Getting ready for this race has been a ton of work.  I knew there would be alot to do to prepare but it was much more than anticipated.  Just finished all the work for our sled build article in Snowtech.  Look for our article in the March issue that should be out the first week of March just before the race.

Only 4 weeks before we leave for the race and a ton of work to do.  We just stripped Erics sled down to start building it up.  Here is a pic showing it before we took it apart.  I’m sure we will be working right up to the last day getting prepared.

Matt RIchardson is running support for us during the race and has been helping us with getting the sleds ready.  Here is a picture of my race sled and his with blue graphics.

These Quick Clickers are a must have if you want to keep your sled in the power.  They are easy to install without taking your clutch apart.  Now when your sled is over or under reving you can quickly adjust the clickers without tools in a few seconds.  Very nice kit, we liked them so much we got setup as a dealer and you can buy them on our website.

Ross at Hygear Suspension worked with us on our shock package.  These are Custom Axis shocks with dual rate springs.  The shocks has clickers for low and high speed compression and some have rebound adjustment.  These shocks are unreal and Ross has a really good valving that worked right out of the box.

Having a good shock setup is going to be key in this race.  It’s such a long race so if your shocks aren’t working well it will really wear you down.  I feel really good about our shock setup.

I wanted to cover our front vents to keep the snow out but still let the air in.  Jon a JC’s Custom Vents set us up with his really high quality breathable vent covers.  They have lazer cut aluminum frames with durable mesh.  You can also add a finer mesh to let the air still come in but keep the water out.  I added extra vents by the knees to let more heat out.

I tried a couple of different ways to cut the openings but found that a sharp razor knife works the best if you use a heat gun or your wife’s blow dryer to warm up the plastic.  It will cut almost as easy as butter.

Here are pics showing the install process.

We wanted to make sure we didn’t have any drive shaft issues like the 08’s had.  Avid Products helped us out with there shaft insert kit and CNC machined billet drivers.  These drivers are stronger than the stock setup and have a different shape so you can run the track looser without ratcheting.  These drivers are nice and true compared to the stock molded drivers.

Hygear Suspension is helping us out with our shocks package.  Ross took our stock X package shocks and revalved them and added his Twisted Spring dual rate spring setup.  I’ve been testing this package and it’s way better than stock when you start to pound thru the bumps.  Very impressed with this package.  These will be our backup shocks for the race if we need them.

Jordan from ArcticFX designed these custom graphics for our race sleds.  I don’t have them all on yet but wanted to show how it looked so far.  I think they came out really nice and look good on the XP.

I installed our billet wheel spacers in place of the plastic stock spacers.  These strengthen the rear axle and really tighten against your rails to lock the axle in place.  These fit most Skidoo sleds and you can order them online for $17.50 each.

Vortech Manufacturing set us up with these rear racks.  I really liked the design so we are not setup as a dealer for them and stock their racks for 137″, 146″, and 154″ XPs.  These racks come standard with 5 cross bars that can be located where you want.  The cross bars keep you stuff up off the heat exchanger.  One other benefit of these racks is that they strengthen your rear tunnel so you can carry more weight.

I was pretty worried about protecting the belly pan area of our sleds for this race.  The chain case and brake areas are hanging down just waiting to get taken out by rocks and stumps.  Plus the A-Arm area is vulnerable.  I looked around at the other skidplates out there and didn’t find one that covered these areas.  I even played around with making my own guards for the chain case and brake but that wasn’t the best solution either.  I found RPM Composites on Dootalk and sent then an email seeing if they wanted to get involved with our team.  Raffi Peterson the owner of RPM Composites called me back and he set us up with his fully body Carbon Fiber skid plate that also has layers of Kevlar in it.  I have to say I was skeptable about it even after talking with Raffi about it protecting a direct hit from a rock on the chaincase at speed.  Well after getting one and installing it on my sled I’m not worried about rocks taking out anything under the sled.  This skid plate is like armor for your sled.  It even protects the drive clutch and A-Arms.  It’s really a nice piece and fits like a glove following all the contours under the sled.  Here is a picture of how the two piece skid plate comes in. 

This picture shows the two pieces joined together.  Raffi did a good job with the instructions as they have pictures showing each step.  All you need to do is drill out a few existing rivets and use those holes to bolt in on with stainless steel hardware. 

Here is a bottom view of the skidplate. 

Front view of the A-Arm protection. 

Around the A-Arms. 

This is the area I was really concerned about because if you land on a rock and hit the chaincase your done.  Not an issue with the skidplate installed. 

Raffi even had me ship him our lower A-Arm brace kit to make sure his skidplate would work with the brace.  No problem, lots of clearance.