Ok so I know this sounds crazy but bear with me. I am trying to start a think tank for my summer project. Here is my idea: Get rid of the trailing arm pro action front suspension on my SRX. And here is the ridiculous part, I want to put an A-arm front suspension on my sled. I've been playing around with a few ideas but I want to here from you guys. So lets here your opinions, knowledge, or if you know of anyone who has done it. Share it here.
stanage
Member
tait89 said:
I was thinking of doing the same thing to my 88 exciter 570! But the geometry measurements required are a little mind boggling, not to mention a complete re-work of the steering column, tie-rod, exhaust?!
It sounds like a wicked project, which I for one will be keeping an eye on your progress!
i´ve seen a conversion like that in a swedish project thread, it was made on a older polaris. Followed it with big interest and of course it made me curious about doing the same on my ex. But like stanage said before, it would be too much work for me too handle, but a very interesting idea
it will be my summer project so it is only in the idea stages right now. do you have any links to the swedish thread?
I´ll see if i can find it again
found it
http://forum.snowmobile.se/showthread.php?38669-Polaris-Longtrak&highlight=lappmoppe
just use google translate, (you might need to create a user to see the pics)
http://forum.snowmobile.se/showthread.php?38669-Polaris-Longtrak&highlight=lappmoppe
just use google translate, (you might need to create a user to see the pics)
cool. ya looks like he did some welding. my goal is to have no welding on my machine at all. the only welding will have to be when making the bracket to support the a arms
That build would have been easier and would have waded more snow if they had just welded on a set of yamaha struts. They went through alot of work to end up with a crappy snosport front end.
If you look around, there is a build of a sxr that used a front torque box from a cat, looked pretty good.
I had gathered everything to do do it once with my viper but never got around to it.
I was going to make my own mounts and use rx1 mountain arms (narrower to make up for the wider mounting points needed)Inside I had two options for the rack, one was a polaris rack I picked up, the other if it could be made over was the one from the rx. I liked the poo one from the building standpoint as it was steel everything and was easily changed to what I needed. The rx rack is a nicer looking piece if you can weld aluminum. I don't have a tig so I like the steel stuff.
Thing to keep in mind is that right now is amost all of the impact of a bump is transfered up through the shock(this wont change) and back through the trailing arm mount by your foot and transferred to the frame from there.
On an A frame style sled, this force is transferred tward the center of the sled, then back. This will want to twist the front of the sled. When building keep this in mind and try to keep the two back mounts pushing against each other by some means as well as reinforce the frame along the sides going back to the tunnel to keep it from buckling if one side takes a hard one.
The other thing a trailing arm does well is keep the top of the spindle from going forward when you hit a bump or worse. An A frame needs to hold this force trying to pull the upper part of the frame outward and the front inward though not with anywhere near the force seen by the lower arm. The further apart the arms mount on the spindle, the stronger the front end will be.
Now that there is a nitro out there, I think I would build a supsension around their front spindles(for looks mostly) it would also be a lighter front end than a rx or apex style.
bump steer and akerman will be a trial and error thing. The nice thing about a sled front end is that it is not as important that something on tar. If you think of how good your sled handles now, lift then push down on your front bumper and watch your skis move in and out. I think most anyone can get this close in the dark.
good luck
If you look around, there is a build of a sxr that used a front torque box from a cat, looked pretty good.
I had gathered everything to do do it once with my viper but never got around to it.
I was going to make my own mounts and use rx1 mountain arms (narrower to make up for the wider mounting points needed)Inside I had two options for the rack, one was a polaris rack I picked up, the other if it could be made over was the one from the rx. I liked the poo one from the building standpoint as it was steel everything and was easily changed to what I needed. The rx rack is a nicer looking piece if you can weld aluminum. I don't have a tig so I like the steel stuff.
Thing to keep in mind is that right now is amost all of the impact of a bump is transfered up through the shock(this wont change) and back through the trailing arm mount by your foot and transferred to the frame from there.
On an A frame style sled, this force is transferred tward the center of the sled, then back. This will want to twist the front of the sled. When building keep this in mind and try to keep the two back mounts pushing against each other by some means as well as reinforce the frame along the sides going back to the tunnel to keep it from buckling if one side takes a hard one.
The other thing a trailing arm does well is keep the top of the spindle from going forward when you hit a bump or worse. An A frame needs to hold this force trying to pull the upper part of the frame outward and the front inward though not with anywhere near the force seen by the lower arm. The further apart the arms mount on the spindle, the stronger the front end will be.
Now that there is a nitro out there, I think I would build a supsension around their front spindles(for looks mostly) it would also be a lighter front end than a rx or apex style.
bump steer and akerman will be a trial and error thing. The nice thing about a sled front end is that it is not as important that something on tar. If you think of how good your sled handles now, lift then push down on your front bumper and watch your skis move in and out. I think most anyone can get this close in the dark.
good luck
thank you I really appreciate your input.
srvfan
New member
It's been done there was an sxron eBay last year