Over the next few weeks I will be going over aligning the chassis on my MXZ. All sleds should benefit from this type of alignment. This is the way that I do this job. Some may have a different way of doing it but, this is what works for me.

First things first...

Getting set up and documenting basic measurements from your sled.

I set my sled on the most level part of my garage floor and pulled a 1/4" rope around the back side of the track to the front. Attach the rope to 2 cinder blocks or something heavy to keep the rope tight.

Next, bring the edge of the rope up untill it just touches the track at the front end of the skid. Make sure the rope is tight. At this time if you have a 15" wide track, you should have 15" between the two ropes in front of the sled.

Now you can start taking some measurements.
The fist one I took is to make sure that the track is center in the tunnel as well as the hifax in the center of the track clips.
This picture shows 1". That was the same all the way around the sled.

Now I measured the front one across to the other and did the same thing in the rear and found that I am at a 1/4" of toe out..Good? maybe.
I then measured from the rope over to the center of the ski in the rear and the front, on both skis. What I found was that the skis were turning to the left when the handle bars were pointing straight.

This picture shows a measurement of 13" from the rope over to the center of the ski on the back side.

This picture shows 14.25"...

At this time you can go ahead and make your aligment changes and you should be right on the the skid and your sled should handle like it should . Or you can go steps further and pull the skid and make sure everything is aligned from the jackshaft through the drive shaft and back through the skid...That is the route I am taking.
Also, I am going to go through installing some extrovert drivers, and new graphite hifax for added slipperyness for the sled. I have a problem with this track and the HP the sled produces, ratcheting the track. That why I am installing the extroverts.

Stay tuned!!

mxzwfo,

I assume that you have a full window track. What track are you running? Are you going to keep all of the involute wheels? I was wondering if you could get away with a set of wheels that have both the extrovert and involute drivers and get rid of everything else. It would make track removal much easier if you don't have to drop the chaincase.

Let me know!

I am running...cough, cough..., a Kimpex X-force 1.25 snowcross track. It is the hard compound but, it is still very flexible, and that aids in the ratcheting. I was seriously considering the drivers you are talking about but, after looking at a set last weekend, the involute part of the drivers are really long and I would expect them to flex under a hard pull, and cause you to run on the extrovert part more than I would want. I like the idea of being able to pull the other drivers with that set up ( which is possible) but, I am going with the standard extroverts that only contact when it is about to ratchet.

Now it is time to pull pull the skid. I know most of you have done this many times but, I will go through it any way so our new sledders know how its is done.

Get the sled up in the air and make sure that it is secure. I use a automotive type engine hoist or cherry picker.
Once it is up and secure, loosen the rear wheels and take all of the adjustment out of the track so it will sag.

Remove the two rear mount bolts. I use a floorjack to support it and to lower it down

Remove the two front bolts and set it on the floor. Remove the two upper idler wheels. This will make it easier to remove the skid from the track. This can be tricky and take your time. It will come out pretty easy

Skid is out!

Notice that the upper idlers are off.

Remove the secondary clutch to gain access to the speedo drive and bearing bolts. Remove the bolts and set everything aside.

Move over to the other side and remove the chain case cover.

**NOTE** I opted not to remove the pipe and muffler. To make it easier to get to the bolts on the chain case I would suggest you remove the pipe and muffler

Remove gears and chain.

Remove the bolts that attach the chain case to bulk head. You will also have to remove the two bolts that hold the brake caliper to the chain case. Make sure that your parking brake is still set. Once the bolts are removed, the caliper will stay put on the brake disc.

Now it is time to get the track out. You will have to reach underneth and raise the track off the drive wheels the best you can while pushing the drive shat towards the right side of the sled (chain case side). Once you have the left side clear to drop, the shaft should come out easy.

Next I will be going through extrovert installation and hifax too. I found after I got it apart that I will need to add bulk head protectors also. I had some damage to the bulk head and I don't want it to get worse since I will be running the track a little looser with the extroverts...

Stay tuned!!

How tough is it to get the bearings off the drive shaft, last time I did a track swap was on a 77 Polaris and the bearings were pressed in and no fun at all.

The bearings on the chaincase side of the Doo, slide right off due to the fact that they are pressed into the case and not on the shaft. The bearings on the other side are pressed on to the shaft and will take a puller to remove.

Brian

Sorry that it has taken awhile to post again but, I have been waiting on some new extrovert drivers that I had to order twice due to my mistake. I would like to thank Devin (drewalt) www.sled-parts.com for helping me out on this project. I got new graphite slids and the extrovert drivers. I also got two RER driven springs that I will be posting later on over in the clutching section.
As soon as I can get the drivers on the drive shaft I will go through and finish this up. I still need to align the chassis to the suspension and square the drive shaft too. I also need to do a complete 4 corner alignment on the front also.
Stay Tuned!!!!!


Brian

Thanks for the excelent information mxzwfo. Keep up the good work, we really apreciate it. :thumbsup:

Hi Brian

Did you ever finish this thread somewhere?
I'm in the midst of replacing my track right now.
I replaced tracks before but I just wanted to refresh my memory here.

Jeff

Thanks for all the excellent information. With your help I managed to change my track this weekend and all the bearings and sliders. I had to take the drive shaft to the dealer to get the bearing off but the rest I did at home. If you're going to do this I'd say go get another cotter pin for the chain case. Mine broke as I took it off. One question though, how tight do you put the bolt on over the small gear? When I took it off I could undo it by hand once I got the pin out. Should it be finger tight or really cranked on?

Thanks guys.
SWRules
w00t

TTT Since we can't be riding untill it snows.