Anyone put drop brackets on S chassis Summit?

[$nowMeansBroke]

I extended my 97 Summit 670 from a 136 to a 144 by setting the skid back and putting an offset axle and 8" wheels in. The sled works great, but it seems to get stuck too easy because of the tunnel and running boards dragging in the snow and hanging up. I want to make some drop brackets to raise the tunnel up a bit.

Has anyone made or bought some? How far did you drop it? I believe we went an inch down when we set the suspension back, so it's at the bottom of the stock bracket already. I'll probably just make some plates to bolt on there and extend down a little bit after I figure out how far I want to go.

Anything else I should keep in mind as far as suspension geometry issues or anything when dropping the rear a few inches?

Thanks

 

[idahotinbender]

I installed a set of rear drop brackets on my mxz built by van amburg. they have about 20 holes in them. you can adjust wherever you want to . Really nice brackets for around 80 bucks. I think they are 4" x 9".up and down adjustment is about 4" and forward and back about 5". I long tracked a 121 to a 144 and the brackets made it way easier to adjust.

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

I drew up some extensions for my stock drop brackets in Solidworks quick. Hopefully I can get 3 or 4 inches of drop and plenty of adjustability from them. I got a 12"x12"x1/4" piece of 6061-T651 aluminum off of ebay for 20 bucks so I should be able to make these in the mill in about half an hour and have a nice cheap set of drop brackets.

 

[H20SKE]

I have also done drop brackets on my old moddy 670--I think you have a great looking drop bracket drawn up there--but why all the holes??

Once you bolt up the bracket to your supports--just mark where you want the axle and drill--no need to have a bunch of holes in MHO.

I did a set back and suspension drop when I put in a set of 151 rails and put a 16x159 doo track on it--worked awesome.

H20SKE...

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

I'm not going to drill any holes until I get the bracket on there, and then I'll probably only have one or two holes for the axle adjustment. I'm actually planning on using the holes that are already in the stock drop brackets to bolt it to, so those holes in the top will be different also. I was just bored . The 6061 isn't as strong as I would like, but 2024 was too spendy so the fewer the holes in it the better I think.

 

[cookiecutter]

Yep did it to two of our ol 670's. We made our own out of scrap steel-pretty heavy but worked good. We did about a 2 1/2 in. drop and it worked great! Good luck to you, you'll enjoy the results

 

[cookiecutter]

 

[cookiecutter]

 

[cookiecutter]

There is a pic of it for ya, she was sure a fun sled.

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

That looks great, I was thinking 2 1/2 to 3" as well. It should make it a whole new sled.

 

[Summit8]

You may have to drop your front arm down on the tunnel if you lose transfer, I did dropping my skid 5" out of the tunnel.

 

[Backcountry]

Add a flange that goes out under the running board...will stiffen the runnings boards some too...

 

[eazyduzit509]

Here's mine, kina dark and small, sorry... click the thumbnail then click the picture again to zoom.

99 Summit X 670

 

[cookiecutter]

^^^ with Summit8, makes the rear drop feel alot better

 

[eazyduzit509]

Sweet sleds cookiecutter and summit 8.

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

So if I drop the front also, how much should I go in relation to how much I drop the back? If I go 3.5" in the back, would 1.5" in the front be ok?

Here's my latest thoughts. It should give me about 3.75" of drop from where it's at now to the bottom hole

 

[Summit8]

I converted this 95 Summit 583 to S-chassis a few years ago, been wanting to get another 700 or 800 for a back-up sled. Old s-chassis still runs real good, been thinking about a 144x16, and gearing it down. Wish it had a 670 in it, would slap a 151 on it and drop the skid out of the tunnel 3-4 inches and give it some clearance.
Has been a great kids sled, kinda hate to get rid of it, has great power back home at 2k' for the boy to ride.

Anybody interested in buying??

 

[Summit8]

Drop the back out and ride it, if your skis want to stick to the ground when your done, go ahead and drop the front hole down an inch or inch and a half, you'll want to make sure you've got tunnel reinforcement on the front arm on both sides of the bolt, there is the metal backing plate on the inside of course. May be able to get away with just drilling out the bottom hole of the front inside plate if it has a couple of them like the zx chassis did.
If you need a reinforcing plate on the outside, you can just use a piece of alum. or buy the premade extension from someone like Specialty Sleds or Racers Edge, they are made for setting back your skid, such as using the 136 skid and mounting it back to put on a 144" track, did that on a 2000 Summit 700.

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress.

Hey, if your gonna make a fancy drop bracket, I might be interested in a set.

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

I've got a thin steel reinforcement plate on the outside of the tunnel where the front mounts. I put it on when we set the skid back and I relocated the front mounting hole. When we did the skid setback for the longer track, we went back and down in the rear, but only back in the front. I can pick the skis up about a foot on a hard launch, but thats after I let the limiter strap out a little bit. I think I'm going to settle on 4" down in the rear from where it's at now, and 1.5" in the front. That will give me a total of 5" of drop in the rear from stock.

Of course I'll probably keep changing my mind until the aluminum I ordered shows up and I can make the things.

 

[Summit8]

Sorry, had to go back and read your first post, forgot you had already set the skid back to 144. Did you go 16" wide? I measured the old F-chassis tunnel and there is room for it?