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our new sxs finally showed up

Tin Roof

Rusted
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
728
Messages
1,341
Loc
Iowa
We ordered a new Can Am Commander max xt the first week of April. I got a call from the dealer yesterday saying it was finally there. We've had the old style Commander max and hated it because of the cabin heat while timber trail riding due to the motor being between the front seats. Traded that for a Defender and loved the Defender, but decided to switch back to something a little more sporty now that they redesigned the Commander and put the motor under the dump bed.

I'm hoping to pick it up later this week so we can try it out this weekend. I have a few people that want me to let them know when I have it at our house so they can come look at it because they are on the fence about getting one also.

I sold our Defender last winter because the dealer said it would only take 60 days to get our new machine. Sucks that we missed all the rides we usually go on this summer, but we still have a few weeks of good riding weather before winter.
 
833F5340-2790-411E-97CB-8E4388AD20C4.jpeg
 
The dealer I go through sells a lot of machines and this is only the 5th ‘21 commander he’s gotten so far. He had it on his showroom and said he was thinking about asking me if he could keep it for his open house in two weeks and would have given me the $4k in add ons I had him put on it for free.
 
The dealer I go through sells a lot of machines and this is only the 5th ‘21 commander he’s gotten so far. He had it on his showroom and said he was thinking about asking me if he could keep it for his open house in two weeks and would have given me the $4k in add ons I had him put on it for free.
After 6.5 months I'd gladly have let him keep it for 2 more weeks...
 
After 6.5 months I'd gladly have let him keep it for 2 more weeks...
Me too, but BRP promised him a XMR model for the open house so he didn’t need this one anymore. He had some defenders there that he was doing that deal on for other guys.
 
We put about 60 miles on it last weekend. Mostly road riding, but did take it through our timber trails Sunday. It is incredibly smooth. Quick throttle response, engine noise is tolerable with it being in the back. There's still some cab heat with the radiator being right in front of the cab but not bad. My only bitch so far, you can't see worth a shit out of it. It rakes up from front to back, and you can't see anything behind you while backing up. I noticed when we were in the timber that it was hard to judge exactly where the front wheels were when making tight turns.
Over all I like the machine, but it will take some getting used to. The defender had great visibility. It's damn comfortable to ride in. The seats are great.
 
We put about 60 miles on it last weekend. Mostly road riding, but did take it through our timber trails Sunday. It is incredibly smooth. Quick throttle response, engine noise is tolerable with it being in the back. There's still some cab heat with the radiator being right in front of the cab but not bad. My only bitch so far, you can't see worth a shit out of it. It rakes up from front to back, and you can't see anything behind you while backing up. I noticed when we were in the timber that it was hard to judge exactly where the front wheels were when making tight turns.
Over all I like the machine, but it will take some getting used to. The defender had great visibility. It's damn comfortable to ride in. The seats are great.
Pretty much all machines have terrible visibility backing up. That’s why I run 7” RV back up cameras in mine. $80-$130 bucks. On full time. If you mount it so you can see some of the bed you’ll have perspective on when’s it’s in the clear.

You’ll learn where the front tires are.
 
Stock radiators work very well mounted in the back….
 
And for 3 in a row I want this machine to tear to the frame and make a family all day wheeler on 35’s or 37’s. Cooler, grill, chairs, extra clothes bin, etc, Keep us updated on this sucker. If my race car sells, that’s what I’m building
 
And for 3 in a row I want this machine to tear to the frame and make a family all day wheeler on 35’s or 37’s. Cooler, grill, chairs, extra clothes bin, etc, Keep us updated on this sucker. If my race car sells, that’s what I’m building

Not going to lie.... That sounds awesome!
 
Not going to lie.... That sounds awesome!
Thx. If I can take one to the frame and use all my race gusset and cage know how to make it so it can handle years of big tires, and make each thing have a designed in hard mounted spot, I can go wheel all day, or hammock camping/hunting anywhere. Then shock it for comfort. Could be fun. I want the project more than the use of it.
 
Pretty much all machines have terrible visibility backing up. That’s why I run 7” RV back up cameras in mine. $80-$130 bucks. On full time. If you mount it so you can see some of the bed you’ll have perspective on when’s it’s in the clear.

You’ll learn where the front tires are.

I was a little spoiled by the 2 utility units I had. The Defender especially had good visibility all around.

And for 3 in a row I want this machine to tear to the frame and make a family all day wheeler on 35’s or 37’s. Cooler, grill, chairs, extra clothes bin, etc, Keep us updated on this sucker. If my race car sells, that’s what I’m building

That would be pretty badass.

If we ever get done moving we'll put some more miles on before winter hits.
 
a guy I ride with, his brother ordered one of these last week. I think they told him delivery in Jan/Feb. he is wanting it for general utility stuff around his farm and the occasional trail riding with our group. I believe he ordered the XT-P? supposed to come with 30s and a winch.
 
The weather is getting decent here and we took it out for a 80 mile ride on gravel roads Sunday. We still haven’t done much trail riding yet and won’t have a chance to for about another month or so.

The main concern I have now is clutch engagement. It’s very jerky at low rpm in both sport and normal mode. If you were doing anything technical you’d have to double pedal it and let the rpm’s build up so the clutch engages otherwise it jerks terrible. Just pulling it in/out of the garage is like watching someone learning to drive a clutch for the first time. My first gen commander was nothing like this.

I know my dealer pretty well and am going to drop by the shop sometime to ask if others are having this issue and if there’s a clutch change that will fix it.

Other than that it’s still been a solid rig and we really like it. It does feel a little weak at high rpm, but part of that I think is because it rides so smooth you don’t necessarily feel the power/acceleration.
 
Pretty much all machines have terrible visibility backing up. That’s why I run 7” RV back up cameras in mine. $80-$130 bucks. On full time. If you mount it so you can see some of the bed you’ll have perspective on when’s it’s in the clear.

You’ll learn where the front tires are.
I have some little fish eye mirrors, with the 5 point, I'm not much for putting effort into turning my head around
Not going to lie, I basically back up until I feel resistance :grinpimp:
 
The weather is getting decent here and we took it out for a 80 mile ride on gravel roads Sunday. We still haven’t done much trail riding yet and won’t have a chance to for about another month or so.

The main concern I have now is clutch engagement. It’s very jerky at low rpm in both sport and normal mode. If you were doing anything technical you’d have to double pedal it and let the rpm’s build up so the clutch engages otherwise it jerks terrible. Just pulling it in/out of the garage is like watching someone learning to drive a clutch for the first time. My first gen commander was nothing like this.

I know my dealer pretty well and am going to drop by the shop sometime to ask if others are having this issue and if there’s a clutch change that will fix it.

Other than that it’s still been a solid rig and we really like it. It does feel a little weak at high rpm, but part of that I think is because it rides so smooth you don’t necessarily feel the power/acceleration.
That is normal, it’s a can am thing. Loading and unloading trailers is Interesting. I always think I’m going to hit things backing out of garage like a 3’ drag car.

Clutching will fix it but you’ll lose corner exiting acceleration and control
 
Interesting, I guess that jerky engagement is normal then?
I suppose it is best on the belt that way.

Ventured into the world of CVT atvs recently. This one I just put together is really jerky. I was able to increase the idle a lot closer to clutch engagement. Really made a nicer driving maching out of it. But I certainly feel your pain. Makes the machine feel cheap and broken or something when they are like that.
 
That is normal, it’s a can am thing. Loading and unloading trailers is Interesting. I always think I’m going to hit things backing out of garage like a 3’ drag car.

Clutching will fix it but you’ll lose corner exiting acceleration and control

That's good to know. I'll leave it as is and adapt to it.
 
Interesting, I guess that jerky engagement is normal then?
I suppose it is best on the belt that way.

Ventured into the world of CVT atvs recently. This one I just put together is really jerky. I was able to increase the idle a lot closer to clutch engagement. Really made a nicer driving maching out of it. But I certainly feel your pain. Makes the machine feel cheap and broken or something when they are like that.
its definitely a thing. my '20 XRS has the same characteristics you are describing. getting on and off a trailer is pretty interesting.

that being said, its not as bad on my dads defender max, and its MUCH less noticeable on my dads CanAm 850cc quad.
 
its definitely a thing. my '20 XRS has the same characteristics you are describing. getting on and off a trailer is pretty interesting.

that being said, its not as bad on my dads defender max, and its MUCH less noticeable on my dads CanAm 850cc quad.

My defender max was not bad at all. I think that's part of the reason I'm noticing it so much.
 
I know it's a RZR but mine was jerky as shit with the OEM belt. switched to a Hunterworks thick belt and it fixed a lot of the jerkiness
 
My defender max was not bad at all. I think that's part of the reason I'm noticing it so much.
now that im thinking about it, my XRS is a turbo, so right off idle is probably the worst in terms of power consistency. that should add a little more to the jerkiness as well.
 
My youngest daughter and I went for a 60-70 mile ride on Father's day when the temp was around 90*. The cab was hot, to the point that my daughter didn't enjoy the last 15-20 miles of the ride. That's even with us cruising at about 35-40 mph. I bought one of these heat shields to try out and hope to put it on this weekend. If this doesn't do the trick I might have to pull the seats and console out and insulate the cooling lines themselves.

Can Am Maverick/Commander Center Console Cover Heatshield
 
My youngest daughter and I went for a 60-70 mile ride on Father's day when the temp was around 90*. The cab was hot, to the point that my daughter didn't enjoy the last 15-20 miles of the ride. That's even with us cruising at about 35-40 mph. I bought one of these heat shields to try out and hope to put it on this weekend. If this doesn't do the trick I might have to pull the seats and console out and insulate the cooling lines themselves.

Can Am Maverick/Commander Center Console Cover Heatshield
Same here with the Kawasaki TeryX. I pulled the console and used cool-it self adhered which seems to work some. I have a dual head 12 volt fan that clips to the bar behind the seats. It also helps some.

I noticed a lot of heat coming from under the seats so that will be addressed too.

Next I got a tube fan (meant for a boat bilge pump) that moves 130cfm. I'm going to mount it in front of the engine and see if I can push air through the housing and out the back.

I've thought about a couple vents on the cowl with some flexible tubing to blow down on our feet...which seems to be the hottest spot.

Let un know what you try and how it works.
 
Tuesday afternoon I had a chance to go for a ride with the heatshield in place. It was in the low-mid 90's. It was all gravel road riding at about 35-45mph. It was noticeably better in the cab. My legs didn't feel like I passed out by the camp fire. :laughing:
 
Tuesday afternoon I had a chance to go for a ride with the heatshield in place. It was in the low-mid 90's. It was all gravel road riding at about 35-45mph. It was noticeably better in the cab. My legs didn't feel like I passed out by the camp fire. :laughing:
My RZR pulls a ton of heat into the cab under the seat
like burn your legs wearing shorts, it sure takes the fun out the the hot days

but over 90 any air movement just feels like you are sitting in a hair dryer anyway,
 
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