Skid relocation, how to do it?

fourbarrel

fourbarrel

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I've read a few posts by guys that have done the relocation mod to their skid and wondered what the deal was with this? What length did you start with and what did you end up with? Which rail extensions?
I have tossed the idea of doing a 136 ext whenever I have to do a track change on my 98,figured it would be before now but the past couple of seasons were pretty low miles.A bud did a 128 extension on his '01 SRX,used rail extensions but never did the tunnel,it seemed to work for him as long as he didn't bottom out the skid and I thought about going with 128 rail extensions and a tunnel extension and relocating the skid back if it would be of any benefit.Or I could just go with 136 extensions and leave the skid where it is now.
What all is involved in relocating a skid?Do I need drop brackets?
 
Using 128 extensions and relocating the skid back 4 inches to run a 136 track effectively changes your approach angle at the front of the track. For riding deep snow, this helps get the machine up on top of powder instead of plowing through it. It's kind of like a ramp, the steeper it is, the harder it is to climb and vice versa.

As far as how it's done, you measure the center of your stock mounting holes back from one of the hex faces on the drive shaft, then down from the top of the tunnel (inside). Add 4 inches to your dimensions from the shaft and lay out your new mounting holes keeping the same dimension from the top of the tunnel. Whether or not you need drop brackets for the rear mounting holes depends on where your new mounting holes land. Most likely if you go back 4 inches, you will need a drop bracket.
 
Just looking at it logically I would think if you want to maintain how the sled currently sits you'd have to move the holes down more from the top of the tunnel as you move them back.
 
Most likely yes. You could, in theory, put the suspension anywhere in the tunnel you want within reason as long as you keep the distance between the shafts correct. There would be a little more math involved in figuring how far it needs to drop down in the tunnel to maintain how the sled sits. Where it would get complicated is the fact that that the sled would then be pioting up on the skis. The center and rear shafts would have to be dropped further from the top of the tunnel progressively to maintain geometry. Personally, If you trail ride it at all, I would just get rail extensions and call it a day.
 
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I made a template of the mounting hols of the OEM positions. Since I utilized a 128" track on the SXR. I relocated back 3.5" and then run 8" rear axle wheels. The ride is so much better as well. I did have to make a custom tunnel extension. simple enough. Note, for last season, I did not drop the rear mounting, I simply moved back and ran the same axis with the tunnel. Upon inspectin this fall, I found a few scrapes on the tunnel extension from the 1.25 studs. Very minimal scratches, but they are there, and i did hit. Check out the photos.

 
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