94 vmax rear suspension upgrade

bks81

bks81

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Jan 18, 2014
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Rensselaer, IN
I have been researching trying to find out what rear suspension would be the best to upgrade my 94 vmax. I have read that the suspension out of a 97 or newer yamaha is a good suspension with 11.5" of travel. This sounds like what I want.
I have tried looking up the after market suspensions but can not find any listings for my sled, evidently its to old now. Of course I will not spend more money for a suspension then I could just buy another 97-00 sled for either.
But in my searches I found a suspension for a 97 srx I think that said it was only 8.5" of travel, so evidently not all Yamahas had the 11.5" travel in 97?
I have a 98 Cougar that has 13.5" of travel and it rides like a Cadillac, but not for sure if that kind of suspension will work on my sled. I know if I raise the back end up to much, that will shift too much weight forward and cause other problems.
SO what would be the max amount of travel without causing problems? without having to replace things on the front.
I found a X-tra 12 suspension not too far away out of a 1998 xlt for $150, would this mount in the vmax without major renovations? I seen where some have put suspensions from Arctic Cats in Vmaxs, but not sure if they were the ETT 13.5" ones or not.
I seen this thread at '94 V Max Suspension - Snowmobile World : Your #1 Snowmobile Forum and love the idea of more rear suspension travel like these. Would make my vmax ride 100% better I'm sure.
I know this topic has several other threads here, but they are all fairly old and didnt want to "hi-jack" someone elses thread, SO I hope Im alright starting a new thread.
 

actually a 96 xt suspension is better than a 97 sus. and it will bolt right in!
 
To quote the man himself "Forget the extra 12 that you bought, got free, found on the side of the road etc. It is the most difficult to swap and probably the least desirable. People have swapped them in but I wouldn't and don't have the specs. If the sled you are planning to put an X-12 has the right balance with the front which it probably doesn't, you would be better putting an edge in it".
 
OK, its good to know the Xtra-12 is not reccommended. I will probally opt for the Xtra-10 then as they are probally more readily available and are proven to work well it the Vmax. What about the SC-10 out of the Ski-Doo's, are they as good as a Xtra 10? I read a review saying the Pro-Action Plus was really good. Will this work in the 94 Vmax without creating problems?
 
Ok, I found a M10 suspension skid 121" removed from a 2003 polaris edge x. Will this be a good choice to put in my sled? Will it work without modifying the the front suspension? thanks in advance.
 
Well its that time of year to get the sleds ready to ride. Last year I bought a xtra-10 skid that was out of a 97 polaris Ultra SP to install in my 94 Yamaha Vmax 600 deluxe. I did the install and all went well. However, I noticed that the suspension would go down quite a ways with about 50 lbs on the seat, and when said weight was removed, the suspension would not come all the way back up without having to lift the sled up manually.
So I removed the FOX shock thinking it needed rebuilt, but now am not to sure. I got out my weigh scale and placed the shock on it and started pushing down on it. The scale read 30 lbs before the shock started to compress, and went clear up to 70 lbs before it compressed completely. So what do you think, is the shock alright?
While taking the shocks off I noticed the Spring rollers (the plastic wheels that the torsion spring seats in on the bottom of the rail) has developed flat spots in them because they werent rolling like they should of been. Well this has to be the reason the ssuspension does not rebound fully like it should. So I went online to look up the part number so I can order new ones and found that these must be obsolete now. The part number is 5432170. Does anyone know where I can get some of these, or an aftermarket part that will work? Kimpex makes 3 different ones, but not for my skid according to their website cataloge. I cant believe these parts are no longer available when it seems to be a crutial part for many sleds.

Thanks in advance,
Brian in IN
 
Ok, I got new roller wheels (thanks Irondog for the part # ) and installed them. I had to grind the steel sleeves that go in the wheels down as the wheels wouldnt spin on them like they should. But this solved my problem of the suspension not rebounding up on its own whith no weight on the sled. I believe this is probally the problem the majority of the time in the MANY posts I have seen about this.
Next question, seeing how I bought this Xtra-10 used, I am not sure if it is set up correctly. The FRSS and RRSS are both set to the low setting and from what I have read and seen, they should be set on the high setting? with both dots faceing the scissor arm? From what I see happening now, the suspension is all the way up, and with 50-75 lbs of weight on the seat, it goes down 4-5 inches and stops when it hits the RRSS. At that point, I can put my 185 lbs on it and it dont seem to go down any more. I do have the spring tensioners on high thinking that the initial 4-5 inches of travel was far to easy to acheive. After some reading, I think that is wrong? So what i am thinking is I need to turn the Frss and RRSS to the high setting, and the spring adjuster to the low setting and see how it feels then. All this is being done in the shop as we have no snow to try it out on a ride. give me your feedback and thoughts please.
 
Ok, I made the adjustments I mentioned above and I think I'm on the right track. However, I now notice that the back of the track (very back lug on track) is 3/4" off the ground. (it was probally like this before, I just didnt notice it till now) This is with ski's on concrete floor, track the same, got on the sled and bounced it to make sure all is settled. What adjustments can I do to get the track flat on the ground, as I'm sure having it like it is will cause the hyfax to wear out faster where all the weight is on it now, which is only about 3 lugs in length. BTW, my front skid shock/spring is not adjustable.
Also I would like to know what the manual says for sag and drop with rider on is so I can compare to what I have. Thanks.
 
Both front and back limiter strap adjusters are there and right now are basicly as loose as they will go. However, With the sled sitting on the floor and no rider weight on it, I did take notice that the front limit straps right now have quite a bit of slack in them where I would need to run the nut atleast half way up the I-bolt threads just to take the slack out of the straps. And the back limit strap has no slack in it, and is tight. I would say the problem is there because the front end is lower then the back end. But there is no adjustment to raise the front end on the Vmax. Hope this helps you come to a recommendation for me.
 
OK, I got around to adjusting the front limiter straps to see if that would allow the skid/track sit flat on the ground. It took me tightening the adjusting nuts where 1.8" of thread was past the nut, but the track was flat on the floor. But I wanted to make sure everything else still worked like it should. So I put the sled back on solid ground and got on the sled and tryed to bounce it, and it barely budged. So seeing as I installed this Xtra-10 to give me a better ride, I want it to work like it should. SO on to another plan.
 
AFter the results of my above efforts, I loosened the front strap limiters back all the way loose. So now I decided to try raising the front mount of the skid. So I drilled new holes 5/8" higher then the others, and to my dismay, the back of the track only was lowered by 1/8", still 5/8" off the floor. Son of a buck !!!! I checked to see how close the track is to the cooling rails mounted to the top of the tunnel, and I only have about 1/2" between the track lug and cooling rails. OK, so I cant go any higher. So now I guess the next step is to lower the back mount.
 
OK, I put a tie down strap on the back and front mounts of the skid so when I disconnect the back mount, it keeps the correct distance between them. I removed the mounting bolts and use a jack to adjust the level of the sled until the track was flat on the floor. Problem is, I will need a drop mount as the skid rear control arm is now below the tunnel side. after thinking about it for a while, I happened to remember that the mount for the original skid might work. SO I went and got it and yes, it should work. So I proceed to attach these mounts as low as possible and triple check my distance from the front mount to make sure the new back mount location is 23 1/16" center to center (per measurements on JB Shocks website) from the front mount. After I had everything back together and tightened down, and track tensioned properly, I dropped the sled back on the ground, bounced it and checked the track and waa laa, it is now flat on the floor. So now I put 200lbs on the seat, bounce it and check things out. all looks good. so then I stand on the back bumper and try to bounce, and it dont budge. Son of a buck again!!! SO I wonder if it because the track is too tight. SO I loosen the track quite a bit and stand on the back bumper and bounce and waa laa, it goes down like it should. I then jack it up where the track is off the ground and the track is so loose it hangs down 1" below the track in the center. I tryed adjusting a little tighter, but then I get the same result as above. So my question is, What causes the track to get tighter as the suspension goes down?
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If the track gets tighter with travel, it seems to me the arc that the suspension moves in is incorrect? Also, it's not unusual for some sleds' tracks to be off the ground in the back. This reduces ski pressure in the corners and also increases ski lift. IIRC mine is like this, but not by 5/8". I'll have a look when I head back down.
 
OK, I am hoping this is the final episode for this thread. What I did tonight was I adjusted the RRSS to medium, and then low to see if I could get the suspension to travel farther down without stopping because the track would tighten and not allow it to go but maybe half way down. Both settings helped a little, but I still wasnt happy. So I decided to move the RRSS to the second hole further back, and put it on high. I was now able to get the suspension to travel almost all the way (about 2.5" from the bumper stop) with 200 lbs on the seat and my 185 lbs on the back bumper. I also loosened the track tension some, and then tightened the limiter straps to get all the slack out when the sled is sitting on the ground with only its own weight and sagging under its own weight. I did this so when I catch some air and the skid falls down as far as the limiters allow, the less it falls, the less the track loosens up. but it will not limit the skid travel for suspension sake. AS far as track tension, I adjusted it where theres about 3/16" sag in the middle under its own weight, and a little over an inch with the 10 lbs of pressure pushing down on it. So with the adjustments I did, I now have 6.5" of travel from the sled sitting on the ground after I have lifted the back end up and it sitting there under its own weight, to 200lbs on the seat and my 185lbs on the back bumper and bounced it down as much as I could. Measurements were taken from the mud flap to the ground.
DOes anyone know of anything I shouldnt of done? Or problems I will have because of what I have done?
 

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