I am having a problem getting my sled to turn in the corners, it just wants to go straight. I have 144 1.350 studs, 1.25 track, 6" dooley carbides. Any suggestions would be great!!
:cussing:

ive seen this topic before.

You have to decrease you shock spring load in your skid to put more pressure onto the skis. This is in your owners manual. There is ride height done in the rear of the skid and spring load done in the front of the skid. Start at the lowest setting, take the sled for a ride passing on the same trail both ways. Stop, increase the setting up one notch, then do you pass again. Repeat this with each setting change. At each pass you do, you will find the sweet spot for you riding characteristics.

We run a 02 xcsp 700 in our group and noticed a huge improvement this year over last year. We had the same problem with it pushing through the corners.

On the rear skid we adjusted the fwd and aft coupler blocks so that the dimple on the fwd block faced aft & the dimple on the aft block faced fwd. Aparently this setting was mis printed in the owners maual for 02 and we also found the same mis adjustment on our 03. We also installed the AD Boivin radius rod relocation kit on the front of the 02 and this thing is now on rails.

The front skid spring controls the amount of weight carried on the skis. Most people find that if they back off the adjusting nut for that spring to the point where there is no tension, or pre load, on that spring, it'll be set very close. At worst, it's a good starting point.

Those guys are right concerning ski pressure.Before you do all that have you got a decent set of carbides?All those aggresive studs need an equally aggresive set of carbides if your gonna go that route.Otherwise its kinda like a posi rearend in a car,you know,great in the straight a ways but wont turn worth a sht in the corners. :cool:

Move your rear blocks all the way to the front and tighten you limited straps. make her handle like its on rails.

I've seen a lot of sleds that continue to push EVEN AFTER adjusting down the shock preload in the front of rear suspesion or pulling up the limiter straps (my friend's pig front heavy 700 triple SRX for one). The cure for them is shaper wear bars or the larger radius Woody's wear bars. Adding more carbide length will prevent pushing on ice but do ZERO for you in loose snow or slush where my recommendation rules. I'm shocked at how many people still think more pressure is necessarily better vs. lateral resistance. You guys won't be winning many races with those recommendations but you WILL have sore arms!

L8,

G MAN

G man,
I think you have a valid point. You would do anything you can to enhance the "rudder effect" when in deeper snow, and wouldn't necessarily need a lot of weight on the skis for good performance.

I guess I was thinking of the beat up, hard packed, often icy corners found more often than not here in the midwest....

If we are racing, think of the track conditions just before the end of the longest race...

Michahicks,

Couldn't help but notice your locale. I grew up near Huntoon Lake. Got my first sled there (an old Suzuki 400) and, after getting smoked enough times, bought one of my fave sleds there too: '79 Kaw Invader that I RULED that lake with for a number of years. I still have her at the folks place in Charlevoix. You know there used to be riding as good as Pontiac Lk right behind Kettering High that extended all the way to Airport RD. I used to ride every night after school in winters. I understand it's all developed now :cussing:

As for pushing - yes, conditions will dictate the setup and amount of pressure. IAC I do have the larger wear rods with 8" of carbide on my other MI sled, '87 Exciter and it works great, especially with the stiffer sway bar I got from Bender Racing and the drop kit i installed for the front suspension. Thing still rails like no other sled tho can hardly do bumps like my REV.

Have Fun,

G MAN

More proof the world is getting smaller and smaller.

Gman, you're right, that area is pretty much fully developed now. Wish I had a buck for every time I was chased out of there on my dirt bike back when I was a kid though...

Pontiac lake now criss crossed with nearly impossible to travel bicycle trails now. The older/larger trails are harder to recognize because of them. Still very tough to beat before they are totally trashed by traffic. Still no maintenance ever done on them, very short season because of that.

You'll never have hi-performance steering with Duelly's installed.

If you can't tune the suspension to work with the Duelly's then put them on Granny's sled and install some 8" carbide single runners on yours. Darting may increase, but so will steering responce. It's all about compromises.

All the things mentioned here are good ideas for increasing ski pressure, but a lot of this is how you ride, too. I like my sled set up so that you can tap the breaks at the beginning of the corner in order to set the skiis into the turn. This way, I can still turn good, but I havn't dis-abled my suspension setup to the point where I might as well have no suspension at all.

In other words, I could easily get more ski pressure by moving my limiter straps and increasing front spring pressure, but that setup would be no good in the whoops. Plus, you get arm pump a lot faster because it takes a lot more effort to steer when it's setup with max ski pressure possible. It also wrecks your weight transfer for hole shots... I think it's a lot better to leave a little bit of 'rocker' effect in there, just enough so that a tap of the breaks (or even just letting off the throttle a little) will set the front end and let you carve the turn...

Rampage,
I think you are right - when speaking about your sled. The one we were discussing was an Edge. The front spring we were speaking of is actually the middle spring, not the front(IFS). Not sure if the Doos are adjustable there. Lots of guys ride like you do, tapping the brakes to set up for a corner.

Personaly, I like mine set so brakes are an option. I might stuff mine into a corner with a handfull of power and shifting my weight, setting it sideways to skrub off speed. Brakes are not something in the front of my mind in a situation like that. My sled is set up with a very quick, positive steering. Is it darty? Hell yes. But there will be no questions about what happens when the bars are turned.... Is this a setup for everyone? No, probably not. My setup would be an extreme. Mention it only because it's an example of what can be done solely using control of that middle spring. My front strap is set as long as it will go...I like playing in the bumps/jumps too!

Increasing your front (IFS) spring pressure is an invitation for inside ski lift.

Originally posted by michahicks@Sep 7 2004, 01:07 PM
Rampage,
I think you are right - when speaking about your sled. The one we were discussing was an Edge. The front spring we were speaking of is actually the middle spring, not the front(IFS). Not sure if the Doos are adjustable there. Lots of guys ride like you do, tapping the brakes to set up for a corner.

Personaly, I like mine set so brakes are an option. I might stuff mine into a corner with a handfull of power and shifting my weight, setting it sideways to skrub off speed. Brakes are not something in the front of my mind in a situation like that. My sled is set up with a very quick, positive steering. Is it darty? Hell yes. But there will be no questions about what happens when the bars are turned.... Is this a setup for everyone? No, probably not. My setup would be an extreme. Mention it only because it's an example of what can be done solely using control of that middle spring. My front strap is set as long as it will go...I like playing in the bumps/jumps too!

Increasing your front (IFS) spring pressure is an invitation for inside ski lift.
343829


Yeah, I wasn't trying to say which settings to change to make this sled turn right, I was just trying to say that if you go overboard about trying to setup your suspension so your skiis never slide out you will eventually make it so that it takes more physical effort to turn the bars, and also it will make it harder to lift the skiis if you need to double some whoops part way through the turn (or in the straights for that matter...) If you go too far in terms of trying to get tons of steering/ski pressure, it might make you feel like you can 'turn better' but it's not necessairly faster.

With older, heavier triples like a Thundercat or Mach Z you pretty much have to set them up so it feels like you're steering a tank in order to get them to corner, but with a lighter sled like an Edge, you should be able to make it hook the corners without making it feel like you're steering a 700 lb sled...

Rampage,

<<<<<If you go too far in terms of trying to get tons of steering/ski pressure, it might make you feel like you can &#39;turn better&#39; but it&#39;s not necessairly faster.>>>>

Agreed - to a point. Without the confidence positive steering can give you, you aren&#39;t going fast either. Seems like it&#39;s about compromise, and a sled tuned to your riding style.

Your point regarding doubles and ski pressure has left me wondering. I&#39;m not saying you are wrong because I&#39;ve never really spent any time with that. Maybe not a bad idea though.....

I would think that the big factor to accomplish a double would be about weight transfer, helping to get some traction, enough to launch the sled. The skis are going to be in the air already, aren&#39;t they, coming off the top of that first bump? Not sure how a lot of ski pressure is going to affect that? Don&#39;t know.

Triples make awesome all day, long distance, perfomance cruisers, especially those that have been converted to 136". But when it comes to just stuffing a sled into a corner you&#39;ve never seen before.....I&#39;d rather be on a twin. But even with that said, I don&#39;t consider mine to be all that much heavier feeling in the corners. Now if we are talking air of any type, that&#39;s when mine starts feeling heavy.