Mach Z seat change and other mods

[Blackstar]

I was feeling bad about derailing the Abitibi thread so moving my comments over here.

 

After recommendations from Stoney and Used2, It went to Team Vincent today to check seats with one of their employees who understood what I was talking about.

 

We went to their used sled section where I sat on a ‘22 XRS 850, an 850 Backcountry, ‘21 XRS 900 and an 23 XRS 850.  The 900 was set up like my Mach bar wise, adjustable riser and 2 inch add on. So was the one 850.

 

I agree that the seat feels taller, firmer so I bought the “Trail Narrow Seat” Part # 860202644.

They had 2 in stock. Skidoo website said that they were the only dealer in my area that may have one. I’m not sure why Doo doesn’t know exactly what a dealer has in stock but the website only told me who didn’t? 
They had 2. I said to grab one for me.

 

Online Price was $559.99, currently 20% off = $447.99

 

The girl said it was 25% off, price was $419.25.

Even better.

 

 

Those with a short I will see another mod I did last week.  

[stoney]

How do you find that steering mod - much difference?

Did the sled come with the riser or you added it, do you know which riser was used and did yuo need to change anything to make it work?

[Blackstar]

51 minutes ago, stoney said:

How do you find that steering mod - much difference?

Did the sled come with the riser or you added it, do you know which riser was used and did yuo need to change anything to make it work?

 

Riser was on it when I bought it.

 

 

MPS, Mechanical Power Steering.  So after my complaints about the heavy steering on Doos, I started looking for solutions. Dootalk has a couple threads about MPS. From what I can gather, it was first designed for Yamaha sleds that didn't come with EPS from factory by Barn-of-Parts. He later developed the same system for the Doo's.

 

I bought my kit from NateMach900R on Dootalk. He is in Ontario, north of Toronto. $180 shipped. You get all the parts in your choice of raw stainless finish or black powder coat. It is an easy install. Unbolt your tierod, use the supplied nut and bolt to install the bracket in the stock location. Re-install the tierod in one of the 3 holes in the bracket using the spacer. If you use the third hole closest to the outside of the bracket you will need to either bend the tierod bar or grind away some of the swaybar bracket for clearance. I used the second hole and didn't make any other changes, clearance is minimal but it works.

 

 

I rode Monday and Tuesday with the kit installed and it does make the front end feel lighter. People say steering effort is reduced by 40-60%. I will agree, hard to measure but its definitely noticeable. What I noticed right away is that the shakey/jerkiness of the bars is drastically reduced. Running on the railbed from Shelburne, I ran through frozen ice/ground sections where you would expect your skis to follow the grooves and ruts from the previous carbides but it held steady and the bars felt smooth. In the tighter bush sections around Durham, the sled was easy to steer through corners and you never felt like you were in a fight for control. But, in order to make a turn you need to move the bars farther to achieve the same ski movement. I did bang my knees on the bars a couple times in real tight situations.  The turning radius is larger since the skis don't turn as far so things like loading the trailer or turning around on the trail takes more space, more careful planning.

 

Overall, I like it enough to keep it. I will live with the short comings to have reduced effort through the length of a day. If I was riding Muskoka bush trails all the time, it would be a NO, but then I'd probably be on a 600. Open trails, railbeds, fields, big single carbides? Yep, I'll keep it.

 

And these Qualipieces Trek carbides suck. They push in the corners (not a surprise) and you can't back up. That's right, no reverse. I was really disappointed with the Ice Ripper track when moving the sled around. Everytime I put it in reverse it just dug a hole. I got tired of moving the sled by hand. I now realize its the carbides. They don't have a taper for reverse movement and they dig in hard. My buddy noticed it when I was unloading the other day. The skis were tipped up at the front and the spindle area was off the ground as the rear of the carbide dug a trench.

 

But with the MPS I will go back to a big single carbide. Half the money of the Treks.

 

 

[Blackstar]

And now the other issue I’ve been dealing with for the last month.

 

 

 

 

 

[scottyr]

If you get another chance to ride it, do your self a favour and take that riser off.  
 

I guarantee that the sled will handle better without it.    Once you try it without the riser, that that FAR off and try a std 95mm fixed riser with the riser inline with the steering post.    There is a reason that all of the MXZs and Lynx do not come with FAR.   The FAR is a great idea on paper but really messes with geometry and makes your sled handle like crap.   

[UsedtoSkidoo]

12 hours ago, Blackstar said:

And now the other issue I’ve been dealing with for the last month.

 

 

 

 

 

Tree I assume. Sucks

[Blackstar]

51 minutes ago, UsedtoSkidoo said:

Tree I assume. Sucks

 

Nope, the wife ran in to it with her sled. She said she got her lefts and rights mixed up. She meant to grab the brakes but she grabbed the gas by accident. She came in on an angle. Her spindle hit the roller, then the lower plastic and stopped at the tierod.

 

 

 

[stoney]

Oh my - she okay afterwards?

[Blackstar]

1 minute ago, stoney said:

Oh my - she okay afterwards?

 

Everyone was ok, thankfully. My friend Ed was riding it at the time. He was stopped.

[stoney]

Good to hear. 
Must have scared the crap out of them. 
Tie-rod is an easier fix, doesn’t look like tunnel or running board is buckled, so perhaps it can be massaged back into shape. 

[scottyr]

That bend will come out.     You will need somewhere good to strap the sled down good and tight and start pulling.     A small amount of heat will make life easier.   

 

If you are on Dootalk, someone had a very similar kiss on their Lynx.    I will try to find the thread.     

 

He got it 90% out but did say that the running board had a lot more memory than he expected.   

 

 

[RAMSOMAIR]

I bet the front end is tweaked too.

[Blackstar]

I made a couple of calls after it happened. I decided not to follow the advise I was given, which was to hammer it back out as straight as I could and not get too far into it. Instead I took it all apart. I now understand why I was told not to. It’s not an easy job. The tunnel and all the parts are aluminum but most of the rivets are steel. Some I drilled out, some I hammered out, some I had to grind the head of. All the while trying not to damage any of the powder coat that would be visible. I ordered parts (footrest, roller, tierod, lower body panel), waited a week, Doo shipped the wrong footrest, ordered again, another week, got the right one this time. 

Lots of problems even placing the order. Technically, Doo doesn’t list a part number for the roller (the roller is the out edge of the runningboard) on any sled with Smart Shocks because the wiring runs through the inside. I ordered one for an MXZ 137. I also bought 30-6.4 mm and 20-3/16 rivets from Doo as listed in the parts diagram. 
 

The parts only come with a few predrilled holes so I fitted everything up using 1/4 and 3/16 stainless bolts. Then drilled the rest of the holes, cleaned all the holes. My buddy powder coated all the parts including the rivets for me in satin black.

 

Another thing I learned. 6.4 mm is 1/4 inch and 1/4 inch rivets require a heavy commercial riveter. My buddy lent me his air riveter but 3/16 was the largest tip. I had to buy a manual heavy rivet gun from Princess Auto.

 

It’s all back together again. I bought a detailing brush and painted the inside of the rivets.

 

 

 

The 3 stainless screw heads at the rear are the attachment points for the Smart Shock wiring cover. It has to be removed to service the shocks. Someone had already replaced the rivets with raw ones.

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, RAMSOMAIR said:

I bet the front end is tweaked too.

Before I started the repair, I took a ton of measurements and they all checked out.

 

I can’t believe it’s not tweaked either.

 

The other sled is straight too which was the one I was really worried about. All she got was a scratch on the A-arm.

[Blackstar]

17 minutes ago, scottyr said:

That bend will come out.     You will need somewhere good to strap the sled down good and tight and start pulling.     A small amount of heat will make life easier.   

 

If you are on Dootalk, someone had a very similar kiss on their Lynx.    I will try to find the thread.     

 

He got it 90% out but did say that the running board had a lot more memory than he expected.   

 

 

Ya, lol, and that was what I was told to do.

 

But I was worried it would look like crap.

 

There is no way you’re going to press and hammer that out without damaging the powder coat. Then you’re touching it up with spray paint all the time.

[Blackstar]

Another thing you can see in the pictured. I assumed the parts were powder coated then assembled on to the tunnel. They are not. The only parts that are pre coated are the footrest supports. The tunnels are built raw then they go to powder coat at the factory because that’s how they seal up the steel rivets so they don’t rust.

[Ox]

A 2by and a sledge would likely go a long way.

 

If the other option was a complete replacement, what would you have had to try?

 

 

 

[RAMSOMAIR]

Looks good. Just stand over the sled and look straight down and see where each side sits on the front end.

[Blackstar]

Doo wanted $6 per rivet and the kid at the parts count said they only had 19.

 

So I buy a few and figure I will go to a fastener place and buy a bunch.

 

Fastenal, nope. Bolts Plus, nope. 
 

I went to Spaenaur here in town which has virtually every fastener you could think of and he had something close but only in stainless. The guy at the counter was very knowledgeable and he told me I should go buy the proper ones because it really is a specialty piece. So back to the dealer. They had 19 of the 6.4 mm and 20 of the 6.5 mm which was another part number from the tunnel rivets. All were the same length.

 

 

I have a lot of time into this as you can see.  

[Blackstar]

9 minutes ago, Ox said:

A 2by and a sledge would likely go a long way.

 

If the other option was a complete replacement, what would you have had to try?

 

 

 

Technically, the proper fix is to write off the sled. A dealer would never do what I did. 

[Spiderman]

It’s actually amazing reading all this and understanding how much time and running around you have had to do for an oopsies moment.

 

if my wife did that, she’d be done riding with me 😁

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, RAMSOMAIR said:

Looks good. Just stand over the sled and look straight down and see where each side sits on the front end.

That was the first thing I did at the scene. 
 

Ed rode the sled home 50 kms or more and said it drove fine. It didn’t pull or dart. It felt the same as it had all day.

 

I realigned the skis after the steering parts were changed. I’ve ridden it twice now and no issues. 
120 kph on the railbed and it tracks straight and stable.

 

I ran a bar across the rear of the tunnel and measured back from the top and bottom of the spindle and it was within a 1/16. 
 

 

[RAMSOMAIR]

lucky

 

[RAMSOMAIR]

My buddy ticked a rock with his 23 850 and had to do a ski alignment but looking down over the front, that spindle is back 1/2"  Rides fine.

[Blackstar]

7 minutes ago, Spiderman said:

 

 

if my wife did that, she’d be done riding with me 😁

You know she’s been riding with me a long time. Usually she just wrecks her sled….lol

 

I forget how many times I fixed that F6 of hers. That thing was full of duct tape and hot glue. I had to trade it to a dealer. I didn’t feel right selling it privately.