Dragon Spindles on The RMK 900

[Mech Engr]

Yes I know there is a thread only a few days old that discusses some of this but....I think this spindle option deserves its own discussion.

I have a set of 2009 RMK 800 Dragon spindles I just purchased for my 2005 RMK 900. I removed the hideous original spindle and put the Dragon spindle in its place for a mock-up. Here is what I found:

1. Top mount bolt is not long enough - this is well documented in other threads and I knew this going in. I'll just buy a longer set of socket head cap screws (their proper name). They will need to be 3/4" longer for these spindles.
2. The Dragon spindles are not as wide at the bottom where they go into the ski saddle (see pic below) as the originals. This could be pretty easily fixed with a spacer or even a stack of washers in a pinch. I'm pretty confident this will work because the load bearing surface area on the Dragon spindle wouldn't change any...it'd still be the same as it is for the Dragon which isn't all that much lighter than the 900...not enough to worry about in my opinion.
3. I have SLP Powder Pros skis. When I installed the ski it felt tight and didn't want to tilt up in front as it should. From what I can tell it looks like the angles on the bottom of the Dragon spindle are different than the original IQ spindle (appears to have a more accute set of angles) so the ski tilt range is diminished quite a bit. Maybe SLP makes different saddle rubbers for different sleds? I'll check on that.

Another thing I thought of is the steering adjustments like camber. I know these are supposed to be very close to the Holz spindles...close enough to use the Holz specs for all the steering adjustments?

Hope Eric (MH) will chime in because I'm pretty sure he has a set of these Dragon spindles too.

John

 

[94fordguy]

Yup, the updated spindles do require the addition of a longer upper bolt and the spacers for the spindle-ski bolt... The newer bolt and spacers from 06+ sleds work great if you just want to go OEM. If you adjust the upper a-arm heim joint bolt out all the way you should be pretty close to plumb on the camber... I would recommend using lock-tite on the bolts after you get them where you want them... I've had mine come loose several times from the vibes...

 

[houlster]

Yup, the updated spindles do require the addition of a longer upper bolt and the spacers for the spindle-ski bolt... The newer bolt and spacers from 06+ sleds work great if you just want to go OEM.

Just to make sure... The '05/'06 are different? On my '06 700 the '08 & newer spindles will just bolt up with the existing hardware? No bolt & spacers needed like the '05s?

thx
--Dan

 

[05900]

05/06 Are different as well as model differences ( switchback,fusion,turbo ) on a few we have checked especially a arms, spindles are minor " flaws"

 

[Z-Man]

Got them on one of mine but I am pretty sure it has 06 A-Arms on it too. Not sure how the camber would be with 05 A-Arms but I do know that Holz spindles on the 05 A-Arms tilt the skis quite a bit.

 

[heynagel]

So Zman do the Holtz spindles with 05 arms tilt the skis in a good way or bad? Slightly off topic but do dragon A-arms tilt skis in a different way than 05 arms?