hey all, just wondering what everone thinks is the best way to remove a rear suspension? I want it completely out so i can doo some work on the shock and grease up the grease points.

Very easy...loosen up the rear idler wheel bolts and back off the track tension bolts...remove the 4 skid bolts in the tunnel....get the sled propped on its side so it won't roll over. From this point it should be fairly easy to slide the skid out front to rear. It may require removing the rear torque arm torsion spring tension by lifting the spring off the rail rollers...this will allow collapse of the rear torque arm to make the skid easier to remove and reinstall. Just make carefull observatios of the skids linkage and arm locations so its correctly reinstalled. I think the skid mounting bolts are torqued to 35 lbs.

yup like slowpoke said, loosen the adjusters ALL the way , it makes a big difference.
two sets of hands will too.

I now see you posted this question twice...I just copied and pasted my procedure that I wrote on your other post, in case you missed it there. A little different than posted above, but both will work fine:


I assume you're talking about your XLT? Doesn't really matter...all sleds are almost identical: This is generic and I'm sure it will work for this sled:

1. Find a way to jack rear end up high in the air...hanging back bumper from a come-a-long attached to ceiling is best. An engine crane works well also. So does a strong friend with a good back (the rear of a sled is surprisingly light after you release the suspension bolts). But for starters, just jack the back end until track is about a foot in the air.

2. Release all track tension ALL THE WAY, by loosening both rear axle bolts, then loosening track tensioning lock nuts, then backing tensioner bolts out until track hangs as loose as it can.

3. Remove the 4 bolts holding the suspension to the tunnel, usually two are about midway just above the running board on each side, also two more up front near or inside the footwells. When removing, it is not uncommon for one bolt to come loose, then the other to just spin in the hole because the inner shaft is turning with it. The best way to prevent this is to use an impact wrench for removal instead of hand tools. But hand tools can still work if you don't have an impact. If the bolt spinning problem happens, often you can resolve by re-tightening the opposite side VERY tight, then loosening the offending side. You'll know what I'm talking about if it happens to you... Last one I did resulted in the need to grind off a bolt head to drop the suspension and then replace the aluminum shaft...that sucker was corroded solid and would never come out. The longer it's been since your suspension has been dropped, the more likely it is this problem will occur.

4. After the 4 bolts are removed, the suspension will drop free and the whole unit will hit the ground. Now jack the back of the sled way up in the air (so sled is maybe at a 45 degree angle or so?) and muscle the suspension out from inside the track. Sometimes removing a couple idler wheels is helpful in getting more room to maneuver the track, but usually not necessary. Also sometimes removing a shock bolt help collapse the suspension to give you lots of room to work.

Reinstallation is reverse of above, only sometimes it's challenging to get bolt holes to line up. A helper is very valuable, and experimenting with different heights of jacking the rear bumper can often help.

Good luck! First time can be a little frustrating, but you'll get it done. This is a mandatory maintenance item on almost all sleds at least every few years...while it's out fix EVERYTHING that's worn or broken, you'll thank yourself later.