Indy Lite Rear Suspension Upgrade

Merlin · Dec 6, 2014

Hello,

I've been thinking of ditching the stock rear skid from my son's '96 Indy Lite in favor of something newer.

It's be nice to have the cam style spring adjuster so dad & son can swap between riding the machine without having to bring out the ratchet & socket to make time consuming rear spring adjustments.

Since it's getting a 136" track this season, I was thinking a skid from a late model Edge RMK chassis might work & may even be few lbs lighter.

Something like this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2004-Polaris...ion-/390704685835?hash=item5af7d0630b&vxp=mtr

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Glen

volcano buster · Dec 6, 2014

To add to that thought, I'm still a bit concerned about the front end geometry.

In other posts I have relayed my experience with an Xtra-10 into an XLT and the front end felt very stiff and hard to steer since the caster angle was messed up afterwards.

In the late '90's Polaris offered an Xtra-12 suspension which put a serious lift kit on the sleds. Surely they added more caster to the trailing arms to keep the spindles laid back. I just got to thinking that maybe an Xtra-12 trailing arm could be installed in addition to longer shocks to be installed to lift the front up to more match the rear end and still have decent caster for the spindles...

I do think that edge skid would make a very nice ride given the increase in travel and the adjust-ability that you are after.

Merlin · Dec 6, 2014

volcano buster said:
To add to that thought, I'm still a bit concerned about the front end geometry.

In other posts I have relayed my experience with an Xtra-10 into an XLT and the front end felt very stiff and hard to steer since the caster angle was messed up afterwards.

In the late '90's Polaris offered an Xtra-12 suspension which put a serious lift kit on the sleds. Surely they added more caster to the trailing arms to keep the spindles laid back. I just got to thinking that maybe an Xtra-12 trailing arm could be installed in addition to longer shocks to be installed to lift the front up to more match the rear end and still have decent caster for the spindles...

I do think that edge skid would make a very nice ride given the increase in travel and the adjust-ability that you are after.

Thanks VB,

If I'm looking at this correctly, lifting the back end of your machine would've given you less positve castor & should've theoretically resulted in less steering effort. Increasing positive castor, to my knowledge, increases steering effort as you are effectively lifting the vehicle more when the spindle is turned in either direction(I.E. road grader).

I would think the only negative effect of less positve castor would be wandering on the trails. I wonder if your issues were as a result of more weight ending up on the skis as result of skid positioning in the tunnel or limiter strap adjustment?

I think you're onto something with the Xtra-12 trailing arms. Thanks for the idea!

volcano buster · Dec 6, 2014

The extra weight on the skis was likely a major part of it, but on some of those universal skids, the FTS was not adjustable to make slight adjustments. Those adjustments had to come from relocating the skid and I quit since I was starting to make more holes than I wanted in the tunnel.

Rattlin_Ram · Dec 6, 2014

If you find an extra 10 front end off of say an indy 500 or something that would get your front end correct. I'm just finishing up putting an xtra 10 front and rear end under my son's '92 indy 500. The front parts and rear end is from a '97 indy 440.

You will have to drill new holes and possibly relocate brackets for the rear skid. I got my dimensions from here:
http://www.jbshocks.com/tech.html

One other thing I found is I had to flip the steering brackets over upside down on the spindles so that at full droop the tie rods didn't hit the bottom of the bulkhead.

Here is the front end finished on his sled:

sno*jet · Dec 7, 2014

Merlin said:
Something like this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2004-Polaris...ion-/390704685835?hash=item5af7d0630b&vxp=mtr

Thoughts?

do it!

i moved the stock skid down and back on my wifes old lite. it was a 2-up 133 and the relocate allowed me to run a 136 1.25" track and gave it some extra clearance. we never noticed any ill-handling. the longer travel skids shouldnt sit a whole lot higher when youre on the machine.
I moved the skid too far back on another sled and it didnt transfer weight correctly and had way too much ski pressure but your installing a 136 on a 136 skid so you shouldnt have to worry about that.
keep it lite!

Merlin · Jan 4, 2015

Rattlin_Ram said:
The front parts and rear end is from a '97 indy 440. One other thing I found is I had to flip the steering brackets over upside down on the spindles so that at full droop the tie rods didn't hit the bottom of the bulkhead.

Rattlin_Ram,

Did you measure how much lift you gained on the front end by installing the Xtra 10? If so, where did you take your measurements?

Also, what model of Indy 440 was the donor sled? Looking at the Polaris parts catalog, the P/Ns of the radius rods, shocks, & other front end components are all different amongst the 440 models - I.E. L/C vs XC vs XCR

I ended up getting a 136" skid from an EDGE chassis('05 RMK Trail) that I'll transplant next season so I'll definitely need to lift the front end to level things out. I was fortunate enough to receive the skid mounting location info. from one of the forum members(Thanks Chad!) so if I can do a little legwork / research on the front end before I get into the thick of it, it may save some grey hairs. LOL!

What would be real handy is having snowmobile salvage / wrecker next door that would allow access to their stash for testing of fitment for this project!

Thanks,

Glen

volcano buster · Jan 4, 2015

One option I have seen used is using the spindles from a Gen II RMK as they have about 1" of lift between the ski mounting hole and the bottom of the trailing arm bushing. I would use the ones I have but they both got bent in when my '99 barrel rolled off the trailer. Although I have attempted to straighten them in the 12 ton press they still aren't quite true.

Merlin · Jan 4, 2015

volcano buster said:
One option I have seen used is using the spindles from a Gen II RMK as they have about 1" of lift between the ski mounting hole and the bottom of the trailing arm bushing. I would use the ones I have but they both got bent in when my '99 barrel rolled off the trailer. Although I have attempted to straighten them in the 12 ton press they still aren't quite true.

Thanks VB!

I never even considered that.

Speaking with Mike at Fabcraft, he advised that running radius rod angles much more than 35 deg. usually results in excessive bump steer. So as a rule of thumb, when you lift you also have to widen to a certain extent.

If I try to achieve the lift solely with the suspension, the machine may end up wider than I'd like.

The longer spindle in combination with some longer shocks, radius, & tie - rods should get 'er done.

Thanks again for the tip!

Glen

Merlin · Oct 10, 2015

Rear suspension upgrade & front end lift!

Hello all! :yo:

So,

I'm going to install the 136" Trail RMK skid in my son's '96 Indy Lite this year & I need to come up with a plan for lifting the front end so that machine hopefully retains most of it's handling qualities.

I'd originally planned on installing a complete suspension system from another machine like Rattlin Ram did with the Xtra 10 but have decided against it as I don't want the extra width.

I'd like to try to gain a few inches of lift by installing the taller spindles as suggested by VB, using my existing Gripper skis, & possibly installing stiffer springs.

Does anyone know what model & year of machines were equipped with the tallest spindles or even better yet a P/N?

If I can't gain enough lift with plan A, I could move to plan B & make a custom set of spindles with the required lift possibly?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Glen

volcano buster · Oct 10, 2015

The spindles I have are off my '99 700 RMK. I'm not sure when they started, but it could have been '96-'97 and ending when they changed to the Edge style spindle. You should see the shoulder above the ski mount is about an inch taller than the XC version if you are searching ebay.

I would have used mine but they were both bent in from a barrel roll incident on the highway one morning.

cowboy181d · Oct 11, 2015

When I swapped the xtra 10 into the 650 sks I built for my father a few years ago I used the 98 rmk 700 spindles to gain the needed lift in the front end. they also help to bring the geometry back into spec regarding weight transfer and ski pressure. still steers a bit heavy not sure if I need to tweak suspension settings or if its just that triple motor under the hood:face-icon-small-ton lol

Merlin · Oct 11, 2015

volcano buster said:
The spindles I have are off my '99 700 RMK. I'm not sure when they started, but it could have been '96-'97 and ending when they changed to the Edge style spindle. You should see the shoulder above the ski mount is about an inch taller than the XC version if you are searching ebay.

I would have used mine but they were both bent in from a barrel roll incident on the highway one morning.

cowboy181d said:
When I swapped the xtra 10 into the 650 sks I built for my father a few years ago I used the 98 rmk 700 spindles to gain the needed lift in the front end. they also help to bring the geometry back into spec regarding weight transfer and ski pressure. still steers a bit heavy not sure if I need to tweak suspension settings or if its just that triple motor under the hood:face-icon-small-ton lol

Thanks for the info.!

So, do all the spindles pretty much provide a 1" +/- lift?

Nothing any higher / longer?

volcano buster · Oct 11, 2015

I believe just the RMK spindles. The XC or trail type sleds had the lower mounts. I think the roughly 1" is all you will get from that "mod".

sno*jet · Oct 11, 2015

http://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/pol/503700b8f87002368411b8bb/front-suspension-ski-e980966

97-99 700 rmks for sure had em.
I think I have an extra set if you want. maybe 10 bucks each plus shipping.
I would make sure they will fit the lite's trailing arm correctly though. I can get you the diameter and length of the hole off mine if you need.

Merlin · Oct 11, 2015

sno*jet said:
I think I have an extra set if you want. maybe 10 bucks each plus shipping. I would make sure they will fit the lite's trailing arm correctly though. I can get you the diameter and length of the hole off mine if you need.

Thanks,

The more I think about it the more it seems that I'm going to need more than 1" of lift on the front end. The RMK skid is going to hang out of the tunnel a lot more than Lite skid.

I better hold off on the spindles until I get the skid installed & then get some measurements of how much lift I actually need to get the machine sitting level again.

Thanks again for the offer, much appreciated!

PooXLTSKS · Nov 14, 2019

Just curious and not to rock the boat. What exactly are you gaining ? Its a trail sled right? Just asking?

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Indy Lite Rear Suspension Upgrade

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