Help with initial set up

[zedosix]

I know there are many discussions on which ski works best and which runner works best but I find everyone has there own opinion and believes what he, she is doing works best. What I have found is the simmons skis with shims do stop most if not all the darting, but the steering is so heavy my arms still ache from last year. This year I purchased an attak, last year I had the apex. Will the steering be even harder with the attak or is it the same? I don't want to change skis this year but there must be some adjustments with the suspension to ease up on the pressure up front. I will probably just shim them and put a decent set of runners, likely the doolies. Anyone out there work with this set up? I don't want to get to involved with ski changes and don't want to spend more money on a sport that is only 1 month long at best these last few years. Thanks in advance.

 

[KnappAttack]

No, the Attak will not steer any harder than the Apex. I use Doolys with 1/4" rubber shims superglued to rubber bumper heel. This will make for nice easy steering and no darting. It is a no brainer that works well in every instance. I may give the new ski-doo pilots a try this year, but the doolys work very well on the Attak. There is no way to reduce weight on the skis with the mono suspension. The only thing a person could do is reduce spring pressure on the ski shocks and the result is pretty limited. These machines with the mono carry alot of weight on the front end and darting is very extreme. Guess that is why they corner better with less push than the rx-1 with the old suspension.

 

[Honk]

Less ski pressure like knapp said, along with the doolys, works great. no need for different skis. I also run about half on the transfer with the limiter pulled up one hole from stock. works great! Hope ya find what you're lookin for! My GT feels lighter than my old RX-1. It all depends on the set-up. Honk

 

[Iceman57]

I tried 1/4" shims, 8" carbides and added ski savers, didn't like the way the sled handled. Tried the dulies, they were ok but pushed in the corners due to the build-up in-between the runners. I run the pilots. They are fairly inexpensive, eliminate the darting, steer easy and look pretty nice on the sled. Shimming is ok but I prefer the Pilots. . Pulling the limiter strap up one hole will add ski pressure making the contition worse.

 

[MXD]

I have a 2006 Apex ER. It is all stock with the exception of 144 studs inside and out and 8 inch woodys. Geared up I weigh about 245 and I ride mostly groomed trails that end up beat and rough by the end of the day. Here are my complaints, solutions, and results. I put about 350 miles on this weekend after these mods. We were expecting to ride on about 12 inches of groomed trails but they got an additional 14 inches the night before we showed up. ALL of our sleds were pushing slightly because of the conditions.

The Skis
My biggest complaint was the heavy steering. This thing would wear my arms out in no time. It was an absolute bear no matter what the conditions were.

Solution: I went with Bergstrom 8 inch triple points, shims, and 3/8 ski savers.

Result: 95% easier steering. Very minimal effort to get these bars cranked over. It steers very light with this set up. I did experience some pushing in the corners but I was riding on 14 inches of new groomed powder on the trails that hadn't had a chance to set up yet. I will say this though, the access road out to the trails was plowed with a thin cover over the ice and these carbides were bitting!

Price: $150 plus shipping

Front Suspension
Tippy and not very confidence inspiring.

Solution: I backed off on the pre load exactly 4 turns on each front shock.

Result: I started off by loosening the spanner nuts one turn at a time so I wouldn't go too far too quick. Believe it or not, I noticed even one turn. The reason I settled on 4 turns was because I was having so much fun with the front springs set to 4 turns out that I left it and just rode! The A arms are still not quite parallel to the ground (I heard that was the real sweet spot) but this made another HUGE difference. The front end felt very settled and even poundind across the moguls at the end of the day on ITS 86 at about 70 MPH there was no "harshness" to the front end. I might continue this experiment next time out but its a great start.

Price: FREE!

Rear Suspension
Bottomed out to often

Solution:
Pioneer Performance re-valve and 6.5 spring

Result:
A very key thing about the rear suspension that people don't realize very often is that if your set up is incorrect in the back, your geometry will be imbalanced in the front. The new shock was a big improvement. It still bottoms on some of the bigger G outs but it is a much softer bottom. Specifically if I am coming down a small hill into a sharp transition. Otherwise, no bottoming while skimming the whoops or pounding the rollers at any speed.

I also tightened up my limiter strap one hole to help keep the front planted a bit more.

Price: $150 plus shipping


I don't claim to be an expert and I am not saying that this setup is the end all be all but I will say that for about 300 bucks, my sled is 95% cured of the hard steering and tippiness that it suffered from. It corners pretty flat although I would like to improve it slightly, It turns with minimal effort, and the bottoming is close enough to perfect that I think my RA will cure the rest. My next time out I plan on playing with the front springs some more and possibly a 13mm sway bar.

I hope this helps.

 

[sawsalesman]

MXD,

I take it that this riding was done last winter?

 

[MXD]

MXD,

I take it that this riding was done last winter?

Yup, I posted that last year and I just grabbed it and pasted it in here hoping it might help.

 

[zedosix]

MXD,

I take it that this riding was done last winter?

Yup, I posted that last year and I just grabbed it and pasted it in here hoping it might help.

Thanks for all your imput. I will try the bergstroms and will shim the stock skis. As far as suspension goes, I will wait for the white stuff before adjustments.