Please read this entire thread as I have made some recent changes in posts below.
Since there is so many threads on this, I compiled all of them (http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288277 and http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233694) to find out what conversion I wanted to do and ended up doing the cheapest. I looked at them all and figured it was not worth it for me to spend over $100 on getting a solid bumper. So I saw what Rixter did and it looked like the best option, costing around $75 depending on your dealer. This will work on any M series sled 05-09. I'll try to make this as simple as possible since it seems people have alot of questions about it.
So when I say the cheapest way possible, this is for certain people that have access to certain tools listed below. Also I have some home made better boards so I can not buy the 09+ side rails which might be easier for some people as the gusset's simply attach to the inside of them and do not require a welder.
Tools you need:
1. Rivet Gun + Rivets
2. Drill + Bits
3. Angle grinder or portaband.
4. Aluminum Welder. (Mig w/ spool gun or TIG) If you dont have a welder, you can take it to any shop and have it done for less than $50.
5. Carbide routing bit (not required but cleans up rough sharp aluminum edges)
Go to your dealer and buy this: (If you have a 153" or 141" the part number is: 5606-477 the difference? I dunno, prolly shorter and $5 less)
Stock setup for reference:
Remove the plastic bumper and taillight
Figure out how far you want the new bumper to stick out and mark it on the tunnel. Also put scribe marks down on the tunnel where to cut, I chose to leave the 3/4" underneath the bumper from what Rixter did.
Take plastic bumper off and cut the stupid worthless handles off, right at the seam.
Take a skinny wheel and cut the scribe marks, most skinny wheels are too short to cut through it so you have to get it weak and break it down to cut through the rest, the angle cut at the front where the gussets connect to follows the aluminum skid bracket on the bottom, I just cut that from the bottom up through the top.
I took the gussets and cut them short, they were way too far off angle to fit in the stock side rails properly, if you bought the new side rails, you dont have to do this. You literally have to grind everything off of these. I left a little chunk left just for fitment and tack welding.
I also cut a little notch out of the side rail to get a better fitment on the gussets, you can tell when you test fit them that they are not the right angle to fit in them, match the angles of the gussets with the angle to make on your cuts on the rail.
Done cutting now and test fitting, clean up edges.
Throw the bumper back on and make sure your test fitment is still good before drilling the holes to rivet into the bumper.
Notice the black rivet right in front of the reflector, since there is only two bolts holding the plastic bumper on now it needed a bit more support, I threw the two black rivets in there for some extra support on it.
Throw the sled on its side to drill the rivets into the bumper easier, I riveted on both the inside of the tunnel and through the bottom into the top. I used 3/16 aluminum rivets.
Grab yer welder, tack it on the bottom first, then rivet the top part. It will probably not fit flush, so suck it up to it as much as you can with the rivets. Make sure to drill them at a slight angle AWAY from the coolant lines on the inside of the tunnel.
Rivets on the inside of the tunnel
Weld the gussets completely.
Completed (Yeah, I got a bit crazy with the angle grinder)
Now go pour yourself a beer.
Not as clean as most, but just as effective and cheap. If you have any questions or need any better pictures, let me know. The ATV Gun racks are for holding my ski's in case anyone is wondering.
Since there is so many threads on this, I compiled all of them (http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288277 and http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233694) to find out what conversion I wanted to do and ended up doing the cheapest. I looked at them all and figured it was not worth it for me to spend over $100 on getting a solid bumper. So I saw what Rixter did and it looked like the best option, costing around $75 depending on your dealer. This will work on any M series sled 05-09. I'll try to make this as simple as possible since it seems people have alot of questions about it.
So when I say the cheapest way possible, this is for certain people that have access to certain tools listed below. Also I have some home made better boards so I can not buy the 09+ side rails which might be easier for some people as the gusset's simply attach to the inside of them and do not require a welder.
Tools you need:
1. Rivet Gun + Rivets
2. Drill + Bits
3. Angle grinder or portaband.
4. Aluminum Welder. (Mig w/ spool gun or TIG) If you dont have a welder, you can take it to any shop and have it done for less than $50.
5. Carbide routing bit (not required but cleans up rough sharp aluminum edges)
Go to your dealer and buy this: (If you have a 153" or 141" the part number is: 5606-477 the difference? I dunno, prolly shorter and $5 less)
Stock setup for reference:
Remove the plastic bumper and taillight
Figure out how far you want the new bumper to stick out and mark it on the tunnel. Also put scribe marks down on the tunnel where to cut, I chose to leave the 3/4" underneath the bumper from what Rixter did.
Take plastic bumper off and cut the stupid worthless handles off, right at the seam.
Take a skinny wheel and cut the scribe marks, most skinny wheels are too short to cut through it so you have to get it weak and break it down to cut through the rest, the angle cut at the front where the gussets connect to follows the aluminum skid bracket on the bottom, I just cut that from the bottom up through the top.
I took the gussets and cut them short, they were way too far off angle to fit in the stock side rails properly, if you bought the new side rails, you dont have to do this. You literally have to grind everything off of these. I left a little chunk left just for fitment and tack welding.
I also cut a little notch out of the side rail to get a better fitment on the gussets, you can tell when you test fit them that they are not the right angle to fit in them, match the angles of the gussets with the angle to make on your cuts on the rail.
Done cutting now and test fitting, clean up edges.
Throw the bumper back on and make sure your test fitment is still good before drilling the holes to rivet into the bumper.
Notice the black rivet right in front of the reflector, since there is only two bolts holding the plastic bumper on now it needed a bit more support, I threw the two black rivets in there for some extra support on it.
Throw the sled on its side to drill the rivets into the bumper easier, I riveted on both the inside of the tunnel and through the bottom into the top. I used 3/16 aluminum rivets.
Grab yer welder, tack it on the bottom first, then rivet the top part. It will probably not fit flush, so suck it up to it as much as you can with the rivets. Make sure to drill them at a slight angle AWAY from the coolant lines on the inside of the tunnel.
Rivets on the inside of the tunnel
Weld the gussets completely.
Completed (Yeah, I got a bit crazy with the angle grinder)
Now go pour yourself a beer.
Not as clean as most, but just as effective and cheap. If you have any questions or need any better pictures, let me know. The ATV Gun racks are for holding my ski's in case anyone is wondering.
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