Any ideas on putting a 163 on a 7'deck?

[flabbajabba]

Well the good news is I bought a 08 XP 163. The bad news is in July I bought a truck with a clone(not name brand) 7' deck. I thought someone must have a good way to extend/support a long sled on a 7' deck. I was thinking of buying Marathons extention but I'm not sure how it supports. I would never want it to fold/break when loading and pile my sled into the back of my truck.
I was thinking of building a loop support that can be put in after the sled is on? Or will it be okay just hanging off? Also is it legal to hang off that far?

[Trax 2 Treadz]

Take it over to Marathon and get Jay or Vaughn have a look at it. They'll be able to tell you right away if a Marathon extension will work or not.

[Trax 2 Treadz]

The picture below will give you an idea of the kind of overhang you are looking at on a 7' deck. This is our rig, it is a 7' Standard Marathon Deck with an extension in place. If you look close you'll be able to pick out the end of the deck and the beginning of the extension. The Cat on the far side is a 153". With a 163" you'll have alot of unsupported weight back there without an extension.

DSC00539.jpg

This picture is a close up of the Cat, if you look closely you can also see the plate which can be used to u-bolt the extension to the bobtail once the extension is in place.

DSC00540.jpg

Cannot really say to much more without seeing the bob tail of your deck

[Cyle]

Here's a pic of my old sled, 162" on a 8' deck. It would be hanging out pretty far with only 7'. Hard on the sled for sure. You can see the line where the deck was extended, not much track would be on the deck without it.

[goodngrubby]

I agree, there would be a crazy amount hanging off a 7' deck. I am a dealer for Cross-Trax, we build 18" extensions for all our shorty decks. We sell them for $550, and to add the mounting receivers on another brand of deck would be around 2 hours of shop time. It's actually a pretty slick setup, The sides are retractable on the extension as well, and it only takes a few seconds to mount or take off the extension. Very user friendly, and it basically turns one deck into two.

[flabbajabba]

Originally Posted by Trax 2 Treadz

Take it over to Marathon and get Jay or Vaughn have a look at it. They'll be able to tell you right away if a Marathon extension will work or not.

thanks for all the pics!!! I like the receiver one. I think I'll go to Marathon first my deck has a round bar on the back like theirs. So maybe my ramp will work on thier ext.

[Lococoin]

I have a 7 foot deck and a 162 and I ran it like that all season. The weight of a sled is up front so its not an issue. I would load it up first and if you dont like it then get an extension built.

[flabbajabba]

Picked it up today its on the 7' kind of LOL. It is only about 6" longer then my old sled (96 summit 151") so its about 3 to 3 1/2' off . Looks funny but seems okay. I might try it a couple of times and then decide if ext is needed.