Sled steers like a tank fights me all the way - powderhounds

[rxwarrior]

With Curve skis we always have the best results with 1/8" - 1/4" toe out.

 

[kinger]

Mine are shimmed in the front. My ski rubber are their 1st gen design. I would try a 1/4 shim in the rear and toe it in 3/8 and see if that helps. 1/8 is a little shy of what you should see. 3/16-1/4 is the sweet spot for carbide.

You want the front of the carbide off the ground 3/16-1/4"? TO do that you had to chim the front meaning it was higher then that off the ground when you started? I have no idea what gen my rubbers are as everything is used.

I am currently set to 3/8" toe IN now. Looks goofy LOL

 

[SnoWarrior]

The trail Slydogs were toed in because the ski has so much flex. I would set the toe on the powderhounds to 1/8 - 1/4 out and it should help. Make shure with the track aligned you check the skis one at a time with a straight edge against the track.
I also took the ski savers off, had too much bite with them on. Or you could try and get less wieght on the skis with shock settings.

ON the flat, you want to see the carbide just raise slightly in the front, that is with you sitting on the sled. I check mine on the trailer with my son on the sled. I did not have to shim mine with either sled.
You can also chedk the spindle angle on each side.
Keep us posted.

 

[Grimm]

That was one of the Slydog quirks that I didn't like...too soft. My thinking is that due to their flimsy nature, that you should toe them in so that when you're riding them, the weight splays the skis out more than other skis and track straighter. When you set them toed out, I think while riding, the Slydogs toe out too much and exhibits too much darting.

 

[SnoWarrior]

I think your right Grimm, but the Slydog race ski is much thicker and do not have any flex. Big difference from the original trail ski. I have the race skis on my Nytro and they ran good at 0 toe and 1/4" out.
I am not sure about the Powderhounds. I have the Slydog trail skis on my 05 Warrior and they are set to 1/8" toe in.

 

[bottlerocket]

Rule of thumb is never toe in. Results are ski hunting for the last sled that went by. Im shocked so many have there sleds with toe in. I had powderhounds on my attak with 1/4" shims and 1/4" toe out and also always have a bungie strap pulling the ski loops in during alignment. Does the sled turn ok sitting on the garage floor? Bushings to tight or a problem in the steering linkage?

 

[kinger]

Found it, this is the 2nd set of stud boy shaper bars this has happend to. Between the two center bolts the bar just bends towards the inside of the ski on each side. WTF?

On top of that I found my left side upper A arm is bent as well!

All this happened in 300 miles I dont know what the f*** I hit or did but now its time to scramble and get some carbides here before my trip and see if I can find a A arm.

 

[Grimm]

I've had that happen when I hit a stone in the middle of the trail...bent the runner all to rats$%t. Can't believe we didn't think of that right off the bat though.

You might be able to get away with straightening the runner out by using a vise.

 

[bottlerocket]

Maybe catching it going in and out of the garage or trailer? Never had this happen and you say this is the second one? Seems like it would have sent you over the bars!

 

[ahicks]

It happens. I've had it happen to me just 3-4 times - in my 40 seasons of riding. First couple of times it happened it didn't dawn on me this might be possible so I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what happened. Now the possibiilty is on the list of "lessons learned".

I've never figured out what I hit or how I did it either. Obviously the front end is pushing pretty good to get that kind of bend going on. Maybe a solidly embedded rock protruding up through the ice?

 

[kinger]

Well its Iowa ditchriding so I know there is crap hidden in there, and I remember a few solid rocks but nothing out of the ordinary. I cant wait to get on a trail in the UP on wendsday much easier on equipment!

More puzzling is my mag side upper A arm is bent in the middle UP and it has a big gouge on it like I landed on something and it forced it up, whats curious is how it happened and the shock, lower A arm are all in tact and scratch free?

Oh well price you pay for riding around here, we got 6-12" snowing right now so hopefully I can keep it together the rest of the season.

Thanks again for the help I'll get a good test of the steering on my trip wed-sunday this week and report back.

 

[BombaPolaYama]

I'm a fan of "toe out" as well. Enough to say I have some (1/4"?)

As a rule (not sure what style you have) commercial ski savers add to the amount of "keel" area on a ski - which could lead to heavier steering in some, but not all conditions. I ALWAYS run my own design savers made from 1/8x1.25 metal strap. They install simply between bar and ski and guarantee no ski keel wear running in crappy conditions - without adding much extra keel area.

The only times I've encountered noticable pulling to one side I've had some kind of problem with the wear bar on the side it's pulling to (badly bent/partially hanging off/whatever).

What type of metal do you use for your ski savers? Does the metal cause any drag on sticky snow, etc? Maybe a pic would help to describe your setup. I'm thinking with 1/8" metal you don't have any groove to fit the carbide in so the whole wear bar is exposed possibly making it more vulnerable to the type of damage that you described. I have made them from teflon and router a groove for the wear bar to fit and a raised section on the top side that fits in the ski channel where the wear bar normally goes. The teflon usually last a season but the metal should be more durable.

 

[kinger]

Grimm - I took your suggestion and straightend out the 4 that I had and made two good ones for this trip.

I also threw a 3/8-1/2" shim under there probably too thick but its all I had

Lastly I removed the ski savers, they had a hook in them and were not straight anymore hopefully this helps me as well.

I will be in the UP the rest of the week and report back on my findings!

 

[ahicks]

I'm a fan of "toe out" as well. Enough to say I have some (1/4"?)

As a rule (not sure what style you have) commercial ski savers add to the amount of "keel" area on a ski - which could lead to heavier steering in some, but not all conditions. I ALWAYS run my own design savers made from 1/8x1.25 metal strap. They install simply between bar and ski and guarantee no ski keel wear running in crappy conditions - without adding much extra keel area.

The only times I've encountered noticable pulling to one side I've had some kind of problem with the wear bar on the side it's pulling to (badly bent/partially hanging off/whatever).

What type of metal do you use for your ski savers? Does the metal cause any drag on sticky snow, etc? Maybe a pic would help to describe your setup. I'm thinking with 1/8" metal you don't have any groove to fit the carbide in so the whole wear bar is exposed possibly making it more vulnerable to the type of damage that you described. I have made them from teflon and router a groove for the wear bar to fit and a raised section on the top side that fits in the ski channel where the wear bar normally goes. The teflon usually last a season but the metal should be more durable.

It's just cold rolled steel. Nothing special about it at all. They're made from a 48" piece that you get at a hardware store or building supply. Depending on how you do it you can get a pair of them from one 48" piece. They last for thousands of miles. We had some pretty raw conditions this past weekend. Buddy was chomping at the bit to go so we went. I wore out a set of 6" carbides completely in about 120 miles. I mean to the point where the center of the wear bar wore down to nothing but a mounting stud, back 1/3 of the wear bar pointing to the rear, front 1/3 gone completely. Very little damage to the keel saver metal. The up side to the story is there was no damage to the ski whatsoever! Buddy's Doo Precisions didn't do so well....

No groove. They are exposed to trouble, but that's not been an issue. Damage like Kinger's can happen, but it's a pretty rare occurance? It does make the ski a little more aggressive (not a bad thing for my riding style). Making sure wear bars use 1/2" host stock and 3/8" mounting studs an exellent plan...

If they're sticky, it's nothing I've noticed?

 

[Grimm]

I made a set of ski savers from a new slider...lopped off the lips, routed out a 1/2inch groove down the length of the slider, tapered each end of it, drilled holes and mounted runners to it. The runners would sit somewhat recessed inside the new ski savers. It held up, and worked quite well.