Hey guys, I'm thinking of building my self a set of running boards over the summer. Would probably chop the old ones off completly. Then build a new set out of tubeing. I would want aluminum, but I don't have an aluminum welder. But could get it done by my uncle for a price. (He works at a fab shop) Heres a drawing I did of it in paint. The tubing is way over sized in the drawing, just so you know, it would be a lot smaller, not sure on size yet.
Ok, for the back I would attach the outside tube to the tunnle, just like the raw rmk. On the front, I'm not sure yet, but woud figure something out I'm sure. But I'm stuck as too how I would attach them along the side of the tunnle? Post all your thoughts and ideas, I can use what ever idea you might have. Just let me know what you think. Is it a reasenable idea? The sled is a 2000 xcsp 136, gen 2 chassie.

the running boards are a structural piece of the tunnel. I think there is an excellent chance that you will buckle the tunnel

Great idea, but like JB said, your going to have a hard time keeping your tunnel from buckling. I have thought of doing something similar many times. I guess if you are that interested in doing it, talk to matt at sledtech. He had something similar on this apex last time i saw it.

Otherwise, i recomend getting snow eliminators. A lot of riders out west use these, and they will help to strengthen your boards too. Look like theyll give you killer traction and snow removal also. heres a link --> Snow Eliminators

I remember reading about a guy on SnoWest that did it for many years on all of his sleds and his friend's sleds. He said it worked great and he never broke anything. He pretty much did exactly what you want to do.

Awesome, I'm glad I'm not the only one doing this. Do you remember how long ago you read about it? I'll try and find the guy on snow west if you can give me anymore info that would be awesome.

About the tunning buckleing, I don't think it would be a problem, if I could find a good way to attach them to the tunnle ways, it could be stronger than stock.

I think if you left an inch or so of the old running boards there to set the new one on top of, that would help to retain the structural integrity from the factory bend in it. It may not be as strong as original, but sure would help more than cutting it back to the vertical sides. just my .02

^^^^
That's what I was thinking too.

I don't remember who did it but I remember reading about a guy in SnowTech that did it too. Don't remember what issue. I read about it on SnoWest probably 1-2 years ago. It would be damn neared impossible to find now.

Post a thread on SnoWest in the General Snowmobiling forum, maybe somebody there will have info or know who's done it.

I agree with "Ridin' Again" if you were going to do this you would probably want to leave some of the original tunnel bend in. The running boards are very important to the overall tunnel structure, as much as it may not seem like it. Its an awesome idea and if you do end up getting it to work let me know... this is something I could encorperate on my University's competition sled as i think it is a really good concept! Good Luck!!!!!!

Why not just find a parted out Pro-X tunnel and rivet that on? They come with the factory wide running boards, and I'm sure getting it to mate up would not be hard at all. For the money your going to spend on materials and labor getting it built up enough to the point where it will be strong enough, I would think the money spent on a Pro-X tunnel would be well worth it, not to mention actually look factory as well. That is just IMO, and is what I would do...

Yep, that is the plan right now, I have it pretty much all figured out now to make it very strong, I'll post later if you guys are interested.



Ok, yeah I searched for it and couldn't find, so I'll post a thread like you said.



Thanks, I'm trying to find that guy on snowest before I start on anything, then I'll let you know if I go a head.



Your saying rivet the whole tunnle on? Or just the running boards? Right now my backup plan is if I don't go ahead with this, I'll put on rox sled treads. Then I get width, but I'm still not losing anymore snow than I am right now.

Actually on the structural thing you could take the idea you were given about leaving 1 inch a little further. Leave 2 inches of running board and roll it over onto iteslf. This would stiffen it alot.

^^ yeah good idea. I was thinking of leaving an inch or two, then put a leagth of angle iron on top the whole way along, and rivit it to the tunnle, then weld the square tubing I'm building the boards out of, on top of that. That would be super strong don't you think? The only down fall though is my running boards would be almost an inch higher than they are right now.

Maybe this is the snowest guy?
http://www.f-bombracing.com/BetterBoards.html

Nope that's not him, those are just inserts. The guy I'm looking for replaced the whole thing, like what I want to do. Thanks though.

I drew another pic showing my current fix to the straghth issue. Let me if you think it'll be strong enough like this.

I would use aluminum instead of angle iron, iron is heavy!

Yes heavy and will rust real bad !!! Also leave as much of the old running board as you can for strength

Yes it would be heavy, but I would paint it with a nice paint, so it woudn't rust. But I also just found out that I can't use steel any way, because steel and aluminum don't mix, you get some kind of chemical reaction. So I guess then aluminum is my only option. Or could go with chromoly, not sure how pricey that would be. Probably have to work a few months just to pay for it. The main thing keeping me back now is grip, what kind of grip do I put on there? When I was planning to go with steel I thought I would just weld up beads along the edge, then grid slots into the bead, but now that it has to be aluminum, that would be to pricey. Also now that it's going to be aluminum, I have to get it done, by the local fab shop, I can't weld aluminum.

Hey shortstop, is the sled you say on snowest?

The doo 120 wth mesh running boards also looks like a good idea.

sounds like this metal fabbing, angle iron talking stuff is alot of work for something that can basically be done only 1 piece of aluminum, snow eliminators and a heated and bent side heat exchanger tube. All I did on my old rmk was take off the side tube where it flows to the rear exchanger, measued out a piece that would widen my running boards by 2 inches and rivited that to the bottom of the existing running board, riveted the snow eliminators on top, cut out the holes, heated and bent the side heat exchanger and put it all back together, im a 280lb guy and i jumped, climbed and raced the hell out of this sled and the running boards held up every step of the way and were wider in the end and would comfortably fit a size 14 boot up and down the running board. Van amburg sells a kit that will also do the same thing as mentioned but i think its slightly tapered but it takes the guess work out of bending the tubing


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That's a good idea^^ But you still don't shed any snow like that. You have good grip, but the snow would still stay on the running board would it not? I guess a guy could still cut out the holes by the snow eliminators like you normaly do with those things. I'll think about it forsure, Thanks!!

EDIT, now after 15min of looking at your pic I think this is what I'll do! The more I look at it, the more I love the idea, those snow eliminators you used are for the cat m sleds right? They are wider in the back, so they would work awesome. Also, how do you reattach the out side roll edge? My running boards don't have the coolent running through them, so that makes it easier I would think.

What I was talking about would be similar to the first pic you posted 600xc4me. But it was a different guy. Same concept though.

That is a great idea that landofthefree52 has.

Did the guy your talking about build a whole new tunnle? Or use the stock tunnle? I have a shit load of pics from a guy who built a whole new tunnle, also found one pic on snowest of red tunnle, with what looks like angle iron runing boards.

Yep, I'm going to get some more info from landofthefree52, then start this project.

It was a stock tunnel.

o ok, I'm not really looking for the guy anymore, although I think I found him.

What you are talking about is a galvanic cell between the two metals. This is because you would be bringing two dissimilar metals in contact with eachother. So because of this no matter what you do to the steel (paint or whatever) it would still corrode eventually. English cars of the 50's and 60's had this problem. Either way I think you are on the right track doing something similar to landofthefree52, and it will be light and strong.

One more thing to keep in mind is that there is a steel rod that runs inside the outter tunnel roll on a Gen II for overall stirrup, trailing arm, and tunnel rigidity. Cutting this out will add unknown stresses to the stirrup, bulkhead, steering hoop, and tunnel intersection. For your application, the snow eliminators or better boards are the only LOGICAL option.

My sled is an xc, it doesn't have the steel rod in the roll edge. Thanks for the thoughts though.