Building my first mountain mod, looking for advice/suggestions

[S2S_sledder]

Hey all, I just picked up an 01 ZR440 sno pro with a D&D 720 twin piped open mod motor. Previous owner at some point put a tunnel extension on it and stretched it out to a 136 2 inch paddle track. She's cosmetically rough, but I've gone through it and mechanically its quite sound. The power on this thing is unbelievable for what it is.... Anyways I'm looking to build this thing into a decent mountain sled for next season and would appreciate some suggestions on what the best route to go would be. I'm not wealthy by any means so I'm not looking to get too insane but I definitely need to get a longer track under this thing for riding out here in BC. I've built some interesting ditch banging trail rigs in the past but this will be my first attempt at a mountain sled (just moved out west 1.5 yrs ago).

My initial idea is to build off the sno pro bulkhead and keep the AWS 5 a arms, I'm not 100% sure but I think a previous owner may have already swapped to narrower a arms as the clicker shocks are gone and have been replaced with regular ACT shocks and the overall stance seems narrow for a snopro, haven't got the measuring tape out yet though. Are there fox floats out there that will work on the AWS 5 a arms?

It has some skinny C&A ski's which I will be ebaying in favor of some nice powder ski's (no idea on this, would like some suggestions).

The tunnel is fairly straight, but definitely been ridden hard so I'll be replacing it all together... would love to go with a hill climb tunnel if I can score one in the swap meet, but as a budget alternative can I make something from a mountain cat chassis work? Strength is important in this area as I'm 220lbs and I like to ride hard, weak running boards are a pet peeve of mine!

I'd like to run a 159" or similar. open to suggestions as far as rear suspension goes...

I am struggling a bit with what to do in regards to gas tank/seat combo. would love to go with a boss high rise tanker, but not sure what fuel tank will work... definitely needs to be clear though.

New green side panels, black skid plate and black poly hood with custom lighting will finish it off

Help me fill in the gaps here, I'm sure there's a few of you out there who have built up old ZR sno pros in the past...

Thanks!

 

[SLEDIOT]

If it's possible stick a a shorter track like a151 16 wide in there. That sled will rip like no tommorrow. Go with a longer track for the hillclimbing, That particular chassis is/would be a perfect boondocker!! Lot's of power there in that engine. Sounds like it will be a blast. Have fun and please postpics and results over the summer. It's already obvious a lot of snowesters have put there sleds and comps away for the summer.

 

[Bearcat]

Try 16" wide XP Summit track if you like hill climbing. For boondocking put 15" wide something else. Throw away all the extra weight, move motor as back as you can and move tank as forward as you can. Requires lot of work but it's really nice when you get it ready

I'm building quite similar project, but it's not SnoPro chassis and motor is from Wildcat 700 -91 (bored to 790). Mine chassis is from ZRT600 -97 with ZR900 -05 bulk head and DIY tunnel extension and suspension. I'm using M-Cat plastics and DiamondDrive. As you can see, the steering post could been easy to set over the engine, but I liked to keep it quite vertical position as it's in my allmost stock Crossfire.

Here's pic from last weekend testing trip:

Here's another from some weeks ago:

More pics can be found:
http://gallery.umpinen.com/v/Beari/madmule/

Hopefully you get some ideas for your project

 

[S2S_sledder]

Awesome... thanks for the replies, exactly the type of info I'm looking for. I guess you can make anything work with enough fabrication. I'll definitely post pics as things progress. I've still got another month of work and riding up here in the Arctic until I head back down to Vancouver, but then I'll tear into 'er over the summer. Can't wait to get started!

 

[Meatman]

here are a few suggestions. I would ditch the snopro chassis for a newer 1M (03.5-06) they have the drop and roll. I havent heard of drop and roll kits for that style chassis but they may be out there. Plus you can drop that motor in it. there may still be some tison tunnels floating around that were built for your chassis or they can be modified to fit the newer 1M bulkheads, its what i did to mine.

you can always find 1M parts cheap now a days, people seem to be parting theirs out left and right. good luck and have fun. I'll be startin my summer project when I get back sometime in july...good luck

-meat

 

[76FOMOCO]

"Parting out" you could say. I have more cat parts than you can shake a stick at. Meatman your shop looks like a cat dealership.

 

[S2S_sledder]

Ya I was thinkin about just trying to find a 1m roller and maybe dropping the motor in that, but I'd really like to get a vanamburg tunnel, fox float rear skid and floats up front... I've owned lots of fast heavy sleds, I'd like to try build this one to keep the weight down.

Your garage looks like mine used to before I moved... can't wait to start filling up the garage at my new place!