changing the track on a m series

69charged · Mar 11, 2008

hello all. i thought i would put up a write up on how to change the track. just trying to produce something so people can follow it and so i feel like i gave something back to snowesters as it has helped me alot.
anyway,

first thing, remove the rear suspension. do this by removing the rear bolts first and letting it drop down. then remove the two bolts up front. there is a nut on the backside.

69charged · Mar 11, 2008

i cant get the pics to come up big like some can and write stuff beside them.
anyway, next thing is to wiggle that sucker out of there. it may be easier to take all the track tension off but it is not necessary. my track was shot anyway so i just happened to 'cut' mine off.
then remove the belt and pull the secondary off. on my setup i had to take the plastic deflection adjuster off and remove the spacers and the o-ring then rethread it in to remove the belt. it is a little different on the newer ones. then remove the bolt holding the clutch on. it is a 9/16.

69charged · Mar 11, 2008

next i removed all the nuts holding on the dd. they are 1/2". they are the ones circled in red. there is one behind the rubber bumper that is in front of the dd. just pry that out of there with a flat screwdriver. make sure you dont pull the wires off for the speed sensor as they are very small. after that you will have to go to the right side and remove the bolt that goes through the driveshaft. it is usually loctited and is a 5/8" size and is fairly long as it goes into the output side of the dd. on newer 07 and up sleds the bolt in inside the driveshaft and you require a long extension to get at it.
i used a little prybar to help take off the dd and pushing from the backside.
then, you will have to remove the nuts holding on the brake caliper from the right side of the sled. they to are 1/2".

69charged · Mar 11, 2008

while kinda prying on the brake caliper while holding up the driveshaft with your left hand to help the caliper come out straight, it should just pull towards you. the driveshaft will kinda fall once you get it away from the tunnel. and thats ok. that is what you want. once it is at that point, you are ready to take the track out! you will have to wiggle the track around to get it out as it is not that easy with the 2.25" paddle in the way.
not too bad and it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to do this and put the other track in and that includes taking pics along the way and beer breaks for me and my helpers!
i hope this helps someone at some point. to reinstall it is exactly the reverse of this. dont forget to re-loctite the driveshaft bolt. some people take the brake rotor off and you can do it that way to if you have the tool or a punch and a hammer. it says to get a new nut every time but i have done it many times with the same nut. this way just saves a little time. nothing major.

blackcloud2k · Mar 11, 2008

Thanks man. Thats very helpful

gardingh · Mar 25, 2008

Nice work on the pictures, I'm going to be doing this right away. The plan is to flip and straighten my Attack 20 and try it before I buy a new track.

Twostroke · Sep 1, 2009

I've never done a track swap before, would this still be the same play by play for the 1m's?

catmechanic · Sep 1, 2009

this is a thread that i wrote a while back. just copied and pasted it here

you don't even need to remove the diamond drive.
1.take the left side suspension bolts out.
2.tip the sled on its left side.
3.take the right side bolts out.
4.loosen the bolts that hold your rear bogie wheels on a little bit.
5.loosen the track tensioner bolts to give the track some slack.
6.pull the suspension out. at this point you can do a couple of things. either
buy or make a tool to grab the pigtail end of the rear suspension spring and take it off the spring adjuster block. or you can remove the blocks that the spring slides through down on the rails. this collapses the suspension and makes putting the suspension back in a snap.
7.remove the nut on the driveshaft.
8.remove the brake caliper assy.
9.pull the rotor off the shaft.
10.take the long bolt that is inside the center of the driveshaft out.
11.take the 5 bolts that hold the brake assy out.
12.lift the drive shaft up until it clears the diamond drive.
13.tilt it at an angle and drop it down and out of the sled.
14.remove your track.
15.install new track.
16.reverse the steps taken to remove the track to install the new one. when you get to putting in the suspension bolts, a second set of hands really helps. install and bolt the whole suspension in on its side. it is 10 times easier to move the shaft around and get the hole lined up when its on its side.
once you get the suspension in and everything bolted back down. you can set the sled back down on the track. hold the back of the sled up off the ground and make sure that the bottom of the rear shock doesn't rotate forward. you will get it all ready to go and the bottom of the shock will rub on the track. your suspension won't travel properly either.

no kidding, 2 guys, parts that aren't rusted and stuck together, 20 minutes.

cat rider · Sep 1, 2009

Might want to include that on the 07 and 08 with mechanical reverse, you have to unbolt and pull back the reverse control box that is connected on the upper right hand side of the d-drive in order to pull the diamond drive out.

diggerdown · Sep 1, 2009

Twostroke said:
I've never done a track swap before, would this still be the same play by play for the 1m's?

NO, the 1M is a chaincase model. For that you need to remove the skid, unbolt the speed-o drive, take the cover off the chaincase and remove the chain and lower sprocket. Take the three bolts out of the bearing retainer at the drive axle. Slide the drive axle towards the chaincase until you can drop the speed-o end down and then slide it out.

catmechanic · Sep 1, 2009

cat rider said:
Might want to include that on the 07 and 08 with mechanical reverse, you have to unbolt and pull back the reverse control box that is connected on the upper right hand side of the d-drive in order to pull the diamond drive out.

if you do it as i stated above, you don't have to pull the D-D out.

spook222 · Sep 1, 2009

nice! Thanks for the info!

Twostroke · Sep 2, 2009

diggerdown said:
NO, the 1M is a chaincase model. For that you need to remove the skid, unbolt the speed-o drive, take the cover off the chaincase and remove the chain and lower sprocket. Take the three bolts out of the bearing retainer at the drive axle. Slide the drive axle towards the chaincase until you can drop the speed-o end down and then slide it out.

Thanks, got it out tonight. Putting it back together with new chain and sprockets tomorrow. Last snowmobile chore of the summer, hopefully.

XFIRE800 · Sep 2, 2009

Great write up, this will help a lot when i want to take my track off. SOMEONE SHOULD STICKY THIS!

69charged · Sep 2, 2009

geez, have not seen this post in awhile!! glad to give help back. if someone wants, i can do the same pics and stuff for a zr style chassis or 1M, same thing. then we would have a sticky in one place for both styles. also, if you wanted to, you dont have to completely remove the DD as was said. that is how i do it but for others wanting to service the DD, its a heck of alot easier to just take it out.
clarence

navykid 6 · Sep 2, 2009

Yea that would be helpful if you showed how to do the zr's and 1m.

Joker09 · Nov 24, 2009

So on the 07, where exactly is the bolt that holds the drive shaft to the diamond drive? Do I need to remove the DD cover to get to it?

Ski-Laxn · Nov 24, 2009

You need a 16mm socket on a long extension and go from the brake rotor side.

jakey-boy · Dec 11, 2009

Wish i would have read this at the beginning of the night! What a project haha. we could not for the life of us figure that out. That nut that is in there that requires and 3 foot long extension is ridiculous. The write up is perfect I should have remembered to check on here before I went over to the shop.

snowcatter · Dec 11, 2009

gardingh said:
Nice work on the pictures, I'm going to be doing this right away. The plan is to flip and straighten my Attack 20 and try it before I buy a new track.

Be extremely careful turning a heart attack 20 backwards, you will greatly reduce your ability to stop.

changing the track on a m series

Well-known member

Well-known member

ACCOUNT CLOSED

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads