Shim Snow Tracker Carbides?

[yamaha convert]

At 6,000 + mi they had a very small amount more wear on the front, they wear very well, much better than I originally thought they would. The only time mine track is if I am on near ice conditions where the rectifier is not touching. My sled with the Trackers and EPS is so settled and such a pleasure to ride! I spent some time on a new Viper and a new Vector with tunners a couple weeks ago. The tunner's do track some and have a quite a bit more push than the Trackers.
I spen't a lot of time and money over the years shiming,buying ski's,wear bar's ETC. With EPS it's not as noticeable but one thing I learned for sure is the more tip of ski pressure the easier they steer. With that comes wear bar's wearing on the front and more tracking. The beauty of the Trackers is it allows the best of all worlds with out causing push as the dually's and deuce bar's cause.
From my experience buying ski's is the biggest wast of money! Dual keel ski's cost MPH, fuel milage, they push more and they still track some.

There are a couple situations with the Trackers that can get you in to trouble so you kind of need to be aware and ride with them accordingly. That said at this point I think they are the best thing out there for snowmobile handling!

I agree with pretty much everything you have said here. Mine unfortunately didn't wear a little at the front, they wore allot (see below). If they only wore a little, Id have left it alone as well. Surprisingly even when they were in this state they still steered extremely well.

I don't have much personal experience with different skis other than my friend who purchased Tuner Skis for his 12 Apex. Not that I rode his sled allot, but they didn't instill much more confidence in steering than his factory set up. He too now has Snow Trackers.

I did try a few different runners on my sleds and these are hands down the only runner that gives me confidence in the sleds steering. My sleds are both 07's

I haven't had any "situations" in over 12000 miles between the 2 sleds with these runners, but Id like to hear of your experience, so I can be mindful of it in the future.




.

 

[whitedust1]

At 6,000 + mi they had a very small amount more wear on the front, they wear very well, much better than I originally thought they would. The only time mine track is if I am on near ice conditions where the rectifier is not touching. My sled with the Trackers and EPS is so settled and such a pleasure to ride! I spent some time on a new Viper and a new Vector with tunners a couple weeks ago. The tunner's do track some and have a quite a bit more push than the Trackers.
I spen't a lot of time and money over the years shiming,buying ski's,wear bar's ETC. With EPS it's not as noticeable but one thing I learned for sure is the more tip of ski pressure the easier they steer. With that comes wear bar's wearing on the front and more tracking. The beauty of the Trackers is it allows the best of all worlds with out causing push as the dually's and deuce bar's cause.
From my experience buying ski's is the biggest wast of money! Dual keel ski's cost MPH, fuel milage, they push more and they still track some.

There are a couple situations with the Trackers that can get you in to trouble so you kind of need to be aware and ride with them accordingly. That said at this point I think they are the best thing out there for snowmobile handling!

I have been using Bergstroms triple points since 2007 Attack GT & 2012 Apex XTX & wore well & performed well. 2 years ago or so I rode a buds xtx with aggressive snow trackers in Twistys & ..WOW.. they turned on a dime & with eps super sweet handling. Took 5000+ miles to wear down my Bergstroms & now time to try the Snow Trackers...This decision did not come easily since Scott has given me outstanding service & I have been a faithful customer but better performance is better performance. Please let me know in what situations aggressive snow trackers can give a rider trouble as you put it??? I ride 3500 miles a year in all conditions, haul balls on grades & wide open trails, ride twistys fast but not crazy fast. If I'm going to have steering problems in any condition I need to know. Thanks in advance for info.

 

[icebreaker]

I don't think you can make a blanket statement like this . That's like saying one size shim fits all skis

Shims certainly have not had that effect on mine. It needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.

I guess then he will have to try them all and see what works for him like I had to.

 

[icebreaker]

I agree with pretty much everything you have said here. Mine unfortunately didn't wear a little at the front, they wore allot (see below). If they only wore a little, Id have left it alone as well. Surprisingly even when they were in this state they still steered extremely well.

I don't have much personal experience with different skis other than my friend who purchased Tuner Skis for his 12 Apex. Not that I rode his sled allot, but they didn't instill much more confidence in steering than his factory set up. He too now has Snow Trackers.

I did try a few different runners on my sleds and these are hands down the only runner that gives me confidence in the sleds steering. My sleds are both 07's

I haven't had any "situations" in over 12000 miles between the 2 sleds with these runners, but Id like to hear of your experience, so I can be mindful of it in the future.




.View attachment 105564

Mine were worn out in the rear before the front on my aggressive tackers. No shims. And I only ran them down to the corrector plates.

 

[yamaha convert]

Mine were worn out in the rear before the front on my aggressive tackers. No shims.

Precisely why one cant make a blanket assertion. As you can see, mine were the complete opposite.

I do see however why with your experience, you would say no shims.

 

[icebreaker]

Precisely why one cant make a blanket assertion. As you can see, mine were the complete opposite.

I do see however why with your experience, you would say no shims.

I tried running and shim .080 thick under the rubber and darting was noticeable so I left them alone. I find it strange that yours are wearing the other way because I have changed several of these on customers sleds and always in the rear. I guess there is always a first.

 

[kviper]

Yamaha convert, how many mile's were on that set? I don't have any used set's that I took off but I think mine had a little more even wear. To get the best performance possible you should have some more wear on the front.

Some claimed the Trackers flipped there sled out from under them! What I noticed is coming in to a corner and getting some push in loose snow than getting ahold of some hard stuff. You know how the agressive Tracker's bite and most people tend to turn the bar's even more to try to get it to bite and with the agressive Tracker's it can get ugly when they hit hard snow. The thing is it does no good to turn the bar's more when experiencing push any way, you just need to grab some break or just let it bite with out turning the bar's farther. Also I noticed in deep snow with a crust on it it can give a strange feeling, almost like it wants to turn one way or the other. Actually the semi agressive Tracker's track just as well but bite more like a normal bar. Might be the better choice for some!

 

[yamaha convert]

I tried running and shim .080 thick under the rubber and darting was noticeable so I left them alone. I find it strange that yours are wearing the other way because I have changed several of these on customers sleds and always in the rear. I guess there is always a first.

I don't know about a first.

Seems KViper's wore the same way, just not as pronounced....

 

[yamaha convert]

Yamaha convert, how many mile's were on that set? I don't have any used set's that I took off but I think mine had a little more even wear. To get the best performance possible you should have some more wear on the front.

Some claimed the Trackers flipped there sled out from under them! What I noticed is coming in to a corner and getting some push in loose snow than getting ahold of some hard stuff. You know how the agressive Tracker's bite and most people tend to turn the bar's even more to try to get it to bite and with the agressive Tracker's it can get ugly when they hit hard snow. The thing is it does no good to turn the bar's more when experiencing push any way, you just need to grab some break or just let it bite with out turning the bar's farther. Also I noticed in deep snow with a crust on it it can give a strange feeling, almost like it wants to turn one way or the other. Actually the semi agressive Tracker's track just as well but bite more like a normal bar. Might be the better choice for some!

From memory I had just under 3000 miles .

I have experienced all of the things you mention. When I wore that set out, they also wore the steel plate down a little, so I tried Semi Aggressive on the Apex. I did not really notice a huge difference between the two. It was almost negligible.

I find if I'm pushing through a corner I use the brake a little. With these sleds, its easy to forget that the brake is almost an option only, because of how effective the engine brake is.

Its easy to blame the runners for human error, and although I hope it never happens , I can see how you can get yourself in a bind. Trails are always changing from corner to corner and can be challenging at the best off times.

Personally, I believe from my experience with these, that if these runners contribute to someone flipping their sled, it will have been to over correction as you mentioned, or human error of some other kind, that combined with how effective these are at steering, causes a loss of control. I find its very important to shift your weight with these. Unless your riding at slower speeds, sitting up and not shifting weight, can get you a false sense of security after a while with Snow Trackers that can lead to some hairy corners.

I must add that my sled is set up per the Snow Tracker instructions. I have very little pre load on my front springs. the limiter strap is in the factory position for both sleds and the toe I have set per their recommendations. To set the toe we purchased an 8 FT long level with a machined surface. I place it hard up against the length of the track so that we can measure from it to set the toe.

I really believe attention to detail is what its all about. When you consider what we ask the these machines to do, and the conditions in which they do so, you don't want anything left to chance.

The only chance I want left, is my own....... inevitable........ human error.

 

[kviper]

Wow! That's a lot of wear for 3,000 mi. The only set up changes I made is set toe to 0 and I do it basically the same way you do and set front spring's with sled off the ground just so the spring keepers stay in. May be you had poorer snow conditions? They were agressive Tracker's right?

 

[kampkoleviper]

Yamaha convert may I ask what your measurements are with the 8ft level I am about to reset my toe looking for a good 0 toe measurement along the whole ski or just the front and rear.

 

[yamaha convert]

Wow! That's a lot of wear for 3,000 mi. The only set up changes I made is set toe to 0 and I do it basically the same way you do and set front spring's with sled off the ground just so the spring keepers stay in. May be you had poorer snow conditions? They were agressive Tracker's right?

I do wonder if the conditions weren't ideal at times.

Having said that, I've rode in all types of conditions with the existing runners.

I don't hesitate to ride roads if trails are poor, and pretty much treat them like an expendable item.

I mean they have lasted so long this time, and on my last trip we rode a road for near 10 straight miles in Michigan at good speed as the trails were destitute, that I am just shocked at how well they have held up.

BY FAR, the best investment one can make on a snowmobile, in my opinion

 

[yamaha convert]

Yamaha convert may I ask what your measurements are with the 8ft level I am about to reset my toe looking for a good 0 toe measurement along the whole ski or just the front and rear.

From memory, we pull the skis together at the handles with very light pressure, and set them to as close to zero as we can humanly measure.

 

[whitedust1]

Yamaha convert, how many mile's were on that set? I don't have any used set's that I took off but I think mine had a little more even wear. To get the best performance possible you should have some more wear on the front.

Some claimed the Trackers flipped there sled out from under them! What I noticed is coming in to a corner and getting some push in loose snow than getting ahold of some hard stuff. You know how the agressive Tracker's bite and most people tend to turn the bar's even more to try to get it to bite and with the agressive Tracker's it can get ugly when they hit hard snow. The thing is it does no good to turn the bar's more when experiencing push any way, you just need to grab some break or just let it bite with out turning the bar's farther. Also I noticed in deep snow with a crust on it it can give a strange feeling, almost like it wants to turn one way or the other. Actually the semi agressive Tracker's track just as well but bite more like a normal bar. Might be the better choice for some!

On my Apex xtx with triple points & ice ripper track can do the same in a push corner then catch & rear end can break loose thinking mostly in icy twistys push then catch at about 45mph I would guess. STs are more aggressive so makes sense just need to be aware. My bud on exact same Apex XTX as mine without iceripper track but aggressive ST s rides like the wind in twistys gets more bite than I do with less effort. Anything else to watch out for with STs?

 

[kviper]

That's about it! I also found myself with more confidence and was generally running through the corner's faster.Somtimes that can catch you off guard!

I had semi agressive trckers on two 07 Phazer's and now on my sons 09 Nytro XTX. They are excellent on those sled's also!