Narrowing ski stance on XLT Xtra 10/12

skis_n_skid · Jan 28, 2010

Anyone ever narrowed the ski stance on an xtra 10 or xtra 12 front suspension? Would it just be a matter of shortening the radius rods and tie rods or would the trailing arms need to be modified? How much narrower is a dragon or later model RMK ski stance than the older XLT ski stance?

07 Phazer · Jan 28, 2010

I narrowed my son's extra 10 frontend to 39 1/2". Works awesome. Radius rods and steering rods and your done. I also made the radius rods out of aluminum to knock off a bit of weight.

skis_n_skid · Jan 30, 2010

How much did you shorten the radius rods by? Did you shorten the top and bottom rods by the same amount? Are there shorter radius rods that I can buy that would work? Anybody selling custom radius rods? I can cut/drill/tap the steering rods myself, but fabricating radius rods is beyond what I have the tools to do.

07 Phazer · Jan 30, 2010

I dont remember the exact amount that I shortened each side by, but measure your ski stance now,decide on what you want it to be, and divide by two to get the length you need for your new radius rods. If you can cut drill and tap your steering rods, just buy some 3/4" aluminum and some rod ends and do your whole frontend in aluminum. If you can, try to do your drilling on a lathe, it sure makes it alot easier when everything is straight to start with. Good luck.

skis_n_skid · Jan 30, 2010

Thanks for the info. Where can I buy these rod ends? So then I just cut the 3/4" aluminum to the correct length and have the rod ends welded on? Seems like it would be cheaper to just have stock ones cut down and re-welded at a machine shop.

I figured I would drill the holes deeper into the steering rods before I cut them down, that way the existing hole would act as a guide to keep it straight.

07 Phazer · Jan 30, 2010

You should be able to buy rodends at a bearing supply store, but if you want to stay with the stock radius rods, just cut and re-tap them, I think they are hollow.

skis_n_skid · Jan 30, 2010

07 Phazer said:
I narrowed my son's extra 10 frontend to 39 1/2". Works awesome. Radius rods and steering rods and your done. I also made the radius rods out of aluminum to knock off a bit of weight.

Is the 39.5 measurement center to center? Did you leave the sway bar in or take it out? Any reason in particular that you chose 39.5? Sorry about all the questions, that should be all of them.

volcano buster · Jan 31, 2010

I had a '94 XLT that I took the sway bar out of. This helped a bunch, but then had access to the shocks off an Xtra-10. This gave it more lift and narrowed the skis slightly. I replaced that sled with a '93 440 SKS for the kids and it has the sway bar in but with a 36.5" ski center. It is probably lower to the ground than an Xtra-10/12 so it felt pretty stable. I had the kid riding with me and I could lay the thing over and ride circles with the kid in front of me. It was very nimble to pull it up on its side to cut into a bank riding double and even while sitting down. Probably the biggest downfall to going too narrow is that you start to limit your suspension travel.

07 Phazer · Jan 31, 2010

Swaybar is gone, first thing to go. 39 1/2" is center to center, I was shooting for 39, but I "missed by that much"! oh well

fordpickupman · Feb 1, 2010

hmmm

I have been considering this on my '93 XLT SKS. I was thinking about 2" narrower, 1" off per side. I know, it sounds extreme, but it would sure make layin' it over a ton easier. But after this weekend I don't know if it is really necessary. It is already at about 38" center to center. So a 36" may be a bit extreme. I have an extra set of stock rods so I would not be out any money, just time.

skis_n_skid · Feb 3, 2010

Well, I decided to take one inch from each side on my xtra 12 front end. I got all the rods cut, drilled, and tapped yesterday. I'll get it back together today and hopefully ride it tomorrow and see how much difference it makes.

The radius rods are hollow, but the inside diameter was a bit too small to tap so I still had to drill them out before tapping the threads deeper. The steering rods were simple. They're aluminum and hollow so cutting and tapping them was quick and easy.

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Narrowing ski stance on XLT Xtra 10/12

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