151" to 159" on 2002 Summit

[michaelbaird]

hey folks- I have a 2002 Summit with the stock 15x151 track on it. When I bought the sled the previous owner threw in a 15x159 for free that he never got around to putting on the sled.

I am considering doing the upgrade and was wondering if anything else is needed aside from the rail extensions? Is it necessary to extend the tunnel and heat exchangers to prevent over-heating? How about stock gearing on the 02 with the longer track?

Also it seems like most people on this forum recommend going to 16" if you are going to go to the trouble of changing the track. Is it worth holding out, trying to sell the one I got for free, and going to 16" later?

 

[Redsledhead]

I went from a 144 to a 159 ( 15 wide )on my 02 summit 800X. Have had no trouble with the stock heat exchanger. I had to extend the tunnel and went with a 159 stock ext.I did change gearing to 19-44. Hope this helps. Also I used 151 rails from a 07 instead of rail ext. A perfect fit

 

[justinkredible56]

You will need rail extensions and a tunnel extension. I went the route of not putting in a tunnel extension and the snow flap kept getting sucked up into the track and then caused the factory extension to curl under. I'm sure you could find a way around not putting a tunnel extension on there or just take off your snow flap, but if I were to do it again I would buy a used extension off a parted out 159 chassis.

 

[Widowmaker800]

My '02 was originally a 144x15. Switched it over to a 159x16. Only thing I had to put on were the rail and tunnel extensions. Also switched over to extrovert drivers to remove the ratcheting track issue.

 

[Ox]

Can you put on that short of extensions?

The '07 rails mentioned sound like a great option!

.

 

[Redsledhead]

Yea the 07 rails let me use a big wheels

 

[ChicksDigDoos]

i went from a 151 to a 174 on my 01 summit and i love it all i did was gear it down rail ext moved the heat exchanger back and a good tunnel ext best thing ive done to a sled

 

[top-secret-tommy]

159

I did the same thing No rail extension is needed I put on an 8in big wheel kit (reverse it) and a tunnel extension and thats all

 

[michaelbaird]

You're saying that instead of doing a rail extension you can just add a big wheel kit and that will take up enough slack? What do you mean by reverse? Is the big wheel kit put on backwards? Which big wheel kit did you use?

 

[breakingsomum]

In most cases yes you can buy an inverted axle and reverse it up and back to suck up the track the other key is the 8" wheels they too suck up some of the extra track, and yes you will need a new tunnel extention, best bet is to order it straight from doo mine was only 50bucks from doo and best part is it used stock holes no aftermarket crap, if you are looking for extentions I doo have both a I think 3" mm extention and a mm inverted axle for 8" wheels for sale I bought a new axle last year and made a big $ mistake nothing wrong with them just didn't look at what I had in the first place!!

 

[stumpy2000]

check the center to center distance from the drive shaft to the front arm shaft the '01 chassis had @ 10"-in '03 doo pulled the arm (& skid) back to @ 13" and threw the 159" track on it...HOWEVER they extended the "wings" of the tunnel to reinforce the new mounting point and made the rear brackets longer so that they hung out of the tunnel far enough to get the rear skid to sit at it's proper height (if the rear mount gets moved back-the brackets "need" to get longer or your a$$ end will be draggin)you may be able to pull off the same without too many issues but those rear brackets are hard to take off and relocate so it looks nice so... BUT!...the benifit of pulling the skid back makes the approach angle of the track wicked for climbing up out of the snow and the difference in deep powder is HUGE

 

[sgtX]

as for switch from 151 to 159, depends on type of riding for hillshooting, highmarking 159-162 is hard to beat. for boondocking, maneuverability, an all around sled 151 is hard to beat, also depends on depth of snow for 4' powder days 159 is hard to beat, but on an average ride how many times do you really run into that deep of powder where I am in Utah not that much, and my my 153 can keep up jus about anywheres, so if you do 159 do it right like what stumpy says and do extrovert drivers.