Tunnel Protectors

YAMAJOHNNY

YAMAJOHNNY

New member
Joined
Oct 5, 2006
Messages
27
Age
67
Location
Sugar Grove Il.
'01 700 Deluxe. This my wife's sled. I'm planning to stud the track with 1" studs. How important are tunnel protectors in this application? They look like they would be a pain to install. She's not a sno-cross racer, and I can't remember the track ever hitting the tunnel on this sled or any sled that I have had. Just seeing if anyone has had any experience with this. Thanks
 
Every sled I have worked on that had studs without tunnel protectors had damage to the underside of the tunnel. A good number of them actually wore through. Studs add weight which makes the track balloon more. To be effective the studs must stick past the track lugs. So, the studs will make contact almost for sure. Running the track super tight cuts down on the amount of contact but this increases drag, slide wear, and several other negative issues.

I would run protectors.
 
Take your seat off, position and drill the protectors, and then rivet in place from the top using soft material rivets (peel type).
 
As Ding stated, they are necessary and pretty easy to install. A freind of mine insisted he could run a studded track without installing the tunnel protectors. One day he ran out of gas much sooner than he expected. The studs cuts grooves in the tunnel right through into the gas tank!

Spend the time to put them on to be on the safe side!
 
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