free. What had happened is the bad crank bearings let the crank move destroying the stator assembly. We talked to our local cat dealer and others and they said it was a commom problem to the 98 and 99 crank bearings. Said if the bearings are replaced you usually don't get crank damage etc. said it usually always happens after 4K usually around 5 though. We've found 7 other guys that this happened to and only one of them was a 98. And around here in MI you can buy a 98 zr600 efi al day for 1200-2500 most around 1700-2200. You get more parting them out now.

The only folks that have crank bearing issues with a 5 or 600 Cat are the same guys that have crank bearing issues with other sleds that don't have an issue either..........if ya don't fog em in the off season the bearings rust and once started again in the fall, fail shortly there after.

I've owned both a 5 & 2-600 twins with high miles and have never heard of any crank issues either. In fact, when sold my 02 ZR 800 had just over 9000 miles on original rings, pistons and crank bearings with compression still checking out 100%.

Go ahead..............it's a deadly good deal if the sled checks out.

Rick.

:D I saw the ad for the sled your talking about ( I think anyways), if it was closer to me, I'd already have it sitting in the garage. w00t

Rick. :D

I've never fogged a sled now has anyone I ride with and none of us have ever had a problem. Funny how even a top cat dealer said it was a problem. It's also funny how was the stator end that went first on the afermentioned sleds. I know where you can get a mint 98 zr 600 limited, updated(recalled) cylinders and pistons(700 miles), rebuilt shocks, clicker fox shock for 2500. But sice they go for 1200-1800 at the auction I'd personally go there. 1500 seems like a good deal even if you have to replace a bucnh of normal wear items.

Originally posted by Sled Dogg@Nov 18 2003, 09:12 PM
I've never fogged a sled now has anyone I ride with and none of us have ever had a problem.
Ummm, how do you know that this neglect (not fogging) didn't cause the bearing failure? If you don't fog, rust can and will form on the bearings. It will start up and run fine next fall/winter, and you might not have a problem right away, but you drastically shortened the life of those bearings with all the wear that the rust caused. That's probably what caused the premature wear on your brothers sled. Fogging oil costs like two bucks and only takes a few minutes....

I have known more people than I can count with Cat 600 twins, many with high miles. I have owned four of them myself, including a 98, 99, 00, and 02. The 98 was a first year and had plenty of issues, but bearing wear isn't one of them unless neglected, which can happen with any sled. The main issues were broken cranks, the cylinder recall, and stator failures. The 98's were clutched to shift out at about 8800 RPM. Tim at Black Magic told me that the cylinder/piston problem was caused by harmonics at that RPM, and that the 98's which they clutched at a lower shift RPM didn't experience any failures. This harmonics problem might have also caused the high number of stator failures. Later years of 600's used a different pipe and shifted out at lower RPM, away from those nasty harmonics.

If you run your machine n the summer months you'll be fine. We all run our sleds atlest once or twice a month. The dealer tated flat out they were a problem. He is one of cats most love MI dealers so I'll take his word. Said he made alot of money changing the crank bearings. He said it's the first thing they look at when a stator goes. The vibration kills stators and drums.

I have a huge dealer near me, and ya know what? Almost everyone who works there is a complete moron, especially the service manager. I wouldn't take their word on anything. I prefer personal experience over rumors.

Did you ever consider that your dealer likes selling crank bearings because he makes a lot of money from them?