XTX or stretched shortie?

[Turtle]

Looking for some opinions/experience/input on this.

I'm possibly looking at getting a new sled for next year. It will be a Nytro with a 144" track for sure. I'm just wondering if there is any ride quality difference between a stock XTX vs, a short track stretched to 144" with tipped up rail extensions.

I know that from my old DOO days, a Rev stretched to 136 actually rode better than the stock 136" Renegade.

 

[sleddingfarmer]

I stretched my rtx se to a 136, I wanted better deep snow performance and it did help a lot. The reason I bought a short track instead of the xtx is I wanted the premium shock package and I knew I could stretched it for a lot less than i could buy or upgrade all the shocks.

I don't know alot about the xtx rear suspension, but I do know that when i went out west with my 136 I removed the coupler blocks completely and it had huge weight transfer! Just lean back a little and it holds the skis off the snow...which made it tons more fun in all the deep powder for carving and climbing. I wasn't sure if this would wreck anything in the suspension but apparently its alright to do it cause I beat the hell out of it and it never hurt anything.

tracksusa.com is where i got my extension kit. the tunnel extension looks factory, best i've ever seen. And for 740 bucks for everything including the track its about the cheapest you can find.

 

[Turtle]

Thanks for the info. I've used tracks USA before, and they have great stuff. But if I go with a shortie, I will certainly use our rail extensions, and design our own tunnel extension. We are in that business you know .

I'm looking to see if anyone has any experience with the difference in ride quality. The ability to remove the coupler blocks though does get my curiosity going. That would be awesome for deep powder riding.

 

[Dano]

If you have the option before you buy' I would definitely buy a 144 and then do the mods you like from there. When you stretch a 121, your left with 121 geometry with a stretch out in the back. Buy a 144 and you have the geometry of a 144 in all your suspension pivot points. Not sure if the shorties have the adjustable transfer rods, but the 144 does.
I would have really preferred an orange RTX when I bought my Nytro a couple days ago, but I definitely wanted a 144. I now have a white/blue Nytro and love it! Might swap out panels or paint throughout the summer. Might even keep the white/blue combo as it looked awesome out on the snow yesterday. what to do..what to do...

Dan

 

[Daranello]

XTX has a much better approx angle and is way faster on top end

 

[scmurs]

Not sure if you want my opinion or not, but one thing that we have found is that a 121" rail with an extension on it is a lot stronger than the OEM 144" rail. Yamaha cuts the rail so thin in order to be able to put the tip-up bend in it, it gets weak.

Note the area behind the rear idler wheel. Keep in mind there are steel "straps" that they put on to try to strengthen the tip-up area.

With an extension, it can inter-lock with the full height of the rail at the bend area on the rail.

Then again, the new ones smell really nice

Just my .02

scmurs

 

[sd5500]

XTX has a much better approx angle and is way faster on top end

What is it that makes the XTX so much faster on top end??

 

[shadow44]

Approach angle of the rail helps...look at the 2 photos...the XTX has a less aggressive approach angle.

 

[BADSLED]

Not sure if you want my opinion or not, but one thing that we have found is that a 121" rail with an extension on it is a lot stronger than the OEM 144" rail.

To reinforce stock 144" rail gussets use additional OEM Yamaha cross shaft. Yes, the rails do not have the same cross section as 121" rails. However, for those that have bent 144" rails is mainly due to to gussets not holding up. This is what I've done to mine, I run my skid 100% uncoupled with countless tail landings with 0 problems. Ross at Hygear has bent his during testing and suggested for those concerned. Very simple improvement...

 

[scmurs]

To reinforce stock 144" rail gussets use additional OEM Yamaha cross shaft. Yes, the rails do not have the same cross section as 121" rails. However, for those that have bent 144" rails is mainly due to to gussets not holding up. This is what I've done to mine, I run my skid 100% uncoupled with countless tail landings with 0 problems. Ross at Hygear has bent his during testing and suggested for those concerned. Very simple improvement...

Great idea!

That's the area that tends to buckle outward on the XTX's on a tail landing. Here's a picture from the microfiche that shows how skinny it is at that point on the rail:

Part number 49 is the one that BADSLED added. Yamaha's part number is 8HL-47485-00-00, costs about 20-25 bucks. Cheap insurance.

 

[BADSLED]

To reinforce stock 144" rail gussets use additional OEM Yamaha cross shaft. Yes, the rails do not have the same cross section as 121" rails. However, for those that have bent 144" rails is mainly due to to gussets not holding up. This is what I've done to mine, I run my skid 100% uncoupled with countless tail landings with 0 problems. Ross at Hygear has bent his during testing and suggested for those concerned. Very simple improvement...

Great idea!

That's the area that tends to buckle outward on the XTX's on a tail landing. Here's a picture from the microfiche that shows how skinny it is at that point on the rail:

Part number 49 is the one that BADSLED added. Yamaha's part number is 8HL-47485-00-00, costs about 20-25 bucks. Cheap insurance.

FYI, I also added two washers in between the gussets to prevent it from collapsing when installing the cross shaft.

 

[Dano]

Good info Badsled, I'm gonna put that extra shaft on before next season.


Dan

 

[yamahahaha]

I would go withthe xtx, because of the shallower approach angle and geometry. it would cost less expensive

 

[Daranello]

Not sure if you want my opinion or not, but one thing that we have found is that a 121" rail with an extension on it is a lot stronger than the OEM 144" rail.

To reinforce stock 144" rail gussets use additional OEM Yamaha cross shaft. Yes, the rails do not have the same cross section as 121" rails. However, for those that have bent 144" rails is mainly due to to gussets not holding up. This is what I've done to mine, I run my skid 100% uncoupled with countless tail landings with 0 problems. Ross at Hygear has bent his during testing and suggested for those concerned. Very simple improvement...

Cool....what kind of cost we talking about?

 

[sgilbert]

why put a plain shaft there when you can add wheels with it. I added 6 wheels and have 1500 poor cond, no wear