Viper Trailing arms on VMAX

4

4wealn

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Feb 11, 2015
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129
Location
Ontario, Canada
Hello all, I have posted previously about putting viper skis on my 97 VMAX. Once I put them in, the front end was down about an inch and I was told that this would affect my driveability. I was instructed that if I wanted the viper skis I would have to replace my trailing arms along with the spindles. I have now obtained all the parts that I need. After exhausting limitless hours on the internet searching about this, I came up with someone that put viper trailing arms on an SRX and because of the increased caster of 25 on the viper arms it caused his skis to be elevated in the front. Some posts told him to long travel the front with viper shocks.

My question to you guys is - has anybody done this swap and if so what is all entailed to do it correctly. I have all the parts but do not want to start this and find out I am in a mess. I do have viper shocks but was not going to put them in until I long travel the rear.

As far as I was concerned, because I was putting in skis that made the front end sit lower, then I had to put the trailing arms on to bring the front height back up. How will the different caster from 23 of the VMAX to 25 of the viper affect the front suspension. If there is a problem what do I do to fix it so the steering and all will be setup normal again.

If somebody has done this exact swap please chime in and let me know what to do please.

Thank you in advance.
 

I swapped viper trailing arms on my mountain max. They were almost a straight bolt on. I had to remove the steering stop from the aluminum arm because the arm would hit before the steering stop on the post. On a trail sled I don't think it would be a concern but on a mountain sled where you find yourself in a full counter steer yanking on the bars to get the sled on its edge I didn't want to put all that stress through the steering system. My fear was one of the bellcranks under the motor would break then I would be out in the woods with no steering.
 
Not that you need to, but I also swapped the steering column for a viper column, they have more reinforcement, so that put steering stops back in sync. But you have to pull the motor for that.
 
First off any sled that's not a viper is an SX. The srx is a little different because there are different belly pans and hood to fit the pipes of the triple-triple. Anybody offering advice has done this on your chassis. My mountain Max is the same chassis as an sxr, sx, vmax phazer. There were short travel versions and long travel versions. Just about any one model can be made into another if you want to swap enough parts.

By the sounds of what your asking it sounds like your splitting hairs. Long traveled srx's are on the verge of heim joint lock at the steering arms because they just weren't meant to have that much front suspension drop out. Swapping arms, the only difference you will see is the longer spindle.
 
I'm not trying to be difficult. This all started because I wanted to put on plastic skis with dual carbides and they were viper skis. With those on it would drop the front end and change the suspension setup. I was then told to put viper arms and spindles on and that would fix it but then I saw that the caster was different on viper arms. Hence my current post. Just wanted to see if anybody else did the same thing and what parts they used so I candy it once and not try to fix things. If I can just put plastic skis with dual carbides on without having to go through all this than please someone inform me how because it would be easier. The vmax metal skis will not accept dual carries nor will the sxr plastic skis.
 
The difference in the caster will not be at all noticeable. You will need the spindles and aluminum steering arms, as well as the trailing arms. You can keep the shorter shocks until you long travel the whole sled. When you do long travel the sled with Viper or SXR shocks, you want to remove the upper SX mounts, and use the rubber bushings that are on the Viper or SXR, because the Viper/SXR long travel shocks have different type of upper mount. It's all pretty easy actually. I did this swap on my main trail sled. I also tried widening the front end, using SXR radius rods & tie rods, but didn't really care for it, so I went back to the stock SX radius rods & tie rods.
 
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I ran a saddle less ski for 2 years before I switched to powder pros. they were sly dogs and I didn't care for a non rockered ski. The height isn't really must different. Have you ridden it with the new skis? The shorter ski height can be adjusted for with the front of the skid if you find that all of a sudden you now are pushing from lack of ski pressure. pulling up the limiter straps will give you back ski pressure if you find that you need it.
 
Thanks guys. Since I have bought everything I will put on the viper trailing arms with spindles and steering arms and then I will probably have to give it an alignment and then put on the viper skis. This should put it back up to the proper riding height and then I can long travel it over the summer and have it ready for next year.
If there is anything I missed please let me know.
Thanks again
 
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