I finished my summer project D-8T

Pictures are attatched

this is from another post about dragon handeling



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I had the same experience and I have all three machines and was miserable on the dragon but loved the power on boost was trying to sell it this spring to no avail so I decided to make my self like IT SOOOO heres how I started

Going up hill was dangerous un less there was plenty of room ,because it went where it wanted skis never were on the snow,so I looked at the rear and decided the kinked rails had to go so I did the whole timbersled and Ice age rails thing ,,,, hope it works

turning radius sucked so again I did the whole timbersled front end thing and also removed the sway bar and added float evolX ( again big bux) shocks,,, they say their spindels will turn 12 degrees sharper hope it works

high stearing effort problem with the limiters pulled down and the rear spring set stiff and powder pros with carls mod ,,also tried simmons gen1 and 2 sold in the classified here) and powder hounds (wouldnt steer at all then). I think im am trying the SLT with big wear bars. Also under this heading,,,, I got to thinking about the turning again and moved the bars down and back which I hope will move me back further on the sled,, it was kind of hard to turn going down hill when I was so far foward,, I hope with the straight rails it will stop the damn trenching,, also addad the power claw track to help with the trenching,,,, now alll this is subjective untill the snow flies
my impressions of my other sleds 800XPand M8 both are stock the XP is a driving sled you steer it like a trail sled with 12 inch carbides on ice verry precise but couldnt get to lay over easily and very darty wore me out the M8
seem to do it all but I dont like the seating,/stearing felt like I was on the back of the sled ,, hope its fixed with the new seat on my new2010 thats comming and the Dragon well I have face planted more with this sled than any other

In my quest I will,,,,, find the happy medium,, and make peace with my Dragon!!!! with what I just spent I better,, or I will burn the fffnnn thing!!!!!!!No body can say I didnt TRY to like this sled
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XP 800 turboD-8

again from another post



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Quote:
Originally Posted by akrevrider
KAWGRN,

Which drivers did you install and which duro PC (80/90) is the track?

Any tricks or pointers on the track swap for a 09 D-8?

Thanks in advance,

akrevrider

Well the way I see it with a timbersled suspension being fully coupled (Track getting tighter as it compresses) I saw no need for the avid anti rachets so I wnt with the 8 tooth from SLP and I chose the soft because colorado is all about deep DRYYY botomless snow.And I used I Belive ,,,a 3 inch PVC coupling for the press plate to remove the driversAfreind had an HCR last year and it was a trench monster ,,,,,,,,,,untill spring
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XP 800 turboD-8

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Last edited by KAWGRN; 08-06-2009 at 06:52 PM.

OVS this is my second season on this set up ,,,I used aeros for many Years ,,TOOOOO many issues,,,last season alone between my two freinds, we blew up 4 aero 66s ,,,and I know,,,I Know,, Im the only on to ever have a failure on an aero,,so I went garrett last season and wont look back !!!!!!!

Another thing I knoticed with the PC track ,,, with the 5.1 when it was at factory tension I needed 2hands and a firm grab to pull the track around ,Now the PC with 3.0 drives is almost a one handed affair Dont know why?????

Went outto the shop lastnight and measured some chit and I found somthing that helps me understand some of the handeling dynamics of the Dragon if you measure the crank centerline(clutch bolt) now this may varry as different suspensions and spring preloads have an effect but the XP is 13-14 off the floor,, the cat is also 12-13 off the floor and the Dragon is almost 17 off the floorI had three CMX sled and all were in the 16-17 inch range and there was a reason,, Mark,, I belive figured that the Higher CG worked to ouir advantage when boondocking through the trees it was the BEST handeling Sled I ever had Period!!!!!the CMX you were further back on the sled like the M-cat and the front was around 41-44 wide (thats where my dragon will be)I noticed on my XP that it was harder to pull over in hard snow now I know why,, LOW CG If your on the Doo site there are guys over there talking about narrowing there front ends and reversing ther dual keel skis and the such which makes the CG feel kigher... The Cat is in my mind is also low cg but because you are so far back on the sled I think it is balanced pretty well ,,that why I think The Dragon bars need to be rotated back a little ,,maby alot ,,to find the sweet spot widening the front end I think will also have a positive effect on MY dragon,, as some have stated and I have experiencd with the dragon you dont grtab the bars and pull the sled over its more of a lean and ,,nudge the sled over if you pull you will be on your side dooing the Guppy LOL,,I shortened the EVOL X shocks to 16 inches on the dragon my reasoning is that on the timber sled rear being coupled ,,simmilar to the MOD M-10s that was under the CMX as the suspension compresses the the front gets higher ,, especially with stiffer shocks( I wonder if thats why the WE shocks are so soft)) and you need a sway bar to keep from rolling over???. any way these are just observation from an old man bored to death cuz there no snow!!!!
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that sled went to storage over a month ago and wont be back to the shop for about a month But when I looked when it was done I remember between ahalf and threequarters of an inch about the same as stock so I didnt see the need for the D+R but if you use the 7 tooth you will get more clearance but the attack angle gets worse so to me the 8 tooth with the shorter PC cat track made sence ,,,now if I had an extreme track then D+R would be needed IMO, I guess I will see when I get it on the snow.I guess the D+R with the 8 tooth would be good also but I need to sort out the handeling issue I have with this sled before I go any further If I dont like the way it drives with everything Ive done so far the D+R is not going to help!!!! and if the tunnel does pack with snow my boost controller is on my dashLOL

http://www.snowest.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=75727&stc=1&d=1252882608 you can see the end of the heat exchanger and I looked from under the suspension ,,,it might be more like an inch clearence on top ,,,as it is a dragon with no front cooler there is like 3 inches in the front

thats why I put the boost controller on the dash LOLOLO