"Indy Lite Mountain Conversion"

Merlin · Dec 6, 2013

Hello Folks,

I'm planning on getting a machine rounded up for my son to ride next year & am curious about what options are out there.

He's 6 now & 60 lbs so thinking he'll be well over 70 lbs next winter.

I'm not interested in the 120's or any of the older 300 cc(ish) machines with leaf spring front suspension.

Sleds that fit the bill of "light, not too much power, & affordable" that come to mind:

Ski Doo Formula 380

Ski Doo Freestyle 300

Any other contenders out there in the above category I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance,

Glen

volcano buster · Dec 6, 2013

Polaris Indy Lite - 340cc, easy to get parts for. I long-tracked mine and it goes pretty good in the deeper stuff. This is a deluxe model with electric start and heated grips. The kids love it.

Merlin · Dec 7, 2013

volcano buster said:
Polaris Indy Lite - 340cc, easy to get parts for. I long-tracked mine and it goes pretty good in the deeper stuff. This is a deluxe model with electric start and heated grips. The kids love it.

Thanks! :yo:

I noticed several Lites & one Starlite when surfin' the 'net last night.

I'll add them to my list of candidates.

Thanks again,

Glen

volcano buster · Dec 7, 2013

Maybe I should clarify a bit more. The Star Lite and early Indy Lite are less desirable due to the direct drive and not chaincase driven. These early ones use a different track and are not easily accepting of a chaincase and different drivers for use on a bigger track.

Merlin · Dec 8, 2013

volcano buster said:
Maybe I should clarify a bit more. The Star Lite and early Indy Lite are less desirable due to the direct drive and not chaincase driven. These early ones use a different track and are not easily accepting of a chaincase and different drivers for use on a bigger track.

Thanks for the info.!

I just had a snoop in the Polaris Parts Catalog. Very interesting, albeit cheap, drivetrain set up on those machines. Definitely not ideal.

So is there a particular model year/s of Indy 340 that I should be watching for?

Thanks again,

Glen

volcano buster · Dec 9, 2013

1993 or newer will have the chaincase.

Plain Indy Lite is 121" no electric start and no mirrors
Deluxe is a 121" with electric start and mirrors
GT is a 133" 2-up no electric start or mirrors

couch · Dec 9, 2013

Yamaha Ovation / early Phazer .... with plastic skis and decent track

Merlin · Feb 7, 2014

Hand Warmer Options

Merlin said:
Hello Folks,

I'm planning on getting a machine rounded up for my son to ride next year & am curious about what options are out there.

He's 6 now & 60 lbs so thinking he'll be well over 70 lbs next winter.

I'm not interested in the 120's or any of the older 300 cc(ish) machines with leaf spring front suspension.

Sleds that fit the bill of "light, not too much power, & affordable" that come to mind:

Ski Doo Formula 380

Ski Doo Freestyle 300

Any other contenders out there in the above category I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance,

Glen

volcano buster said:
Polaris Indy Lite - 340cc, easy to get parts for. I long-tracked mine and it goes pretty good in the deeper stuff. This is a deluxe model with electric start and heated grips. The kids love it.

So, I managed to find a '96 Indy Lite that will be used as the "Student Driver" vehicle for my son. :face-icon-small-win

One of the items I'd like to address is the lack of hand(& thumb) warmers.

Any suggestions on who makes a decent kit or is a person better off to purchase the parts separately?

Thanks in advance,

Glen

Trax 2 Treadz · Feb 7, 2014

RSI elements and switches are probably the way to go. Another upgrade you may want to consider is getting rid of the cable brake mechanism and going with hydraulics’, easy swap over. The other item we are looking at is going with a straighter handlebar. The bend in the factory one is tending to push our son to the outside of the sled while turning and tipping the sled on it side.

Merlin · Feb 7, 2014

Trax 2 Treadz said:
RSI elements and switches are probably the way to go. Another upgrade you may want to consider is getting rid of the cable brake mechanism and going with hydraulics’, easy swap over. The other item we are looking at is going with a straighter handlebar. The bend in the factory one is tending to push our son to the outside of the sled while turning and tipping the sled on it side.

Thanks,

I was just checking out RSI's website this afternoon. I think I'll just get the parts needed for the mod. individually.

The hyd. brake & handlebar mod. are already on the list along with the long-track conversion, running boards , & seat mods.

Gonna have one busy boy doing chores to earn this machine. :face-icon-small-win

Kraven · Feb 7, 2014

Merlin said:
Hello Folks,

I'm planning on getting a machine rounded up for my son to ride next year & am curious about what options are out there.

He's 6 now & 60 lbs so thinking he'll be well over 70 lbs next winter.

I'm not interested in the 120's or any of the older 300 cc(ish) machines with leaf spring front suspension.

Sleds that fit the bill of "light, not too much power, & affordable" that come to mind:

Ski Doo Formula 380

Ski Doo Freestyle 300

Any other contenders out there in the above category I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance,

Glen

I considered the 300 ENFORCER Chinese sled for a while

Ended up finding an ultra clean low miles 2000 POLARIS 340

The 2000 - 2001 340's are preferred for the kids

Merlin · Feb 8, 2014

Kraven said:
I considered the 300 ENFORCER Chinese sled for a while

Ended up finding an ultra clean low miles 2000 POLARIS 340

The 2000 - 2001 340's are preferred for the kids

I noticed the build you'd done for your daughter & was nothing short of impressed.

Awesome job!

I'll guarntee that mine won't turn out near that good cosmetically but I do plan on having it set up reasonably well for some deep snow training. :face-icon-small-win

Kraven · Feb 8, 2014

Merlin said:
I noticed the build you'd done for your daughter & was nothing short of impressed.

Awesome job!

I'll guarntee that mine won't turn out near that good cosmetically but I do plan on having it set up reasonably well for some deep snow training. :face-icon-small-win

Thanks!

BTW, I'm in the process on installing the hydraulic brakes and

The left side handlebar controls from a 2003 EDGE including the factory "slide type" switches for hand warmers & thumb warmer

Merlin · Feb 22, 2014

Merlin said:
Hello Folks,

I'm planning on getting a machine rounded up for my son to ride next year & am curious about what options are out there.

Thanks in advance,

Glen

Good morning,

My son & I went out for his inaugural ride on Thursday & I'm happy to report that it was a success.

It was his first ride on his new(to him) '96 Indy Lite & his first ride on a snowmobile in general. I'm proud to say that he did very well showing complete respect for the throttle(which might have had something to do with the conditioning he received prior to the big ride? :face-icon-small-win). He spent this past summer logging many miles learning how to drive a riding lawn mower, eventually earning his way up to an import ATV, so transitioning to the snowmobile was not a massive step. He had a complete blast & most importantly he rode safely & well within his capabilities. There was no stunting - that can come later when he develops a better level of control & an understanding of the machine's & his own capabilities.

Now, with regard to the future long track mods.(136" X 1.5-ish) for better "deep" snow operation, I can see that this machine is going to need some help in the clutching dept. even if the rider weight is next to nothing.

Changes to the primary spring & weights seem fairly straightforward but just wondering if anyone has experimented beyond simply adjusting spring tension in the secondary? I noticed in some of Polaris's literature that I found on the 'net that there is a 34 deg. helix available(to replace the factory 36.5) - is there any noticeable benefit to this change or has someone tried something from the aftermarket with success?

Also, Trax 2 Treadz mentioned in a previous post that the stock handlebar was issue. After spending 4 hours with the machine I was reminded just how crappy of a design these bars are actually are. Even for "sit" riding they make negotiating a full stop turn awkward at best(& dangerous considering where the handlebar on the inside of the turn is pointing!). Any suggestion on handle bar options or steering mods.?

Thanks in advance,

Glen

Merlin · Mar 30, 2014

Well,

My son got another 2 days of riding under his belt logging 35 miles on Saturday alone.

The Indy Lite has been a great investment but is definitely gonna need that long track mod. for next year! :face-icon-small-win

volcano buster · Mar 31, 2014

Ideally plastic skis would help a bunch too. The steel skis have a bad habit of sticking making the short track work a lot harder to get the sled moving. The skis will likely have a better profile making it steer better before and especially after a larger track is installed.

Great sled for the kid.

Snow Duck · Mar 31, 2014

The bars seem ok for my daughter but i did the hydro brake upgrade which makes stopping better and you have a park brake also...if you can find a 00-02 donor sled it bolts right up and you can wire in the bar and tumb warmers into the switch controll... Volcano is correct the plastic skis would be a huge upgrade but make sure to trim the inner part to clear the lower part of the shocks...

last week i bought a 97 deluxe for 100.00 as a donor...took the gas guage elect start and the low oil tank off and installed on my daughters sled. resold for 100.00 so score!
IE i dont have to start it for her anymore !!!!! and i am working on a 136 x 1.1/2 track for next year...

she has logged 100 trouble free miles on it this year and climbed her fist hill!..

Merlin · Mar 31, 2014

volcano buster said:
Ideally plastic skis would help a bunch too. The steel skis have a bad habit of sticking making the short track work a lot harder to get the sled moving. The skis will likely have a better profile making it steer better before and especially after a larger track is installed.

Great sled for the kid.

Snow Duck said:
The bars seem ok for my daughter but i did the hydro brake upgrade which makes stopping better and you have a park brake also...if you can find a 00-02 donor sled it bolts right up and you can wire in the bar and tumb warmers into the switch controll... Volcano is correct the plastic skis would be a huge upgrade but make sure to trim the inner part to clear the lower part of the shocks...

last week i bought a 97 deluxe for 100.00 as a donor...took the gas guage elect start and the low oil tank off and installed on my daughters sled. resold for 100.00 so score!
IE i dont have to start it for her anymore !!!!! and i am working on a 136 x 1.1/2 track for next year...

she has logged 100 trouble free miles on it this year and climbed her fist hill!..

Thanks guys,

Plastic skis are definitely on the list too! On that note, I'd forgot about how "sticky" steel skis actually are on wet snow until this past weekend when I performed an undetermined amount of "ski-tugs" to get his machine rolling. :face-icon-small-win

Going to install hand/thumb warmers as well. The the hyd. brake mod. along with the handlebar controls looks like a good idea too but I cant decide on a plan for the actual handlebars. The factory bars will be OK as long as he is "sit riding" but as soon as he starts to ride standing up, some other design will be needed.

Trax 2 Treadz · Apr 1, 2014

We have not done it yet, but we are looking at a RSI bar with with no rise and 10 degrees of pull back and RSI angled 4" risers. The 4" risers will put the bar a little above stock height by the looks of it.

Merlin · Apr 7, 2014

Trax 2 Treadz said:
We have not done it yet, but we are looking at a RSI bar with with no rise and 10 degrees of pull back and RSI angled 4" risers. The 4" risers will put the bar a little above stock height by the looks of it.

Thanks for the info.,

That sounds like it could be a good combination.

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