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Installation and Review: SKINZ Protective Gear Concept A-Arms

Got the new updated replacement Heim Joints installed tonight.
Should have the front end Aligned tomorrow night.

Then out for the first test ride on Saturday!
 
Well Well.
Yesterday was the moment of truth after many long months of tinkering and installing my new Concept A-Arms.

I am happy to report that they worked just as I remembered the prototypes working last spring!


WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

The sled is SO MUCH more responsive to rider input in the form of Tilt and Sway.

When standing up I can now get my Nytro to roll into or roll out of a turn WITHOUT having to use all of my body weight and "yank" it over. For the first time I found myself easily able to "rock" the sled left and right while going in the straight line.

Overall it was just EASIER to ride and maneuver!

After many hours of riding yesterday, I was MUCH LESS TIRED than ever before last year. I know thats an odd way to describe a suspension, but thats one of the things that really stood out to me at the end of the day. I just was NOT worn out like normal. While I was still sore and tired, it wasn't nearly as much as it used to be.

I didn't have to fight the sled to make it do what I wanted. The sled was much more willing to do what I asked with LESS EFFORT and stain on my part.


The one thing that I was seriously concerned about was cornering on the trails. The 2010 Nytro was WIDE and with the Simmons Gen II skis it was even wider. All last year I felt that the sled was "Tippy" on the trail going around corners, it always made me feel a little uncomfortable at speed. So I was worried that with the new front end it would make a bad situation worse. All things considered I was willing to make that one trade off for vastly better off trail performance. Much to my surprise the narrower front end, the side cut skis, and having moved the skis to the narrowest spindle setting made almost NO DIFFERENCE at all in cornering. It felt almost exactly as I did last year.

Can't explain WHY it didn't become more tippy, but it didn't.

I really can't imagine any Nytro owner that would be unhappy with this suspension. There is just no negative to it that I have found yet. Lets face it, the Nytro is a heavy sled, thats just a fact. The Skinz Concept A-Arms use geometry to overcome the weight issue and vastly improve ride-ability.

I STRONGLY suggest any Nytro MTX owner consider installing a set of these A-Arms on their sled.

I fell in love with the prototypes after just 1 hour on them last spring. That love affair blossomed yesterday!!

THANK YOU SKINZ!!
 
I'm really struggling with the price of these A-arms, I'm sure they are just fantastic but at $1k and that doesn't include the shocks just seems like robbery. If you compare some of the other aftermarket makers like Holtz a complete A-arm setup for a skidoo or polaris runs anywhere from $240-$500. I'm just a cheap bastard and I'll admit it. When I bought my nytro I really didn't relize how much it costs to make it a performer. :face-icon-small-sad
 
yamaha is expensive to buy, and expensive on the aftermarket. no doubt about it. i try not to think about how much i have put into my sled. i have only been on a few rides with the new a-arms, but you can definately feel a difference right off the bat. although im not sure i would put the a-arms too far up on the upgrade list. track, oft relocater, some running boards, and turbo would be ahead of the a-arms imo.
 
70 psi in the main chamber and about 160 in the evol chamber. I really like the skinz front end. I let my wife ride it to see what she thought of it and it made it so much easier for her to handle the sled and she could finally make the sled go where she wanted it to that she continued riding it for the rest of the trip and i rode her nytro. Guess i will get another set to put on hers. She said that with the factory front end the sled has a mind of it own but riding the skinz front end was actually controllable for her.:face-icon-small-hap
 
As far as tie rods, Skinz tie rods are made from aircraft grade aluminum. With normal wear and tear and for 95% of the people this is going to be sufficient. However, they will be coming out with a chromalloy option in the next month for those that think they need this. Something to think about though if you are considering this, when you hit something the forces of that impact have to go somewhere, would you rather be replacing a tie rod or have the forces travel up into your subframe?

Which reminds me of the story of my bent and twisted subframe.......one time we were out riding, this was before I had my new front end on and I hit this tree about 8 inches in diameter. I thought for sure I had broken my a-arms we dug my sled out because it was quite buried and found no broken a-arms, whew!!!! I thought I was the luckiest girl around!!! Rode it for a bit it felt okay, it was near the end of the season so we didn't really do alot of riding after that. A few months after that my sled went down to Skinz to be remodelled. Jeff called me in the middle of the build and said "Hey guess what your subframe is bent and twisted" I thought great! He continued on and said Yamaha was known for weak subframes in that year and I might be able to get warranty for it. I said no way I knew what I hit and not to bother it was my own fault and I would pony up for the sub frame. My point is that even though my a arms with stood the forces of the hit they still travelled up into my subframe. In retrospect I would rather be replacing a arms than a subframe.


Jan
 
Even if they are made out of chromoly tubing they will still be prone to bend. Regardless of what material a tie-rod is made out of, bending it without reinforcing will weaken it overall. That is why the sub frame is so weak. The two bottom tubes of the frame have gradual bends in them with out any gussets directly at the bends. The thin so called gussets that Yamaha used to try to fix the issue do little because they are not on centerline of the bend in the tube.

I am with MOTO on this one. the bend in the tie-rod is the weak point that needs some sort of gusset to help prevent it from bending further. Howeever TRAX you bring up an important point. I believe that was part of the reason for the weak subframe was the protect the aluminum bulkheads from being damaged from a hard front or side impact up fromt. I would rather replace a single a-arm or tie-rod then the whole subframe.

the bent tie-rod is one of the major issues that has kept me from seriously looking into a the skinz front end kit. It is good to hear they are trying to address the issue. the only other issue is having to buy new '10 spindles which will cost a fortune. Maybe they could offer longer rods for people like me who still have an 08.
 
I ran mine all last year with the 08 spindles on it. I didn't know there is an issue with running the older spindles.

As for tie rods, I had one bend so easy it was just stupid. I agree something needs to be done to reinforce them.
 
Hey True
I had read that since the Skinz kit was designed around the '10 spindle the tie-rods are shorter because the tie-rod spindle connection points were relocated. I did not think that the tie-rods were long enough to work with the kit and that was the reason behind my comment. However I did read that if you flipped the spindles from side to side you can get them to work but i was not sure how well and how much adjustment you could get out of them becuase the rod itself is too short to work properly.
I believe that the '10 spindles were redesigned slightly as well when Yamaha reconfigered the front end geometry on the Nytro and went with slightly shorter a-arms.

Did you do anything special with your '08 spindles to get the to work??? how much adjustment (alignment adj.) do you have? How far did you have to extend the ends out of the rods to get them to work? any information would be greatly appreciated.
 
I did not even know that you were supposed to swap the spindles side to side but found out later unknowingly I was. When I switched to the 5/8 joint I needed more clearance so I put them right. Before there was only two or three threads showing on each end and now there is about six or seven showing which is fine I think.
 
I tried lots of things to keep the tie rods from bending. The ones that are supplied are weak at best not a good design, the bend will always be a week spot. I tried welding gussets on the bend, they just bent right after the gusset with general riding and carving almost left me stranded a few times. so came up with my own fix with only losing about 3 degrees of turning couldnt even tell compared to my buddies factory skinz.IMG_0506.jpg

IMG_0507.jpg

IMG_0270.jpg

IMG_0585.jpg

IMG_0511.jpg

IMG_0275.jpg

IMG_0512.jpg

Used stock tie rods and built a shim and bought a longer bolt. Rode it like this now lots and works awsome no bent tie rods, just ride!
 
With my skinz tie rods it didn't take any kinda impact to bend them just a tug on the ski when stuck. or carving in deep snow and counter steering. Chromoly will not fix this if there is still a bend and no support. Just cost more. Straight tie rod IMO only fix. Other than the tie rods tho the skinz kit works amazing its a great upgrade if they address the issue or fix your self like i did at no cost other than a bolt. Awsome kit to have.
 
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