Installation and Review: KMOD Gen II Coupling Suspension

[off trail mike]

Christopher:

I am setting up my 153 Nytro to take and AC M skid and a Timberseld (artic cat mounts). What I have noticed is that geometry of these skids (it has to do with the low approach angle) when used on Nytro's lowers the skid approximately 1" in the back, and it looks like the K-mod is the same. ... same Ice Age rails I guess.

So if you measure from the floor to the front axle bolt center of the stock suspension, it is 11-1/2" approximately. The KMod is 12-1/2", but you mount it 2" higher, meaning your KMod suspension is 1" closer to the tunnel, which lowers the rear of the sled by an inch..

My point is the following, when riding, can you even tell, and if so what's the effect? I know you have seat time on the stock skid, stock front end, but did you get any running time with the stock rear and Skinz front end?

What I am planning to do is run the AC and Timbersled skids and the Skinz front end and try both the 17.5 shocks and 16.5 shocks, which would lower the front end by an inch as well. I have them so might as well try them.

I am pretty sure it's irrelevent, but keep in mind you have an additional thing to change up front, if you are trying to adjust the overall performance of the skinz front/k-mod rear.

One thing I do know, a skinz front/kmod rear it will be worlds better than stock!

OTM

 

[800 RMK]

Looking good Chris.........

 

[KMOD]

dang...buy the time it took to read your thread i would have installed the skid twice over..lol..it looks good..so much is similar to the timbersled..im not sold on the raptors..hope ya get lots of snow to get the benefit of it...

Both companies offer great products and both skids are coupling skids but there are many differences. We both have our way to get it done and I think customers will like or dislike aspects of either one.

Raptor shocks are phenomenal, with the triple rate spring on the front track shock, it is very compliant on the trails with a smooth transition to the higher rate when the skid couples. The dual rate spring on the rear is calibrated to work with the front spring when coupled (they are moving up and down together) and ramps up the rate throughout the travel of the shock.
With the 20 position piggyback clicker on the rear we can set this rear skid up for a 130lbs rider up to a 260 lbs rider with boost (all in the same shock and spring combo). We have a bigger spring for extreme aggresive rider's and or bigger guys.



The Raptor shocks will prove themselves and will be one of the industries formidable players in the near future.

Thanks, Kevin

 

[christopher]

Christopher:

I am setting up my 153 Nytro to take and AC M skid and a Timberseld (artic cat mounts). What I have noticed is that geometry of these skids (it has to do with the low approach angle) when used on Nytro's lowers the skid approximately 1" in the back, and it looks like the K-mod is the same. ... same Ice Age rails I guess.

So if you measure from the floor to the front axle bolt center of the stock suspension, it is 11-1/2" approximately. The KMod is 12-1/2", but you mount it 2" higher, meaning your KMod suspension is 1" closer to the tunnel, which lowers the rear of the sled by an inch..

My point is the following, when riding, can you even tell, and if so what's the effect? I know you have seat time on the stock skid, stock front end, but did you get any running time with the stock rear and Skinz front end?

What I am planning to do is run the AC and Timbersled skids and the Skinz front end and try both the 17.5 shocks and 16.5 shocks, which would lower the front end by an inch as well. I have them so might as well try them.

I am pretty sure it's irrelevent, but keep in mind you have an additional thing to change up front, if you are trying to adjust the overall performance of the skinz front/k-mod rear.

One thing I do know, a skinz front/kmod rear it will be worlds better than stock!

OTM

I will get you a measurement.

As of now I have ZERO SEAT time on this sled with all the changes.

 

[off trail mike]

Thanks Christopher

Would appreciate any feedback on this one. I really can't see why it would make any significant difference, in fact it might be better. By lowering the CG, it might make the Nytro more stable when its on its side, slaloming thru powder.

The other question is steering effort, but air pressure changes should compensate for the difference here too.

Sled looks awesome btw.....

OTM

 

[christopher]

15.00 inches.
From the center of the new bolt on the forward axle to the floor.

NOT sure if this is a useful measurement though.
As my spring settings may or may not be indicative of what others use.

My sled is set up for me, 235lbs + riding gear + 25lb pack.

 

[WyoBoy1000]

So when are you going to ride it. looks great

 

[christopher]

Just waiting on my replacement handlebars to arrive.

 

[christopher]

Just went back through all of the photos and corrected all the descriptions with Keven's help to make sure I used all the right terms for each of his parts.

 

[ruffryder]

Just waiting on my replacement handlebars to arrive.

LMAO!!! 10k or more in upgrades and you can't ride it because you need handlebars?

Chris, go ride the thing for petes sake...

 

[off trail mike]

15.00 inches.
From the center of the new bolt on the forward axle to the floor.

NOT sure if this is a useful measurement though.
As my spring settings may or may not be indicative of what others use.

My sled is set up for me, 235lbs + riding gear + 25lb pack.

Christoper:

Right on, that is exactly the same as me. 12.5" from the centerline of the front bolt to the slides plus 2.5" for track..exactly 15"!

So it looks like all the aftermarket suspensions that use Ice Age rails for the nytro will probably lower the back of the sled a bit. Just let us know if it has any effect on steering effort. I really think the SPG Concept front end will easily compensate for these differences, and for fun I'll do the a-arm shock change just to see if you can even tell.

Now to get the sled reassembled.

Thanks for the measure.

OTM

 

[christopher]

God Willing FRIDAY will be the re-assembly day at long last.
If UPS shows up with my Handlebars then its time for everything to finally come back together!!

 

[mountainhorse]

Excellent write up and nice clean work...

Customer service does go a long way and It is rare today to find someone that works as hard as Kevin does for his customers.

I'm sure the sled will rip... The Raptor shocks look top notch.. I hope to see lots of feedback on them this season.

That Tri-hub rear wheel setup looks super stout.. How do the two wheels join together... are they bolted?

Any more pics of that?

Explain.
Are you suggesting that the powder coating process is in someway effecting the rails??

Some folks believe that the heat from the oven used to bake on the powdercoat embrittles the aluminum. If properly done, the heat in a baking oven should not come anywhere aluminum's critical hardening temperature. I'm currently in a welding engineering course and asked my professor this very question after seeing it brought up on here a few times. If 6061 T6 aluminum is being used to build these rails, then you should never have a problem. There are inferior grades of aluminum out there that is mostly recycled stuff with very coarse grain size in the material, but 6061 is treated and worked to be tough enough for the aircraft industry.

The alloy used to make the rails is 7129 T-5... The heat treating temp is around the temp of common pow coat.

Pow coat on rails can actually over-age the alloy and not embrittle but soften the metal.

Pow coat ovens run at 400 to 450... you have to ask for low temp powders on rails to be effective.

Ice age does not recommend any powder coat on their rails which is the reason that they use anodizing.

Now, that being said... I'm sure that Kevin uses a good powder coater for his parts and is not baking them with fence posts from a construction job...As long as you are not baking the rails at 400 for a long soak time... you should be ok.

"Properly done" is the key word... be careful who you choose and you will not have a problem.







.

 

[mountainhorse]

Just looked up the rear idler wheels...

Great price from Cat... about $22 per wheel... Part number 3604-642

Do they come in any of the other "Cat" colors like Green or Orange??

Looks stout....

Can you post some pics of how they clear the involute nubs of the track .. or do they engage them??

 

[smokindave]

Just looked up the rear idler wheels...

Great price from Cat... about $22 per wheel... Part number 3604-642

Do they come in any of the other "Cat" colors like Green or Orange??

Looks stout....

Can you post some pics of how they clear the involute nubs of the track .. or do they engage them??

[/IMG]

When my Kmod came in and I saw that back wheel setup the first thing I wondered was whether they would be driven by the rear cogs on the track,but they are not though,they just free wheel.

 

[ruffryder]

good info on the wheels

 

[mountainhorse]

Yea... those wheels are Slick... Cat looks like they made a nice improvement.

I'm going to use those in my sled... I'll powder coat the center spacer tube in the same Ice age axle so that it does not grow a big chunk of ice in there in wet snow conditions.

Thanks for the tip Kevin and Christopher!!

BTW... How close do the upper arm rollers come to the anti stab outboard wheels when the front arm is fully collapsed?








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[TRUEBLUEMAX]

I think they look kind of weird. They look like they are functional however. Why not put your OFT wheel on there? They look great and they are not going to break either. You would probably have to swap positions of the wheels however.

Cat skid for me but OFT wheels.

Looks like the skid should work awesome.

I had a chance to visit with the KMOD guys at the snow show. It was good to see first hand how the skid really works. You can talk about a coupled skid all you want but the function becomes a lot more clear when you actually see it work. I may end up doing the upgrade they have to my cat skid one day.

 

[Lococoin]

BTW... How close do the upper arm rollers come to the anti stab outboard wheels when the front arm is fully collapsed?

.

They clear by just a small amount but they clear. However you need to follow the instructions properly and put the circlip out on the upper arm rollers or they will hit the anti stab and cause it to bend the outer wheels down. I had that problem as I didn't read the instructions close enough but Kevin got me straightened out.

 

[christopher]

I think they look kind of weird. They look like they are functional however. Why not put your OFT wheel on there? They look great and they are not going to break either. You would probably have to swap positions of the wheels however.

Cat skid for me but OFT wheels..

Kevin opted for the this particular wheel assembly for MAXIMUM STRENGTH.

He thought they would take much more punishment than my billet aluminum wheels would over the long haul.