Terrible Handling in Deep snow

[CaperBretonPhaser]

Hey folks, looking for some advice or help in setting my up sled. The problem could be my snowmobile skills or lack there of in the deep stuff. Now when I say deep I mean 2 too 3 feet of fairly fresh powder, you can’t sit when your in this stuff, the snow just blasts ya.
Okay, so the problem is the sled comes up on plain but is very unruly in terms of handling and likes too dart too one side or another and if you come off the gas she submarines bad and forget steering.
She put me in a waist deep ditch yesterday,had her digging dirt for about 10 feet of wresting too get her out, I was shitting my pants, shouldn’t be out on my own I guess in the middle of the woods, lesson learned.
I have a float plate and 7 inch C@ A skis, I think the float plate saved me and helped her get out of the hole.
I now this thread sucks without pics, it was snowing too bad too dig the phone out .
So is this the nature of the beast with these machines or maybe a better shock, skid setup. My torsion skid setting is set too medium and I’m about 13 to 14 threads from the top on my front shock setting. Any looser and she speed wobbles really bad.
I’m trying too counter steer and lean but it’s like balancing a fat man on a beach ball, I’m only 190 at 5.9 by the way, lol, maybe this is the curse of having a 14 inch track and a very heavy front end.
Maybe, the snow setup conditions play a role with it being fresh power and all.
Ohh and man does your foot wells plug up bad, I can see why people cut out bigger holes in them.
Cheers and thanks for any help my friends.

 

[blueironranger]

How much Toe-out are you running on the skis? I found 1/4-1/2" out to be the sweat spot on my MTX and that was done with a bungee cord connected to the ski tips to take all the slack out of the equation. I'm not sure what the XTX came with but the MTX with the same skid has a very weak 100# spring in the center and 1700nm torsion springs in the rear. I installed a Fox Float in the center I found off a Doo SC4 skid so I can change up the force, 50-55 psi and it submarines bad off trail but trail rides nice, 65-70 psi and it lifts the skis and floats off trail but wheelies too easy on the trail. At 65+ psi it lifts the skis off the ground to 60+ mph on hard pack. Those float pressure equal a 110# spring for trail and 135# for powder roughly. As for the torsions, I need to run my 1700nm on hard all the time just to get close to decent ride height, I think the GT springs on soft or medium would be perfect and Standard/RTX/FX would be too stiff for powder use. I'm also at ~200# with all my gear on and have the trail width front on my MTX.

 

[shockwave]

Following

 

[CaperBretonPhaser]

How much Toe-out are you running on the skis? I found 1/4-1/2" out to be the sweat spot on my MTX and that was done with a bungee cord connected to the ski tips to take all the slack out of the equation. I'm not sure what the XTX came with but the MTX with the same skid has a very weak 100# spring in the center and 1700nm torsion springs in the rear. I installed a Fox Float in the center I found off a Doo SC4 skid so I can change up the force, 50-55 psi and it submarines bad off trail but trail rides nice, 65-70 psi and it lifts the skis and floats off trail but wheelies too easy on the trail. At 65+ psi it lifts the skis off the ground to 60+ mph on hard pack. Those float pressure equal a 110# spring for trail and 135# for powder roughly. As for the torsions, I need to run my 1700nm on hard all the time just to get close to decent ride height, I think the GT springs on soft or medium would be perfect and Standard/RTX/FX would be too stiff for powder use. I'm also at ~200# with all my gear on and have the trail width front on my MTX.

Hey tnks for the info, never considered the toe in on the skis, have too check that one, not sure where my skid shocks r set but it’s enough that I don’t bottom with 4/5 foot jump, I like jumping my driveway one of the perks with this style of sled, easy too jump n land. Definitely looking into a different Center skid shock, sounds like it makes a big difference, awsome information.
Tnks again cheers.

 

[Mtnviper]

You might check for worn ball joints as well, as they can wear fairly quickly on these sleds at times. It's easy the check them for wear, raise the front end off the ground so that the ski's/suspension are hanging using a floor jack placed under the center of the front end. Then grab the ski and move it side to side and lift it up and down. Your looking to play in the joints.

 

[CaperBretonPhaser]

Right on ,tnks for the help fellas, just trying too source out a rear fox shock, doesn’t look promising on the web.
Have too get a better shock length measurement and check the local sled junk yards I guess. Cheers.

 

[shockwave]

How much Toe-out are you running on the skis? I found 1/4-1/2" out to be the sweat spot on my MTX and that was done with a bungee cord connected to the ski tips to take all the slack out of the equation. I'm not sure what the XTX came with but the MTX with the same skid has a very weak 100# spring in the center and 1700nm torsion springs in the rear. I installed a Fox Float in the center I found off a Doo SC4 skid so I can change up the force, 50-55 psi and it submarines bad off trail but trail rides nice, 65-70 psi and it lifts the skis and floats off trail but wheelies too easy on the trail. At 65+ psi it lifts the skis off the ground to 60+ mph on hard pack. Those float pressure equal a 110# spring for trail and 135# for powder roughly. As for the torsions, I need to run my 1700nm on hard all the time just to get close to decent ride height, I think the GT springs on soft or medium would be perfect and Standard/RTX/FX would be too stiff for powder use. I'm also at ~200# with all my gear on and have the trail width front on my MTX.

How do you like the Fox Float on the trail? Do you loose small bumps absorption? What length eye to eye is require for our sled? I am thinking of getting one.

 

[MikeWalters]

You will need to teach yourself to not let off the throttle in the deep, takes some getting used to

 

[blueironranger]

How do you like the Fox Float on the trail? Do you loose small bumps absorption? What length eye to eye is require for our sled? I am thinking of getting one.

It’s an Original float so it’s not that great on the small stuff since it doesn’t have the anti stiction stuff that Float 2 added. Works great on medium and big stuff though. Skidoo SC3 and SC4 121” skid shocks are a very close match to the Phazer, both center and rear shock. Lots of late trailing arm and first gen Revs at the sled wreckers with those skids.

 

[yamadoo]

Not a phaser rider but with 4 strokes and compression braking just releasing the throttle will be like hitting your brakes causing the nose to dive. Slowly come off the throttle makes a difference with my Apex, Viper

 

[shockwave]

It’s an Original float so it’s not that great on the small stuff since it doesn’t have the anti stiction stuff that Float 2 added. Works great on medium and big stuff though. Skidoo SC3 and SC4 121” skid shocks are a very close match to the Phazer, both center and rear shock. Lots of late trailing arm and first gen Revs at the sled wreckers with those skids.

Thanks for the info.