We have proven the following facts to be true many times:

1. Under-studding causes most traction related problems. 
2. Stud quantity charts that list such things as trail riding, aggressive trail, and competition do the customer a huge disservice. There is no way to tell what quantity of studs is right for your riding style because there is no way to accurately put into words what your riding style is. Many aggressive riders think that they are just trail riders and select the stud quantities from the trail chart, which results in under-studding and major problems. 
3. The only way to tell how few or many studs you need is by using studs and monitoring your success or failure. Follow our recommendations to help insure prevention of your track failing. 
4. Getting a highly studded sled to turn is not a problem and does not require 10″ of carbide on your skis. It does require adjusting of your sled’s suspension and appropriate carbide length. 
5. Overall snowmobile weight and riding style are more important than just horsepower when determining studding quantities. 
6. Burning or cauterizing holes in your track is unnecessary and can cause over sizing of holes. Use the appropriate track cutter tool and keep it sharp!! 
7. Putting more holes/studs in your track reduces the load per stud hole and is far better than putting less holes/studs in and overloading these holes. 
8. Snowstuds has learned these facts the hard way so you do not have to! Snowstuds wants your experience using studs to be satisfying. If you are currently using studs successfully (no bending, breaking or track damage) don’t change unless you are considerably below our recommended quantity for your sled.

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Choosing the right number of studs is NOT solely dependent upon the horsepower of your sled. It is mainly dependent on the overall weight of the snowmobile (rider and sled), and the riding style of the snowmobile. More track surface contacting the ground allows for more studs to contact the ground, subsequently more traction to the ground (you may need longer carbide runners to do this). Do not under-stud or use the minimum – you will not be happy, they could pull through the track. For maximum durability, a heavier trail rider requires more studs than a lighter trail rider. Use our recommended quantities for a trouble free set up for most riders/conditions.

1. Do not under-stud on the outside belt of the track – either use a minimum of one stud on every 2nd outside row on each side of the track or do not put any outside of the slide rails. Any 500cc or larger sled should have 1 stud per outside row or none at all on each row outside of the slide rails. 
2. Do not install studs 1″ or closer to any edge of track (including slide windows). 
3. The center belt has the greater effect upon acceleration. 
4. The outer belts have a greater effect upon cornering. 
5. Layout as many “scratch lines” as possible. Space lines a minimum of 1/4″ apart. Allow for adequate tunnel clearance. 
6. Install tunnel and heat exchanger protection. 
7. Install studs as rigidly as possible. Weak backing plated cause a loss of traction and stud failure and t-nut failure. Do not over tighten. Check torque specification.

1. Determine the number of studs and stud pattern.

Stud patterns shown on our recommendations are only a starting point. Use your imagination. *NOTE* Mark all holes and inspect for tunnel clearance before drilling. Template does not work with double backers.

2. Work off the top of your track near the mud flap.

(Pull two rear suspension mounting bolts on the tunnel, this helps greatly and is very easy – this drops the rear of the track).

3. Using backer plates or studding template, lay out your pattern on the track.

4. Make a detailed sketch of your pattern, measuring from any reference point of the track you desire, preferable the slider windows.

An offset of at least 1/4″ is best between each “traction line”.

5. Drill out one backer plate as a template for the DT100 or DT200 drill tools.

6. Use an Accord track cutter to bore a hole in the track where each stud is located by using your backer plate as a template.

1. Use of a template insures accurate stud location, especially when installing 120 studs or more. The track cutter tools cuts cleanly and leaves the perfect size hole without weakening the track by overheating.
2. When using push-thru studs such as Warthogs, Top Dogs, Traction Monsters or Stinger, insert the stud through the track, slip the backer plate over the stud, install the locknut and tighten until the studs shoulder bottom out on the backer plate. Repeat until all studs are installed. Locktite is not needed when nylon nuts are used. All Warthogs, Top Dogs, Traction Monsters and Stinger studs use Nyloc nuts. Refer to torque specifications as to not over tighten.

7. Be sure to install proper tunnel guard protection when studding any sled.

The easiest and most useful stud pattern would be an A or V pattern. The idea behind studding is to vary your scratch lines, (lines of traction), as much as possible.Using Snowstuds Racing’s stud template, (part # ST200X), you would place it over the lugs, (the lugs keep it centered), and mark the holes as follows;

• 4; 5; 12; 13; 20; 21; 28; 29; rotate track and replace template where you left off, then continue with;
  
• 3; 6; 11; 14; 19; 22; 27; 30; rotate track and replace template where you left off, then continue with; 
• 2; 7; 10; 15; 18; 23; 26; 31. Rotate track and repeat.

This pattern will give you a giant A or V pattern with 12 rows of variance before repeating itself for the easiest and most scratch lines. This is set up on standard 121″ tracks for 96 studs down the center. For added traction you can use the outer belt of the track and skip every other row for 144 studs.(Note that this is for use with single backers only, as double backers do not use the same hole spread).The standard behind studding is that studding the center of the track is most useful for acceleration as the outer belt is used for cornering and braking. For more studs you can run this standard V pattern and start another V inside of this one at row 6. For double backers you can use this pattern to mark one of the holes, but always use the backing plate itself to mark the other hole of the two to make sure you have a consistent hole spread.

Special Notes:

• Mark entire track (pattern) first before drilling any holes. 
• To use on Firecats you need to use 3/4″ wide electrical tape (standard) and run a row all the way around the template from the inside of the lug centering slots inward. This reduces the template centering slots to 13 1/2″ for Firecat tracks. Also note that you cannot stud on the outside belt, or the center 1 1/2″ of the center belt. To use more studs on these models, try using a combination of double and single backers.
• Always check in your tunnel for obstacles the studs may encounter while the track is rotating before drilling holes.
• Make sure you have appropriate tunnel protection installed when studding.
• Never drill a stud hole closer than 3/4″ to the edge of a track or the windows in a track as track failure could occur.