I was looking into lightening up my track and was wonder if these self tapping nylon stud backer plates were any good. Their made by sno-stuff x-calibar. I just needed to know if those backer plates will break or stud pull out of them on my Zrt 800. I was gonna use them for my woody studs. Thanks

stick with aluminum, there light and very strong.

I'm using them on a couple of sleds. They're not threaded, and the material is pretty tough, so they can be a bit of a pain to install. Once started, and over torqued, they can/will strip. These are the ones you'll see let go when you think you 're done. Properly installed, I haven't lost one. Using a butterfly impact to install now, so torque can be set pretty easily. Are they worth it? To someone weight consious, I'd say yes. Look great when done, and no, I don't sell them.

I might give them a try i haven't heard anything to seriously bad about them. I understand about the torque and getting them treaded. I planned on that being the biggest pain in the a$$. :nervous:

greenman,
I see you're a Banshee fan. Have a 94. Vito's cylinders, Toomey T-5, 22cc Cool Head, Kehein PJs, much other. Can hardly hang on....and you are running NOX? Are you playing in the dirt with it? :0:

And I thought I was an adrenaline junky....

lol michahicks for now i run dirt and play around with it. Lets just say i only begun to modify my shee it will be a full blown drag racer when i'm down much like my sled in years to come. All a matter of $$$$. lol You should do some chating in Atvworld i'm in there alot.

I would stick with the aluminum backers, they are alot stronger.

Coudn't you tap the threads first then put them on?

I was walking on a sled trail this past weekend and came across a few nylon stud backers laying on the trail ???

Next time you see a plastic backer on a trail, pick one up. IMHO what has happened, 9 times out of ten, you'll see a crack leading out from center, and the original 5/16" hole considerably larger. Some, not all, of the guys are over torqueing the nuts when installing them...to the point where the nut is actually getting sucked down in to the plastic backer. Not good. It totally over stresses the backer to the point where you see what is happening on the trail...

Just wanna give a report on these backer plates which i did get and install. Good points So far i have given them a good beating and none have broken or pulled off studs. I have also noticed a slight increase in top speed and are 8.15 lbs lighter 56% weight savings verses the aluminum plate set up i had. The bad points i hand started and fastend all 192 studs with them and used soap water to lube them on and let me tell you it took many days to complete due to hand muscle loss from cranking them on LOL. Also not too bad of a deal, but the studs tend to bend or deflect from the track when you push on them where as the square aluminum backers were more stable in holding the stud firm and hardly moved. I'm guessing these will be a one time use because they may not fasten as good the next time kinda like a lock nut it'll wear after many uses. So over all i'm happy and plan to use them in the future more unless i find more problems with them.

Ps. over torqueing is probaly the reason some people had problems with them pulling off or cracking which is why i hand did them all. :wink:

I have used ulta-lites on my sleds for years. I have lost two over the years. Never torqued them. Just put them on until they looked tight. I had two identical ZR 600s. One had ultra-lights and the other had aluminum backers. Both had the same top speed and got there at the same time.

put the self taping ones in the pantera. lost a few. wouldn't use them again. sno stuff ones seem to crack if tightened too much. saber makes a heavy duty one. have them on the f7 and saber cat. 7000 miles between both and lost none. these still use locking nut. what i like about plastic is they don't cut into the track like steel or aluminium. plastic givesand lot less prone to pull through. on longer stud than 1.075i use the new tapered lock nut for support with loc tite.

are 8.15 lbs lighter 56% weight savings verses the aluminum plate set up i had. [/b]You could not have possibly lost 8.15lbs in weight from backers alone. I weighed 168 Air-Lite backers, and 168 aluminum backers. The 168 Air-Lites were 15 OZ lighter than 168 aluminum. Total weight of 168 studs and backers was 11lbs.

I sold SNOSTUFF plastic backers for 5 years..the ones with the nut/backer combo. 96 studs with those vs 96 studs/nut/alum washers is nearly a 3 lbs weight savings.

96 studs/plastic washer-nut combo was around 6lbs
96 studs/nyloc nuts/alum washers was around 9lbs.

I may be a little off on the weights, it was 6 yrs ago that I measured them on my digital car paint mixing scale, but like I say, it was around 3 lbs.

I just saw a 2004 RX-1 with 144 very long studs (~ 1 3/8"). It had nylon backers and metal nuts that covered most of the length of the stud. At least 10 of the backers were split. Several studs were missing. These were not the type backer with the integrated nut. I guess when you get studs and nuts this size, you may want to stick with metal backers. Of course, you can do like I did for my RX-1, replace the track with the new Ice Ripper. 240 studs and only one added pound. Can't hardly wait to try er out.

For those wondering about weight difference, it is huge. Everyone knows how much of a differance 1 lbs can make. I put on 168 studs with the snow stuff backers. I dont recommend using soap to install though. Vegie oil is the best. Soap doesnt lubricate as much and makes it harder to install. With the vegie oil it is fairly easy to install these. As for pull throughs I have 2. 1 of them was with an aluminum backer. The biggest difference to me is the fact that you wont bend as many studs. Yes aluminum backers hold the stud more rigid. Thats a good thing if you are into harcore racing. But the sno-stuff backers (in my oppinion) might actually save you some studs, and better yet they dont cut into the track. With my sled I put in 168 with aluminum, top speed was about 101. I geared it down two teeth on top, new top speed 95, then I put in the sno-stuff backers, new top speed 100 with significantly better take off.