Reeds, Do they wear out? - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

2003800xcsp · 10-20-2009, 10:58 PM

Just finished doing a few upgrades and was wondering what is the
service life of stock reeds? Should these be replaced after a certain
number of miles or years?

recently (this summer) upgraded to
SLP single pipe and Y pipe, stock silencer
SLP air horn kit, including 2 flowrites by tach and speedo
SLP recommended clutch springs
MTX weight kit (68 + 3g outer hole)
Re-jet carb to 500 mains, and adjusted clip
SLP power shift helix

thanks for any info on reeds, also any manufacturer better than the others?

2003 800 xc sp 3800 miles

**BC_Dan** · 10-21-2009, 12:19 AM

Welcome to the forum!

Reeds do wear out. You will see the edges chipping, and the gap from the reed to the reed cage or reed stuffer will get progressively greater. That can contribute to less efficiency and spit-back into the airbox.

New factory reeds are the cheapest alternative. Boyesen also makes factory reed replacements that use your reed cages, they are a bit more than stock, but offer better response and airflow. For full replacement reeds and cages, Boyesen and V-Force III are probably the two best known aftermarket replacement mods, both are very good products. You won't notice a whole lot of improvement going to the aftermarket reed/cages with a stock exhaust and intake. In a stock system, the reeds aren't really the limiting factor to airflow through the engine; the exhaust and intake are. But because you have replaced your stock pipe/can with aftermarket, you will have a noticable improvement in throttle response and low-end grunt. Is it worth the couple hundred bucks? That's up to your wallet to decide.

I had a 2002 with the same mods as your sled, and a 2004 that was going to get the same mods, and I put reeds in both of 'em. I used V-Force III, but the guys that I know that have Boyesens are also happy with that product.