Stock track and Skid on Turbo

theshadowrider said:

Anyone running a turbo with the stock track and rear suspension. Can you run 10 lbs boost and hill climb with a stock track and suspension? I have been told that if you do you will have problems keeping the front end down. Anyone running a turbo and seen a necessity in upgrading the track/suspension?

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ive heard its a wheely king but you could always pull the straps tight and get ice age straight rails the next year if its unbearable, I like things crazy some times.....just need to adjust your riding for when its climb time and you get all the fun when its play time.

Mine likes to stand straight up on climbs. You just got to ride it different. For me its a lot of off and on to keep the front down. It gets going way too fast up anything with any kind of traction anyway.

i put a track,drivers,and pulled my straps up.the only time it tries to wheele is when you are really pulling on it

mine was a wheelie monster with the stock skid, i couldnt keep the front end down at all and have two tunnels to prove it... the stock tunnels dont hold up very well when you fully wheelie over backwards in a steep chute.
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the stock polaris track sucks in my opinion its the worst track on the snow. i switched out the stock skid for a timbersled mtn tamer which is amazing how well it keeps the front end down. if you are serious at all about climbing you should seriously consider getting a mtn tamer skid. its a totally differnt sled in a climb, its like your floating now, ski's are about 6-8"'s of the ground and it eats up the moguls. i switched out my track to the 90 durometer hcr power claw which i like a lot! the only down fall of the PC is its terrible downhill. the camo extreme is another great track that works a lot better going down hill.

There is a cost and befit to any changes.

Sucking up the limiter strap also shortens the travel and makes the sled more front heavy in technical maneuvering...

Also, with less travel, the suspension is less compliant when running over lumps/bumps on a climb which can pitch you off the sled...

After talking with Curt at FTX... It is less costly to go to an aftermarket skid and sell your stocker than to upgrade the stocker with better shocks and changes to make the stock skid ideal for a Turbo powerd sled.

The key with a turbo sled is staying in control .... a better suspension will do that for you...When you are encountering variations in terrain the skid must keep you in control of the sled.

I've been around a fair amount of stock skid turbo users... when I put them on a sled with a good turbo skid... they couldnt believe the difference...

I like to save a buck like anyone on here... but I also like to stay in control of my sled.

Just my 2 cents.

Holtz or Timbersled? The Holtz right now is about 2100 bucks. Does anyone know what Timbersled is going for? Which skid is easyier to set up? I hear the Alpha takes a fare amount of time to get it right. I am leaning towards the Holtz.

Right now, the Holz Alpha-X is about $2100 with rails..

The Timbersled Mountain Tamer is about $1700 with Rails. You can use the stock rails with the Timbersled and a $40 fit kit.

The Timbersled is a coupling type of skid. I have one under my sled. I've ridden it on turbo dragons and it plain works well to keep the sled under control when the boost comes up.

I may be biased towards the Timbersled... it is what I run...

I know that the Holz stuff is second to none in quality as well.

Choose wisely, ask others that have the same sled and riding style as you have for input and make your decison based on that.

Know a few guys with the Holtz, and there has not been an ill word about that skid. I don't know anyone that rides in our area that has the timbersled skid, (never and ill word about that skid). I will more than likely go with the holtz, ive been on them, and Holtz is close to the house, and it would look funny with a TimberSled Skid and Holtz A-arms and Spindles, LOL. The only thing that I have heard about the Holtz is it does take a far amount of time to get it dialed in. I would prefur a little quicker ajustment period. Know guys that it has taken up to 6 wks to get it wright. Hopefully He just did not know what he wanted out of it. I'm sure I can get some help form the guys that set my sleds up.

suitcase69 said:

Know a few guys with the Holtz, and there has not been an ill word about that skid. I don't know anyone that rides in our area that has the timbersled skid, (never and ill word about that skid). I will more than likely go with the holtz, ive been on them, and Holtz is close to the house, and it would look funny with a TimberSled Skid and Holtz A-arms and Spindles, LOL. The only thing that I have heard about the Holtz is it does take a far amount of time to get it dialed in. I would prefur a little quicker ajustment period. Know guys that it has taken up to 6 wks to get it wright. Hopefully He just did not know what he wanted out of it. I'm sure I can get some help form the guys that set my sleds up.

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It took me 1,5 season to become satisfied with the timbersled, I were never disapointed but it took time before it RIPED! I have drove both Holz and Timbersled, I like the holz more. And my timbersled didn't hold up so good. All my brushings were gone in 600miles, while the holz still runs good. And it have like 2400miles on it! The big downside with the mtn,tamer is that it needs to be all dialed in 100% to rip, while the holz rips anyway.
Hope it helps..

skoter... what year Timbersled do you have? Did you do the update kit on it?

What Holz...Alpha-x or the previous generation without the evol shock?

I had an -09 but I ran it with update kit. The holz have bin 3 different ones, the last one were the alpha-X. Get me right, I loved my mtn.tamer when I had it diled in. But if it was just a little wrong setup I hated it. The holz performes quite nice even if it's a little of.

That is great info, and I will pay a little more for a skid that holds up longer, if for no other reason. I have a 09 with an 860 would like to have a better tracktion. And for sure on the new boosted sled. The set up is not as a big deal. Rob has his dialed in and he gives great info.

I had an -09 but I ran it with update kit.

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With the update kit you had Bushing issues?

Your update kit was the new 1 piece bushings with the retainer caps?

I've had Zero issues of durability or "dialing in" with my 2 Timbersled skids.
So, as far as the skid "holding up"... a non issue.. and I've seen some BIG BIG boys 400 HP boosted Apexs as well as Dan Adams, Dan Gardiner, and Rob Hoff putting some serious Freeride hits and cliff drops on their sleds with the Mtn Tamers under them with no issues.

I have the update bushings in my Mtn. Tamer... no issues in over 1000 miles of riding. (I sold the sled and put the skid in my buddies Dragon... He put another 700 miles on it before I got it back from him... no problems with the bushings). I know that the first Generation Mtn tamer skids had some bushing issues that were resolved with the update kit.

Plenty of good info for settings on the T-sled. I followed the directions and took only a half a day to dial in the skid.

I would put both products in the same league for quality of construction....Both have rails made by the same mfg. Both skids use the Float Shocks, both skids require you to keep a keen eye on pressures in changing temps and radical altitude changes.

The big pluses for me is that the Timbersled Mtn Tamer is a coupling suspension. The coupling point and ride height are adjustable with the Timbersled as well as the position of the shock to tailor the progressive action of the shocks.

My lighter weight took a bit of thinking about lower shock pressures, but in the end, I had the ability to tailor the suspension for my needs.

IMO, a coupling design gives the rider more control on the higher hp sleds than a non coupling design.

The Holz skid is high quality like the Timbersled... no doubt about it.

I have ridden both skids under Dragons (the Alpha and the Mtn Tamer)... I prefer the Timbersled for it's deep snow capabilities and control in climbing.

i have to agree with mtnhorse on the durability... i beat the snot out my skid this last season... even lost my sled off some cliffs in a failed chute attempt and my skid still held up to that kind of beating. it took me a day or two to get the skid dialed in to my likings but once done it was a set and forget. checked my air pressures at the beginning of every ride and always made sure it was well greased. i couldn't be happier with my skid, and i know this gets stated a lot but timbersleds customer service is top notch as well, they go out of their way a lot of the time to take care of their customers. on top of that all the guys at timbersled are riders like the rest of us.. its really nice to talk to people that actually personally use the products in the mountains

Not sure if I would buy the timbersled skid, but I will not shy away from the D8 with the doondockers boost and the timbersled skid that is for sale.
What is the coast to rebush the timbersled skid? What is the location of Timbersled shop?

The swingarm brushings in my mtn.tamer were totaly gone in only 700miles. And I run my own workshop and take really good care of my things. The wierd thing is that 4 more people I know have had the exact same problem, but then the fith of us with a old mtn.tamer. Zero problems! (but he do ride like my grandma)

Don't get me wrong, it's a great suspention! I had it on my 300+hp nytro, and it did a great job keeping the skis down. But it dosen't fit my driving.

We don't have the 3000ft climbs here in sweden, we mostly have steep serious tree riding and big jumps. And then I want a uncoupled suspention. But all of us want what we want right?

suitcase69 said:

Not sure if I would buy the timbersled skid, but I will not shy away from the D8 with the doondockers boost and the timbersled skid that is for sale.
What is the coast to rebush the timbersled skid? What is the location of Timbersled shop?

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timbersled is located in sandpoint id

It's pretty difficult to run any significant power on that generation of stock suspension. Anytime you get upward momentum and traction with the short rear arm geometry and bent rails the suspension walks right out from under the vehicle. Great riders...I mean GREAT riders have an innate ability to manage this with excellent body position and control combined with the throttle. If you can get ahold of a video with John Heston in it you will see an example of a guy who can use his body position and his physical force to better control the sleds over reaction of tranfer under power and speed. If you are back in body position and just hanging on when the sled start to tranfer it's way too late. When you read a woop and you are excellerating you need to be throwing forward body position on this suspension or all you see is the hood and you have to let out. Steep firm chutes..doesn't matter because the suspension design has it's serious limitations. Polaris fixed this with the PRO suspension by imitating Holz Racing's Alpha X geometry. You can also buy a longer rear arm lower rear bottom bracket and straight rails that irons out some problems with the stocker IQ RAW. You still aren't money ahead if you have inferior stock shocks so it's just better to step up and buy a good suspension if you are applying that extra power and want control.

Which is better (as it appears the discussion has headed towards)? I know what think but I am very bias. I have had two full seasons on the Holz Alpha X to dial in shocks, chassis position, limiter strap length, and track tension for the same sled and rider. That all equals performance that I've never felt from any other sled setup with any other suspension. Does that mean Holz is the ultimate? Who knows, maybe I could get the same results from a different suspension with that much time and energy towards setup. Does that mean if you rode my sled you would have the same experience? In many cases not. Different rider different felt benefits excetera. But on the other side of that a bunch of riders have demo'd the full 2009-2010 Holz Racing set up on this 800 twin and thought it was the best handling/riding mtn sled they've straddled. (same as me!)