The Arcitc Cat Float suspension thread

[Off Trail Mike]

Nuknuk:

You are too high and too far forward. Have a look at the picture below. The blue lines on my pic and yours are the same rivet locations, and your mount should be where the red dot is. Print the PDF out that I posted a couple of pages back and position the pdf in the blue box. The rivet holes should line up bang on and give you the red circle position.

That is where I have my 153 and it aligns well with the driver and will follow your rails. The stock hole won't work, as it pushes the rails too far back and you won't be able to fit, let alone, tension the track. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

OTM

 

[Alatalo]

Got some work done on the brackets for the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit. These brackets will allow the use of the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit as well as the standard skid. Original plan was to make the plates out of stainless steel, but since this material is a b**ch to drill and grind, I went for 6082-T6 instead. Time will tell if this is strong enough.

 

[Off Trail Mike]

Alatalo:

Nice setup and yeah, I'd bet plenty strong enough
Man, those arms are a dead ringer for the Arctic Cat. Clearly BDX involved. How long are they from the rail mount to the tunnel mount? Are they the same as the Arctic Cat's @ 16.25 inches?

Hard to see all your good work with all that BLING shining back in the pics!


OTM

 

[NUKNUK]

Thanks OTM. Tonite maybe she comes together

 

[beeze455]

His front looks very close to the stock AC setup. Not sure why he he would need to move the front mounting bolt.

 

[Alatalo]

OTM, I will get those measurements of both of the swingarms, then we can figure out if the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit is identical to the AC parts. Might be good to know from a spare parts point of view...

Does anybody use the Wahl Bros anti-stab kit...? I recently purchased this kit and I was about to install it this weekend, but I found the shaft that goes between the rails to be too long. All OEM shafts as well as the shafts in the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit are 220 mm. The shaft in the Wahl Bros anti-stab kit is 223 mm. WTF...? Did I get a faulty one or am I missing something...?

 

[beeze455]

I love asking questions. Please take this post light heartedly.

I want to debate the M stock position compared to others like nikoli and OTM. My setup sucked and ratched all the time. I personally think their setups are wrong too--they may work, but they are not stock. I do not understand why we would not copy the M setup.

Drivers are another size...
My debate here is that the size is different and people change driver sizes all the time. Plus look at my past posts about cfr and m and then crossfire parts numbers. The use the same front mounts but the drivers are different.

Shock Length...
Changing your shock length to prevent ratcheting seems legit, but when the crossfire, cfr and m use the same mounting hole and you swapped from an m shock to a cfr shock I think something is amiss.

Mount it here. It works great.
Ok the pdf looks pretty, but why is this the best spot? Why is it better then the stock M spot?

Oh, as a vent side note. To the guy who posted that "why are you asking these questions" and his setup is perfect, but asks US questions..... go back to snow west...

 

[Nikolai]

My front mounting holes are layed out based off an M series with numbers from a combination of members, mostly M5. I never based the front mount hole off of a crossfire.

The issue with running the Float skid on 141 rails is that the front lower shock mount is moved further back to compensate for the Crossfire's longer track shock. If you run the factory M series track shock on 141 CF rails you need to drill new holes in the rails directly in front of the existing lower shock mount holes (or change to the CF shock like I did). This will raise the front arm to it's proper height.

Does this make sense? I only had track tension issues because of an incorrect combination of track shock & shock mount location, never because of the front arm mount location.

 

[beeze455]

So the crossfire uses a different mounting location on the rails and a different shock, but the same front mounting point?

 

[hugger70mtnmax]

I love asking questions. Please take this post light heartedly.

I want to debate the M stock position compared to others like nikoli and OTM. My setup sucked and ratched all the time. I personally think their setups are wrong too--they may work, but they are not stock. I do not understand why we would not copy the M setup.

Drivers are another size...
My debate here is that the size is different and people change driver sizes all the time. Plus look at my past posts about cfr and m and then crossfire parts numbers. The use the same front mounts but the drivers are different.

Shock Length...
Changing your shock length to prevent ratcheting seems legit, but when the crossfire, cfr and m use the same mounting hole and you swapped from an m shock to a cfr shock I think something is amiss.

Mount it here. It works great.
Ok the pdf looks pretty, but why is this the best spot? Why is it better then the stock M spot?

Oh, as a vent side note. To the guy who posted that "why are you asking these questions" and his setup is perfect, but asks US questions..... go back to snow west...

I figure you are talking about me with this comment so here goes. I specifically stated in my post that I was asking not to bash anyone but out of curiosity as to why people seemed to be having issues with theirs. I guess I got lucky with my setup and it works well. I was just trying to see what problems people were running into and see if I could lend a hand getting theirs working well also because I am very happy with mine as far as performance and cash outlay goes. Sorry if it came across as being a jerk, but I did state clearly that was not my intention. I was one of the original ones to start a thread about installing a Cat skid in my Nytro in an effort to help others get a good setup for cheaper than an aftermarket skid so please don't try to infer that I am just pulling Snowest antics here.

 

[Nikolai]

So the crossfire uses a different mounting location on the rails and a different shock, but the same front mounting point?

Exactly. I'll post some pics this weekend showing the difference since my skid is out.

 

[beeze455]

Thanks.

The tunnel front for all M's and CFRs and CFs from 09 to 11 are the same. So that makes me agree that the front mounting hole is the same. Through research people say the mounts on the M's through the years are the same also. So I think the front mount hole has been around and the same for 5+ years.

Now the rear mount bracket was used in all M's from 05 to 11, all CFR's and all CF's, but no crossfires.

So the way I read this data, all of our mount points for the float skid should be the same. It does not matter if you have a 141, 153 or a 162.

Cat must have modded 141 rails and shock to change the approach angle.

 

[NUKNUK]

Interesting.

Got the 07 m8 skid in the Nytro.

Got the chain case put together correctly this time.

Got the bolts tight.

Feels rad in the front yard.

I think shes ready ride.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[beeze455]

NukNuk,

how do you have it mounted? I never saw your rear mounts. Let us know the details. thanks! pictures too!

 

[sonds]

OTM, I will get those measurements of both of the swingarms, then we can figure out if the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit is identical to the AC parts. Might be good to know from a spare parts point of view...

Does anybody use the Wahl Bros anti-stab kit...? I recently purchased this kit and I was about to install it this weekend, but I found the shaft that goes between the rails to be too long. All OEM shafts as well as the shafts in the Lightweight Rear Suspension Kit are 220 mm. The shaft in the Wahl Bros anti-stab kit is 223 mm. WTF...? Did I get a faulty one or am I missing something...?

Your going to have to trim it down on each side, little bit of fi$$n around but it will fit.