Strength of Timbersled parts on Apex

[TurboMatt]

This next summer I would be looking at the possibility of putting the Barkbuster front susp. & Mt. tamer rear on my new(to me) '07 mtn Apex. Mainly for wieght reduction, but obviously for the performance gains too.
I do a lot of boonedocking in the U.P. and for those of you who have ridden there, there are a lot of trees. Sooner or later you are bound to go off course and glance or hit one at low speeds. How would the stock front susp. fair versus the Barkbuster?
I'm coming off a Fx Nytro with a weak front end and do not want to sacrifice strength for a small weight savings.

 

[Zedeff]

I put them both on my Apex in the fall of 07 and have about 2000 Km on them. Last year I bent the rear suspension above the rear shock. The cross member at the top bent. It was replaced under warranty in the spring of 08. They changed the way it was made and added some cross braces to it. It works great and the fox floats are nice.

I took off the barkbuster front end because the ball joints started seizing up and there is no way to lube them other than dribble something on top of the ball and let it leak down. After a day of riding it gets hard to steer. I tried putting different heim joints in with grease nipples but there was not enough clearance with the vertical spindles.
I did hit some stuff (small trees etc) and it stood up fine. The stock one has more metal in in so it should be stronger.
I put the stock front end back on and I like the way it steers better than the barkbuster. It's more stable on the trail (less darting) and easier to get up on one ski to countersteer when the snow isn't too deep.
Getting rid of the weight was nice so I'm looking for something else.

 

[SRXSRULE]

If you trail ride the barkbutser front end is NOT your friend. Its turns very quick and because of that design it darts bad on the trail. You have to run minimal ski pressure and some type of dual carbides to get it to track straight.

Other then that it works great. The metal is thinner, but its NOT weaker. Its Cr-Moly tubing which is stronger then the OEM design. I lube my ball joints and rod ends with a heavy duty spray lube and that does the trick. Eric

 

[Anti-Hero]

what if you were to produce a product that was lighter and stonger than chrome moly, say start with AlBemet, it will cost you but i can not see it breaking any time soon?

 

[roughrider99]

timbersled is does not like anysort of jumping or super rough trail riding.

 

[Aussie Niko]

So i'm confused why the barkbuster front end would be any different to the stock front end in steering. Isn't the geometry the same as stock?? Whats making it dart more?? Im sure the spindles could be changed to make them less twitchy.

 

[roughrider99]

the geomtry is different. the spindles have a greater caster angle from stock and they turn about 12 degrees sharper.

 

[TurboMatt]

So it almost sounds, like just a set of replacement lightweight a-arms might be a better route to take for me. Sucks, that you don't loose a much weight with those. Also, the sharper turning radius would have been nice for bonnedocking.I do still trail ride this sled a bit and it sounds like the Timbersled could be dangerous. I do have Simmons skis, so I'm sure that could help a bit, but.... how much will it help. Enough to make it managable?
And what about jumping? Roughrider, mentioned something about not liking jumping either. I don't do any serious air things with this beast, but I like to air it out over big drifts and whatnot.
Who makes replacement lightweight a-arms?

 

[roughrider99]

my apex has front and rear timbersled with simmons gen 2 skis. the rear did not hold up for rough trail and small jumping and hitting drifts. the front end has held up fine, it does not handle as well as stock but the weight loss is worth it for me. It would be nice if there were grease zerks on the front suspension though. Some thing u may want to try is lite a arms then a billet spindle from someone like mpi that will give u some weight loss but keep close to stock handling.

 

[TurboMatt]

Yeah, Actually If I go with the MPI arms & lightweight spindle and shaft kit, It will be about the same weight savings as the timbersled(11 lbs) for really about the same price.
And keep stock handling and strength.

How much do you you notice the tighter turning radius of the timbersled?

 

[Zedeff]

It helped a few times in tight spots. Not that big of a deal. You have to be going pretty slow to have the steering turned all the way and to notice the difference.

 

[Anti-Hero]

If i were to fab stuff that was 4 times stonger than steel 2 times lighter than Aluminun would anyone be interested? it would not be cheap!!! It would have to be and remain coated.