Track upgrade

[Jon Mutiger]

With all my buddies buying Turbo's and me too afraid to pull the pin on a turbo as well, I decided I will try my own thing to see if I can climb a little higher, and get stuck a little less often.

I decided to buy a 2.3" lug track, it's only available in 16" wide, so I had to cut it down to fit.

I wasn't able to flip the track inside out to make it easier, so we ended up putting the track on a table, and using a circular saw with a homebuilt fence strapped to it, so we could pick up on the edge of the track, and remove as much as we need to get down to the 12.5" overall width.

We did try a table saw, and this method worked better for us.

It's messy, and stinky.. And hard on the blades! We went through 5 blades, and I thought we'd have to stop.. But we ended up burning our way through the last 2 feet of track.

I'll be hopefully taking a test run this Satuday if all goes as planned.. I suspect it'll be slightly better than the stock 2" track. Hopefully it's not worse, but I can't see that happening.

The stock track had open windows in the centre, this track doesn't.. So it also should have a wee bit more floatation than the stock track.

I'll report back once I get out on snow, It definately looks better than the 2" track.

Jon

 

[Jon Mutiger]

Here is a side by side pic

 

[eskimojoe77]

Length?

What length track were you able to get in the 2.5" paddle? I could not find any in 121 or 136, must be looking in the wrong places.

 

[up-high]

Could always get some rail extensions and do a 136 LT ( He said 2.3 not 2.5)

 

[Jon Mutiger]

I already had a LT, so I went with a 137.

 

[up-high]

It will be interesting to see what effect lug design/spacing has on the MH.

 

[Manson456]

Please get back to us with a first ride impression. I ordered one of those tracks a little bit ago, just waiting for it to show up.

 

[Jon Mutiger]

Well, I got out on it today. I wouldn't say it was a huge difference, but it did give me the feeling that I was able to start off on slightly steeper slopes. BUT the snow wasn't too deep, so it wasn't an ideal test.. AND I was 2up for most of the day, so didn't get too much time to really twist it.

I suspect, if I had to give it a number, I'd say it's 5% more effective.

Jon

 

[1dn5up]

did you messure the track weight before installing it? to compaire the two?

 

[Jon Mutiger]

I didn't but the specs are the same for the uncut versions. So, it's probably just marginally heavier. It's a 1ply track.