Thumper1
New member
have anyone had any experience with the chromoly or alum tubular TAs from Mountain Perf or Fabcraft or Timbersled? just wondering how strong the round tubes are compared to the stock viper TAs. Bent another one last week.
I have not used them,but while on the Manitoba TY ride, I witnessed one come apart. Separated right where the tube goes in to the spindle. I also believe that you lose your sway bar. And oh yes, in the little over 12,000 I have on my 02, I've bent 6 trailing arms. Never hit a thing, other than bumps in the trail. I believe whenthey changed the spindle length, it increased the load on the trailing arm. Mine ALL buckled inside, bending in an outward direction. Hope you find something to help with your sled.
They all bend, but some do take more abuse. The ones from Northern Lites seemed to be the strongest, but he takes forever to build them. If you order now, you may get them for next year as long as you hound him along.
He will also put on stabilizer tabs for you ($$). This is the guy who made the arms for the factory snowcross teams.
He will also put on stabilizer tabs for you ($$). This is the guy who made the arms for the factory snowcross teams.
Stock
I have had quite a bit of experience with the ones from Mountain Performance. I thought the replaceable arms were a great idea but I have now seen two sets (one set on my sled and one on a friends) that have developed cracks on the chromalloy head tubes along the welds i the "heat affected" areas. Just had my cracks re-tigged yesterday as a matter of fact. Stick with the stock ones from Yamaha, they are the best in my opinion.
Madmatt
I have had quite a bit of experience with the ones from Mountain Performance. I thought the replaceable arms were a great idea but I have now seen two sets (one set on my sled and one on a friends) that have developed cracks on the chromalloy head tubes along the welds i the "heat affected" areas. Just had my cracks re-tigged yesterday as a matter of fact. Stick with the stock ones from Yamaha, they are the best in my opinion.
Madmatt
Northern Lites arms do not have the cracking problem. The guy does great work, he is just incredibly slow . . .
I have used 2 sets of them personally.
I have used 2 sets of them personally.
so, did you finally track him down(dennis) and get your stuff? or his he still "slow"? i know he had a lot of worried, upset, ready to collect ex customers. yes, he made some nice stuff, but its not so nice if you dont get what you pay for. unless you know something different, i dont think i would steer business his direction.Ding said:
billbies
New member
See my thread in the working log section I have the Northern Lights trailing arms and have put them through more abuse than a trail ride would from oval enduro racing and they are mint, I am lucky enought to have a custom sway bar setuo though, like many have said he is slow now used to (5 years ago) not be an issue we ordered this set and received them within 5 days iirc
Bill
Bill
I did finally receive the T-arms from Dennis.snowdad4 said:
Gonna' have 'em on for the weekend?
Thumper1
New member
I have had a set ordered from NL since 9/29/07. TT him on 12/8/08 and he said the TAs would be here before Xmas. Guess what. still don't have them and leaving for our 3rd trip up north since ordering these TAs. I would never order from them again. think at this point probably SOL.
Nope, gonna have a set of new stock ones on. Need to do some other stuff.Viper_Dave said:
I know it is a pain, but just keep calling him. At least once a week. He doesn't have anybody working for him, so he does all the work. He uses a heat treatment facility in California (where he is from).Thumper1 said:
Powder Trax
New member
Northern Lites
My dealings wih this guy last year was not good. I inquire about his product-front suspension kit for my MNT Viper. Get more info sent to me, think about it. He calls me back and was very pushy on getting my CC # and place the order. I decided to go without his trailing arms and front end and he gets all mad and swearing
then just hangs up. I call him back and said if this is the way you treat your customers and potenial customers inquiring about your product, then I dont want it. I DONT CARE IF YOU BUILT TA's & other components for the YAMAHA FACTORY race team.
I hung up, called Hartman Inc. and inquired about the Fabcraft Front end for my MNT Viper. I then told him about my experience with Nothern Lites, and he said he has heard that from alot of people.
For TA's try Powder Lites Inc. in BC. The guy is very busy building turbos for the 4-strokes and builts very good ones to boot, but may have some TA's available..
Ding said:
My dealings wih this guy last year was not good. I inquire about his product-front suspension kit for my MNT Viper. Get more info sent to me, think about it. He calls me back and was very pushy on getting my CC # and place the order. I decided to go without his trailing arms and front end and he gets all mad and swearing
then just hangs up. I call him back and said if this is the way you treat your customers and potenial customers inquiring about your product, then I dont want it. I DONT CARE IF YOU BUILT TA's & other components for the YAMAHA FACTORY race team.I hung up, called Hartman Inc. and inquired about the Fabcraft Front end for my MNT Viper. I then told him about my experience with Nothern Lites, and he said he has heard that from alot of people.
For TA's try Powder Lites Inc. in BC. The guy is very busy building turbos for the 4-strokes and builts very good ones to boot, but may have some TA's available..
bolin22
New member
i have the fabcraft arms on my viper....love em so far...the arm itself is quite a bit thicker than the mnt. performance ones, only got one ride on them but they sure look beefier. the whole fabcraft team was great to work with and they even invited me to meet up with them and go riding with them, hopin to sometime this winter. fyi they no longer offer the carbon fiber arms, they have gone to all aluminum shafts because of availability of the carbon fiber. they came not polished which is fine with me, less to keep up, and were about the same price as the mnt. performance. dont by the mnt. performance if you plan on getting good customer service.....replacement shafts were a pita to get and they dont seem to care much about you if you havent bought a complete s/c system or any other expensive items from them.
Thumper1
New member
from the picture of your sled, i see that you don't have a sway bar attached. i would definitely want to keep my sway bar, so many the tubular TAs aren't the way to go for me.