My 08 800 dragon build

600xc4me · Oct 9, 2010

Got the lights and tether wired in last week. So fired er up for the first time this year. Spun the track and took er for a loop on the grass to make sure all is working nicely with the drop and roll. Everything seems to be working fine! Most fun I have had all summer.

haha

Hauled it to the dealer today to have them check the clutch alignment and adjust as needed. I don't have my own tool so I just get them to do it.

Other than that, I'm waiting for my Skinz air frame running boards, will install once they arrive. And I also want to open up the chain case one more time, make sure the gears are aligned properly. I had forgotten to double check when I put it together. I have an after market bottom gear, so it has a washer to make up the difference in thickness, and I'm not sure now if I put it on the right side of the gear. So I just want to make sure. Snapped a chain last year because the previous owner had put it together wrong. Don't want a rerun of that.

Here's a few pics. The lights are INSANELY bright. lol

MORSNO · Oct 9, 2010

:rockon::rockon::rockon: It's all coming together now. Excellent build! :rockon::rockon::rockon:

600xc4me · Oct 10, 2010

Thanks.

It finally is yes! I had to wonder at times if I would see it in a drivable working state again. But here she is.

Pretty excited to have it come together. It's a good feeling.

600xc4me · Oct 25, 2010

Few small updates, I got my shocks out and shipped off to Fastrax for service. They will also re-valve the walker skid shocks while they have them there.

I got rid of the nine inch riser and went back to a stock 5.25 for now. I'll try it and see how it works. I don't like the stress the big riser put on the steering post and hoop. Besides if you need a big riser to sled then you don't know how to sled right? :face-icon-small-hap But if this is just to short for me, (I'm 6.1) Then I might try an RSI seven inch. See how that is. :cheer2:

Still waiting on my air frame running boards, hope to see them beginning of November. Will post once i get those!

Ski-Dont89 · Oct 25, 2010

awesome job...cant wait for the skinz air frame running board install...take lots of pics!

also what do you use to polish your tunnel? looks sweet

600xc4me · Oct 26, 2010

Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting them as well! I will do that. Have yet to decide if I am simply riveting them on, or if I want to use the Lord adhesive stuff.

I used a big electric polisher wheel, with brown and pink polish chalk. The same method most truckers use to polish their trucks. Spent about 13 hours into to get to loko like like it does in the top two pics. After that I have used mothers polish. It's not hard to get the shine back once you have had it polished to an extreme once.

600xc4me · Nov 15, 2010

Don't have much to update on yet, still waiting on my running boards to show up... Along with the shocks. Haven't seen them back yet either.

But in the mean time I moved my skis in to the narrowest position, see how I like it. Just wanted to try it and see how it works. I picked up some 8ga ground wire and connectors, going to add a few extra grounds for the electronics plate, chassis and engine. Just ordered a 70 mm 12 fan today as well. Am planning on relocating the capacitor and mounting the fan over top of the VR to stop the heat issues. Hoping to not have anymore VR's/ECU's fail on me once this is all done. I'll post pics of this process as well once the rest of my parts show up and I can get working on it.

Also got some more goodies ordered from Sled Solutions. (great service and wicked discounts for forum members) I have ordered: a mini E series tunnel bag with shovel, carry all handle bar bag, RSI under hood bag, Sno bungee cobra and koso dual EGTs. Went with the quick response probes. Not sure if I want to weld them in or not. Probably should, just not looking forward to trying to get the y pipe off. Other than that nothing new. Just waiting for everything to finally show up so I can get it done!

guidoxpress · Nov 15, 2010

keep up the great work man, will be sick...

600xc4me · Nov 16, 2010

Thanks Sean. I'm hoping, won't compare to any of your builds but I like how it's turned out so far. And it's been a great learning process.

600xc4me · Nov 17, 2010

update

Alrighty! I found out today my running boards have been sitting at the post office since the sixth already. Suckers never let me know! But I have them now and will start with the install tonight. They look AWESOME. Very well built and great looking boards! I also ordered some 3M Marine 5200 fast cure, adhesive/sealant. I tried to get both the LORD 406, and 3M 8115 adhesives, but couldn't seem to get either with in my price range. So MH recommended this stuff to me. $25.0 and comes in a caulking gun tube. Here's a few starter pics.

Here's part of why I ordered these. Always having to bend THIS back was getting on my nerves. Along with snow build up....

A before picture.

I'll go to work on them now and post back my progress!

600xc4me · Nov 17, 2010

Ok got some progress this evening. I have to say I am already super happy with these boards. The quality just radiates off of them lol I'm pumped to try them out. Here's what I got done.

First step for me was to remove the existing snow eliminators and drill out the rivets holding the outer edge to the running board bar.

Next step is removing the outer rail. I'm afraid I don't have any pics of this. But it's simple. Two bolts in the back, and two in the front by the foot well.

Since I already had Snow Eliminators installed, I had very little trimming to do. I basically just cut the back and the front, inside the foot well.

NOTE Skinz says in their instructions to for sure leave two inches in the front foot well. Measure and make sure you have a solid two inches marked off. No less. You will need it there to mount the boards later on.

Your tunnel should now be left with a straight 3/4 inch lip from front to back.

Another thing, when cutting up a stock sled, make sure you don't grind through your rear suspension mounting brackets. Mine had been cut away by the previous owner, but I hate that idea. And the skinz boards are made to use that bracket for some support as well. This picture shows where the bracket SHOULD extend under. But mine is cut away.

You are now ready to fit the boards on for drilling the rivet holes. (if your planning to use an adhesive, you will now first mount the boards, drill all your rivet holes, then remove the boards, apply your adhesive, and reinstall the boards at that time, then rivet in place.

This is where I'm at now, I have both boards installed, and am ready to start drilling the rivet holes.

This picture shows where you need to the leave at least two inches of stock material. You can see that with two inches it's still nothing to much. But it is fine; should work well.

That's how she sits. Next comes drilling, then final installation, followed by inserting traction screws.

guidoxpress · Nov 17, 2010

looks sick man, i would have them if i had the RAW chassis for sure...

great work...

Ski-Dont89 · Nov 17, 2010

Those look sick...i am still debating whether to buy these or some better boards/bars....

i am leaning towards the skinz but they will eat my change...

keep up the good work!

600xc4me · Nov 18, 2010

Thanks guys! just do it man. These are already worth the money to me. It's only a couple hundred more than you would pay for a better boards/better bars combo. I have never used those, but I see these as being the better of the two.

Hoping for more progress tonight. Might trim down the inside lip a bit more. Skinz calls for 3/4 inch, I have a bit more from my old SE's. But it can't hurt I guess, just makes it stronger.

Ski-Dont89 · Nov 18, 2010

What im interested in seeing is when you get them installed completely, is how stiff they are going to be. I have stock boards right now and just by standing on them you can feel them flex. If these are rock solid i think i will save my pennies and order me some of these. Waiting patiently for completion :face-icon-small-hap

600xc4me · Nov 18, 2010

Well I can tell you already these will be stiff. I only have them bolted in on the ends and they feel super already. But I'll see how they are once completely installed. I'm expecting a nice result. Hoping to get more done this evening!

600xc4me · Nov 18, 2010

Working on the boards as we speak. It's going alright, but MAN! This adhesive is BAD stuff. Put to much down for the first board and got a huge mess. It's a pain to try and clean up. But I have one board fully mounted up riveted in place. I'm telling you these things are SOLID.

Now for the next one.... I'll be back with pics once the other one is mounted in place.

EDIT, ok they are both solid mounted. All that's left is the traction screws. I'll post up some pics and a write up on what was involved with the install today. But right now I'm shutting er down for the day.

600xc4me · Nov 19, 2010

Yesterdays progress

Ok here's what I got done yesterday.

First thing you'll want to do is pick a side to work on first, then tip the sled over on it's side so it's easier to work on. (sorry the pics are bad this round. Parents left town with the camera I was using)

Clamps, I had bought four of these for this project, but it turns out they don't hold enough to get the boards sucked against the tunnel nice and tight. So I used a number of vise grips.

You'll want some kind of protection on the boards if using vise grips, I used paper towel as it was close.

You can now start drilling holes along the bottom side. I drilled three through the suspension mounting bracket as well since mine won't extend underneath the boards like they are designed for. The one small piece extending out got cut off. Had to remove the suspension mounting bolt to drill the center hole.

I then marked off the top side of the remaining lip of the tunnel so I knew where to cut to narrow is down some. Didn't need to take much off. (I left the suspension mounting bracket as it was to keep a bit more material there)

I then ran a bead of adhesive along the full length of the boards, as well as in the front where the front of the boards rest on the stock running boards. Boards are suspended a bit in the picture.

I then put the boards down on the adhesive, got it clamped back down with the vise grips, (this is where I saw I had twice the amount of adhesive than I should have used... But the got to work riveting them in place, and delt with the extra later on. That stuff is a pain to work with, super thick, and once it touches something you'll be working to get it off. The end result wasn't to bad considering. I used about 25 rivets per side. Skinz had included enough for 19 per side. So I used extra.

The other side looks much better with a lot less excess adhesive.

That's it for now. I'll try and get some traction screws installed tonight.

machinest660 · Nov 19, 2010

Wow, very impressive, thanks for posting all the pics!

600xc4me · Nov 19, 2010

All done

Just got er done. I would say total install time for me by my self, taking my time, has been about 9-10 hours.

The traction screws. Well there's not much complex about this last step. It just takes time to get a nice job. Here's how I did it.

Make your self a template to start, so your screw spacing will be even. (cardboard paper works well) Skinz recommends 1.5-2 inch spacing. I went with 1.5" and would do the same again if I did another install.

So take your template along with a sharpie and mark off your spacing:

Next grap a punch with a nice sharp tip, and mark out where you want your holes to be. Take your time and make sure you have the punch centered and not off to one side of the tube. Makes a nice straight line this way. Only needs a small tap to get a divet. On the smaller inner tubes especially. Hit to hard and you'll dent the tube.

Drilling the holes. Skinz includes two different sized bits in the kit. Use the larger of the two on the larger outside edge tube, and the smaller one for the inner tubes. Again go slow and take your time. Don't want to make a mess of your wicked new boards.

Your now ready to install the screws. After reading about how easy these things strip out, I started with a hand bit driver. This I soon found out was point less and moved up to a cordless drill with a 1/4 inch bit. Worked very slick. Put it on your lowest speed, and just slowly turn them in. Once you start to feel resistance, stop. And move to the next one.

Your end result should look something like this.

Over all it's a really simple kit to install. don't need any mad skills. Just focus and patience. And you'll make a nice job out of it. Really didn't even use the instructions much. You don't need them really. It's that straight forward.

Next project will be the ground wires, and installing the fan once it gets here. Also the KOSO EGT's, which ever shows up first.

My 08 800 dragon build

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