Mountain Performance Chrome Moly Trailing Arms

When it comes to building mountain sleds, lighter is better; as long as you retain the durability needed for your riding style. This was our concern with building our 2002 Yamaha Mountain Max into a more capable mountain sled. We knew from building previous Yamaha trick sleds there was gobs of weight that could be saved in the package, and we turned to Mountain Performance in Draper, Utah for a set of lightweight trailing arms.

After qualifying our riding style, Mountain Performance suggested their chrome-moly trailing arms for excellent durability; we ride our mountain sleds in a wider range of conditions than many “true” native mountain riders do, so we wanted arms that would give us some big weight savings yet be as strong as our OEM ones.

These trailing arms fit any of the Yamaha trailing arm sleds from ’97 on up, and there’s also a version for the SXViper. They weigh just over seven pounds, for a total weight savings of over 5.5 pounds. Combine them with a set of MPI aluminum radius rods and tie-rods and you’re up to a 9.4 pound savings! If you really want to do it right, make sure you get a set of some lighter skis because there’s more weight to shed here too. We installed a set of blue SLT (Straight Line Tracking) skis from Starting Line Products on our MM 700, good for another three pound reduction in unsprung weight.

The MPI chrome-moly trailing arms come with a heavy-duty 5/8” hyme-joint rod end, and you can get them in blue, black, silver or red. We’ve got several thousand miles on a set, and they not only look trick; they are trick.

The trailing arms will run you $399 for the set, and a set of aluminum radius rods and tie-rods will cost another $239 ($279 for the Viper). That’s pretty good for getting rid of nearly ten pounds less of unsprung weight, and yes; you will notice the difference. Contact Mountain Performance at 888-649-4609 or check out their awesome on-line catalog at
www.mountainperformance.com