Approach angle

Over the last 7/8 years I’ve been running aftermarket suspension on my sleds. upgraded front shocks and full rear skid set ups. I’ll never go back to a factory rear suspension as I can’t stand how on rough trails they alway buck. This year on my mod sled. I’m still going to running 15 pounds again. Im going from a 163 x3 racers edge rear arm to a 174 timber sled rear drop in skid with a 174 X3.

We built another mod sled identical engine/ turbo wise and hope to run similar boost. We had some old parts laying around the shop, 163 ezryde suspension for a cat and a 174 2.5 camo x. It took a few hours and some thinking but we were able to get that skid in the sled with a 174 track and everything seems to work properly.

Today I was looking at the sleds since they are mostly assembled and could not believe the difference in approach angles. The ezryde skid that we pushed back has a 6.1 degree approach and the timber sled has a 14 degree approach.

I know I’m not the first person to push a skid back for a longer track. Has anyone here had any experience with such a set up. The skid that we pushed back has the nicest approach angle I’ve ever seen. Looking forward to get some miles on it. If it works as good as I think, I’ll be pushing my 174 skid back. I can only get 2 inches but I’m sure that it would help.

Best suspension I’ve currently used for bumps is by far the kmod it did not like to keep the skis down even when coupled. However Much Better than stock. The roughest suspension was that racer edge in the mounting hole that they recommend up an inch and a head a hole. It kept the skis planted. After I put the rear link back in the stock hole it was much smoother but did not keep the skis planted.

Here’s a picture of both sleds and angles. The sled on the stand does not have skis yet but I don’t think it will change much once is on the ground.


x

I've run a multitude of different suspension over the years & have been part of the movement when we dropped & rolled. Moving the skids was quite a common thing as converted flat land sleds to mountain. I cannot think of sled that did not improve when we did that. There are more factors than just the approach angle, the center mount point is the transfer point & having more track on the ground.

I remember riding a Mach Z in the deep snow that had an approach angle that was like climbing a wall. I also remember thinking how terrible it would probably work, turned out to be one of the most impressive deep snow sleds I had ridden. That really steep approach would lift up & on top of the snow quicker than any of the drop & rolls we were doing.....crazy

Track angle used to be a lot more important than it is today, 130 hp sleds from 20 years ago with a 136 x 2 inch track needed to be flat to get on top, 175 x 3 inch not quite so important. If you’ve run bakers stuff you know how a flat track angle works, that timbersled on the grey is screwed... way too steep, something not right there.

Sliding the suspension works great until you run over a small hockey stick size broke off tree ?
Seen it a couple times as the guy ejects over the bars and track is ripped in half .
Moving it back gives enough room between drivers and rails for the track to get speared .

catalac said:

Track angle used to be a lot more important than it is today, 130 hp sleds from 20 years ago with a 136 x 2 inch track needed to be flat to get on top, 175 x 3 inch not quite so important. If you’ve run bakers stuff you know how a flat track angle works, that timbersled on the grey is screwed... way too steep, something not right there.

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Buddy has a 163 timber sled skid, I’ll check his angle out tmw.

pfi572 said:

Sliding the suspension works great until you run over a small hockey stick size broke off tree ?
Seen it a couple times as the guy ejects over the bars and track is ripped in half .
Moving it back gives enough room between drivers and rails for the track to get speared .

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this was a skid in the stock locations so I guess it can happen to anything lol. Talk about hitting the rev limiter that day.

Dragonalain said:

this was a skid in the stock locations so I guess it can happen to anything lol. Talk about hitting the rev limiter that day.

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Yep I have been at that place as well. Show stopper . Hahaha

stopped and looked at buddies 163 timber sled skid it sure has a better approach angle over my 174. Guess I’ll have to take it out how it is. I can’t even look at mine as it’s already heading out to revy.

Dragonalain said:

this was a skid in the stock locations so I guess it can happen to anything lol. Talk about hitting the rev limiter that day.

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Why people don't dig down and cut those off is beyond me.

Karma

skegpro said:

Why people don't dig down and cut those off is beyond me.

Karma

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I was a little choked but it did look like it was a old cut from the year before. On the plus side I did not really care for that 280. I got $1280 in warranty on the track(what I paid). I ended up paying $630 for the chopper ride and picked up a low mile x3 for $500. so at the end of the day I got the track I should have gotten in the first place and was not out any money. Only 3 hours of sledding was lost.

Have you done a four scale measure before and after? With and without rider. Looks like with moving the skid back you would get more off throttle ski pressure, and with the rear mount moving up and back, it should lift the skis more under throttle

UltraLiteTriple said:

Have you done a four scale measure before and after? With and without rider. Looks like with moving the skid back you would get more off throttle ski pressure, and with the rear mount moving up and back, it should lift the skis more under throttle

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Unfortunately I have had no time to test anything or even check shock pressure. Now the sled is a few hours away getting the vei tunnel brace / bumper rebuild after pulling a dead cat up super bowl. Sled had so much traction with two grown men on it that the bumper did not want to be part of the sled anymore lol. Next time I see the sled will be in revy so hopefully I can figure it out then.

Looked at the timber sled skid this morning. limiter strap was very loose. Tighten it up two holes while it was on the deck. I think it will be a lot better looking once it’s on the ground.