Anybody have knowledge about these machines in respect of the every day winter trail use???? :(

they are great trail sleds.

I wouldn't mind snagging one for myself if one pops up for the right price when I can finally buy me a "new" sled. :thumbsup:

I had one for about 4 seasons put about 5250 on it. They are ok ;) The pogos dont let you feel the trail they skip over bumps and make the sled tippy with any agressive wear bar. :angry: The rear rack has very little movement: note:Thats were ohh the pain comes in.Dont modfiy it it hates that . Just put some plastic skis on it and a M-10 and you got your self a reliable sled. Oh keep water out of the gas the carbs freeze easy. :cussing:

This one sled here is the 4 cylinder and it has 5400 miles on it , and the crank has been weilded together in the center. Thats why I'm looking in to it . I have never owned a yamaha snowmobile before , and never herd about them [especially about the crank ] . Any other advice?

oops sorry I was talking about the 600's :sleeping: I wrote about it in the yamaha site

I know my buddies 95 600 v-max has 7800-8000 miles on the original engine. Clutch was rebuilt, installed rear skid from a 98 v-max XTC. Reliable and great fuel mileage. Not the fastest, but can get up and go with a decent clutch kit.

FZ700

I always got bad gas mileage on my 600 vmax it got better when I piped it.

Forget about the condition of the sled for a moment and go to the parts counter at your local Yamaha dealer and price the axle bearings, and crankshaft bearings, and jackshaftbearings etc. not that you need them now but you will shortly. What you will find is that they are very expensive, and while you may get a break and find one or two aftermarket supplied, many are yamaha exclusive and you will buy "their" imported bearing, and Yes they will bend you right over on the price!! I'm not bad mouthing yamaha, I've owned 4 of them over the years, and liked them, but the older they get...means most of us can't afford to fix them. the 94 -96 vintage is just about right to need a lot of parts. I'd have to take out a loan for a replacement crank in a v max-4!! I'd bypass these sleds, just my 2 cents.... DooZ

DooZ if you go to a dealer parts counter and check part cost for ANY sled you can talk your self right out of the sport ;)
A new crank for ANY sled is big money (2001 Tcat $3061!! bearings $148 ea @ Browns on line)
I have not found a bearing that was only made by one mfg.
NTN, NSK, KOYO, SKF... will covert to into each other.
Link to help:
http://www.bearings-ez.com/EZ/bearings_hom...ary&ppn=0026988 (http://www.bearings-ez.com/EZ/bearings_home.cgi?display=primary&ppn=0026988)

The 1994 Vmax 750 did not have any crank issues stock.
The 1992 was the only year with the "loose" press.
Even the 92 was fine stock, it did't like any mods.
The crank issue came into play when racers and performance shops started to do HIGH rpm mods.
Bad things can happen at high rpm, thats why ALL Vmax-4's came with a rev-limiter stock. All the performace issues came from poor clutching that would spin the rpm right to the revlimiter. Why yours has crank work, it may at one time had high rpm quad pipes and cdi box (not good).

The fact is the sled is outdated but fun. If it will just be an extra sled and you pick it up cheap fine. If it will be your main trail sled, pass on it. If you like the Vmax-4 look for a 1995 and up 800.
Chris

Originally posted by skimikedoo@Nov 11 2002, 11:42 PM
Anybody have knowledge about these machines in respect of the every day winter trail use???? :(
They're pretty good trail sleds. Nice and fast, certainly has lots of power.

Sure it didn't quite keep up with the 780-800 MachZ's, ZRT800's, T-cats and 800 XCR's, but it was still a heck of a fast sled. It seems the biggest trouble is finding one without too many miles on the odo. I've come across several with 18000-20000 km's on them!

I'd actually like to have one of these myself.....say, a banged up '92 just for fun.

You will definitely need an aftermarket rear skid like the Expert X :sly: to enjoy yourself though.

-Rob