Skinz Nytro Front End Kits

Trax 2 Treadz

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As of Saturday I will have a few of the Skinz Nytro 4 1/2 inch forward front end kits in stock without the shock packages without deposits available. These kits will be coming in in the powder coated black. Give us a call at 1-403-866-8729 or shoot us a pm to reserve your set!

Jan
 

jockdoc

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What is involved with fitting the kit onto a 2010 MTX with stock suspension?
 

jockdoc

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Also, how durable is the Skinz front end compared to the Zbroz?
 

Trax 2 Treadz

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First you have to convert the ends of your shocks to spherical bearings. Nextech sells the kit for $100.00 and you do the conversion yourself. You have to give them a call to order the kit as it isn't on their website.

Then you take out your stock front end and put the Skinz one in. They do come with instructions. Please read them through a few times before you begin so you have a handle on what you need to do.

I can't speak to the durability of the Zbroz front end because I don't have any personal experience with them. I can tell you this about the Skinz kits a tremendous amount of research and development has gone into developing this kit. Many many hours of riding and drawing and fitting went into putting this together. The people who developed this kit actually ride Nytro's on a personal level. They did the testing and tuning themselves with the help of a few select people. The key to part of the durability issue is proper installation plain and simple. I have put my front end through it's paces and it has not spontaneously combusted. In fact I still have the original 1/2 in hiem joints on my sled. However, all kits now come with the upgraded 5/8 in hiem joints.


Jan
 

K45

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1/2" heims are a joke - fact. Jan when you break yours its going to be a very unwelcome surprise, I hope you don't get hurt.
5/8" heims are tough
i have ran both Skinz and now Zbroz - both have weak tied rods - both make a big difference in handling
 

Trax 2 Treadz

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Thanks for your concern K45 but let me do some educating about the lowly 1/2 hiem joint. Larry and I have literally spent hours and hours on the phone with Skinz and customers last year discussing the 1/2 hiem joint. I have been through this issue backwards, forwards and inside out I know ALL about the 1/2 hiem joint failure story. Really this thread is not even about the 1/2 hiem joint but anyways let me get back to my story. 99.9% of the very very few ACTUAL hiem joint failures were due to 2 things 1) improper installation of the front end kit or 2) impact. I'm not talking about your buddies uncles second cousin's next door neighbours brothers sisters husbands father in law heard a story at work about a guy who had a hiem joint failure, I'm talking about actual real life documented cases that we saw with our own eyes or Skinz saw with their own eyes failures. 100% of the hiem joint failures that we saw had substantial impact damage. Hiem joints do not just spontaneously combust, I know some of you may not believe me but the fact is it just doesn't happen that way....LOL!!!! Their is absolutely nothing wrong with the original 1/2 hiem joints if their was do you think Larry would let me ride with one? My life insurance policy isn't that good!!!! And besides he'd be on his own with 5 kids!!! If I truly thought their was an issue I also would not let my Mom ride with one of the original kits on her sled. Further to that I don't think any of you have seen me ride, I have taken some pretty substantial hits with my sled and my front end is intact. Remember I am the one who bent and twisted her subframe! However, Skinz stepped up to the plate when this whole hulla balloo was going on and updated the hiem joints to 5/8 to give you the customers piece of mind. Really this whole thing is a mute point because as I mentioned earlier ALL kits come standard now with 5/8in hiem joints.

While I'm telling stories let me tell you another one. One time we were riding south of Blairmore and I was on our 2000 Powder Special I am going along at about 30 clicks and I lose the snow from underneath me and I think that's weird and as I look up I am headed into a creek embankment that I didn't see. Of course I am going 30 clicks so I don't have enough speed to hop over the embankment but when your front end hits the embankment and you come to a dead stop. I tried to clear the handle bars but I didn't have enough speed for that either so as I am sailing over the windshield I somehow manage to ram my chest into my handlebars. When I finally came to and they say you see stars let me tell you, you really do!!! Holy hell did that hurt!!! A couple of points, chit happens when you sled it is inherent in the sport, after this little escapade I went back to the hotel and immediately ordered myself a TekVest finally we do everything we can to protect ourselves to minimize risk if I was truly worried about my hiem joints they would be changed but honestly at this point if my hiem joints were going to fail I strongly feel they would have. I know what I have hit.

Jan
 

K45

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Thanks for your concern K45 but let me do some educating about the lowly 1/2 hiem joint. Larry and I have literally spent hours and hours on the phone with Skinz and customers last year discussing the 1/2 hiem joint. I have been through this issue backwards, forwards and inside out I know ALL about the 1/2 hiem joint failure story. Really this thread is not even about the 1/2 hiem joint but anyways let me get back to my story. 99.9% of the very very few ACTUAL hiem joint failures were due to 2 things 1) improper installation of the front end kit or 2) impact. I'm not talking about your buddies uncles second cousin's next door neighbours brothers sisters husbands father in law heard a story at work about a guy who had a hiem joint failure, I'm talking about actual real life documented cases that we saw with our own eyes or Skinz saw with their own eyes failures. 100% of the hiem joint failures that we saw had substantial impact damage. Hiem joints do not just spontaneously combust, I know some of you may not believe me but the fact is it just doesn't happen that way....LOL!!!! Their is absolutely nothing wrong with the original 1/2 hiem joints if their was do you think Larry would let me ride with one? My life insurance policy isn't that good!!!! And besides he'd be on his own with 5 kids!!! If I truly thought their was an issue I also would not let my Mom ride with one of the original kits on her sled. Further to that I don't think any of you have seen me ride, I have taken some pretty substantial hits with my sled and my front end is intact. Remember I am the one who bent and twisted her subframe! However, Skinz stepped up to the plate when this whole hulla balloo was going on and updated the hiem joints to 5/8 to give you the customers piece of mind. Really this whole thing is a mute point because as I mentioned earlier ALL kits come standard now with 5/8in hiem joints.

While I'm telling stories let me tell you another one. One time we were riding south of Blairmore and I was on our 2000 Powder Special I am going along at about 30 clicks and I lose the snow from underneath me and I think that's weird and as I look up I am headed into a creek embankment that I didn't see. Of course I am going 30 clicks so I don't have enough speed to hop over the embankment but when your front end hits the embankment and you come to a dead stop. I tried to clear the handle bars but I didn't have enough speed for that either so as I am sailing over the windshield I somehow manage to ram my chest into my handlebars. When I finally came to and they say you see stars let me tell you, you really do!!! Holy hell did that hurt!!! A couple of points, chit happens when you sled it is inherent in the sport, after this little escapade I went back to the hotel and immediately ordered myself a TekVest finally we do everything we can to protect ourselves to minimize risk if I was truly worried about my hiem joints they would be changed but honestly at this point if my hiem joints were going to fail I strongly feel they would have. I know what I have hit.

Jan

Wow relax Jan !
I have actually broke one of the awesome 1/2" heim joints on my TNytro and seen what happens - lets just say it sucks + I had a trip planned so had to buy another sled.....
Mine did not break from improper installation or a hard hit - I was cruising along and cracked the throttle wide open it stood up like most TNytros do and when it came down everything came to a violent stop with the ski up
around my winshield - When that heim joint breaks your ski just flops around the linkage digs in and throws you. - (Not dangerous at all) Please keep your opinions to yourself on the 1/2"heim joints - I would not like the liability
issues being some one that sells the kit that has a known and admitted problem with its 1/2"heims.
The cause to mine failing was Faulty 1/2"Heim joints (Skinz even admits that) there has been quite a few 1/2"heims that broke, Christopher the admin. on SnoWest down played the 1/2"heim issue untill his broke in
Revy last winter and left him begging for help to all forum members while he was on the hill - he says his broke VERY easy as well - odd eh.

Skinz admitted they had a problem and sent me 5/8"Heim joints to their credit but I had to deal with the down time plus the pain in the AZZ to change them out.
Early december I smoked a rock hard in Hunters range, flew about 15 ft (Im 270 lbs with gear) the first thing I thought was Fack now I have a busted Heim joint
to my surprise the heim was still good, but my sub frame was bent and the bolt for the lower arm was broke off and was able to drive the 20km out to my truck.

Now I have the ZBroz 3"forward on my sled and it works fine as well, good luck on your sales Jan
 

Trax 2 Treadz

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Like I said in my original post I have been through the 1/2in hiem joint issue forwards, backwards and inbetween. I know more about the 1/2 in hiem joint than is probably healthy...lol. I am fully aware of what happens when hiem joints fails. Like I also said it is mute point because all Skinz front end kits come standard with 5/8in hiem joints.


I see part of my roll as educating on the products we sell. When information is not fully accurate or only portrays half of the story whether intentional or not I need to at the best of my ability, get some quality information out there. However, I also have to respect confidentiality issues with the individuals and manufacturers involved. As far as the Christopher story goes let's not even go there this is one of those times that confindentiality comes into play. Sorry that's all I can say.

As far as tie rods, Skinz tie rods are made from aircraft grade aluminum. With normal wear and tear and for 95% of the people this is going to be sufficient. However, they will be coming out with a chromalloy option in the next month for those that think they need this. Something to think about though if you are considering this, when you hit something the forces of that impact have to go somewhere, would you rather be replacing a tie rod or have the forces travel up into your subframe?

Which reminds me of the story of my bent and twisted subframe.......one time we were out riding, this was before I had my new front end on and I hit this tree about 8 inches in diameter. I thought for sure I had broken my a-arms we dug my sled out because it was quite buried and found no broken a-arms, whew!!!! I thought I was the luckiest girl around!!! Rode it for a bit it felt okay, it was near the end of the season so we didn't really do alot of riding after that. A few months after that my sled went down to Skinz to be remodelled. Jeff called me in the middle of the build and said "Hey guess what your subframe is bent and twisted" I thought great! He continued on and said Yamaha was known for weak subframes in that year and I might be able to get warranty for it. I said no way I knew what I hit and not to bother it was my own fault and I would pony up for the sub frame. My point is that even though my a arms with stood the forces of the hit they still travelled up into my subframe. In retrospect I would rather be replacing a arms than a subframe.


Jan
 

K45

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Thanks Jan :d All i was getting at is there are some skinz kits out there with the original 1/2"Heims, or someone might buy an old kit from someone - They should be upgraded to the 5/8" that are very strong Heims :cool:
By the way I'm far from Joe safety it just really licks azz when that heim breaks, it cost me alot of time and unnecessary inconvenience.
I bought a new 2010 + subframe from Apine Motor sports for $600.00 (A great price by the way)so myself I would rather ride mine out and change the Subframe than a chopper ride - worst case of course.

At the end of the day the Skinz front end in my humble opinion is the best choice for the Nytro - no question.
 
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