Home made alpha skid, first ride

madmax · Apr 19, 2018

1Mike900 said:
May have to bend the tab a little straighter-up to get it to fit between the Hyfax's. What is the width between the upper rails we are looking for, I would assume the rails are .25 thick on the vertical surfaces? Mike

I thought about welding like previously mentioned, but not sure there will be any benefit. I also tried bending the tabs more, that works pretty good. Still not 100% sure what I’m going to do with the track clips. I spaced the rails with a 1.25” spacer, that gives .25” in between the high fax vertical edges and slices the rails pretty well between the rubber drive nubs on the track.

richardderkevorkian · Apr 19, 2018

madmax said:
I thought about welding like previously mentioned, but not sure there will be any benefit. I also tried bending the tabs more, that works pretty good. Still not 100% sure what I’m going to do with the track clips. I spaced the rails with a 1.25” spacer, that gives .25” in between the high fax vertical edges and slices the rails pretty well between the rubber drive nubs on the track.

Why not just try one hyfax for a bit and see how it works? That close together it probally won't hurt much. Run a couple extra wheels on the side without a slide. In the summer racing asphault we just use extra bogies and no slides.

spoon · Apr 20, 2018

What about using Camso 280 track as it already has the cutouts in center to start with. Enlarge and clip them. Just a thought. Have one sitting here and it looks similar to Alpha track pics.

boondocker97 · Apr 20, 2018

spoon said:
What about using Camso 280 track as it already has the cutouts in center to start with. Enlarge and clip them. Just a thought. Have one sitting here and it looks similar to Alpha track pics.

Seems like a logical thing to do for the guys that already have that track. If you're swapping tracks though you might as well just get the new alpha track.

madmax · Apr 21, 2018

spoon said:
What about using Camso 280 track as it already has the cutouts in center to start with. Enlarge and clip them. Just a thought. Have one sitting here and it looks similar to Alpha track pics.

If you were going to start with a new track the camsno 280 I think would be good. Depending how you did the skid, the center windows would need to be widened to about 2”.

madmax · Apr 21, 2018

This is how I’ve decided to cut and clip the track for now. 2” square hole with two modified wps track clips side by side. Trying to copy the design of the alpha as closely as possible. I figure cats got a good 5 years of R&D into this thing and probably have the design that works. First pic is the cat powerclaw with center track clips. Second pic looks down between the rails at how the clips run between the rails.

Tyman212 · Apr 21, 2018

Could a guy run the clips facing outwards on the inside drive lugs? Or would that allow the track to spin off easier than center clips

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d1100t · Apr 21, 2018

Clips

Tyman212 said:
Could a guy run the clips facing outwards on the inside drive lugs? Or would that allow the track to spin off easier than center clips

I've been wondering the same thing.
I'm also guessing that cat has done it this way for a good reason???

fudge313 · Apr 22, 2018

I think clips will eat the slides like in old days they did..

1Mike900 · Apr 22, 2018

You could mount the clips up against the inner drive nubs, but it will space the rails closer together. The drive nub space is 2.71/2.72" as best I could measure with calipers. The aftermarket Hyfax I have mounted is 1.175" wide, the factory Cat slides are 1.125", go figure! This alone would space the rails .100 further together and tighten-up the inner dim. for the clips. So measure your slide width before you do anything! Mike

summ8rmk · Apr 22, 2018

My concern with the Alpha is that only the left paddles have clips.......
Y?
Gonna have premature hyfax/track wear on the right paddles like the Axys?
Currently all powerclaw paddles(except Alpha) are clipped.

XCaSSAULT · Apr 22, 2018

summ8rmk said:
My concern with the Alpha is that only the left paddles have clips.......
Y?
Gonna have premature hyfax/track wear on the right paddles like the Axys?
Currently all powerclaw paddles(except Alpha) are clipped.

Pre-mature wear would be a shame as the power claw is (currently) in a league of its own performance, durability wise and every other mark. Hope that doesn’t change

madmax · Apr 22, 2018

summ8rmk said:
My concern with the Alpha is that only the left paddles have clips.......
Y?
Gonna have premature hyfax/track wear on the right paddles like the Axys?
Currently all powerclaw paddles(except Alpha) are clipped.

Yea, I kinda wonder the same thing. I believe a large amount of the problem with premature wear on the Polaris track is you have to keep that thing tighter than hell to keep it from ratcheting because of the crappy Polaris drivers. I’ve never had or seen a problem with powerclaw wear since they started making it back in 2010.

madmax · Apr 22, 2018

Tyman212 said:
Could a guy run the clips facing outwards on the inside drive lugs? Or would that allow the track to spin off easier than center

I thought about this a lot. I believe the clips with the lip running betweeen the rails helps keep the track centered as you go side to side.

sno*jet · Apr 23, 2018

hows the weight,
that alpha rail might be worth the coin?

madmax · Apr 23, 2018

sno*jet said:
hows the weight,
that alpha rail might be worth the coin?

Unfortunately I didn’t weigh the skid or track before I started. From a pure financial stand point I doubt the $3500ish it’ll cost for a alpha skid is worth the couple lbs lighter it might be over this set up. I will assume the 11lbs lighter cat claims for the alpha is half skid and half track weight loss. I’ll probably lose 3-4lbs in the track by cutting out the centers and extra lugs the 2.6 has. Probably lose another 3-4lbs in the skid. So I’d guess the homemade alpha 6-7lbs lighter than stock set up.

High Country · Apr 24, 2018

summ8rmk said:
My concern with the Alpha is that only the left paddles have clips.......
Y?
Gonna have premature hyfax/track wear on the right paddles like the Axys?
Currently all powerclaw paddles(except Alpha) are clipped.

Clips on the left hand side ....no they are down the Center

summ8rmk · Apr 24, 2018

High Country said:
Clips on the left hand side ....no they are down the Center

U r correct, the clips are in the center.
I am also correct, only the left paddle has clips, the right paddles do not.
Key word: paddles. I didn't say "left hand side"

High Country · Apr 24, 2018

summ8rmk said:
U r correct, the clips are in the center.
I am also correct, only the left paddle has clips, the right paddles do not.
Key word: paddles. I didn't say "left hand side"

gotcha I see what your saying now. i guess they had to pick a paddle to clip every other, worked out to be the left paddle center to clip.
I don't see it being a big deal....been in the making since 2013

summ8rmk · Apr 24, 2018

My concern is all the weight is on that small section of paddle, 7in between clips.
Heat buildup in the paddle like the Axys and cause failing paddles.
Polaris switched it up in 2019, clipping the paddles now instead of between paddles

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