153 on trail

[Snowbound98]

Who says an MTX can’t have a sway bar? Not this guy.
Welded tabs to the clamps and blasted them.

Shot ‘em with some self etching primer.

Painted and clear coated. I didn’t want to wait for that POR15 to dry. That stuff takes too long to cure.

I took measurements from my brothers XTX, tab is 3/4” from top of arm to center of hole and 5” from arm mount to center of hole. These obviously are gonna sit up a little higher due to the clamp but the main thing is both lower arms are tied together. Put a dab of blue loc-tite on clamp screws before installing.

And you don’t have to say anything or ask, yes, of course the factory link will get painted before I call it done!

 

[Scooter02]

Looking good!!

 

[Clyder6R]

Looks good! i guess i will do a build thread too...haha

 

[mysledblows]

Don't happen to have a link or a part number for that quick connect for the sway bar do you? That looks like something that could be useful on those off trail in the woods type of days.

 

[Snowbound98]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I’m scrambling to get done but I’ve had a small detour. The wife’s trans in her Escalade decided to start slipping. In the middle of replacing that.

Don't happen to have a link or a part number for that quick connect for the sway bar do you? That looks like something that could be useful on those off trail in the woods type of days.

not sure this was the exact one but this is a push in right direction.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/293151591543

 

[stomper]

Wow You're doing a great job on the rebuild. I like the ingenuity on the sway bar addition, those tube clamps will be bombproof. I like the idea of the QD links also but wont the sway bar be slopping around when its not hooked up.
You wouldn't happen to have any measurements on the fuse box relocate bracket.

 

[G.I. Joe]

What did you do with your old track

 

[Snowbound98]

What did you do with your old track

I still have it. Not sure if I’m gonna sell it or not. If I do decide to let it go, there’s one person who messaged me about it so you’d be the second in line if interested. I at least wanna try out this track and see how it does first.

 

[G.I. Joe]

Ok. Thanks

 

[Snowbound98]

I’m bored so I’ll update here. I had a little distraction from the sled, the trans went out in my wife’s Escalade.
Mohawks showed up.

Got the competition saddles

Went with the black hoops.

Installed a RoczToyz headlight adjuster and a mid height windshield.

I searched high and low for a set of pads to go on the cowling that wouldn’t interfere with my vents that are there with no luck. I started making my own until I was informed about some adhesive backed foam made by Sea-dek for marine use. I found some 1/2” thick on amazon and had it the next day. Cut it to fit and time will tell how it holds up. Very comfortable thou, much better than knees against plastic.

I always heard that goggle bags block air flow and trap underhood heat. For that reason I was never a fan of them. Since I have frog skin vent panels that I’m adding, I said screw it and bought a goggle bag. My phone while hooked up and charging in windshield bag gets cold so I figure this will be good for glove liners and my phone. I don’t do the goggle thing.

Then I installed new LED hand guard lights. The original ones I put on only had a few LEDs lit on each side. Now they are fully lit, much better.

 

[G.I. Joe]

It gets to hot in the goggle bag for a phone. your phone will shut down

 

[Snowbound98]

It gets to hot in the goggle bag for a phone. your phone will shut down

I hope that with some glove liners and maybe some rags in there, it will keep the heat down. I’ll throw a thermometer in there for a day of riding and see what the temps are before throwing phone in.

 

[murdered141]

I keep my phone in a glove in the goggle bag and it's fine, barely warm

 

[Snowbound98]

My brother called me on Tuesday and said more snow is dropping this weekend up north and he’s heading up and asked if I was ready. Not completely but I’ll make it happen.
Same day my carbides showed up. Got my MoHawks mounted.

I only have one panel wrapped though. I didn’t like the digital camo vinyl that I started wrapping it with. It was hard to work with because there was barely any stretch, so going around hard curves I had to make cuts which means seams. I decided to wrap it because I didn’t want to buy a precut graphic because of all the seams. So I tore the camo vinyl off and got some gloss black metallic that matches the color of the hood. It’s Vivid brand, much better to work with and much better adhesive. Sucks that I’m only gonna have one side done for this weekend, but I want to ride so I’ll run it.

My brother also told me that when he was up a few weeks ago our dad was really draggin #*$&@ on his sled. When my brother asked what’s the deal, he said he was just enjoying the scenery. “Dad, you’ve been coming up here your entire life. You see one tree, you’ve seen them all. Try to pick up the pace a little. 20MPH is not working.” He also told me when dad gets off the sled, you can see he’s hurting. He’s driving an ‘01 SXR trailing arm sled and we’ve been telling him he needs a newer one. But my mom put it in his head that he only has a few seasons left in him so there’s no need to buy one. So my brother and I decided we’ll get him an Apex with EPS and we think he will be able to ride more than a few more seasons if he’s not getting beat to death. So we found an ‘11 with 6000 miles that seems very well maintained. Guy is selling it because he bought a Sidewinder.

I test fit my new cover that the wife bought for me. I’m worried that it’s gonna pull in on my hand guard and they’ll be ruined. Maybe I’ll remove them when I have to put cover on.

I’m tired of using a 2 place tilt trailer. The wind is gonna beat the cover against the sled and when we are all up north and we want to go somewhere else to ride, we put my nephew’s or my dad’s sled in the back of my brothers truck and then he pulls a two place and I pull a two place. We’ve talked about buying an enclosed trailer but we keep our sleds up there so it’s kinda a waste. We built a separate 2 car garage that has a single garage door on front and one on back so we can drive thru so we don’t need an enclosed trailer for storage. Last trip of the season last year we vowed that this season we weren’t putting a sled in back of truck. So I reminded my brother of that and told him that if he bought the Apex I would buy an enclosed trailer. Or we could go half on both. So I searched for trailer. Seem a bunch of steel frame trailers, I don’t want a steel snowmobile trailer. Found a lot that are only 7 foot wide, “in-line” trailers they call them. No thanks. Couple 8 foot wide with Vee and front drop down door but they weren’t deck over so they had the wheel wells inside. Nope. Then I found a Forest River, all aluminum, deck over, 26’ but it was 230 miles away, east of Indianapolis. Gotta travel when you find what you want. Made the trip today, well, yesterday now cuz it’s 1am. Left at noon and got home at 8:15.

The SkiDoo logos will be gone before I come home on Monday.
Getting some sleep and heading north first thing in morning. Instead of driving straight up the state, I have to head toward Green Bay to pick up the Apex. Then I’m still another 2-1/2 hrs drive from there.

My dad has no idea about either. He’s coming up with my brother and his son but not leaving until my brother gets off work at 3:30. I should be at the house or just about there at that time. So when they get up there he’s gonna be surprised and happy that we have a trailer that we can load everything in. It’ll be late when they get there but in the morning he’s gonna want to look at the trailer and when I open it up he’ll see the Apex for the first time. It won’t even dawn on him that it’s his. I can’t wait to see his face when we tell him. This is gonna be a good weekend. I might even set up the GoPro and record it.

 

[Snowbound98]

Made it up last night. Took 8-1/2 hrs to go from 20 miles south of Chicago, up to Sturgeon Bay WI to pick up sled, then back northwest to 16 miles north of Merrill. First part of trip was good, second part sucked when the snow started flying. Roads sucked but thankfully I was loaded down enough to keep the old mule on the road. Couldn’t get any better than 15MPG but I also had the rubber band wound tight.

I had one issue with the Apex. The sled was at Mays Sport Center were they had sent out the rear shock for rebuild and it didn’t make it back in time. I had them put the sled back together minus the shock. The guy is gonna mail it to me when it comes in early next week.
So when my dad and brother finally made it up at 12:30am after going 45MPH the entire way up, took them 8 hrs to get here, I asked him what he thought about the trailer. He said it’s big, but that’s gonna be nice to get all the sleds in one trailer. I said yep, that’s why I bought it. I said let’s get you #*$&@ in the house and I’ll show you the inside, it’s got SkiDoo decals inside too that we’ll have to remove but I wanna show you the cabinets.
I already drove my sled out of trailer and put in garage so only the Apex was in there. I dropped the back door and he stood right next to the sled and was looking at the trailer and was commenting on how the floor was good shape, the cabinets were nice, even has a roof vent. I told him you didn’t even notice the sled! He said what about it, I’ve seen your sled, you do something different? I said no, I have a Viper, this is an Apex. He looked at me and said oh, what’s this one? Did it come with trailer? I said no, I left early because I had to go pick this up in door county. He said, oh you bought another one? It’s nice. I said it’s yours. He said get outta here. Yep, no more getting beat up on your old sled. This has EPS and now you have electric start and reverse. He just kept saying, get outta here. No way. But then I had to tell him it doesn’t have a rear shock yet and I called every dealer from Illinois to Eagle River WI looking for a standard shock because the Fox Float shock is $1600! The standard spring shock is $500 and I would have bought one so he could ride it this weekend.
I ended up finding a used spring one in Chippewa Falls, 130 miles away for $350. My brother and I are almost there now and they close in 25 minutes as I type this. So he’s riding it this weekend!! I’ll update later.