snowbeast
TY 4 Stroke God
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2003
- Messages
- 5,498
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- 69
- Location
- E waterboro,maine
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2015 apex xtx traded for a 2017 sidewinder L-tx-le
- yes
- YOUTUBE
- yes
Well,tonight,we had it taken down quite a bit,and the tunnel is smoked bad,need complete front tunnel,and bulkhead,and have to weld up oil tank and ears on middle chaincase cover,and get bulkhead,right side a arms and shock assembly r hand piece that attaches the upper paramidale framework togeather,it is white metal and broke in half,a number of small pieces and rivets a few broke bolts,about 3-4 grand worth of parts,and our labor,so it would be a total from and insurance point of view. Other than that ok,how about you,ok I hope.
justin1620
Extreme
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2014
- Messages
- 99
- Age
- 45
- Location
- Rainy Lake, Ontario
- Country
- Canada
- Snowmobile
- Sidewinder
- WEBSITE
- www.rustymyers.com
Nice write up...,,What were your rpms with your clutch set-up?
WINDER1987
TY 4 Stroke Guru
I'm 220 dressed and I just added usi triple threats with a 9" carbide limiter strap full loose transfer blocks 1 and all clicker shocks set to 1 the steering seems really heavy on the triple threats what would you loosen the front and center shocks too ?
swampcat
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
The hex takes a 8mm wrench or socket, or maybe a dime to turn it.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
- Messages
- 878
- Age
- 43
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
Here's how I have learned to set up the suspensions on this chassis. I just spent all week tweaking my sidewinder LTX LE and my dad's Viper LTX DX and we got them both perfect.
I start with setting the rear torsion springs. I pull the rear suspension all the way up then sit on the sled in the position that i'll be riding it. I like a few inches of sag but you don't want the rear arm to come in contact with the transfer blocks.
Once I'm happy with that I ride it. If the steering, when you are going down the trail straight and just maintaining speed, is stiff then I start adding spring pressure to the center shock until it lightens up to where it's comfortable. If the sled won't turn and the steering is loose then loosen the center spring till the skis bite but you aren't having to muscle the handlebars.
Once I have that set then I start concentrating on how it runs through the corners. If while accelerating through the turn it lifts the skis or gets tippy then there are 2 options to try to correct it. You can switch the coupling blocks from #1 to #2. This will cause the rear skid to couple quicker and not allow the sled to rotate onto the rear suspension as much keeping the skis on the ground. The negative side effect of this is you will start to lose traction under hard acceleration because the front of the skid will lock in with the rear and start lifting off the ground. On the NA Viper you don't notice this on setting 2 because you don't have a ton of power to break the track loose. On the Sidewinder when I did this I would break the rear end loose every time I got into it. So, on my dad's viper we left the blocks on #2, if we set them on #3 he would then start to lose traction. He still had a little more ski lift than he wanted so we then tightened the limiter strap to the second hole and all was well. He can pin it in the corners and it keeps traction and the front end stays planted and flat. Happy Happy. On mine I set it back to #1 on the blocks but it would just lift the skis. I found that the dealership already tightened my straps to #2 so I tightened them to #3 and all ski lift went away. With it set like this the front end is glued to the trail and when I accelerate hard it pulls the front of the skid into the straps then squats the rear of the skid keeping the skis on the ground but transferring enough to keep the track hooked up.
The only times that I mess with the ski springs is if the front A arms are not sitting close to horizontal when sitting on the sled or if I had to tighten the limiter straps so far that when I tighten the center spring it is just pulling the straps tighter instead of lifting pressure off the front end.
As far as rebound settings, you want the skis and the rear to return to the ground as quickly as possible without bucking the rear over moguls or making the front end erratic when transitioning left to right through the corners.
Once that is figured out then the compression can be set. I just start on the lowest setting. If it is bottoming too much anywhere then increase it in that area till it goes away. This will have to be changed based on what condition the trails are in. Once you get it figured out you'll just know what you need to set it on by looking at the conditions.
Keep in mind that every time you change a setting on the transfer blocks or the straps you will probably have to readjust the center spring to get the steering effort back to where you want it again. This all takes time but once you figure it out it will be a whole different machine.
This is my Dad's 3rd season on his viper and he never really said anything to me about how it handled so I never messed with it. It was just the 2 of us this week and he started asking questions when I was setting up my suspension and he started describing what the sled was doing. After some back and forth and going through this procedure he can't believe it is the same sled. He always liked the handling but says it is now a whole different level of performance and fun riding it. I'm sure other people have a different method on how they do all this but this is what worked for me. It doesn't matter what skis you are running or any of that. The same basic concepts apply for how this suspension works and what all the settings effect. Depending on your weight, what ski/carbide/track/stud pattern you are using these settings will all be different but the method to get to them should be the same.
I start with setting the rear torsion springs. I pull the rear suspension all the way up then sit on the sled in the position that i'll be riding it. I like a few inches of sag but you don't want the rear arm to come in contact with the transfer blocks.
Once I'm happy with that I ride it. If the steering, when you are going down the trail straight and just maintaining speed, is stiff then I start adding spring pressure to the center shock until it lightens up to where it's comfortable. If the sled won't turn and the steering is loose then loosen the center spring till the skis bite but you aren't having to muscle the handlebars.
Once I have that set then I start concentrating on how it runs through the corners. If while accelerating through the turn it lifts the skis or gets tippy then there are 2 options to try to correct it. You can switch the coupling blocks from #1 to #2. This will cause the rear skid to couple quicker and not allow the sled to rotate onto the rear suspension as much keeping the skis on the ground. The negative side effect of this is you will start to lose traction under hard acceleration because the front of the skid will lock in with the rear and start lifting off the ground. On the NA Viper you don't notice this on setting 2 because you don't have a ton of power to break the track loose. On the Sidewinder when I did this I would break the rear end loose every time I got into it. So, on my dad's viper we left the blocks on #2, if we set them on #3 he would then start to lose traction. He still had a little more ski lift than he wanted so we then tightened the limiter strap to the second hole and all was well. He can pin it in the corners and it keeps traction and the front end stays planted and flat. Happy Happy. On mine I set it back to #1 on the blocks but it would just lift the skis. I found that the dealership already tightened my straps to #2 so I tightened them to #3 and all ski lift went away. With it set like this the front end is glued to the trail and when I accelerate hard it pulls the front of the skid into the straps then squats the rear of the skid keeping the skis on the ground but transferring enough to keep the track hooked up.
The only times that I mess with the ski springs is if the front A arms are not sitting close to horizontal when sitting on the sled or if I had to tighten the limiter straps so far that when I tighten the center spring it is just pulling the straps tighter instead of lifting pressure off the front end.
As far as rebound settings, you want the skis and the rear to return to the ground as quickly as possible without bucking the rear over moguls or making the front end erratic when transitioning left to right through the corners.
Once that is figured out then the compression can be set. I just start on the lowest setting. If it is bottoming too much anywhere then increase it in that area till it goes away. This will have to be changed based on what condition the trails are in. Once you get it figured out you'll just know what you need to set it on by looking at the conditions.
Keep in mind that every time you change a setting on the transfer blocks or the straps you will probably have to readjust the center spring to get the steering effort back to where you want it again. This all takes time but once you figure it out it will be a whole different machine.
This is my Dad's 3rd season on his viper and he never really said anything to me about how it handled so I never messed with it. It was just the 2 of us this week and he started asking questions when I was setting up my suspension and he started describing what the sled was doing. After some back and forth and going through this procedure he can't believe it is the same sled. He always liked the handling but says it is now a whole different level of performance and fun riding it. I'm sure other people have a different method on how they do all this but this is what worked for me. It doesn't matter what skis you are running or any of that. The same basic concepts apply for how this suspension works and what all the settings effect. Depending on your weight, what ski/carbide/track/stud pattern you are using these settings will all be different but the method to get to them should be the same.
Last edited:
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
- Messages
- 878
- Age
- 43
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
That adjuster is a bitch. You can't get a screwdriver or a socket in there. The easiest thing I found was just to use an 8mm wrench.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
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- 878
- Age
- 43
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
The more degrees you run the quicker the secondary wants to back shift and the tighter it clamps the belt. Stock exhaust on mine. I like a little more back shift and think 70 was pretty spot on.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
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- Age
- 43
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
I'm not sure. The trails were pretty tight where we were and the fields were bumpy so I wasn't really looking at the gauges when pinning it. I never hit the rev limiter and the few times I glanced down I saw 8700 or so. It's close and pulls like an animal so it's good for me till I can get it out on the ice and make final adjustments to the clutch.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
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- 878
- Age
- 43
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
See above. I explain my whole procedure.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
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- 878
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
No
No problem. I love helping people get the full potential out of these machines.
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
- Messages
- 878
- Age
- 43
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
The SE has different shocks so my specific settings won't apply to you but I outlined the entire procedure to get to your own settings above. It doesn't matter what combination of components you have on this chassis, the same principles apply for how the suspension works and what the different adjustments effect.
Doc Harley
TY 4 Stroke God
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2016
- Messages
- 3,710
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- 56
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- Here & there
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- '17 Sidewinder LTX SE
Handling has always been subjective. That's why it is adjustable.
Out of the box in loose snow my sled was perfect. I'm assuming changes will need to be made, once out on set up trails.
Guys say tuners blow. I don't understand why on earth we cannot make the necessary adjustments to get close & be happy......but, you guys that have been riding them are definitely more educated about it than I am.....
Out of the box in loose snow my sled was perfect. I'm assuming changes will need to be made, once out on set up trails.
Guys say tuners blow. I don't understand why on earth we cannot make the necessary adjustments to get close & be happy......but, you guys that have been riding them are definitely more educated about it than I am.....
WVTurboLTX
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
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- Age
- 43
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- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2009 Nytro XTX
2017 Sidewinder LTX LE
I rag on them but they really aren't that bad of a ski until you get them into loose snow. Then they simply push and there is no amount of weight on the front end that will keep them from doing it.
