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The time has come to report on Starting Line Products' and American Snowmobiler's project snowmobile, the 2XLT (Extra Extra Light Triple). In the October 1992 issue, we brought you the foundation for the 2XLT project sled - less mass to be moved by horsepower. This, at least in this moment, is accomplished by installing SLP Ultra-Lite components on Polaris' new stealth fighter, the XLT. The goal: a lean snowmobile pumped full of steroids.
This project is the result of several long discussions with Starting Line Products and Polaris dealer, Action Motor Sports, both of Idaho Falls, Idaho. When this type of extensive work is laid out, those who pay the bills and balance the checkbook are a little cautious, but the fun of doing a project sled won.
Phase one of this project deals with the simple add-on components which affect the area of greatest weight, the front end. Our goal, at this state, is to lighten the XLT by at least 25 pounds. All weights reported are averages figured to the nearest half, quarter, or three-quarter pound.
To find out how much weight we could cut, the XLT SKS had to reveal its weight. After draining the fuel tank, the XLT was placed on a scale where it tipped the scales at 501 pounds.
1. After the weigh-in, the hood was dismounted and replaced with a fiberglass gelcoat hood. The stock hood with headlamp, windshield and instrument pod, weighed 20.5 pounds. The gelcoat hood with the same components weighed 15 pounds. As a side note, the weight given in the October issue did not include the windshield, headlamp and instrument pod.
2. After installing the hood, the skis were swapped out. The stock skis weighed in at an average of 9.25 pounds each, for an 18.5 pound combined weight. The Ultra-Lite skis weighed in at 12.5 pounds combined.
3. Following the skis, the spindles and trailing arms (with stabilizer arm slider block) were given the ol' one-two trade by Starting Line's Jim Noble. The spindles dropped 2.5 pounds while the chromoly trailing arm decreased the weight by an additional 4.5 pounds.
4. At this time, we thought it was ridiculous to install these high-tech suspension parts while maintaining the stock pancake syrup-filled front end shocks. So off came the coil over shocks and on went gas-filled Fox shocks. Not counting on any weight change and bitten with curiosity, we weighed the stock shock against the Fox shock. Combined, the original equipment shocks weighed 8.5 pounds. The two Fox shocks weighed 6.5 pounds. Hey, that's two pounds we weren't expecting.
For the heck of it, we placed a new set of tuned triple pipes on the 580's exhaust ports. Life is better when a snowmobile can breathe easy.
5. Last we installed a set of chromoly handlebars with a two-inch rise. The Ultra-Lite handlebars weighed two ounces less than stock, so we called it even-steven.
Handlebar hooks were added to the chromoly bar for that "hooked on and hold on feeling."