Took the sled out last weekend for the first run of the season.
Got a chance to try out 37" A-arms in addition to the t-mo skid.
Wow! Did these mods breath new life into my 2007. the sled actually carves similar to a dirtbike. I had to adjust my riding style, and add a little more air to the floats up front. What used to take a little initiation, and focus on foot position, has changed to look to the direction you want to go and the sled operates like an extension of the rider. Impressive.
37" Alternative Impact Cro Mo A-Arms
Dan at Alternative Impact is a stand up guy. The quality in the manufacturing of his product is exceptional. Not to mention, he helps those who help others. For those of you that have had this mod on your radar, I would suggest calling him before the season passes you by.
T-mo skid upgrade with stock xm shocks.
I would concur with what you have read about this upgrade. The rear end is lighter, and feels a little loose on the trail, not sloppy, kinda like the difference of letting some air out of the rear wheels on a performance tire. On the mountain, it allows you to stay in the sweet spot on a carve just a little longer, a little more forgiving on a packed sidehill.
The longer front arm geometry is a noticeable improvement, the sled has a greater tendency to stay atop the snow, especially when you are doing that slow crawl uphill and are moments away from throttling out and ditching the sled to avoid a trench. It seems to want to hang on, several times I would rock the sled left and right on the rear pivot an gain the momentum needed to keep going up and out. I should note that I dropped the front bolt 1 1/4" down and back, 1 3/4" C to C, and dropped the rear 1" as well. To match the proud 37" front stance.
154" PowderMax2 track.
Coming from a 144" I thought I would notice the length change. I used to have a 2007 summit x, with the awful 151 challenger lite track, and I noticed the additional 3.5" (felt long and sluggish). The added 5" of flotation did not seem to affect the sleds maneuverability, probably due to the adjustments above. I was impressed with the tracks ability to climb, float and lube the skid without being ported. I used the stock 440 8 tooth drivers, didnt experience any clearance problems either. Since this came off an 12' XP, I am tempted to break it, but will wait till the verdict comes around with reliability data. I did notice that I wasn't pulling above 7800 on the 3rd click, I ran on the 5 the rest of the day to compensate. My guesstimation I need to loose another 1.6g of pin weight to adjust for the rotational weight difference.
I am really happy with the decision to invest in this 7 year old sled. Don't get me wrong, if I could have a equally setup xm, with a 860 etec and dialed clutching; without a monthly payment, that would be attractive. But till then, I will keep up the skis and the grin.
Got a chance to try out 37" A-arms in addition to the t-mo skid.
Wow! Did these mods breath new life into my 2007. the sled actually carves similar to a dirtbike. I had to adjust my riding style, and add a little more air to the floats up front. What used to take a little initiation, and focus on foot position, has changed to look to the direction you want to go and the sled operates like an extension of the rider. Impressive.
37" Alternative Impact Cro Mo A-Arms
Dan at Alternative Impact is a stand up guy. The quality in the manufacturing of his product is exceptional. Not to mention, he helps those who help others. For those of you that have had this mod on your radar, I would suggest calling him before the season passes you by.
T-mo skid upgrade with stock xm shocks.
I would concur with what you have read about this upgrade. The rear end is lighter, and feels a little loose on the trail, not sloppy, kinda like the difference of letting some air out of the rear wheels on a performance tire. On the mountain, it allows you to stay in the sweet spot on a carve just a little longer, a little more forgiving on a packed sidehill.
The longer front arm geometry is a noticeable improvement, the sled has a greater tendency to stay atop the snow, especially when you are doing that slow crawl uphill and are moments away from throttling out and ditching the sled to avoid a trench. It seems to want to hang on, several times I would rock the sled left and right on the rear pivot an gain the momentum needed to keep going up and out. I should note that I dropped the front bolt 1 1/4" down and back, 1 3/4" C to C, and dropped the rear 1" as well. To match the proud 37" front stance.
154" PowderMax2 track.
Coming from a 144" I thought I would notice the length change. I used to have a 2007 summit x, with the awful 151 challenger lite track, and I noticed the additional 3.5" (felt long and sluggish). The added 5" of flotation did not seem to affect the sleds maneuverability, probably due to the adjustments above. I was impressed with the tracks ability to climb, float and lube the skid without being ported. I used the stock 440 8 tooth drivers, didnt experience any clearance problems either. Since this came off an 12' XP, I am tempted to break it, but will wait till the verdict comes around with reliability data. I did notice that I wasn't pulling above 7800 on the 3rd click, I ran on the 5 the rest of the day to compensate. My guesstimation I need to loose another 1.6g of pin weight to adjust for the rotational weight difference.
I am really happy with the decision to invest in this 7 year old sled. Don't get me wrong, if I could have a equally setup xm, with a 860 etec and dialed clutching; without a monthly payment, that would be attractive. But till then, I will keep up the skis and the grin.
