Apex XTX Star Suspension - revisited

[yamajohn]

give it time it will sag

 

[maim]

mine would not sag at all, heck it would hardly flex with my (at the time) 265lb butt on it. once I put the nitro xtx stock springs in it with 4 position adjusters, it rode way better. now have the hygear spacers in there as well and it seems to make it stick less for me and I am using some evil grease that needs to be sandblasted or wear off your hands never mind the sled.

 

[snowbeast]

mine would not sag at all, heck it would hardly flex with my (at the time) 265lb butt on it. once I put the nitro xtx stock springs in it with 4 position adjusters, it rode way better. now have the hygear spacers in there as well and it seems to make it stick less for me and I am using some evil grease that needs to be sandblasted or wear off your hands never mind the sled.

So what do the spacers do,and what do you mean by stick less. thanks

 

[icebreaker]

See I don't get what star is saying about the xtx skid sagging a lot,heck mine is anything but sagging,and I have it on the softest setting,if his kit softens it up how the heck do you than keep it from bottoming out,and how do you keep the front end down under power thru a corner?

That is the biggest problem I have with the star set up is to much transfer under hard throttle off the corners only thing that is working is tighten up limiter straps but then you lose travel for the big bumps. I am going to try re valving my font skid shock with more rebound. But I will take the better ride over the ski lift issue just feather the throttle off the corners. There is nothing perfect I figure.

 

[Sasquatch]

See I don't get what star is saying about the xtx skid sagging a lot,heck mine is anything but sagging,and I have it on the softest setting,if his kit softens it up how the heck do you than keep it from bottoming out,and how do you keep the front end down under power thru a corner?

I can answer the sag question my XTX when I stop once comes back up so far. If I want it to came back up all the way to the top of its travel I have to lift the rear by the back bumper. It stays there but if i sit on it and get off again it does not come all the way back up. When riding I'm in about the middle of my travel which has not made the sled bottom to much but it does make it ride stiff. Sitting higher in the range of travel is supposed to give it a softer ride while still giving it bump capability.

My XTX is set on the highest spring position and if I set the clicker past 3 clicks it rides like a buckboard. It will handle some hard bumps but it beats you up doing it. The XTX kit is supposed to give you the best of both worlds a more supple ride but with no loss of big bump capability. Pulling the limiter is supposed to keep the front down. We will see.

 

[maim]

So what do the spacers do,and what do you mean by stick less. thanks

I found them on ebay. just looked at their site and did not see them. what they do (for me) is hold the spring more centred on the shaft and lets it move smoothly without the binding I was getting on the stock Yamaha spacers. they where built for the nitros originally.

 

[Sasquatch]

Rode it today with the Star kit and I'm very happy with it so far. I find I can ride faster without realizing it. The sled no longer tries to bounce me off the seat on the chop. It bottoms about the same as before the kit, on the big bumps. I'm running on high on the spring with the 5 position I have two more spring settings and I'm on 4 from full soft on the clicker shock. I'm going to bump that up to 6 and see what that does but 4 seems to float nice. Front shock with the new heavier spring seems to ride nice over the bumps as I was wondering what uncoupling with the star kit would do. It seems to do nothing other then make the skid more supple. Ran in the powder a bit (we have knee deep snow on me) and it floated like before and I could crawl slowly through the snow like before if I wanted. I did not think that would change but now I know.

It lifts the ski's with ease but it lifted them with ease and much higher stock. Course there was a skiff of fresh snow so couldn't get a solid hookup. It will still lift them at 40mph but not that high it squats in the rear and lifts the ski's about 6 inches or so. I have not pulled the limiter strap up one yet I wanted to see what it was like without doing that. Jury still out on whether I will or not. On the groomed trail it handles with about the same amount of ski lift as before the kit and after I installed the snowtrackers. No surprises it just lifts a ski and you can let off and drop it or hold it there like before it doesn't do anything dumb like try to roll all of a sudden like my Warrior did till I put the heavier front springs and sway bar in it.

So far the only difference I can see is it just rides smoother and doesn't try to beat me up anymore!

 

[Sledroll]

Just ordered the doo spring $45.00 from doo dealer. Thanks guys!!!!

Any idea what the spring rate on that Doo spring is ?
the stock spring rate is 1.5 on the Apex XTX 2015, and the Yamaha spring( # 8GL-47336-10-00) I bought from Pioneer is 3kg/mm.
I have about 3/4 inch of thread showing ,and am wondering if this setting is too stiff for my 250 lbs. , all in .

 

[snowbeast]

I got my shocks revalved and the doo spring from star and after riding it all last season with just the kit done, all I can say is you have to do the complete set up. The kit itself works good but with the shocks done and heavier spring its a whole other level. I can pound it now on rough trails, I am riding way faster on beat up trails and it takes it with ease. In my opinion, it is really the only thing you need to do to an xtx to make it better.

OK but can you get it to now turn as good as stock did,mine rails now with limiters pulled tight plus another hole more,torsions all soft front skid shock middle to soft clicker stock but once you sit on it,and set the sag,it wont return to its top pos. unless you grab the bumper and pull it up.

 

[yamajohn]

I did the same with the limiter and its the same thing with the sag, I think it actually has something to do with pulling in the limiter. I think possibly that my rear springs are getting weak, I'm pushing past 9500 miles and the long end of the springs are twisting to the side and the plastic hooks were worn the same so I changed them fiquring that would fix the sag but it didn't.

 

[Sledroll]

I did the same with the limiter and its the same thing with the sag, I think it actually has something to do with pulling in the limiter. I think possibly that my rear springs are getting weak, I'm pushing past 9500 miles and the long end of the springs are twisting to the side and the plastic hooks were worn the same so I changed them fiquring that would fix the sag but it didn't.

YJ Do you have the Star kit installed ?
As it cures the sag sticking issue .
And removes the harshness of the stutter bumps .

 

[yamajohn]

Yes i have the star kit with the shocks revalved and stiff center spring. It works awesome but it sags a bit compared to last season and the only thing different I've done is pulled in the strap one hole and the fact that it has about 7000 more miles since the start of last season.

 

[snowbeast]

See this is what I need to know,can I keep my limiters pulled all the way tight plus so it handles like it does now,with the star system will it still work if that is how I have it set up,i need handling over comfort,if all the star does is uncouple the suspension to make it soft,but not handle as good as stock,than I will have hygear revalve my shocks and leave it along.

 

[sledheadgeorge]

See this is what I need to know,can I keep my limiters pulled all the way tight plus so it handles like it does now,with the star system will it still work if that is how I have it set up,i need handling over comfort,if all the star does is uncouple the suspension to make it soft,but not handle as good as stock,than I will have hygear revalve my shocks and leave it along.

This my biggest concern as well. Will handeling be compromised? I've read on some posts that you can not throttle thru the corners because of the transfer, and I'm not going to sacrifice handling for softness. My skid rides well with the front Warrior shock. Limiters set all the way out. The stock spring is weak and it was blowing thru the stroke thats why I changed it. It also lowered the front by 1/2 inch which added better handling characteristics for the front end.

 

[yamajohn]

Mine handles the same or better than it did stock. The reason I pulled it in was it was chewwing the straps up after only a few thousand miles. If you pull the straps all the way in you must have zero preload on your front shocks, that set up would take any ski lift out of it but also take the fun factor away, just my opinion.