I am an arctic cat guy and I am looking at buying a 97 formula z 583 for my g/f. I am wondering what to look for on this sled. How reliable are they? after how many miles can I expect to do a rebuild? how often does the rotary valve need to be replaced? Are these sleds prone to and sort of work (anything thats common)? How ofter does the clutch need rebuilding. I have heard very good things about the rotax engine, I do not however know how many miles are on this one. Any information would be great. Also is there any kind of manual (shop manual) available for this sled. If I do end up with it I want to be able to do most if not all the work by myself. Thanks.

Originally posted by IRON WILL@Nov 5 2004, 07:57 AM
I am an arctic cat guy and I am looking at buying a 97 formula z 583 for my g/f. I am wondering what to look for on this sled. How reliable are they? after how many miles can I expect to do a rebuild? how often does the rotary valve need to be replaced? Are these sleds prone to and sort of work (anything thats common)? How ofter does the clutch need rebuilding. I have heard very good things about the rotax engine, I do not however know how many miles are on this one. Any information would be great. Also is there any kind of manual (shop manual) available for this sled. If I do end up with it I want to be able to do most if not all the work by myself. Thanks.
360343



Like I said in the other post, I think these motors are rock solid. I wouldn't expect you'll need to rebuild the motor for a long time.

The power band in the 583 is like a rubber band... It feels sort of weak out of the hole when it's first spinning up but then all of a sudden it sling-shots you. (I'm not saying these motors are slow, just that you notice the difference in how they spin up...) The other thing is they run almost as fast at 2/3 or 3/4 throttle as they do at WOT so it makes it easy to resist the urge to run WOT all the time. I think this is because the rotary valve intake give more midrange power but the power tapers off quicker than case reeds at high RPMs

I have one and it has been great! The description above about the motor is a good one. It really is a strong motor when its on the pipe for a sub 600cc motor. Big carbs help too. The suspension is purrrfect for the g/f. Cushy but not wallowy. YOu would be hard pressed to find a more reliable and maintenance free motor than this one, but keep an eye on the suspension parts. I am debating holding onto this sled for my wife but may keep the 670 :!: instead. You should be able to do all the wrenching yourself and when there is a problem/question, it usually gets answered pretty quickly on this site or another. Ebay has manuals if you need paper.

I can immediately address the reliabilty issue ..... this was my last sled prior to my Rev. When I sold it, it had over 15,000 MILES on it, still started and ran flawlessly. Would run a solid 95 mph, more in good conditions. The clutches were not touched (other than cleaning) for 12,000 miles and I honed it and re ringed it at 12,000 miles. Excellent mileage, comfortable ride and a rock solid performer. I would highly recommend it as a second sled.

Michael

My cousin has a 97 Formula Z 583, and I absolutely love that sled. It's not the fastest sled out there, but it is probably one of the most reliable engines that Doo has ever made. I know others with a ton of miles (10,000 plus) on their 583's and they are still running great.

There also shouldn't be any parts you need to replace on the clutches, except for the buttons in the secondary (about $1 each, there's 3 of them). That will depend on how dirty the clutches have been run, but as a general rule, Ski-Doo's TRA clutches only require to be cleaned every once in a while. I have 5000 miles on my clutches, and I just replaced my secondary buttons for the first time, that was all that I needed to replace. I replace my primary spring about once every other year (2000 miles or so..) to keep it at peak performance. Keep them clean, and they should last forever. (see the tech discussion section on here for info on how to take them apart..)