The Arcitc Cat Float suspension thread

[hugger70mtnmax]

Nuknuk the front mount needs to move forward and up and the rear drop brackets need to be fabbed.

Also the front arm on the cat is narrower than the Yammie tunnel so you will need some sort of spacer.

 

[Off Trail Mike]

Guys:

Here's the pdf of the exterior reinforcing plate I fabricated out of 1/8" stainless. Basically it replaces the triangular stock piece on the outside of the tunnel (its alot stronger). You can locate it by using the 4 rivet holes that surround the stock MTX front mounting hole.

This works for swapping the AC 153/162 skid into the MTX 153/162. Beeze, I 'm not sure it will fit your 141/144 because of setback and rail tip up angle/drivers. I'll get the XTX/CF setup on CAD pretty soon. As soon as I do, I'll let you know.

For the pdf, just print it out full scale on letter paper (8.5 x 11) and it should be scaled correctly. It is easy to confirm this by using a ruler/tape to measure the rivet spacings dimension. Your measurement and the one on the drawing should be the same. If not, you will have to play with pdf scale on your printer until they match.

Here is a picture of the plate I am talking about:

 

[beeze455]

I am not going to do a set back. Going to run my mount points as close to cat as I can.

 

[hugger70mtnmax]

OTM I am curious why you moved the mount up so much. Seems like it would leave you with a lot of ski pressure because it would take a lot of weight off of the front skid shock.

Just curious what your reasoning was behind that.

Seems like this thread is really getting somewhere now, with a lot of people sharing their setups

 

[LSXM3]

Front arm hole is 10.5" from the center of the drive shaft. Keep in mind I did a small setback to run a 144" track. The front hole is also 1-13/16" above the string line. Front and rear holes are 31.25" apart center to center. Sorry it took so long to get measurements.

As far as the rear mount how far is that from the top of the tunnel? or if that is not the proper way to measure how are you locating the rear mount locations on the horizontal plane in relation to the front of the sled? I am starting with a bare tunnel and will be using these measurements as a starting point as i am sure all tunnels have a slight variation in height from one sled to another.

 

[Nikolai]

Front arm is about 9.25" below the top of the tunnel, rear arm is 12.25".

What I did to locate the rear is I took a straight edge from a spot on the die cast frame to the rear mount hole (on my old chassis), then transferred it to my new chassis and made an arc with it on the tunnel, then made another arc 31.25" from the front mount hole and where they intersected was my rear mount hole. When I originaly located the skid on my old chassis I located the front hole according to a few members specs, then bolted the front arm and dropped the rear arm until the rails sat flat on the garage floor (with blocking underneath the rails to make up for the total height of the track).

Does that make sense?

 

[LSXM3]

YES very much so, unfortunately i do not have the factory mount locations as i went from a shorty to the 146" and a fabcraft tunnel but that will get me started in the right direction, so with me running a 146" vs's 144" should i set it back an additional 1"? i am also running 7 tooth 2.86" pitch drivers so i am sure mine will vary slightly

 

[Nikolai]

If you go one inch further back than I did you should be good. The driver diameter difference will be negligible.

 

[NUKNUK]

So, for drop brackets...

Does any one have any pics of their set ups?

do the cr racing universal drop brackets work for my application?

What about the cr racing adjustable front mount, is that any good?

Thanks for the help

 

[hugger70mtnmax]

I just got some quarter inch aluminum cut 3.5 inches wide. I ran them all the way up to the bend in the tunnel and they drop about three inches out the bottom. Simple and cheap. I also used some 1/8 inch to make a 45 degree support running up to the running board.

 

[NUKNUK]

hugger70 - That makes sense, thanks.

Might try to get the drop brackets off the m8 tunnel the skid came out of.

If that doesn't work I'll probably go with something like what you are talking about.

 

[LSXM3]

fabcraft will make you some bullet proof stainless drop brackets for pretty cheap and they are pretty dang strong!

 

[beeze455]

So, for drop brackets...

Does any one have any pics of their set ups?

do the cr racing universal drop brackets work for my application?

What about the cr racing adjustable front mount, is that any good?

Thanks for the help

I reused my xtx ones.

 

[Nikolai]

So here's a couple PM's from M5 that were the basis for my mounting positions.
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OK Heres how I do mine. I'm assuming that Cat didn't change the length of the front arm for 2010, my skid is an 08 which on mine is 16 1/4" from the center of the mounting bolt to the center of the point where it attaches to the rail.

The arms are mounted 31 1/4" inches apart on the sled c to c. My drop brackets are currently 3 1/8" below the stock 153 tunnel (which is coming off as we speak POS). This height affects the angle of the rail tip slightly at the front of the skid, and it also affects the skid transfer. I always make my drop brackets adjustable height wise.


The front arm location on my current set up is as follows. In relation to the center of the stock Yami skid mounting hole I'm mounting my Cat skid (the Cat front arm is longer) 1 3/4" forward and 2 1/2" up. These dimensions mount the skid so the limiter straps are almost all the way out. You can still suck them up but basically there isn't any more to let out cause I'm using the stock straps. My rail tips line up perfectly with the drivers and there is no tip wear on the rail caps. This is for a 162 skid with a 162 track.

On my Blue Nytro that got stolen I was running a 156 with a 153 Timbersled Cat skid. On that one the skid was 1 3/16" forward and 1 3/8" up. The problem with that set up was it didn't leave much limiter strap adjustment. IMO the 162 numbers here are better cause the limiters can go way up but will never be longer than they need to be in order to line up the rail tips with the drivers.

Based on all this for your set up I would try test fitting it with somewhere about 1 3/16" forward and roughly 2" or maybe a bit more up. Its a starting point.
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I got your measurement finally, seem to be up to my ******* in alligators these last few days.

I have 2 holes in my drop bracket the lower one is 13 1/4" below the top of the nytro tunnel and the upper hole is at 12 1/4. I was running my skid in the lower hole.

 

[NUKNUK]

Beeze, how did you reuse your xtx drop brackets?

Move them?