Mountain side spindles
- Thread starter sno*jet
- Start date
Do the handlebars and skis stay neutral when you roll the sled up on edge with the new spindles, or do they want to turn just a little as you pull it over and let it back down?
ill have to go see now that im back from work. gotaa check ski alignment first.
they definetly make sled feel more tall/narrow. I always iked the cat spindles cuz they dont hold any snow. Hard to justify parts that add weight. Especially really expensive ones. Was pleasanty suprised to find these dont "feel" any heavier than stock. My crappy luggage scale showed a couple more ounces if i read it right. Nothing basically. Could make them lighter than stock by drilling some holes through the flat surfaces. We'll see how much snow wants to stick to the insides. I liked the 1.5" rise over the 2" the others are doing because Im leaving the skid alone. maybe crank up the FTS a little. Had thought about trying the lower mounting holes until I saw just how much pressure is on the rail tips already. If youve got a twin rail with some miles on it, check your anti stab axle peeps, mine was shot. Green loctite the bearings on.
Ill check what youre suggesting boondocker, i pulled the SLP skis back to rear mount holes too, so not sure if that affects things. I chopped a lot of the hood fat off this year, the balance point is moved back a hair i believe, not so front heavy like a cat.
they definetly make sled feel more tall/narrow. I always iked the cat spindles cuz they dont hold any snow. Hard to justify parts that add weight. Especially really expensive ones. Was pleasanty suprised to find these dont "feel" any heavier than stock. My crappy luggage scale showed a couple more ounces if i read it right. Nothing basically. Could make them lighter than stock by drilling some holes through the flat surfaces. We'll see how much snow wants to stick to the insides. I liked the 1.5" rise over the 2" the others are doing because Im leaving the skid alone. maybe crank up the FTS a little. Had thought about trying the lower mounting holes until I saw just how much pressure is on the rail tips already. If youve got a twin rail with some miles on it, check your anti stab axle peeps, mine was shot. Green loctite the bearings on.
Ill check what youre suggesting boondocker, i pulled the SLP skis back to rear mount holes too, so not sure if that affects things. I chopped a lot of the hood fat off this year, the balance point is moved back a hair i believe, not so front heavy like a cat.
I think only the ice age are a full 2". Just got the BMP backwoods spindles, they look 1/2" or more lower than the ice age. Ill mount them this week and compare the two. If they are I might drop my back rear skid back to the stock hole.
^BMP's website says 2", its a little hard to spot, right under the price. they look light, interested to see your comparisons. https://www.backwoodsbmp.com/product-page/arctic-cat-highmark-spindles-pre-order
would like to see the weight of the TKI/riot setup too. Far as i can tell skis and bars stay neutral pulling machine over. Another thing i notice is they dont stick out as far as round stock spindles. adds to the tucked in feel. you can see what i mean in that pic with the stock one on the left.
would like to see the weight of the TKI/riot setup too. Far as i can tell skis and bars stay neutral pulling machine over. Another thing i notice is they dont stick out as far as round stock spindles. adds to the tucked in feel. you can see what i mean in that pic with the stock one on the left.
I had to move the ski position on the saddle with my Ice Age spindles too.
BMP spindles are 1/4" lower than ice age. Ice age are 1/3 lb heavier per side
cool, so mountain side are about the 1.5 as advertised, bmp 1.75 and ice age 2" then.
i rode yesterday, immediately threw 15 pounds more air in FTS main chamber, than another 10. much better after that. Almost a 50% increase in "preload" as i ran before. hard to tell if i should go even a little more, riding a foot of dry powder over jeep ruts, i was all over the place. I also have 1/4" homemade spacers under my SLP saddles that probably dont need to be there now. also thinking going back to stock 4.5" riser whereas the 5.5 was perfect before.
i rode yesterday, immediately threw 15 pounds more air in FTS main chamber, than another 10. much better after that. Almost a 50% increase in "preload" as i ran before. hard to tell if i should go even a little more, riding a foot of dry powder over jeep ruts, i was all over the place. I also have 1/4" homemade spacers under my SLP saddles that probably dont need to be there now. also thinking going back to stock 4.5" riser whereas the 5.5 was perfect before.
Funny you should mention the riser height. I was running a 5.5" riser on my proclimb and on my new sled with the riot spindles the 4.5" feels good. I suppose raising the front of the sled a little pushes the bars up/back some.
R
Hey CO 2 have you had a chance to compare the two spindles (backwoods vs iceage) on the snow? Pros cons?
Thanks
I feel the bmp steered easier. But they are weaker. I bent one last weekend, but didn't bend the lower a arm. With ice age the a arm bends first. Other than those things, it's hard to tell a difference in performance. Probably negligible. Might be different in stiffer snow, if was deep out.
Interested in opinions on whether just doing the raised spindles on a 17 mountain cat gets a meaningful improvement? I have a 17 as a backup sled and a sled my college age kids ride. They prefer the spare Axys, especially my daughter as it steers more easily and gets on edge more easily and just sidehills better. I like the old suzuki reliability so I would like to keep it around for this use and have been tempted by the iceage elevate kit but hadn't considered just doing spindles only. Any thoughts?
R
Awesome
Thanks for the response!
I'm gonna take back what I said on steering. I rode my sled today with an ice age spindle on one side and BMP on the other. The ice age spindle steered easier. It's a better setup. I was putting the sled on one ski and flipping the steering back and forth in pow and doing turns. The BMP felt harder to steer when it had weight on it
R
Yea I also feel the BMP spindles make for a "heavy" steering and less playful front end even with playing with shock pressures.
I have a brand new set of mtnside spindles for sale if anyone is interested
They belong to a friend of mine! He had purchased them for his sled, but life happened and he is offloading his machine and equipment. I ended up doing the ice age kit on my ride, and I really enjoy it! Worked out great in this last weekend's cascade concrete haha
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