Are idlers necessary on a long track?

T

triplefastaction

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Jan 6, 2004
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I've got the skid out of my '97 MM to put anti-ratchets in and replace the rear axle with an offset axle and 8" billet wheels. While out, I was debating on changing the idlers, since I've never been a fan of the '97 style wheels. Then I remembered that my Mt. Viper doesn't have any idlers in it. It's a 156" with MPI billet rails, but has no idlers. My MM is 151". My question is can I pull out some of the idlers from my skid without issue? I'm thinking about removing all except for one on each side at the front of the rails to help prevent wear. Do they play more of a role for hard pack/trail conditions? I do have to ride a short amount of trails until I get to the back country. I don't want do destroy my new hyfax by pulling the wheels, but since I can run the track very loose now with the anti-ratchets, does this eliminate the need for the idlers?

Thanks in advance for any input you have.
 
I pulled the wheels on my 02 last spring and put on ice scratchers. I replaced my hyfax strips with graphite ones. I went for a 15 mile test ride yesterday on hard pack and my tunnel was full of snow packed in and plenty of snow on the sliders. You'll lose about 8 lbs by pulling all the wheels and hardware. Next time I need strips I'm buying the hyper fax strips and not worrying about them again.
 
snow conditions are your biggest concern. ice scratchers are a must if you remove the wheels. pay attention to the front portion of your hyfax as this spot seems to wear quicker and consider keeping those forward most wheels in the skid. i reversed the mounts on mine and set them to the inside of the rails and moved them forward. pioneer used to make an offset kit, pretty impressive. seems to reduce the wear at the rail bend.
 
put in the marginal wheel kit in the bend of the rails.I am not long tracket..have over size wheels but hyfax wants to wear between the marginal wheels up front and the first idler wheels.I moved my idler wheels up now.Usually they are in the location where bolt goes thru the w-arm mounts to rail.I just drilled new holes ahead and used yamaha mounts ahead of that location.Now the whole bend of the rails is riding on wheels and not really digging into the hyfax,time will tell..but should be good.
 
sockeyerun said:
Trip, which offset axle did you use?
Click to expand...

Just ordered a billet axle from Tricked Toys in Ontario. They make an axle for the 20mm opening for my current axle. The one they make is for a 4 wheel kit, but they can customize it to just run 2 inner wheels. Can go to 8, 9, or 10" rear wheels with their axles, all with 6205 bearings included. Their kit also relocates the track adjusters to the outside of the rails, which I'm excited about. Won't get it until early next week. They were super helpful on the phone.
 
bluemonster1 said:
put in the marginal wheel kit in the bend of the rails.I am not long tracket..have over size wheels but hyfax wants to wear between the marginal wheels up front and the first idler wheels.I moved my idler wheels up now.Usually they are in the location where bolt goes thru the w-arm mounts to rail.I just drilled new holes ahead and used yamaha mounts ahead of that location.Now the whole bend of the rails is riding on wheels and not really digging into the hyfax,time will tell..but should be good.
Click to expand...

What about the idler wheel spacers that Hauck sells? Do they work? Much cheaper than a marginal wheel kit. I read an old post where a member swore by them.
 
You could take the inner wheels on the axle and move that up to the bend in the rail, on hole each for the bolt and your good to go.
 
Was not 97 the last year of the good wheels before the cheap looking plastic ones that blow the rubber off easily?
 
I found these and decided their the way to go http://www.rsiracing.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=14&products_id=42

I was getting some aggressive wear on the hyfax at the bend transition. I had mounted my scratchers about 1.5" forward of center from the forward idler axle. These mounts let me put the wheels right where they need to be, the scratchers keep the hyfax cool all the way around.
 
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