Anyone else steering not straight?

[WINDER1987]

My father and I both have LTX Le and in order for it to go straight you have to have the handlebars turned slightly? Anyone else have this problem I drove a buddies thundercat yesterday that doesn't have the problem and he noticed it as soon as he rode mine as well

 

[kylechargerrt]

My father and I both have LTX Le and in order for it to go straight you have to have the handlebars turned slightly? Anyone else have this problem I drove a buddies thundercat yesterday that doesn't have the problem and he noticed it as soon as he rode mine as well

Mine seems fine I remember reading about a few that had the bars not centred.

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[stevewithOCD]

ALOT of us did! I always check ski alignment anyways, so i adjusted it then...

 

[farmerschiferl]

My BTX is like this and I was thinking maybe I did something to it

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[Moodeyblue]

mine has the steering slightly off...throttle side slightly towards my body (brake side high). I checked my ski alignment and it is perfect, so I have not corrected the steering misalignment yet.

 

[WINDER1987]

Any suggestions on what to do and where to start with this?? Thanks

 

[AXR]

mine has the steering slightly off...throttle side slightly towards my body (brake side high). I checked my ski alignment and it is perfect, so I have not corrected the steering misalignment yet.

Exactly. I had a post about this a while back. You need to do a ski alignment. Either open up the rubber boots and loosen the jam nuts on the inside of the tie rod or do it the cheating way and remove the tie rod bolt from the spindle and adjust from just the one end. If you do that make sure you spin the rod some and not just the end bolt, else you may run into issues if you ever decide to adjust them the correct way.

 

[saskattakman]

take it back to the dealer that's what you paid for the pdi for..or you can loosen all 4 nuts and turn tie rods equal turns say the left side up and forward with wrench do the same to right side..usually 1 turn will bring back straight

 

[AXR]

take it back to the dealer that's what you paid for the pdi for

That's what I did. They adjusted while I waited. My Dad's, Mine, and the one on the floor were all the same. Never assume things come correct from Cat. Should the dealers catch this? Yes. Do allot of them look at bar alignment? I'm gonna say no. Most probably check the ski toe out and never think to check if the bars are straight. To be honest I don't see why they should have to. Good manufacturing should have a jig or something to establish proper alignment of all components prior to them leaving the factory. Just sayin'....

 

[WINDER1987]

My dealer is basically worthless if I brought it to him it would sit for 3 weeks before they looked at it probbaly but they have the best prices and only dealer in the area. So I want to take the pop cap pins out and remove the rubber boots and loosen everything up and then make changes from there? How do I assure they are straight just eyeball it to the best I can?

 

[AXR]

Yep eyeball it. I saw a pic someplace where a guy put a ratchet strap on each end of the handle bars and hooked it to the running boards to keep them straight. To get to those inside nuts you have to turn the bars in the opposite direction all the way and then you can sneak a wrench in the opposite side the skis are turned to. Or a wrench with a swivel head is much easier. If you have the pdi check list booklet that should have come w/your sled it tells you how to align them in there.

 

[Moodeyblue]

on some of my other sleds, I used a straight edge against the track and aligned 1 ski to the track. I then measured from the handle bar tips to the back of corners of the tunnel, using this as a reference point. I then adjusted the skis so it was aligned.

 

[cannondale27]

If memory serves me right there is a turnbuckle between the post and the Steering frog which tierods are attached to. There is also a hole in the frog and the frame. If you stick a rod or Drill bit in that hole the skis will be straight and then you just adjust the turnbuckle to get the bars straight. No need to adjust the ski alignment as long as that is correct. Doing it this way also ensures that both tierods have same amount of thread in them in them. Look in the boots at the mechanism before you go adjusting the tierods.

 

[ritchie]

mine has the steering slightly off...throttle side slightly towards my body (brake side high). I checked my ski alignment and it is perfect, so I have not corrected the steering misalignment yet.

My Handlebars are off the same as yours.

 

[cannondale27]

If memory serves me right there is a turnbuckle between the post and the Steering frog which tierods are attached to. There is also a hole in the frog and the frame. If you stick a rod or Drill bit in that hole the skis will be straight and then you just adjust the turnbuckle to get the bars straight. No need to adjust the ski alignment as long as that is correct. Doing it this way also ensures that both tierods have same amount of thread in them in them. Look in the boots at the mechanism before you go adjusting the tierods.

Looks like they deleted the turnbuckle in Sidewinders. So you are in fact left with no choice but to adjust tierods to get you bars straight. Shame they did that.