Dual Tuner Skis, ARGH!

[1975FA]

This is the complete opposite of my experience. I put a pair of tuners on my 06 Attak this year and love them. No darting and easy steering. I had Snowtrackers a few years ago and think these are pretty comparable.

When it's all said and done, I might end up with some Snowtrackers if I can't get this sorted out. I went with the Tuners because: 1. People claimed it worked very well 2. I liked the look of the ski vs the stock ski.

Can you tell me a little more about your setup? Limiter strap setting, transfer setting, toe out?

It's strange that our experiences are so totally different. With the Tuner skis the sled is totally unpredictable. Darts every which way. I don't dare give hand signals oncoming traffic (I know that's a whole other debatable subject) for fear that my sled will veer into a head-on collision and it doesn't feel safe above 70 mph. I've noticed that under acceleration the symptoms are either gone completely or dramatically minimized and it's the worst under engine braking, so I'm thinking I might just have too much ski pressure. Assuming my toe out isn't out of wack, I think the first change I'll be making is to let the limiter strap out one hole. The only positive that I have right now is that they turn well with little to no push.

I put tuners on my 08 nytro and also the Hygear slicast upper A arms. I tracked real well on acceleration but on the down coast I got one heck of a sway going on. I shortened my rear snubber strap one hole, but the biggest diffrence was toe out. Running 3/4" to 1" of toe out made a big diffrents but didn't completly eliminate it. Since I have the ajustable a arms on my sled I decided to try my stock ski's with the duel runners and I'm sticking with them. No darting and the decel sway is vertually gone. It was suggested to me that carbides may have played a roll in the sway, I had 4" inside and 2" outside. I lost about 8mph with the tuners if you believe the dream meter.

 

[sgauthier]

added tuners on my apex work great, best $200 i spent. handles and tracks great.

 

[badnsx]

carbides?

added tuners on my apex work great, best $200 i spent. handles and tracks great.

what is your carbide setup?

 

[Big Daddy SRX]

My brother and I each have 2006 Attaks. No studs, completely stock settings. I put Woody's Slim Jims on and they stopped the darting. I was very happy with them. My brother put on a set of Tuners with 4" inside and 0 outside. I can tell you the Tuners steer a lot easier, I found myself over steering when riding his sled. I am planning on putting a set of Tuners on my sled. I may try 4" inside and 2" outside just to increase the wear life on the carbides. I will also use the Yamaha (Woody's) carbides they are shipping now, much better than the first supplier Yamaha used. The Woody's have better carbide and also some wear pads not found on the first bars Yamaha sold for the Tuners. I do know that the Tuners have much less drag than the Slim Jims. My fuel light comes on alot sooner than his does riding the same trail.

 

[kviper]

I have no personal experience with the mountain ski's but I have talked with people that ran them with Tracker's and they claim they are the chit. I think they are only available in the semiagressive version for the mountain ski's due to the deep keel.
I don't like shiming because loading the ski more to the rear causes harder steering and will still track in deeper ruts. The aggressive Tracker's will bite as well as any ski out there and will not track in any condition. Tracking/darting has been one of my biggest gripes in snowmobiling for many many years and as our four strokes and more rider forward seating added a lot of weight to the ski's tracking got much worse. The Trackers are as good as it gets.

 

[Chasx7]

Kviper,

I got Rick's (yamadog1) tuners from him.
I used them on a ride to the Keewanau with him in January and thought they had potential with some experimenting. I did get a set of trackers a few weeks ago but we are out of snow here and I put my sled away. Can't wait to try the trackers next year. Did you set yours straight with the sled on the ground?
I still can't believe Rick sold his sled.

 

[snobill]

Re: carbides?

added tuners on my apex work great, best $200 i spent. handles and tracks great.

what is your carbide setup?

Im studded up the middle and have 6 inside and 4 outside and love them !

 

[kviper]

Kviper,

I got Rick's (yamadog1) tuners from him.
I used them on a ride to the Keewanau with him in January and thought they had potential with some experimenting. I did get a set of trackers a few weeks ago but we are out of snow here and I put my sled away. Can't wait to try the trackers next year. Did you set yours straight with the sled on the ground?
I still can't believe Rick sold his sled.

Hi Chasx7, Rick told me you have the tuners. Yes I set toe to 0 with sled on the ground and you can even put a strap across the ski tip's. I don't think toe is as critical with the semi aggressive but won't hurt. Did you ride Ricks sled with the Tracker's?
I hope Rick is able to get back riding again, Really a good guy and friend that loves to ride!
Keep me posted. Thanks, Kevin

 

[sgauthier]

also studded down the middle and running dual 6" carbides. only have a little inside ski lift on really firm hard packed trails, but manageable. i might get a set of 4" for the outside to try for next winter. now it goes where i point it and holds it's line. my buddy has the 2013 standard and he is running dualy woody's carbides on his stockers and it works very good as well.

 

[Snakebit]

I'm running 6 and 4 on my Nytro.

You can take my exhause, power commander etc etc as long as you leave the tuner ski and OFT. That's what I tink of them.

 

[drumz11]

I've run 6 inside and 4 outside and 4 inside and 2 outside. The sled turns great but darts. I have run shims and it is better but no one is running shims on the tuners. As I said my next move is to take my transfer all the way to minimum per talking to Bluebullet. It's on my list for next year. The next would be letting limiter strap out one hole.

I ran into darting with Tuner ski's at first. If you have already have backed off on front ski preload and your toe-out has been checked, I would check your rear shock preload and transfer rod. When I started with only the front shock and toe-out, the sled still had too much ski pressure and darted quite a bit. This was also with the limiter in the stock position on a new Vector. I shimmed the ski's and the darting was still there. It wasn't until I moved the transfer rod to more of a middle setting ( I initially set it to minimum transfer) and backed off the rear shock preload a notch or two, that I was able to get the sled more balanced and reduce the ski pressure enough to get rid of most of the darting. I wasn't too impressed with the ski's in the beginning, but now after some adjustments to the chassis and the correct rear sag shock adjustment, I'm very happy with them. I'm running the 4 and 2 carbides. I thought they might not be aggressive enough but they work well on the dual keel ski's while keeping steering effort to a minimum.

 

[kviper]

I've run 6 inside and 4 outside and 4 inside and 2 outside. The sled turns great but darts. I have run shims and it is better but no one is running shims on the tuners. As I said my next move is to take my transfer all the way to minimum per talking to Bluebullet. It's on my list for next year. The next would be letting limiter strap out one hole.

I ran into darting with Tuner ski's also. If you have already have backed off on front ski preload and your toe-out has been checked, I would check your rear shock preload and transfer rod. When I started with only the front shock and toe-out, the sled still had too much ski pressure and darted quite a bit. This was also with the limiter in the stock position on a new Vector. I shimmed the ski's and the darting was still there. It wasn't until I moved the transfer rod to more of a middle setting ( I initially set it to minimum
transfer) and backed off the rear shock preload a notch or two, that I was
able to get the sled more balanced and reduce the ski pressure enough to
get rid of most of the darting. I wasn't too impressed with the ski's in the
beginning, but now after a bunch of adjustments to this nose heavy pig
Yammy chassis, I'm happy with them for the $$$. Just needed a little more
tweaking than other sleds to get it handling well. I'm running the 4 and 2
carbides. I thought they might not be aggressive enough but they work well
on the dual keel ski's while keeping steering effort to a minimum.

How do you maintain proper ride height if you back off rear shock preload?

 

[drumz11]

How do you maintain proper ride height if you back off rear shock preload?

If you backed off too much, I suppose you could have an issue.....but then again if you had to do much of that to get a sled to handle, something isn't right somewhere. A notch or two backed off the rear shock doesn't make a very noticeable difference in riding or loss of ride height for our weights.... but it was enough along with the transfer rod adjustment to reduce ski pressure a little more and minimize darting. If someone was heavy enough that they needed the rear shock cranked all the way up, the extra #*$&@ weight on the seat would probably reduce ski pressure enough that they wouldn't need to find another way to reduce some pressure.

 

[Bluebullet]

Here is a copy of my set up. Keep in mind I am on a 2010 Apex LTX GT with 136 in track with 188 pics ( in middle) .
Had a great ride on the 2010 Apex LTX GT 2/28/13 in Maine from the forks to Rockwood up toward Jackman and back to Forks. Trails were holding up good even though warm temps above freezing. Conditions were hard base with 2 in of soft meal on top. Had some Icy corners. put on 128 miles in about 4 hours of riding. Tuner skis were just awesome ( 4 in inside 2 in carbide outside) Sled handled great, no darting, no push in corners felt like I was stuck to the trails. pulled 110 mph all day! I will say again this is the best update to make my sled handle...... finally. Transfer rod set to min, front end springs backed as far off as possible, rebound clicker set to 6 and damping set to 10. limit strap shows 2 and 1/2 holes( factory set point). Mono shock at 20 clicks, sag set, also found that running with Max set on electronic ohlins shock seems to work best.


Just came back from 420 miles in two days in Maine, once again the tuners are just great! I was going to get a short track 128 newer apex this year but we keep the sled now because it flat out rocks on the trails! Two day conditions were icy to 1 inch of loose stuff with really hard table top set up trails. Tuners have worked great for me with my set up above. I think slight toe out is a must with these skis. I have experienced some darting mostly due to rutted trails (deep hard ski tracks) but the sled comes out of the rut much easier than before with stock ski.
Feel free to ask me questions as needed.
Terry

 

[kviper]

Again all suspendtion setup altered from there intention to control what your ski's follow? Transfer rod is to adjust the amount of weight transfer(ski lift for traction VS skid coupling for cornering-ski's on the snow for cornering) ride height is critical on a progressive skid for best ride (40-45 MM set in on a Mono and it makes a huge dif in ride if not where it should be). Setting a lot of toe to cover up anything is just costing a lot of performance loss in other area's, MPG and MPH. I will bet after all is done your sled is not handling like a SnowTracker will.
I guess if you are stuck with what you have you need to do what ever it takes to live with them.
If you can afford a set of Tracker's you owe it to your self to give them a try. Just set your toe back to 0 and make sure you have no shim's in. All other setting's does not mater. You will smile.