need advice on an arctic cat skid

[yzviper366]

Hello,

I want some opinions on a skid out of an 05 arctic cat m7. I found one for areal good deal and want to know if i should jump on it or if im not making much of an improvmrnt from the stock mtx skid. Its a 153 skid it has fox shocks NOT floats. But its in good condition. Idk anyone have anything bad/good to say about it.

 

[clatla]

There is a pretty good post on SW in the sticky's. I asked the same question last year. Most said do not put a 153" skid in 153 Nytro. They all said put a 162" in it. Otherwise you have to move it forward and up which makes the sled too nose heavy. I found a 10' or newer Nytro take out and am very happy with the improvements.

 

[yzviper366]

I just read that thread and it sounded to me that one guy said it makes it nose heavy.but the others all sounded like they were moving there mount points forward and up a bit and putting a 153 in am i right? Or were they moving the mount points for the 162??

 

[clatla]

If I remember right the 162 bolted directly into the existing holes. There a bunch of threads about the swap. Do a search on here & SW. I lucked out and got a good deal on a 10' Yami skid.

 

[yzviper366]

Well does anyone know how hard it will be to figure out the mounting locations to make it work with a 153 track? I've read the Arctic cat float thread and it sounds like ppl have moved if forward about 1.5in and up about an inch? Does that sound at all close to right to be able to fit a 153?
I really don't want to put a 162 on because i only ride mountains like 2ce a year or so

 

[Off Trail Mike]

Well does anyone know how hard it will be to figure out the mounting locations to make it work with a 153 track? I've read the Arctic cat float thread and it sounds like ppl have moved if forward about 1.5in and up about an inch? Does that sound at all close to right to be able to fit a 153?
I really don't want to put a 162 on because i only ride mountains like 2ce a year or so

yzviper366

The AC 162 and 153 share mounting positions on the Cat's, meaning the only thing different between them is the length of the rails and the track. This also means that you can't just put the AC skid into our Yami sleds using the stock bolt hole locations. It won't work...think ratcheting and really bad performance/binding.

Nikolai, rlcofmn, Beeze and many others have all put AC skids in their Nytros. Nikolai/Beeze put a 141 AC skid into their 144 XTX sleds, I put a 153 AC skid into a 2011 MTX 153, and Rlcofmn has put pretty much everything into everything.

If you follow the locations in Nikolai's AC Skid thread you won't go wrong. You can easily put a 153 AC skid into a 153 Yami as that's what I did. I replaced my brand new 2011 153 Mountain Air (fox floats) Yami suspension for a fox float 153 AC skid and it saved me about 20lbs.

On the subject of ski pressure, saying these skids overweight the skis is simply wrong. In fact I would argue that because the front rail radius of the AC skid is much shorter than the Yamaha, the AC rails touch the snow almost 4" forward that the stock Yami, which actually reduces ski pressure.

The ski pressure thing comes from the fact that the AC skid, because of the same rail radius advantage discussed above, rides about 1/2" to 5/8" higher in the MTX tunnel than the stock MTX suspension. Translations: slightly lower ground clearance. This difference "in theory" should cause our skis to be lower to the ground by 1/2-5/8", which is true, but "on the snow", a 5 psi change in air pressure in the front floats, or a reduction in preload (if you are running 08/09 GYTR's) wipes this out.....Forget the ski pressure debate. Non issue

The bigger badder news is that you need to move both your mounts to make the AC skid work properly in our sleds and that's a bit of work. New drop brackets and new holes up front on your reinforcing brackets.

The front holes are the real PITA but if you want the exact location, I can PM you a PDF template that you can print out in full scale which shows the AC and existing MTX suspension mounting hole locations AND those holes relative to the 4 rivet holes that surround the mounting holes.

The AC skid is a winner IMHO, and yes, that includes a 153/153 swap out. It wasn't easy but I am glad I made the change. The best part is that they really work well at getting the Nytro up on top of the snow. It has one other advantage too: If you find a good deal on a Timersled/Kmod/ezride suspension designed for either a Yami or AC sled, both will fit your tunnel!

Good luck...

OTM

 

[rlcofmn]

I agree with everything OTM said, the only thing I would add is that I would look for a 07 or newer. There was a lot of changes for 07, it was still a torsion skid but a good skid and works great in the Nytro. Best option is a cat float skid but 07's are a big improvement over stock.

 

[yzviper366]

Ok thank u guys for the info. The deal fell through apparently he had sold the rails and front ahock and failed to inform me of this so i am still on the look out for one.

If you could send me that pdf that would be awesome would relieve me of alot of work. My email is Matthew
Morris13@hotmail.com

 

[pro116]

I also have a 09 cat 153 skid in my wifes nytro.

 

[hugger70mtnmax]

Do it! All I can say is that it is a great improvement that can be done for a fraction of the aftermarket skids. If you are not boosted I think it works great. I have a buddy putting one in a boosted sled this year so we'll see how that goes.

Scmurs and I have sleds that are very similar except for he has a timber skid and I have the AC. In riding together last year I didn't see a whole lot of difference.

My setup was a brand new takeout and it only cost me 500.