T
TLKDPROD
Well-known member
I am about to port my track and I was reading what the 2 skiers had to say about track porting on some other threads on the sno-west forums last saturday... pretty interesting and damn I'm glad our Hawk forum doesn't have nearly much BS as some of the threads on the other sled forums !
So, according to what I red. I kind of came to the conclusion that the only stated positive point that everybody agrees on is that track end up being easier to spin for 2 reasons: more flexible because of "reduced section" to bend and a LITTLE less weight (about 2.5 pounds on a 162 apparently)
Snow build up : a guy called BS on that because him & his brother had the same sled, him ported and his brother unported and they ended up having the same amout of snow build up in their track... Some other said it worked great... but never had a real point of comparison. And I think that this may be a problem with the new ZX2 susp, if you end up with a big block of snow down there that you can't get rid of because everything is so enclosed... I'm questionning the weight saving... Anyway that's another debate...
The main point of my thread here is the following:
One of the problem a guy mentionned was that he noticed a little vibration that came from the idler wheels running over the holes (He figured that vibration came from there cauz he switched to an unported track and vibration stopped) Now let's be clear, the rear idlers are not really a problem because they're big enough in diameter not to go deep enough in the holes to affect something.
SO, In order to avoid that problem, I did a template today that allowed me to figure out where I should port and which size I should port so the idlers don't run over holes. I figure I would share it with "that great Snow-Hawk community of ours ! " ... There's the .pdf print pattern attached below that I did on AutoCad.
And of course, the correct way to port a track according to the sled guys is to, first, grap a few beers, then take a hole saw, grind down the teeth and sharpen the end so you have one sharp "circular cutting edge" and just "drill" your way down the track. The friction creates smoke and apparently burns the hole through the track and "cures it" at the same time. You can also get the Diamond extreme porting tool but only available as 1.25" size.
Have fun, hope it'll be useful for someone !
So, according to what I red. I kind of came to the conclusion that the only stated positive point that everybody agrees on is that track end up being easier to spin for 2 reasons: more flexible because of "reduced section" to bend and a LITTLE less weight (about 2.5 pounds on a 162 apparently)
Snow build up : a guy called BS on that because him & his brother had the same sled, him ported and his brother unported and they ended up having the same amout of snow build up in their track... Some other said it worked great... but never had a real point of comparison. And I think that this may be a problem with the new ZX2 susp, if you end up with a big block of snow down there that you can't get rid of because everything is so enclosed... I'm questionning the weight saving... Anyway that's another debate...
The main point of my thread here is the following:
One of the problem a guy mentionned was that he noticed a little vibration that came from the idler wheels running over the holes (He figured that vibration came from there cauz he switched to an unported track and vibration stopped) Now let's be clear, the rear idlers are not really a problem because they're big enough in diameter not to go deep enough in the holes to affect something.
SO, In order to avoid that problem, I did a template today that allowed me to figure out where I should port and which size I should port so the idlers don't run over holes. I figure I would share it with "that great Snow-Hawk community of ours ! " ... There's the .pdf print pattern attached below that I did on AutoCad.
And of course, the correct way to port a track according to the sled guys is to, first, grap a few beers, then take a hole saw, grind down the teeth and sharpen the end so you have one sharp "circular cutting edge" and just "drill" your way down the track. The friction creates smoke and apparently burns the hole through the track and "cures it" at the same time. You can also get the Diamond extreme porting tool but only available as 1.25" size.
Have fun, hope it'll be useful for someone !
