16 vs. 17MC rails
- Thread starter sno*jet
- Start date
M
In 2017, only the Mountain Cat got the revised rails, supposedly lighter with bracing & anti-stab rollers; they were not on any of the other M-models, The revised rails were dropped @ the front radius by 9.7 degrees (shallower curve) to help the sled get up on the snow better along with the dropped chain case & 8-tooth drivers. Knowledgeable sledders that did the time consuming conversion to the dropped chain case & the 8 tooth drivers on their '16 M sleds without changing to the revised rails, have stated that the 8 tooth drivers yielded the most improvement, as some just installed the 8 tooth drivers (with soap for lube) without dropping the chain case. Mine is the factory set-up in the factory mounting holes with the exception that I replaced the rear track Fox Evol shock with the '18 Fox QSL which is 1" longer along with a longer pull down rod which must change the rear shock geometry some, but it rides/handles well. The biggest improvement I made to my Mountain Cat was to swap out the factory AC skis for Polaris grippers!
^yes, iv read the 8 tooth/dropped case conversion stuff.. the shallower AOA was from the dropped drivers/8s, not the rails I believe. I will have to compare to a buddies 17 limited when I get around it next. not sure when those rail tips changed but his looked just like mine last I looked.
just thinking about those ice age elevate spindles still, and dropping the bone stock 17MC skid...
I get why it wouldn't jive with the non-dropped case.
just thinking about those ice age elevate spindles still, and dropping the bone stock 17MC skid...
I get why it wouldn't jive with the non-dropped case.
V
so the new rails wont work without the dropped chaincase?
Are you working on how to do this with a 2016? I don't know about the angle, but the front of the rails are shorter on a Mountain Cat. If you drop the front and rear just using the mounting holes in the tunnel, are you planning on re-drilling the FTS mount forward in the rail to get the extra lift at the front of the skid? How do you plan to raise the front end since Ice Age won't sell the spindles alone?
The more I look at this the more I get why they have rails to go with the spindles. Their rails have a very aggressive upsweep at the front to keep the attack angle reasonable. They also have pretty tall bump stops on the front of the rails. Maybe to keep the shock from bottoming too hard if they are running it at a different angle?
Not trying to be a downer, I just don't see it being as simple as drilling some new holes and dropping the skid. Especially after experiencing how my Kmod raised the rear of my sled and negatively impacted handling in downhill or off-throttle situations. It's taken a lot of secondary work to get it to handle well in all situations.
The more I look at this the more I get why they have rails to go with the spindles. Their rails have a very aggressive upsweep at the front to keep the attack angle reasonable. They also have pretty tall bump stops on the front of the rails. Maybe to keep the shock from bottoming too hard if they are running it at a different angle?
Not trying to be a downer, I just don't see it being as simple as drilling some new holes and dropping the skid. Especially after experiencing how my Kmod raised the rear of my sled and negatively impacted handling in downhill or off-throttle situations. It's taken a lot of secondary work to get it to handle well in all situations.
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I wouldn't do the Elevate kit without the dropped driveshaft. Attack angle of the track will be too steep.
V
was looking at putting a 18 skid in my 12 ..western Montana is 5ft of powder , and my buddies 07 poo never gets stuck,goes anywhere. I need new rails to go to the 14 position and the float action looks like the ticket but I haven't dropped and rolled..yet
I like wrenchin' and understand the limitations of the 2.25 track, but if it won't work then maybe just the 2.6 track will be sufficient. my clutching is good with the team tied 3880 engagement and 8100 in powder fields wot
I like wrenchin' and understand the limitations of the 2.25 track, but if it won't work then maybe just the 2.6 track will be sufficient. my clutching is good with the team tied 3880 engagement and 8100 in powder fields wot
Putting a 2018 skid in your sled shouldn't be an issue if you are going to the 2014+ mounting locations. They just shortened the rail tips a little to clear the drivers to run with the dropped driveshaft.
I have a 17MC. looks like it might be close to rubbing tips too hard if I dropped the front to the lower hole but here's the thing; '17LTD rails with the 7 tooth drivers are the same part number as my '17MC rails. (I coulda answered my original question by looking that up earlier:face-icon-small-dis)
the driveshaft has been dropped on mine. couldn't the skid drop same amount then? especially with the 8 tooths?
might not be ideal but I just couldn't spend the 1800 on the whole kit, that's 2 Gs to my door, for another G I could be on an alpha next month, huge upgrade all the way around...
it would be nuts if they won't just sell spindles. everything breaks. warranties only go so far.
the driveshaft has been dropped on mine. couldn't the skid drop same amount then? especially with the 8 tooths?
might not be ideal but I just couldn't spend the 1800 on the whole kit, that's 2 Gs to my door, for another G I could be on an alpha next month, huge upgrade all the way around...
it would be nuts if they won't just sell spindles. everything breaks. warranties only go so far.
I believe what they said in another post was that they would do individual replacements for people that had bought kits if needed, but Ice Age would not sell the spindles alone if you didn't do a kit. At least for the first year. I know it seems silly, but that's what they were sticking to. I certainly would have liked to try the spindles alone too since my Kmod skid already sat much higher than stock.
^exactly. maybe a guy would rather buy a lightweight carbon skid or something...
oh well, doesn't cat have a taller ZR spindle now? they will have a mountain one soon i'll bet. drop the skid, see what happens.. maybe use a larger front wheel.
oh well, doesn't cat have a taller ZR spindle now? they will have a mountain one soon i'll bet. drop the skid, see what happens.. maybe use a larger front wheel.
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