indy trail rear suspension setup?

[jeepdad]

i have 2 older indy trail sleds and the back suspension is sagged out, does anyone have any suggestions or experience with aftermarket parts or good inexpensive fixes for these? i would like to get some travel out of the rear as well, they one is my kids sled and the other is a back up sled, they still run like a champ i dont wanna get rid of them but they ride like crap in rear.

any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[sled_guy]

New rear springs and shocks are about the best you can do. You can get the torsion springs from the aftermarket as well as shocks... I believe HPE carries both.

What year are they? You could upgrade them to newer pull out suspensions from Edge RMKs or the likes... not a very hard mod and the used suspensions can be found fairly reasonable.

sled_guy

 

[volcano buster]

If you upgrade the springs and shocks, make sure to pull the rear skid completely out and clean all the pivot rods. I bought a 440 SKS with only about 1000 miles on it and the rods were almost welded in the tubes due to old grease. Once they were cleaned up and relubed, the suspension cycled a lot better even with the stock parts.

 

[jeepdad]

cool thanks,

the more i looked at it the more i thought it is what it is, new shock and spings would only go so far, may have to look into doing a mod or maybe just sell them off and upgrade those like the rest i have been doing.

shame though they run fantastic for 488's, oh yeah one is a 88 and the other is a 90.

 

[SpencerA]

My wife's 2up indy trail sled was really bad. I took the whole suspension out and found 0 grease and 0 travel from the original owner. Cleaned it all up and greased and it works great now. Well at least as good as for that old of a sled. Its actually a Cadilac with 2 people on it. I think a lot of people forget about maintaining there suspensions.

 

[jeepdad]

My wife's 2up indy trail sled was really bad. I took the whole suspension out and found 0 grease and 0 travel from the original owner. Cleaned it all up and greased and it works great now. Well at least as good as for that old of a sled. Its actually a Cadilac with 2 people on it. I think a lot of people forget about maintaining there suspensions.

i am thinking that might be the thing to do, i grease them every fall, but being as they are OOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDDDD might need some extra love, it goes down when you put wieght on it but doesnt seem to rebound well.

there is an ad for a 144 rmk complete rear, thoughts?!

 

[volcano buster]

Sit back and re-evaluate.

Ok, now that is out of the way. What do you plan to do with the sleds and how long do you intend to keep them?

Sure, you can bolt up another skid under it to help increase travel, but you significantly offset the current steering geometry and caster. To keep the skis in contact with the snow with a "lifted" suspension, you will need to suck down the limiter straps in the front of the skid. When that is done there is minimal travel in the front and most of the "ride" has to come from the rear. Steering is tough because you have little to no caster in the spindles.

If you are only going to use the sled for a short while, ride it as is, then sell and upgrade. I think the sleds usually hold their value better in closer to stock form than if someone butchered an upgrade (not downplaying your abilities, but there is only some much a person can do, or money to spend on these things).

If you are going to keep it a while longer, Fox shocks were a factory upgrade for a while so you might find some that could help control the rear skid better. Heck, put some on the front too for an added bonus.

 

[jeepdad]

VERY VALID POINT! sometimes you can get carried away with your own stuff! hell my jeep is the crown jewel in that philosiphy, lol. after reading this, i can do a little fixin cheap and sell them next year and upgrade to one newer nicer sled!

i do like fixin and modifiying, again ,look at my jeep/wheeler but time is never my friend.

thanks for keeping a brother in check!