Anyone else think about this?

[jacmmaxwell]

Well, like many I went and drooled over the XP freeride when the specs were anounced and one thing stuck out to me was the fact that the rear arm of the skid is mounted 4.5" further back than the other summits.

Now most of use would love to have an aftermarket skid under us, but it seems to me that the average guy could move the arm back... just like skidoo. Skidoo even states this is done to improve ski pressure consitancy and weight transfer. OK, now compair this to the timbersled.... it mounts a few inches further back as well. Now on the rev you would need a custom drop bracket that would maintain the same "mounting plain" while moving the mount rearward, really not too hard in theroy.

To do it, remount the springs further back on the skid ( skidoo just used some cheesy brackets ) , new drop brackets, shock mounting relocated, or extended to accept a longer shock like the freeride.

Now, the only down fall to all this that I can see is that the upper wheels will be moved back too, this would tighten the track and may mean that there is not enough adjustment.

OK, now what do you all think? Worth it? Worth a try? Or is the summer sun cooking my brain and I should stick my head in the freezer?

 

[kelwar]

hmm I think you might be on to something ........

 

[gman086]

Too much sun... LOL! I used a longer rear arm and drilled holes in the rails which moved the rear scissor arm further back. Sled worked awesome; ate bumps and whoops like they weren't even there... until you hit the deep and then the track ratcheted like crazy because you cause more slack now when the track compresses. You end up having to change the front arm and shock pressure to accomodate this and by that time... you might as well buy one of those aftermarket suspensions!

Have FUN!

G MAN

 

[jacmmaxwell]

Hmm... do you think the freeride will have ratchet troubles?

I would not have thought this would be an issue, since the front arm is not changing length, and that is what set's the arc of the rails. But your right the steeper angle and shorter length from the top idlers to the rear axle would mean a greater change in track tension vs a flatter angle and longer distance. Simply building a longer arm would move the pressure closer to the rear and solve the tension troubles, however the longer arm would require a stiffer spring and heavier valving due to increased leverage... as you said, that's was why I like the idea of moving the whole rear arm assembly.

Hmm, thanks for chiming in... please keep it coming. I may try to pull my springs so I can cycle things and explore the effects of track tension but I better finish the siding on the end of my house first so for now I'll have to settle for forum fabbing the stuff

 

[gman086]

Hmm... do you think the freeride will have ratchet troubles?

That's a very good question. I'm guessing not since they probably have a stiffly sprung center shock which would keep track tension and also aid in going big BUT will definitely detract from it's deep snow capabilities as you want the front to collapse sooner to crawl up onto the pow and not plow thru it like I can see the FR version doing. BRP has a habit of making things that work well in MN but not so much in the steep and deep (the older XP Summit tracks with oversize ports is a classic example - they simply don't work well in deep snow and they finally just figured that out last year!).

Cheers,

G MAN

 

[winter brew]

Just move the rear scissor mount back on the rails to help keep the skis down and stiffen up the rear a bit . The brackets are cheap and no drilling so it's easy to go back to stock.

 

[gman086]

Just move the rear scissor mount back on the rails to help keep the skis down and stiffen up the rear a bit . The brackets are cheap and no drilling so it's easy to go back to stock.

The problem with that is it drops the tunnel an inch (less snow clearance to the running boards) and actually makes the sled perform worse for mogul mashing (but won't bottom as easily). The only thing it solves is rear end sag which was an XP problem, not a REV problem, and needs to be addressed with a better shock (lose the torsions) if you ask me.

Have FUN!

G

 

[winter brew]

Ahh.....when I looked at the thread I just noticed the Freeride thing, didn't even realize he was talking about the REV.....different animal.
On a side note though, those brackets do lower the height slightly at rest, BUT in motion with rider the height is almost always taller (vs stock) because of the stiffer geometry.

 

[jacmmaxwell]

Yeh I was talkin rev chassis. I got the idea from the freerides spec sheet. And after looking at the pictures of the setup on the sled.

No on the XP free ride they kept the lower shock mount and torque arm mounted to the bottom of the front arm, however the rev is not a common mount like the XP so you could just move the whole front mount back the same as the arm and upper mounts.

Here, you can still see the old mounting holes in the rails. This would be easy to reverse if it turned out to perform poorly. I tappered my tunnel last season so building a relocated mount on the tunnel (that looks good) would be kinda tough but on a stock tunnel it would not be too tough.