I recently bought a sled that has 96 studs. It is a 1997 Mach 1. I am only about 145lbs clothed. Is 96 studs enough? I have heard that since I am so light that it is enough because I don't have the weight for more to be effective. I have also heard the opposite being that since this bigger machine I should be running more studs because I could be putting stress on the track by under-studding. What is going on? Please enlighten me!

When I bought my 1997 Mach 1 and was putting studs in it, the place I bought it from had a bunch of FIII 600's, Mach 1's, and Mach Z's with shredded tracks that only had 144 studs in them. I just used the stud manufacturer's recommendations and went with 192 studs in my sled. If you only have 96, I wouldn't be accelerating or braking really fast on anything where you get decent traction, you'll bend and pull out a bunch of studs every time you accelerate.

The 97 Mach 1 has more HP than most sleds, if it were 96 studs in a 600cc or 700 cc twin cylinder sled for you, I would say you'd be OK. I know a good minimum guideline would be 1 stud per horsepower. You have about 140 hp, so I would suggest putting in at least another 48 studs to get to 144.

I had 192 in my old track, and after 4 years of riding with the studs, I only lost about 3 or 4 of them, there was a few bent ones, but only a little bent. Never had a pullthrough or broken stud. I also studded 2 in the center belt, and one in every belt spot outside the track windows. I had to run a bunch of carbide (12" on the stock plastic bridge skis, or dual 6" on the precision skis) to get it to turn. A friend of mine has 192 in the center belt only, and he runs 8" carbide, and it turns and handles great.

Check out www.wiem.com and www.studboytraction.com for their minimum recommended stud length/quantity.

I agree I'd go with 144.Too much stress on 96.

I would do 144 on a Mach Z.
72 on 370 or less
96 up to 550cc
144 on 600cc or more.

My opinion.

144 on a Mach-z is not enough for off-the-line holeshots at all.

144 is a good all around number of studs for a Mach 1 or Mach Z, but for maximum traction, 192-240 is needed.

A friend had a 670HO with 192 studs, and he said even that was barely enough, but then again, the 670HO was a freak one year wonder that would basically clean house on any distance under 2000'.