Sled Tracks

[adkhunter]

I have a question for anyone out there. I'd like to put studs in the track of my snowmobile. My track appears to be in good shape. Is there a standard for comparing the length of the stud to the depth of the paddle of the track? I can't seem to find out any real info on this. My track looks to be about an inch deep. Are the tips of the studs supposed to extend beyond the depth of the paddle? Be just short of it? Even?

Ed

[ADKTANK]

Ed,

You should probably go to a local motorsports shop and talk to them about it, there are a lot of variables when putting studs in. First you want the stud to be slightly taller than the lug of the track, if you tell a shop what sled you have or they height from the back of the track to the top of the lug they should be able to tell you the right length stud to get. The other thing is depending on the model sled you might have to also put on tunnel protectors. These are pretty much plastic strips that go on the bottom of the tunnel to keep the studs from tearing up the heat exchangers if it's liquid cooled or tearing up the tunnel if the suspension bottoms out. You also want to make sure you use a certian pattern for laying out the studs otherwise you could put a lot of stress on the wrong areas of the track and it will destroy the track pretty quick or the sled won't handle very good. One other thing you want to make sure you do is clean your carbs if it's not fuel inject. I know of a lot of people blowing up sleds in the last two years becuase this new gas leaves a lot of build-up in the carbs and and it lets the sled run too lean and melts cylinders.

[adkhunter]

Thanks for the info. I don't know enough about sleds to do it myself. Just don't want to sound like a complete idiot talking to a service guy. It'll wait for next year anyhow. I'll bring it home in the spring. I have a polaris guy right by home.

Ed