what make one better than the other?
trailing arms vs a arms?
- Thread starter naturalyhigh700
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Freeride1
Well-known member
The big suck about trailing arms is when you hit something uder the snow. Make a huge mess back at the footwell. Way more work to fix than bending a Arms. I reccomend all my friends getting used sleds for riding off trail avoid the trailing arms fro just that reason alone.
what about handling in deep snow?
You are asking for opinion on a lot of this.
In super deep snow, off trail, it doesn't matter in my opinion. In fact, I will argue that the a-arm sleds give up a little bit to the trailing arm sleds because of more drag in the deep deep snow. Put a set of water wings on the a-arms (a-arm protectors) and the deep snow performance increases.
For whatever reason, the market decided that a-arms were best. They do afford some better bump steering characteristics, but the trailing arms had been around for so long that people equated them to old technology so now we have a-arms.
sled_guy
In super deep snow, off trail, it doesn't matter in my opinion. In fact, I will argue that the a-arm sleds give up a little bit to the trailing arm sleds because of more drag in the deep deep snow. Put a set of water wings on the a-arms (a-arm protectors) and the deep snow performance increases.
For whatever reason, the market decided that a-arms were best. They do afford some better bump steering characteristics, but the trailing arms had been around for so long that people equated them to old technology so now we have a-arms.
sled_guy
I ride with a friend who has an '06 Switchback (A arms) . Now (maybe) we
ride a bit on the wild side but he has bent numerous a arms; indeed, broke one
while my trailing arm '03 Edge, over the same terrain, has suffered no damage.
Think of the force exerted on those A-arms hanging out there with no bracing
in the direction of greatest impact. Am not an engineer but my thoughts and experience lead me to trust the strength of the good ol' trailing arm. Strength over comfort always.
ride a bit on the wild side but he has bent numerous a arms; indeed, broke one
while my trailing arm '03 Edge, over the same terrain, has suffered no damage.
Think of the force exerted on those A-arms hanging out there with no bracing
in the direction of greatest impact. Am not an engineer but my thoughts and experience lead me to trust the strength of the good ol' trailing arm. Strength over comfort always.
5
550iq
Well-known member
An A-arm design allows for the ski spindle to travel in pre-described paths, mainly vertical. The travel is also "pure" meaning that there are no counter forces working against it. Take the shocks off a trailing arm (really a leading arm) suspension and move it through its travel. You will feel the effect of the radius arm travel fighting the trailing arm travel as the arc travel directions of each are 90 degrees opposed. The longer the travel, the worse the effect. Polaris' CRC front suspensions were the final attempt to compete with A-arms. You know the result. A-arm designs are for now the best way to control the long travel front ends.
I have sleds with both styles, I love a-arms and Cats have had them for years long before the other three and i have never once bent an arm on a Cat unless a bad crash, I had a 96 XLT special and have never gone throw trailing arms like that in my life, Now iam on a 08 IQR polaris again and yet very strong A-arms same with the Cat racer but doo's i find bend really easy and I jumped on a few Yamahas like the 08 Nytro and 08 Phazer i messed with for a few years arms cant really take a beating always seemed like one arm in front of the other. I have built some light sleds tho that are Trailing armed And you can get sleds much lighter with that design.
