Flat Cornering

[SRXracer]

I was also seeing some ski lift on the corners last time out.. I have the transfer set about halfway to full from stock and thought that might be the culprit, before i changed it though, i checked the clicker settings on the FRONT shocks - i hear alot of people talking about the rear shock settings but not the front - wouldn't you know the compression setting was way off. I set rebound and compression back to stock and it made a unbelievable difference. Rode this weekend, and it rode almost completely flat, even with the transfer turned up a bit. I recommend everyone check all of their clicker settings that they are at factory specs before making other changes!

 

[deweysgt]

GT handling

This is what I did with my GT.
Front: front spring preload 2 turns less than stock, comp set at 3 to 4 clicks from max, rebound 5 to 6 clicks from max.
Rear: limiter strap decreased by one hole, sag set at 40mm (about 262 spring length), rebound increased 6 clicks from stock, and I run the compression in the middle depending on conditions. Transfer is increased 1.5 from stock.
Still running stock carbide and the skies have been shimmed, no picks yet.
Handles great! Transfers just enough to take weight off the skies, no heavy front end feeling, darting is at an absolute min (only occurs on hard deceleration) yet I can turn on a dime, rear end stays planted. I love it and so did everyone in our group. Friggin fast!
I really think that it's just a balancing issue and everyone has to find their own individual balancing point.

 

[X-APE]

I know my GT handles like crap as well. Terrible inside ski lift. I set the sag within spec 44MM, set the compression damping about 3/4 hard and left the weight transfer and rebound at stock setting. Yesterday I increased the front preload by 4mm and put 8 inch carbides on and shimmed the ski's. Next time I ride (who knows when with the rain and 39 degrees) i will ride half a day like this then if it's still terrible I will try increasing the front compression damping. I really don't want to lose weight transfer, but will if I have to.

Let me know what you figure out. Mine has been real twitchy in the handling dept. I alreay shimmed the skiis but it was still darting and pitching side to side....loose rear feel. My front seemed to stay down tho.

I have been watching your posts. I was also very disappointed with the cornering (ski lift, roll) and darting (excess ski pressure) on my Apex GT. Because of the mono shock the rear suspension does not have the flexibility of being able to adjust front ski pressure independently of the rear as with my other sleds. Like you, I had already gone to the minimum pre-load on the front ski shocks.

As a final experiment, before I sold my sled and tried to find some non rider forward and lower CG brand/model (that I would like) I lowered the front end. It turned out to be super simple; I just made up four little 1" lowering links for the bottom shock mounts. The differnce was beyond anything that I hoped for.

Ski pressure was way down, but I could have lived with even slightly less. The ski lift on very hard turns was less than my lowered "conventional sleds", traction was improved, etc. These are all gains you would expect from increasing the front track pressure or lowering the front - jut to more of a degree than I could normally expect. It is no wonder the Ski-Doo decided to drop the 1" Mach like they did. I think we will see more of this once guys try it - unlike the Mach shorter stroke shocks, this does not reduce front end travel.

The brackets I made are just 3/8" thick steel plates (1-1/4" x 2-1/4") with two holes in each one. The larger hole is 23/32" in diameter and the smaller hole is 7/16". The holes are 1" center-to-center.

To install the "kit" I remove the lower shock bolt, slip a plate offer each of the lower A-arm shock mount bolt 'tubes" and them reinstall the shock through the other hole set in my plates (you need a pair of shorter shock mount bolts but can reuse the original nuts). It all takes about 20 minute to install.

I originally planed to do the plates as just an experiment and, it they worked, to weld them on or to make up aluminum versions that would lock into the A-arm brackets to prevent rotation. After 200 miles like they are, I am just going to leave them as-is.

Other than re-checking the front ski alignment I did not need to make any other suspension changes. I think I lucked out on hitting the right fix the first try.

I have since installed a 13 mm sway bar (ordered it before I tested my link plates) and I think that helped a bit (with cornering, not ski pressure or traction obviously). I did not see any major detriment to rough riding with the heavier sway bar, but most of my moguls hit both skis about evenly. So, I plan to leave the heavier bar in for my type or riding.

Awesome, so bobb, where you at now, any new thoughts?