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98 ZL500 ride-ability?

640 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  mccct 
#1 ·
Howdy! New to the forum here. Landed three Cats from my family as hand me downs. Two 98 Panther 440's and a 98 ZL500.

I understand that the ZL500 is a completely different beast from the panthers, and in all honesty I enjoy the panther twins much more for trail riding than the ZL500.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to riding sleds, aside from sitting on someone's lap as a kid I have only been riding for a year. I am all for going full tilt and throwing up some powder or getting the skis off the ground, but I mainly enjoy slow to medium pace trail riding.

Is it normal for a ZL500 to be absolutely screaming at 5000+ rpm when just lugging along at 25-30 MPH? I noticed the sled is a lot happier at much higher speeds, but for trail riding I am just pissing through gas. It also does not sound very happy when at low speeds, almost like it has a misfire, but it clears right up when I go past 3/4 throttle. I understand it is not a big motor, but it feels like the panther has a bit more low end than the ZL.

Another issue I have noticed is that unless I go full tilt from a stop and accelerate quickly to high speed, it seems to have little to no top end. From a stop it mops the floor with the panther, but from a roll above 35 it doesn't seem to want to give me much more and the panther pulls away.

Please take it easy on me! Not very familiar with the characteristics of the ZL just yet! Pretty familiar with the panthers though.
 
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#2 ·
Is it normal for a ZL500 to be absolutely screaming at 5000+ rpm when just lugging along at 25-30 MPH? I noticed the sled is a lot happier at much higher speeds, but for trail riding I am just pissing through gas. It also does not sound very happy when at low speeds, almost like it has a misfire, but it clears right up when I go past 3/4 throttle. I understand it is not a big motor, but it feels like the panther has a bit more low end than the ZL.

Another issue I have noticed is that unless I go full tilt from a stop and accelerate quickly to high speed, it seems to have little to no top end. From a stop it mops the floor with the panther, but from a roll above 35 it doesn't seem to want to give me much more and the panther pulls away.
Yes. 5000+ RPMs and low speeds are normal behavior on many (to generalize: ALL of them operate at excessive RPMs) snowmobiles. The reason for that is belt drive continuously variable transmissions (CVT). Belt drive CVTs are terribly inefficient (the worst of all modern designs), netting around 30% efficiency on average. They are very cheap to produce by manufacturers, thus are very expensive to own by consumers. You pay through the nose for ~30% efficiency every time you fill up the tank. You pay the sticker price for high RPM-high output motors required because 70% of the available power is wasted. You pay again and again in the high rate of engine wear, high noise levels, high pollution levels, and high costs to maintain and replace those chintzy CVTs, overpriced belts and downstream transmission components. You pay a very high price every time you use it. On some days you pay some more to get a ride back home. I could go on, but why? Thats the industry profit/growth/sales model and has been for over 50 years. It won't change unless/until we get smarter and demand change.

Concerning the poor performance of the ZL 500 vs the 440 Panther, the 500 may need a new belt and the clutches freshened up. It may need the fuel system cleaned as well. It may need a new set of spark plugs. It could have other issues too, but in good running condition that 500 is much quicker than the 440. Not even a close race.

Welcome to the forum!
 
#3 ·
Judging by what I see with my 99 600, these non apv sleds need to b3 spinning a bit higher before engagement so they don't fall flat on the low end, so yes, 5k + is about right.

The 500 motor is actually not too bad when it comes to fuel consumption, and considering your "miss" problem and it not beating the panther on the roll, I think you need to do 2 things. Clutches and clean the carbs/jetting.
I've read a lot of posts from goober saying these sleds are horrible on gas, and that 6-8 mpg are the norm, but my 600 always did around 10mpg, so I only believed so much of that.

I would, as 7BR has posted, freshen up the clutches and put a new belt on. At the very least clean them and check them for worn components. There's decent deals on new belts on the bay. There is a great post in the pinned topic area that covers setting belt deflection, even a greenhorn like me could do it.

As for the carbys, take em off, and give em a good cleaning, while you're in there, check what size the jets are, and make a note of that. Compare to the factory settings , and see how close to that baseline they are. If it's warmer than 20f, and it's all set to stock, well, you'll either have to live with the blubber, or adjust it a touch leaner. If it is richer than stock, ie: the main jets and pilots are a higher number than what it calls for from the factory, that will explain your blubber.

One other simple check is to unplug and check your stator. A digital multi meter, and help from a YouTube vid put out by a guy named Blaine will show you how to do this. I had a low side coil out on mine, and that was part of the problem. My clutching was the other part of the problem.
One more thing that will help you diagnose the clutching and poor economy issue, how much oil is it going thru? If the engine has to Rev much higher to attain a reasonable speed, that will definitely point to clutches, assuming that the drive line past the clutches is in acceptable condition.

Just some of what I've been dealing with myself this yr, and I believe I got it all figured out now, thanks to this forum and a couple experts here

Good luck and Cheers
 
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