ski stance

[seahawks]

Hey everyone!! Great forum here!! Just bought my wife an 08 phazer mtx and it seems to be a little top heavy for her. She has already rolled it about 5 times. Talked to the dealer and they told me widening the front ski stance a little would help alot. Anyone have any advise on this. It's not to fun watching her with a sled on top of her. As a matter of fact, it's even worse trying to get the sled on it's skis again. Any advise would help. I need her to enjoy this sport. It will only help me in the long run. Also, I'm looking to upgrade my sled (05 Arctic cat m6) to a Yamaha nytro. Is the verdict out on those sleds? Forgot, the wife is only about 110lbs.

 

[BombaPolaYama]

If there are bushings on the ski mount bracket like on the VL you need to switch the longer ones to the outside of the ski spindle to widen out the stance - that may help some. Surprised the dealer didn't show you how to do it.

 

[MT RX1 Mountain Man]

Phazer

We have an '07 Mountain Lite for sale partially for the instability reason and partly due to the lack of power and trenching issues. Anyway we tried a set of Simmons Gen II's and that seemed to help with the stability even over just setting the stockers to the widest setting.

 

[BombaPolaYama]

I did a bit of looking at the specs and claims to fame on Yammi's website on the MTX, and basically what you have is a machine built for carving through deep powder, boondocking, and mountain climbing - in other words a fun machine but not necessarily stable.
We often talk about ski stance being the major cause of tippiness and neglect the track dimensions. The MTX has a track that is 14" wide with 14.3" of rear suspension travel. Just stand a few feet behind the machine and look at the rear and you will get a picture of how high this machine is for the width of the track = tippiness. It seems that companies are building machines with great rear suspension travel to prevent bottoming out; and high centres of gravity for rider comfort and positioning; but in the process making the machines very tippy. For example, the Polaris Edge suspension on the touring machines has great rear travel but is also notoriously tippy. I have not tipped mine (Venture Lite) yet but have done any off trail riding worthwhile - so I know it is only a matter of time. On all trails but especially on hard packed twisty trails, you always get the feeling that you may tip at any minute - the inside ski wants to lift on every turn - I adjusted the ski shock spring preload but with little result (may even be tippier with more preload) I'm going to tighten my limiter strap next one notch from factory setting to see if that improves the problem.

Anyway we'll see, and hopefully the riding gets more enjoyable for your wife - tippin' over ain't fun!

 

[LJ 452]

Tightening the front suspension will make it more tippy. Loosen the springs all the way on the front. In the rear raise the front strap one or two clicks, the rear springs should be on soft, and the front shock should be on soft. Don't know your size but whenyou ride you'll likely have to stiffen it ( the rear) up a bit.

Make sure that the front suspension is able to arch the way it should. Make sure your stabilizer bar is in tack and functioning. While the Phazer is slightly more tippy then my Apex I find an little more lean does the trick. Very fun sled to ride, other then the difference in power I prefer it to my Apex.

 

[Vmax4]

Seahawks,

I have a set of wider front end a-arms if you are interested in trading. Mine are blue. What color are yours?

I took a Phazer FX and made it into the MTX, but it has the wider front end. I would rather have the narrow mountain front end for my wife. I think it would be easier for her, as she is a relatively agressive rider.

If you are interested, let me know. By your screenname, I might assume you are from WA? I live just north of Wenatchee.

Let me know,

Steve

 

[seahawks]

Mine are the silver. How much wider are your blue a-arms compared to the stock mtx ones. Do you know if it would be harder to turn? The wife does mostly trail riding and is new to the sport so she just putts around everywhere. Probably only goes a max of 30mph. She is small and weighs under 120lbs. Sounds like this might be a good thing to do to her sled. I live in Puyallup, the south hill area. We just rode at Fish Lake and had a blast. Awesome hill climb they have up there on top. We might be able to hook up next time we go there. I think we are planning a trip there the last weekend of Feb.

Rob

 

[Vmax4]

Rob,

If you were to come over this way on a friday night, you could come up to my place and we could do the swap in my shop.

The Ski Stances on the yamaha site are as follows:
2008 MTX: 37.6" - 39.6"
2007 FX: 42"

I need to check with my wife to see if she is interested too. I will check tonight.

 

[Vmax4]

Actually come to think of it, if both our wives decided this was something they were interested in doing, we could meet and they could swap sleds for a quick ride together, and we could see if they wanted to swap front ends.

Just a thought.

Steve

 

[phzmtnlite]

I let my wife ride my 07 mtn lit and she hated it, said she thought it was to high. I say this to prove a point, The mountain is high but you need to learn to hande it. If you not agressive than yes, it will tip. I don't let the machine ride me, I shift weight, stand both feet on one board, do whatever. I go places I would have never been able to go without this sled. it does NOT trench in. I ride mainly off trail and am a powder hound. I am always looking for virgin snow and find it nearly every single day. If you ride and can manipulate the machine and snow conditions it can be an incredible snowmobile. As "bombapolayama" stated it's condition application, I agree totally. I do not like the mtn lite on trail, I bought it for the powder and is the best sled for boondockin I have ever owned