I just got a '95 Touring SLE with serious darting issues. I figured out my problem by reading the forums. I have 1/2 inch of Toe-In. I just don't know how and where to adjust the skis?

take that down to about 1/4" and you'll notice a huge difference. The ski legs might be a bit worn.... jack up the sled and give the ski's a giggle to see how worn the legs are.... shadetree powersports has skileg rebuild kits to fix that.

Could this be a problem with the limiter strap? either too tight or too loose? I was just reading on another site about similar problems.

RR

my 03 does the same thing, i`ve checked the ski alignment and had to make a small sdjustment. on a snowy trail its ok but when we get to a ice covered road the thing darts everywhere. i`ve tried backing off on the ski pressure and that didnt help, i`m going to try tightening up and give it more ski pressure and try that. i have read that this is a trait of precision skis. i wish i could get this thing to handle like my old 2000 mach z.

I just got a '95 Touring SLE with serious darting issues. I figured out my problem by reading the forums. I have 1/2 inch of Toe-In. I just don't know how and where to adjust the skis?[/b]

1-Adjust skies to 1/8" toe out,works for me.Loosen inner and outer tie rod end lock nuts
(2 each side) and turn rod adjust tubes to adjust.Keep skies straight with handle bars.

2-Limiter strap should be a little loose when you get off machine and manually lift to maximum height with track still on ground.If strap is to tight to much weight will be transfered to skies & steering will be hard,darting and very agressive.

3-tighten front track spring up & try dropping rear springs 1 notch this will transfer weight off skies(less agressive)Also drop front suspension springs a couple of notches this will help also.

Hope this will help

Adjusting the skid , ski pressure and aliginment will help , but alot of people dont know about balancing your skis . ALot of people dont even think about it.
Here's how you check ...and fix
Lift the front of your sled at the belly pan and watch your skis come off the ground. The front of the ski should lift before the backs somewhere around a 1" or so. If they dont they need to be shimed. The reasoning of this is ..when weight is transfered back and forth to the front end , you dont want the front of the ski(wearbar) to bite first. Shiming the back of the ski under the rubber block will put more pressure on the back inturn keeping the fronts from biting in and darting.
To do this you can just add a piece of 1/8" steel stock under the rubber block at the spindle.

This will save your wearbars, notice the wear on your wearbars. Are they wearing in the fronts more than the backs? ... you want them to wear evenly or sligtly to the back. If not you want to shim them.

After you have shimed the skis then you can adjust your skid. if not you will be just chasing your tail so to speak. Understanding your suspension adjustments will make things alot easiesr.
Just remember you are the piviot point on a sled for wt transfer. TO much wt transfer to the front on decleration will cause darting and vise versa on acceleration.. to much to the back will cause pushing.

Snow conditions play a big role too , sometimes you have to just find a happy medium. If your riding solo on a 2 up you might have to adjust the rear springs to sofen it up vs's riding dbl when more wt is added to the sled(think of piviot point). Also on a 2 up there's more track surface,inturn the back floats more on the snow with less pressure(more surface to spread out the wt ).

This applys to ALL skis, its funny how some have darting issuse and think differant skis will cure it . 90% of the time it's just covering up the real problem.

Start with the shiming then your aligment, set all the skid adjustments to the specs on your clutch gaurd/manual for your wt. Then go from there on adjustments one at a time to dial it in to your liking.
One key to dialing in a sled is adjusting one setting at a time on the same section of trail. Take the time and spend a day just messing around taking note how each adjustment effects you and your sled. Remember this .. what works for you may not work for someone elses riding style, thats why there adjustments on your sled.

Good luck and check back in on how things go . That 2-up should ride like a caddy if set up proberly to your wt and style no matter what skis are on it.

mutt

1-Adjust skies to 1/8" toe out,works for me.Loosen inner and outer tie rod end lock nuts
(2 each side) and turn rod adjust tubes to adjust.Keep skies straight with handle bars.

2-Limiter strap should be a little loose when you get off machine and manually lift to maximum height with track still on ground.If strap is to tight to much weight will be transfered to skies & steering will be hard,darting and very agressive.

3-tighten front track spring up & try dropping rear springs 1 notch this will transfer weight off skies(less agressive)Also drop front suspension springs a couple of notches this will help also.

Hope this will help[/b]

This did the trick. Toe-in was more like an inch and a half once I put elastic strap on ski ends.

Thanks everyone!

This did the trick. Toe-in was more like an inch and a half once I put elastic strap on ski ends.

Thanks everyone![/b]


Great post Mutt! I would like to add just a coupler of things.

When using a bungee on the ski tips, be sure to use one that just barely puts pressure on them. All you want to do is take out the slack in the steering system.

Take your measurements in between the front and rear of the saddles (or shoes). If you move any farther forward or back on the ski to take measurements, the measurements will be inflated and inaccurate.