Sled deck gripes

[Xceler8]

Just felt I should offer my fellow sledders some advice based on my recent exsperpriance purchasing sled decks. So two months ago I set off to buy a sled deck, after searching around I found there are many manufacturers and a couple different designs and a huge difference in prices. I had herd good of marthon decks and found a good priced used classic 6ft locally and bought it. Brought it home installed it and was very please, until I put my sled on it... A 153" on a 6 ft leaves a whole lot of sled hanging. No problem marathon makes a 2 ft extension right? Wrong, after contacting the ever so helpful staff at marathon (sarcasm) I found out that the decks are great so long as marathon does not decide they are tired of making them, then they just stop production and you're left with no way to get any parts or accessories for them. So now what do I do? Sell the deck, build my own extension, reach out to another company? Well after some consideration I talked to a local welding shop who said they would build one for a fairly expensive price. I then emailed cross trax about their extension, and to my shock they were way more than happy to build or retrofit one of their extensions to fit my deck. So the moral of my exsperpriance is next time I will not question it and buy a cross trax deck, the service is worth every penny. I would love to see/hear what others have done to fix this extension issue, I can't be the only one that has been looking for one.

 

[P_ZIZZ]

I bought a used STF deck because the Marathons were way too expensive for my price range! I got lucky on the price of mine but am super happy with its functionality. It is an 8 ft deck for a 6 ft box so you dont have a ton of sled hanging out in the open. The only problem I have is I own a lifted pick up and it makes for some fun when loading.

 

[Xceler8]

Ya the mararthons are crazy exspensive considering you can buy a Denali from cap it for $2200 installed. Herd good things about STF I looked at them as well.

 

[takethebounce]

Pretty simple...long track mountain sled....8' deck.


I don't know how Marathon no longer building a certian model of deck and no longer offering accessories for they mentioned deck is bad buisness. Not that you have outright said its bad buisness, but you are leading the comments towards that. They have a new product that they retail/produce and having a manufacturing process for that deck. It shouldn't take a lot of consideration to know that a 11.5' long sled is going to hang off a 6' deck.

I have an old tent trailer that I wanted replace the canvas on, I contacted the company and they no longer stocked that canvas. So I contacted a company that makes canvas for trailers. Was I ticked off that they no longer had the product I needed?...no, I was realistic and found a way to solve my problem. Its not like I needed divine intervention to accomplish this.

Thats great Crosstrax was able to help you out. They have a quality product. You likely could have contacted retailers who sell Marathon products and found someone with the extension you needed as many still have brand new classic decks in stock.

Hopefully you can take some photos of the Crosstrax extension on the marathon deck, I am sure there are many others out there that might go that route.

 

[BIG-BALLZ]

I bought a used STF deck because the Marathons were way too expensive for my price range! I got lucky on the price of mine but am super happy with its functionality. It is an 8 ft deck for a 6 ft box so you dont have a ton of sled hanging out in the open. The only problem I have is I own a lifted pick up and it makes for some fun when loading.

Ditto, gots a 6.5 box with an 8ft deck, old deck but SOLID and cheap!!!!!

 

[papajake]

so you have a 153 sled which works out to be 120" long or 10 feet long and you go buy a 6 foot deck not be a math wizard but 10-6 is 4 and you blame marathon for that even with a 2 foot extension you still might have to flag it in bc

 

[Xceler8]

Yes because with a 8 ft deck on a short bed I can't tow my camper in the summer, so rather than only being able to use my deck for my sleds and not my quads + my camper I bought the 6 foot and it works great for summer and winter. It is very poor business of marathon to just cut off production of something that is not ld or outdated and is even more so to treat customers the way they do. I did check dealer ships and used adds for extensions and there are none to be had, and as opposed to a piece of canvas for campers which millions are sold each year this is an extension for a sled deck, not exactly millions of them around. And my entire point in this was to offer some advice seeing as when I was looking for answers I couldn't find much and anytime I looked I got snide comments and posts much like takethebounce and papajake. The new marathon truck boss is an amazing looking deck however I have not been impressed with service and that's my opinion doesn't have to be anyone else's.

 

[Bnorth]

Geeze you guys I don't see him complaining about the quality of the marathon deck. It seems that the marathon staff were not helpful and even a bit rude (certainly not the first report of this I've read on this site) and that is his gripe. He doesn't attempt to blame anyone but himself for the poor estimate of required deck length. I have seen a few others trying to find marathon extensions and it seems the retailers have been sold out for quite sometime. The comparison to the tent trailer is valid although it's not like marathon quit building classic decks that long ago. From what i have read on here marathon's support of their older products is quite poor.

 

[Xceler8]

Geeze you guys I don't see him complaining about the quality of the marathon deck. It seems that the marathon staff were not helpful and even a bit rude (certainly not the first report of this I've read on this site) and that is his gripe. He doesn't attempt to blame anyone but himself for the poor estimate of required deck length. I have seen a few others trying to find marathon extensions and it seems the retailers have been sold out for quite sometime. The comparison to the tent trailer is valid although it's not like marathon quit building classic decks that long ago. From what i have read on here marathon's support of their older products is quite poor.

Alas some support! That's my exact point, my deck is awesome, strong and quality built. It just blows my mind that another deck company will help me out and my deck manufacture will not. And I choose the length for a reason and assumed I would be able to get an extension for winter. I also predict we will very soon hear from marathon as thy always seem to come back with vengeance in forums. O and I forgot for those questioning my math skills, I happen to have degree in engineering so my math is certified to build things you use everyday

 

[sledneck_03]

Whats the deal with the track sticking out?????? is it the tail light is so far in as an issue? I seen a guy that had a light bar that sandwiched the track and plugged into his trailer plug. thats what i would do.


Also whats the price difference between marathon and truck boss??? (i think its the same company) edit: ok i see marathons website goes straight to truck boss hahaha

 

[Bnorth]

In BC you can't have a load that is more than 4' past your taillights. Marathon only build the truckboss now not the "classic" decks they used to build. Both are very spendy as they like to give you a base model and charge you for any options you need/want. Some other manufacturers include many of these options in their base price.

 

[Xceler8]

Does a set of lights on the tracks or end of the deck count as tail lights?

 

[takethebounce]

Alas some support! That's my exact point, my deck is awesome, strong and quality built. It just blows my mind that another deck company will help me out and my deck manufacture will not. And I choose the length for a reason and assumed I would be able to get an extension for winter. I also predict we will very soon hear from marathon as thy always seem to come back with vengeance in forums. O and I forgot for those questioning my math skills, I happen to have degree in engineering so my math is certified to build things you use everyday

This explains a lot!

Why did the engineers cross the road? Because they looked in the file and that's what they did last year.

“An engineer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis of being able to turn out with prolific fortitude infinite strings of incomprehensible formulas calculated with micrometric precision from vague assumptions which are based on debatable figures taken from inconclusive experiments carried out with instruments of problematical accuracy by persons of questionable mentality and doubtful reliability for the avowed purpose of annoying and confusing a hopelessly chimerical group of esoteric fanatics referred to altogether too frequently as technicians.”

Yet, they don't have the vision to see that a long track mountain sled will hang off the back of a six foot deck an undesirable amount prior to trying it out.

Thats just in good fun, not meant to insult your measuring capabilities And explaining your desire to tow your trailer makes perfect sense. The only issue with the post is the same old - your side of the story, and only your side. Bad customer service maybe, but its your side vs their side and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. If that makes sense. Just dislike that sort of post, and it stands out more when someones first post is complaining about a buisness.

 

[takethebounce]

Does a set of lights on the tracks or end of the deck count as tail lights?

its the gray area of the law, as there is nothing written. The lights on the end of a deck are not part of the vehicles original tail lights. The deck is an accessory.

 

[powderhoundbrr]

I am curious about this too. I have a 6.5 foot box, and 8 foot deck and a 162 tracked M7 (my wifes). If I am overhanging 4 feet past my tail lights am I illegal. The deck has lights on the back. Do I need clip on lights for the sled?

 

[Xceler8]

Yup make fun of new guys, that shows good support and makes guys wanna ask their questions.

 

[Bugs]

Powerhoundbrr yes you need a light on the sled then at night and you can get away with a flag during the day.

 

[takethebounce]

Xceler8 I hoped you could see the humour in the post...

I am curious about this too. I have a 6.5 foot box, and 8 foot deck and a 162 tracked M7 (my wifes). If I am overhanging 4 feet past my tail lights am I illegal. The deck has lights on the back. Do I need clip on lights for the sled?

this thread will turn into no less than 10 pages of going back and forth on allowable overhang laws in BC/AB. It comes up every year. Do a search on here for lots of info.

Rear — Loads on a straight truck must not extend more than four metres beyond the turn centre. If a load projects more than 1.5 metres beyond the rear of the vehicle, a red flag or cloth must be attached to the tip of the projection if driven in daylight, or a red light if driven at night. (I'll look for the actual law)

It makes it tough for people to be legal when the proper info can't be found either.

https://www.snowandmud.com/forum/f14/allowable-overhang-sled-sled-deck-bc-29671.html more discussion on overhangs.

https://www.snowandmud.com/forum/f14/dot-regulations-bc-9438.html

https://www.snowandmud.com/forum/f14/sled-decks-short-box-trucks-bc-25724.html

 

[jaredszakacs]

rember there is a company called full lotus and there decks are awesome and there new deck this year is bad ass looking! the quality is awesome on them as well. yes capit sells denali decks but there is a reason why they are $2200 installed the material is not that good on them my buddy had to weld up support brackets for the legs on his cause of a faulty weld. hearing lots of good stuff from cross trax not so good from marathon but also suggest full lotus they make wicked decks

 

[Xceler8]

Cool thnx, didn't look in to full lotus much, except their decking which I really like!