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Last March, Johnny Unser contacted Fabcraft for info on tunnels and rear suspensions. Johnny has a 2003 Polaris Vertical Escape with a 159-inch track and a 900 Union Bay motor.

The sled ran great, but he wanted to drop some weight from the sled.

Unser liked the style and handling of the Edge chassis more than the new IQ, plus his Union Bay 900 was already a strong engine. He opted to update his '03 Escape to make it a leaner mountain machine rather than buy a new sled that would ultimately need the same things done to it.

Unser chose the Edge chassis because it could be made lighter per dollar spent than the IQ chassis could.

Johnny is a boondocker and hill climber near his home in Hailey, Idaho, and he is always looking for ways to up his sled's powder performance.

A new Edge
After a few calls and emails, he decided on several items that he and I felt would benefit his sled and riding style. We focused on losing chassis weight, picking up some ground speed and improving handling in deep snow.

Snow and slush building up on the running boards was a big issue too. The boards on his Polaris eventually would melt the snow, but it usually took several minutes, and the water would run down the running boards and into the belly pan after it melted. On big snow days, the snow on the boards never melted before he would take another side-hill and fill them up again. He was constantly fighting snow buildup.

Weight savings with the new tunnel - dry - would be minimal, however when snow and ice build up, the savings can be up to 15 lbs. And the RBC tunnel is much stronger than the stock unit. Since the tunnel is the frame and foundation of the sled, this is no place to sacrifice strength. The new tunnel increased cooler surface area by 4 times, keeping the big motor cool on marginal snow days and hard-packed trails.

Next, we attacked the rear suspension. Stock, it's on the heavy side and the approach angle is steeper than need be for a good powder sled. It also doesn't allow for any kind of transfer controllability, which is a must when dealing with high horsepower motors.

Sleds that wheelie when climbing, look cool to your friends who don't know better, but they're actually wasting power and trenching, which slows your ground speed and in the end, will leave you with the low mark on the hill.

We dropped in a complete Fabcraft mountain rear suspension for the 159-inch track. That ended up cutting 14.5 lbs. The suspension includes Fox Float air shocks, chromaly arms, 8-inch composite idler wheels and a graphite hyfax. This suspension gave Johnny more ability to control transfer on the sled and he can now change pressure in air shocks or via the transfer blocks.

More dieting
Next we hit the drive system. The chain case on the Escape is an updated version from the Edge, but it's still heavy and takes more horsepower to spin up to speed than the newer belt drive system from Crazy Mountain Extreme. Not only does it transfer horsepower to the track much more efficiently, but it weighs 8.5 lbs. less than the Escape chain case drive system.

The belt drive also has a longer center to center distance than the chain case, so the drive shaft can be rolled down and back to give more clearance inside the tunnel to run 2¼- and 2½-inch tracks and still have room to push the snow and air through the tunnel with less resistance above the drivers and at the front of the cooler area. This system also drops the angle of attack by about 3 degrees, a big benefit for powder riding.

The front suspension also was improved. The stock Escape trailing arms weigh less than the Edge's trailing arms, but are still hefty. Break one, and it's time to buy an expensive new one.

By installing Fabcraft's carbon fiber trailing arms and removing the sway bar, we dropped 7½ lbs. The quick-change carbon fiber shafts can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of a new arm, and they work on either side. A spare shaft can be carried in your trailer, so there's no need to hunt for a dealer when you tag a rock or stump that is buried just below the snow line.

For skis, Unser chose a set of red SLP Powder Pros to improve side hilling and deep powder performance.

Next Johnny was interested in a lightweight carbon fiber hood to replace the stock molded plastic hood.

We took a Fabcraft carbon fiber hood to Darr Riggert (owner of Action Auto body in Missoula, Mont.) for a custom paint job. Johnny wanted something a little different from the stock hood, yet he liked the sled's black and silver paint scheme. Darr came up with a pattern of air-brushed silver blades over a metallic black base that looked great while not looking like something out of a sci-fi movie.

After the paint was dry we added a set of SLP Flow-rites to the dash, a Tri-City hood vent kit and our Fabcraft mini light kit. We also installed aluminum octagon mesh powder screens in the vent holes to keep snow out on deep powder days.

A final coat
When all the metal parts were pre-fit, we took them to Ross Johnson at Powder Coating of Montana, in Missoula. The Johnsons have been powder coating sleds (and everything else) since 1998. They do a fantastic job, and since they are snowmobilers, they know what the parts are and where to tape off areas that shouldn't be coated. The bulkhead and tunnel received a coating of Tiger Drylac silver screen, which looks like aluminum, but has a lot of silver metal flake in it.

The running boards were shot with Cardinal poly silver vein, giving them a black hammer tone texture with silver highlights. The trailing arms and rear suspension were coated with Forrest Red Wagon and Prism Cust, that give a multi-color metallic look to the red.

Powder coating all metal parts serves several purposes. First, it gives a great custom look so you stand out in the crowd. Second, it reduces snow and ice sticking to metal parts because it puts a polymer barrier between metal and ice. Ice freezes to metal much faster than to plastic. Those of you who remember when metal skis were the norm on sleds will understand the benefits of plastic over metal. You can't find any OEM sleds today with metal skis, so why would you want any unprotected metal parts?

The final benefit of powder coating is the long-term look and improved resale value. Powder coating will not allow engine oil or boot rubber to get ground into bare aluminum. It also keeps the bare aluminum from oxidizing and looking dingy after a year or so. This translates into better resale value when you decide to trade the sled, which we all do eventually.

Johnny also had installed a few custom items on his sled during the past couple of years, which include a BOSS seat, 2.4-inch Polaris track and that screaming 900 Union Bay motor.

Now Johnny reports that his sled "really rocks," and it looks like a rock star!

2003 Polaris Vertical Escape
Starting wet weight (includes anti-freeze but no oil or gas): 529 lbs.
Finished wet weight (includes anti-freeze but no oil or gas): 490 lbs.
Weights taken off Fabcraft's in-house scales, may vary from certified scales. Shown is actual weight loss from start to finish.

Product	Stock weight	Replaced weight	Savings
159-inch tunnel	34.5 lbs. (Includes bumper, cooler and suspension brackets on both)	34 lbs.	0.5 lbs.
159-inch rear susp.	62 lbs.	45.5 lbs.	16.5 lbs.
Drive system	31 lbs.	24.5 lbs.	6.5 lbs.
Trailing arms	11 lbs.	6.5 lbs.	4.5 lbs.
Sway bar removal	3 lbs.		3 lbs.
Hood	12 lbs.	6.5 lbs.	5.5 lbs.
Light kit	2 lbs.	12 oz.	1 lb. 4 oz.
Skis	14 lbs.	13 lbs.	1 lb.

TOTAL WEIGHT SAVINGS: 38.75 lbs.