Darting with pilots ?

[w8tn4snow]

Has anyone experienced terrible darting with the 5.7 pilots on their Apex . ?
Mine is all over the place to the point where its dangerous , i was looking under it and noticed the front of the carbide is flat on the ground . Im wondering if they need to be shimmed ?
Has anyone else had to do this ?
And what sixe carbide is recommended to run on these ?
My sled is almost unsteerable down a hard trail , it just seems to grab groove after groove and is impossible to steer out of them .

 

[Grimm]

I bet you that your skis are out of alignment (0-15mm). Adjust them so that the skis are either parallel or slightly toed out. If they are toed in, then it can get pretty darty and scary.

Also, shim the skis under the rubber bumper so that the front of the carbide is slightly higher than the rear while the sled sits on a level surface. This should keep the front of the carbide from digging into grooves and making it difficult to get out of.

Read how to do these things in the Tech section here: http://www.totallyamaha.com/snowmobiles ... /SKIS.html

Try a search next time, these issues have been discussed several times.

 

[trailmarker]

i was running 8' woodies exective down the middel and 6' shapers on the outside. the darting was manageable. monday night i installed a pair of snowtrackers extreme but havent had a chance to try them out

 

[w8tn4snow]

Thanks for the advice , I did a seach and read about 100 different ideas on how to stop darting but there was only good comments on the folks running Pilots . I figured it would be worth throwing my hat in just to see if anyone has had the specific issue im dealing with . Ill be sure to check the ski alignment though , never thought of that one !!

 

[SpecRTX]

The stoppers that came in my pilot ski kit (kit # 860200165) fit right in and actually "tipped" my ski tips up further than my shimmed stock skis. I have zero darting issues with my 5.7 pilots.

 

[Bradford]

Lift the front of your sled to see if the skis point up in the front. Mine actually take a bit of pressure to push them flat.

Brad

 

[w8tn4snow]

Well I check the toe on my sled and its toed in an inch and 7/8 .
WOW , Is that just from switching to the pilots ?
Are they supose to be readjusted when they are installed ?
Im wondering if I have something loose maybe?
Ill readjust and give it a try before i change out skis or carbides .
Thanks guys !

 

[w8tn4snow]

OOOPS , I measured wrong I think , I rechecked it again and came up with a 1/2 in of toe out ,
still bad right ?

 

[TJRTX]

1/2 inch toe-out is a little extreme, but not to bad. Should be around o to 1/8 toeout. I too have pilots and would recomend shiming,takes care of most of the darting issues. Also when you alligned the skis did you make sure you adjusted your track for allignment, that would throw things out of whack if track was off. I noticed pilots due dart a little,but less than stockers, and they turn way better than stockers. Good luck.

 

[Grimm]

When I measure toe out, I prefer to measure it from the bolts on the carbides, rather than specific points on the front and rear of the skis. This way it won't take into account a warped or twisted ski (ahem Slydogs). On my FX Nytro, I actually clamped a piece of square stock to the ski spindles to do the measuring, but yours are round on your Apex correct?

 

[w8tn4snow]

Yes they are round ( the spindles ) .
I didnt use a bungee to pull in the ski tips or anything like that . I will check the track alignment too . I had to snug it up a few weeks back and i just took a measurement from the rear wheels to the front wheels for alignment , maybe i did that wrong .
I did notice the fromt of the carbides were flush on the floor and just put shome shimming in the the back of the rubber to pull up the front , maybe thatll help . i havent had another chance to try it in a few days so ill keep ya posted . Thanks guys .

 

[jds1000]

I have Pilots on my 06 Apex and it doesn't dart at all. When riding fast groomed trails in Northern Ontario my sled was all over the place and scary to ride with the stock skis. After installing the Pilots riding over the same trails the sled tracked straight and true with no darting. I was able to ride with one hand because the steering was light and very predictable. The only thing I could say about your problem is that maybe it was the conditions you were riding in. I know that after a thaw and freeze any of my sleds will be dangerous because of frozen ski grooves and there is no ski or carbide that will make those trails safe.