Track drilling

[f15ejedi]

900 RMK with 151
A friend recommended drilling holes in the track to lighten it up a little. Has anyone done this with any success? Does it ruin the integrity of the track?

 

[vdo1948]

Do a search on track porting. Subject has been almost continuously discussed for last two to three years. Or look in Performance/Mod forum where a 32 post thread is on-going right now.

 

[byeatts]

There is a method which is cleaner than a factory track.Take holesaw of the size you wish,I prefer 7/8 inch, Large hole shave powder into the skid,Grind all the teeth off and put it into a drillpress,With a dremel small grinder bit taper and sharpen from the center out while drill press is spinning which gives a knife sharp edge with no teeth. It melt and seals all threads as is drills.

 

[Pastor]

That sounds like a great method. I have seen tracks drilled so smooth they looked factory and I bet that is how they did it.

 

[Pieguy]

Black Diamond Xtreme makes a tool that's 1.25" and it really works AWESOME! $29.95. Should last forever!

 

[richyrich]

I took a hole saw, ground the teeth of so it actualy burned a hole in the track and melted the cords together. I used my tailgate as a support, 2-3 beers and a now destroyed electric drill. I took about an hour.

I did not do this for the weight savings, because i really didnt find it to be much. I did however find the rear skid to be really clean and free of snow. I would do it again.

 

[bill900rmk]

track drilling

how far away from from any edges did you drill the hole using the hole saw method?

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

2 1" holes down the center about 3 inches on center....

weight is kinda trivial, but it does help evacuate snow, i can confirm that.
my unported maverick i took for a ride yesterday had so much snow built up in it at the end of the day the whole skid was solid from the drivers to past the rear skid mount, easily 50 pounds of snow getting dragged around. porting will get rid of the majority just hanging out in there!

 

[Hotboat]

There is a method which is cleaner than a factory track.Take holesaw of the size you wish,I prefer 7/8 inch, Large hole shave powder into the skid,Grind all the teeth off and put it into a drillpress,With a dremel small grinder bit taper and sharpen from the center out while drill press is spinning which gives a knife sharp edge with no teeth. It melt and seals all threads as is drills.

Thats what we did and it turned out awesome looked totally factory.......

 

[richyrich]

how far away from from any edges did you drill the hole using the hole saw method?

I made a t-bar with 1 x 1 pine. i laid it along the outside edge and across the track in between the lugs and made pre-drilled holes down the middle, just 3/16. I put none along the outside, just the middle. Kinda like a guide one would use for drilling spikes in a tracks for snowcross. I used this as a guide for my future 1 1/8 holes. I didnt want it to look like a drunk drilled the holes, even though it took a few beers to do the job. With the two holes down the middle along with the fully clipped track, you'll be amazed at how clean the track will be. Even in 3-4 feet of fluff.