He turns 12 and gets his permit this fall


One thing is for sure, he will be plenty quick. Are you ok with him pulling 120+ mph on the straights? (on the speedo)
 
He has been riding it around in the yard the past few years to get the feeling of the sled.

Last winter I guided him through a clutch rebuild and showed him how to use the aftermarket tool to remove the belt and change it. We also changed out the coolant temperature sensor and showed him the shop manual for the sled. The coolant temp sensor was only reading 2.9k ohms of resistance so it's obvious there was a short in it since the gauge kept flashing a code.

I told him that being able to change the belt by himself is very important.

A good friend on here that lives downstate (Pete Amato) put a 2002 SRX wiring harness with the DCS on it so if he ever gets a bit of bad or old gas he won't burn it down.

He is probably around or close to only 100 LBS on that thing so I'm sure it will absolutely fly for him.

Him riding this sled is equal to me giving a 16 YO the keys to my Corvette, I know.

But if you teach responsibility and safety everything should be just fine.

This winter over Christmas Break we have a back pack trip planned from our house to Munising to stay at the hotel that often hosts the TY ride event.

His twin sister has not yet shown interest in snowmobiling but his younger 9yo sister has so I will likely have a 3rd rider in the house soon. He is my only son and I'm proud of him. He listens to me and learns. I hope to post some good pictures of us riding this coming winter on this thread so stay tuned ☺
 
The DCS works real well, but took me 16 years to figure out it was the non-fully clipped track that set it off all of the time.
 
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Nowa Days I only use the SRX, it's a 02 and I've had several offers on it already, I only use it for all out fast macho/nacho riding. My everyday snow go-cart is the 97 sx 600, it is plenty fast for everyday use, does 101 mph on gps if you are patient. Modified, of course.
 
That sounds about right for a 600 twin. Would rather have the triple tho any day. Pulling more RPMs helps the top end. I bet it's a pig on gas tho.

I can get 105 out of my FX nytro on groomed trail.

What a night and day difference the Mono skid makes in a SRX. Even long traveling with Viper rear shocks makes an improvement in ride quality. Now until I find a Boss seat, it's just not for me anymore.
 
This sled is "optimized" with custom clutching, roller secondary, notched reed stoppers, and a tempaflow, and gets about 12,5-13 mpg best. This is more of a trail basher than top end runner. The triple feels a little heavy when it gets rough, but don't get me wrong, I trail bash it too. And don't get me wrong, IMO the SRX from 98-02 is the best snowmobile Yamaha ever made. Everything in one sled, powervalves and performance, handling, reliability, long lasting, forgiving for the most part.
 
That's not bad for mileage. I know my 94 vmax 500 twin was a pig. My FX nytro gets exactly 16 MPG. I found that out the hard way quite the distance from a gas station Lol. I can't believe the technology that has gone into 4 strokes these days. I do like the new 800 twin mountain sled.

It would be nice to see that 800 motor in a 121 chassis.
 
I saw in the tech section that the 94 vmax 500 has a rather low gearing, 20/39 compared to say a 97 xtc 500 which has 22/39 gearing. This alone would make it worse on gas than the newer vmax. Also, quite rich jetting and a "soft" clutch set up.
 
Well your not going to believe this but just today I picked up a 99 VMAX Deluxe 500 with only 2,600 miles for my 9 yo girl to start off with.

What is a good bolt on helix for this sled?
 
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I see it has a red secondary spring, which to my liking is a little soft. It's hard to say accurate as there are so many variables, but with the stock weights I imagine a 47/43 or a 47/41. And a green secondary spring at 60 or 70 deg. If it still overrevs, you can swap the primary rollers to a smaller size. My SX has Hauck adjustable weights and that really made the tuning easy, you will not believe how much they weigh, 61,3 grams with the hardware, and I have a 39 deg straight helix in the secondary, I found that helix can be used with or without the roller. The weights on that deluxe are alot lighter, hence the more agressive helix. You hould inspect the weights and rollers for wear, because they wear out rather fast. Depending on your budget, a tempaflow really wakes up the sled in the low and midrange because it leans out some. Also, a rear heat exchanger on the venture 500 did wonders for performance, it also really helps keep the motor cool when going real slow. I am going to move from heelclickers on that sled to Hauck X weights and a 39 helix or a 39/41 reverse angle helix (dalton). Back to your deluxe, factory gearing seems ok, check the lug height, if it's the stock track the gearing is fine. However, inspect the track, it is som 22 years old, it can delaminate, happened to my 97 sx 600. Whatever track it has, being fully clipped helps the mileage some and hyfax wear. I really like duponts in my sleds, they make them just plain faster. If all my mods were done on that sled, hauck weights, helix, springs, dupont slides and tempaflow, I would Image it could do like 95 gps on radar at least, depending on the track. Post some pics of it, especially the clutches and the track.
 
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Without a tempaflow I wouldn't expect more than 10-11 mpg at best out of this sled. I can't get sleep right now, so if you want to chat about your new ride, I'm online for some time. Congratulations on your new ride btw!
 
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I had a 94 vmax 500 back in the day. I think the 97 and up 500 and 600 cylinders are ported a little better than 94 to 96.
 
OMG.

What year had the piston ring pin problems?

What year had the oil injection pump failures?
 
This is a very very clean sled

1999 Vmax 500 Deluxe. 2,600 miles.

Paid 900 cash
 

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What is the stock HP on the 99 V max 500?

I know the 94 vmax 500 was 85 HP. The 97 and up twin Cylinder were ported a little better from Yamaha so I'm curious to see what kind of bump they got in HP.
 
The 1997 600s had piston ring problems. I think a 99 500 should be safe that wise. The 97 and up 500 is 87 hp. Oil pump failures was on 97 I think. 48/40 might go if you play some with the springs/rollers/secondary setting. Check the secondary buttons for wear. What is that black box on the dash for? The sled looks as nice as it can be for that age.
 
Either way, this 99 should be quicker than the 94 vmax 500 I had, especially with a bolt on helix. It should be better on gas with that helix.

She looks so darn excited sitting on that beautiful sled 😃
 


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