Alpha Ice Scratchers - FYI!!!

[MTN_VIPER]

So do these sleds run hotter than a proclimb/ascender? I haven’t ran a snow flap on any of my proclimb/ascender sleds and never had an issue with heat running the stock scratchers unless it was rock hard frozen to where any sled would have issues.

If you were able to run without a snow flap on your Ascender, pretty sure that you will be fine on the Catalyst as well. Mine does run hotter on crappy snow compared to my Ascender, but the Ascender also had a snow flap. So, it's kind of an Apples to Oranges comparison. The couple of times my snow flap got bent upwards on the ascender it would get hot as well. It's more a situation of the conditions that I have to ride in to get to the play areas, more so than a problem with the sled.

 

[MTN_VIPER]

Got my Chewy22 ice scratcher mod done. With some help from my neighbor (he ran the torch, while I twisted the scratchers) we heated the area up about 1" from the bend about 2.5" long. My thought was by heating a 2.5" area, the 90-degree twist would be spread over a larger area and put less stress on the metal. Then quenched the scratchers in oil.
Once they were cool, I re-heated the modified areas again at a lower temperature using a propane torch with MAP gas. Then stuck them in sand so they could cool slowly. Hopefully this will re-temper the steel and time will tell how well they hold up.

For collars, I ended up using stainless steel 1/4" drill stops that I got off of Amazon. You can buy a set of 4 for 8 bucks (figured it would be good to have a couple extra in the tool kit) The drill stops come with short stainless-steel Allen set screws and prior experience with SS set screws has shown me that they have a tendency to strip out. So I replaced then with longer 10-32 hardened steel set screws from the hardware store.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it came out and there is plenty of clearance between the modified scratchers and the tunnel when they are in the up position.

I'm curious to see how well they work and if they improve cooling in marginal snow conditions.

 

[Chewy22]

Nice work. I’m in Cooke now and the snow is crazy deep so not a great test. But they do kick up a lot more, just like the ones in my twin rail.

 

[Chewy22]

Well reverse doesn’t really work unless it’s super hard pack. The second you hit any kind of snow they catch. So that is a bummer. But had to try.

They do kick up way more than the stock scratchers so that is a W!

Yes the 858 runs hotter. Not a lot but noticeable. And it everywhere, trails and deep pow. Something I have to get use to.

 

[MTN_VIPER]

Well reverse doesn’t really unless it’s super hard pack. The second you hit any kind of snow they catch. So that is a bummer. But had to try.

They do kick up way more than the stock scratchers so that is a W!

Yes the 858 runs hotter. Not a lot but noticeable. And it everywhere, trails and deep pow. Something I have to get use to.

Good to know, I was looking at my set up and was thinking that they might catch in reverse. Not too concerned about it though as I'm used to having to put the scratchers up in reverse anyway.
#1 goal for me is improved cooling.