Alex Fortune is an Arctic Cat rider (and Wildcat racer) with a penchant for performance. He recently purchased a new 2014 Arctic Cat XF 7000 Limited from his dealer, then logged 600 miles in the few remaining days of winter snow prior to the big melt.
Below are his observations on the sled:
John, after our recent conversations, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what I found with the 2014 Arctic Cat XF 7000 Sno Pro I recently purchased – I LOVE THIS SLED!
It reminds me of a heavier Sno Pro 500. It’s a lot of fun to ride and, for me, is the perfect set-up for our trails in Iowa. Here’s what I’ve learned in the short time I’ve owned it:
-602 miles in 2 weekends of riding and a grin ear-to-ear – top speed of 92 mph 0-75 as fast as the 800s in our group.
-I put on 33 miles the first night I owned it with a group of members from my local snowmobile club and after I got it home I realized I had taken a few snow chunks to the radiator causing the fins to fold in. Arctic Cat part number 6639-111 (snow mesh for the hood of the turbos) fits perfect and stops any roost you may get from your buddies from hitting the radiator causing the fins to kink.
-I started getting hot feet after two days of riding in the 20’s with the engine running around 190 degrees. I took the rear plastic (referred to as the bat wing if that makes sense) and opened it up so the air could flow around the sound deadening foam, giving myself a nice knee warmer. Motor temps dropped into the 180 range. I cut about 1/2″ off and may cut a bit more to really get the air flowing. I will also vent the upper side panels using proven design product vents to let that 4-stroke hotbox breath a bit more.
-I swapped out the stock rear skid shocks with shocks from my racer that were valved for xc and had rebound and single speed compression adjustment. Huge difference over the stock setup, the sled doesn’t bottom on g-outs and the rear end feels very stable
-For the heck of it I threw on my front stage-5 Elka shocks from my 800 (still valved for the 800’s lighter weight) along with dual rate springs, dual speed adjustment and rebound adjustable. These are exactly what I thought the sled needed.
The floats were okay, but I couldn’t get a happy medium for a ride control that would handle bottom outs and high speed cornering. With the addition of a DSC setup on the front I got awesome ride and even better cornering. On a long flat sweeping corner near my place, I was able to only do it around 50 mph due to the bobbing of the sled. Once the Elkas were on I didn’t have to lift around the corner – and this is with an incorrect valve/spring setup for the extra weight of the 4-stroke.
-Performed the 500-mile oil change myself. Next time it will go to the dealer – it’s a messy job. The location of the tank in relation to the drain hole doesn’t make for a clean drop. Not a big deal if you try the suggested funnel method in the book but my funnel couldn’t keep up with the drain speed and eventually it dumped out of the top of the funnel.
-137-in. Ripsaw 2 track with the 1.25-in. lug is a great pairing for the sled – lots of good bite in the deep and on hard pack. I might go to a 1.5- or 1.75-in. lug track next year when I add some Speedwerx horsepower.
-Skis are okay. I’m looking into C&A’s for it as the stock units seem to sink quite easily when you let off vs floating like my 800 did.
-The Clutching runs hot! The belt looks good after 600 miles but I have to think if this was higher hp the belt might not last as long. The shifting is firm and somewhat crude, the weights were an issue I was told from my dealer as I’d hit the rev limiter if I cracked the throttle wide open from a slow rolling corner, but a box from speedwerx should fix all of that – their kit did wonders on my 800 and made it buttery smooth in the power and significantly dropped belt temps
I can’t wait for winter to return next season and put more miles on this awesome machine!
Alex.
Nice to hear your happy with your sled. I have the same sled and like mine as well. I picked mine up Feb 8th. and i’ve been having some little starting issues once in a while. I have 2000 miles on it and its a problem that never went away. Other then that I love the sled. Have you experienced this type of issue with yours at all?
Thanks Kevin.
Kind of pathetic not to see any arctic cats at the snowmobile show in Fargo. I’d like to hear the excuse?????
I have near 600 miles also, great sled, top speed of 90 mph seems low to me wonder if you could gear up a little. As for the starting issue both Yamaha and Cat have the same problem they should come fix or reflash wonder if the old nitros did this. Sled starts right up cold warm it m up drive one block shut off and it don’t want to restart a little throttle usually work, Alarm P3338 crankshaft spike, shut off, full cooldown, problem gone. And no stored codes.
FargoSnowmobileNoShows says: Kind of pathetic not to see any arctic cats at the snowmobile show in Fargo.
When was the fargo snow show? I have hit it in the past… Was it in the sports bubble like they had a few years back? I haven’t heard of one there latley? Let me know… Thanks,
Tonight at the Fargo civic center. Ski-doo, Polaris, Yamaha, not an arctic cat there and with the manufacturer having the closest plant there were a lot of people there asking the same question
Cat opted not to do some of the shows this year and instead had some dealers show the 2015 sleds. Not a good idea in my opinion. I wish they would have been in town also, hell it’s right in their back yard and I don’t like getting the “Shake Down” at my local dealer when I want to go look at a new sled.
Not a big deal that they were not at the Fargo show cause you could have gone to the Cat dealer and seen them there and even demo rode them when there was snow. I see no need for the shows as I only look at Cat anyway and last year you could hardly get close to the sleds as all the other brand riders were hording in on Cat. Tells me all I need to know.
Wow, nice story! on s en calisse tu dton xf 7000 2014, we are in 2015!
I think it was a great idea what Cat did this year sending 2015 models to their dealers to look at and demo. Im not a fan of pushy sales guys either, but Ive found that if you ask questions, a good dealer can help answer them for you’ And if you dont want to be bothered, just tell them you are only looking. Pretty simple. Cudos Cat!
Arctic cat just put out a flash for the computer to fix starting issues and a better MAP for th 1049 yami? Had mine done this week.
Nice sled. I was looking at one the other day for the reliability of the yammy 4stroke. Kind of turned off after seeing all the mods he had to do to a 12-14K sled in order to make it a decent ride.
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James I have a saying that I bleveie someone even referenced it on my LinkedIn profile. It sticks with people and is a great tool for me.So what .now what? Achievers can get way to serious about goals and being late and missing commitments. Even with good reason. We imagine all this stuff that is going to happen because we didn’t make the commitment to ourselves and others.The truth is Achievers could really use more laugh time and especially be able to laugh at ourselves.Laughter releases stress and brings an earthiness back to your presence then you can see straight again.Think I will YouTube me some Richard Pryor right now. Karin
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