06 Attak with Tuners, severe darting...only sometimes?

[DT]

So we had a little snow in the last few days and it got me thinking about earlier this year on my last ride with my wife where we had an unusual darting issue on my Attak. When I say darting, I'm talking dangerous, worse then factory ski's, at anything over 30 mph.

Conditions; temps mid to high 30's, plenty of snow but it was very soft, melting and almost sugary like small ice marbles.

Sleds; '06 Attak w/Tuners and a '15 Viper RTX (short track).

Location; Paradise, Mi. almost end of March 2015.

I've had the Attak since new and now have around 17000miles on it with an assortment of ski's/scags on it. I put Tuners on it beginning of the 14/15 season and have aprox 2000 miles with them. Most of the season temps were cold & trails were hard and these ski's rocked; they had absolutely no darting and handled great. Then I bought a new Viper and took my wife for a last of season bonsai run with both of these sleds. As mentioned temps were very warm and on this last ride only, the Attak was experiencing VERY bad darting while the Viper didn't produce any. It was so bad, I thought something was broke in the suspension, we couldn't go over 30mph because its tail was trying to swap ends. I fiddled with everything I could including trail side toe in/out adjustments, but nothing helped. She's ~130 and I'm 200 and it did the same with her or me. After getting the sled home and inspecting it, nothing seems to be broke, bent or missing. I do not believe it is a mechanical issue and this sled is well maintained. I've been riding trails for 25 years and never seen something this extreme.

I'm leaning towards snow conditions but am asking if anyone else has experienced something similar or a reason why it did this. I really like the Tuners but if this is one of their characteristics, I will be selling them.

 

[TBay Sledhead]

Stock skis w/ snowtrackers all the way baby. That's all I gotta say.

 

[UP Michigan rider]

Maybe I missed it in your post but there are four different carbide runners, what are you using? Lots of posts on snowtrackers almost killing people. I wouldn't use them in rock country.

 

[UP Michigan rider]

"If your skis are out of alignment, it can cause your snowmobile to dart around. For the best results of ski alignment, you will want them to toe-out about 1/8th of an inch. If the skis toe-in or exceed a 1/8th toe-out, it could cause your sled to not run true and begin to dart"

http://powersports-blog.denniskirk.com/5177/snowmobile/how-to-stop-snowmobile-darting-and-tracking/

 

[DT]

Thanks for the input, much appreciated, but regardless of how much/little carbide, size/shape of the host bar or even the toe in/out, these ski's/sled worked great for ~2000miles until this trip with warm slushy snow. Nothing had changed except for the snow. Also, I did move the ski alignment all over the place for an hour on the trail and it did nothing. I wonder if it's something to do with the combination of Tuners/Attak chassis/slushy snow? Sounds like I've answered my own question but would still like to here others experiences on this if possible.

 

[dmaxx]

Thanks for the input, much appreciated, but regardless of how much/little carbide, size/shape of the host bar or even the toe in/out, these ski's/sled worked great for ~2000miles until this trip with warm slushy snow. Nothing had changed except for the snow. Also, I did move the ski alignment all over the place for an hour on the trail and it did nothing. I wonder if it's something to do with the combination of Tuners/Attak chassis/slushy snow? Sounds like I've answered my own question but would still like to here others experiences on this if possible.

cant speak for your exact experience but tuners on my Attak sucked.

 

[HABS 1]

if was that bad where it was dangerous, i would also think broken part, worn out linkage, worn bushings etc, check track alignment and rear suspension for damage also the track has to be matched to skis, like a car 4 wheel alignment,or if somethings not right in rear like broke limeter strap etc it could case to little or to muck ski pressure, just thinking of other stuff to try, i have had bad darting on occasions in diff snow conditions and stuff but never dangerous enough where i coulnt power through and hold on to her!!

 

[Sasquatch]

Maybe I missed it in your post but there are four different carbide runners, what are you using? Lots of posts on snowtrackers almost killing people. I wouldn't use them in rock country.

Really? I've only seen one post and it was not first hand. Huge amount of speculation and attacking anyone saying anything positive about them. I live in rock country and wish I had put snow trackers on before I played around with different ski's and other carbides. They work!

 

[DT]

cant speak for your exact experience but tuners on my Attak sucked.

Compared to the stock skis with Woody's Dually's and Pilot 6.9's, I'd put the Tuners somewhere in the middle. The sled could hold a good line in a corner and didn't dart until that last trip.

When you say "sucked", what exactly didn't they do for you? Thanks.

 

[dmaxx]

Compared to the stock skis with Woody's Dually's and Pilot 6.9's, I'd put the Tuners somewhere in the middle. The sled could hold a good line in a corner and didn't dart until that last trip.

When you say "sucked", what exactly didn't they do for you? Thanks.

Darted, poor handling and worthless off the trail. The Attak takes a lot of adjusting both front and rear to get the handling to improve. I used the tuners for one or two rides and ditched them. Bought SLP SLT's with Shaper bars and ski shims and I am very pleased. I agree with other posters to your situation, you may have issues other than your skis or carbides.

 

[kviper]

Does your new Viper have tunner's? And was the other sled following the Viper? Known problem with double keeled ski's! Yes SnowTracker's and your problems are solved!!!

 

[kviper]

The whole tracking thing always get's much worse in the conditions you described and double keel following another of the same configuration is double trouble!

 

[whitedust1]

Snowtrackers & stock skis no darting in any condition. Bud went tuners on Venture for 1 day now in corner of garage went back to snowtrackers & stock skis & has same set up on 2 Apex XTX. Tuners late to the game ski while snow trackers solved the problem with stocks skis. If I was buying a new Apex XTX dealer can keep tuners & I would want Yamaha stock single keel skis with snowtrackers.