Too heavy in skis. Digs in or sinks. Ideas?

[Trailmaker74]

I recently purchased a 2008 venture lite for my daughter to ride. She likes the ride and power of it it’s a great touring sled very comfortable and great of fuel. I like the stability and safety of it too and that is has more function than to just ride than her last sled.
Only complaint is it is front heavy. Heavy steering. The skis dig in and stop it on the sled ramp, rail crossing and crossing some of the trail Bridges that are decked with steel grating. It dives and sinks in powder snow. I knew it would be heavy for off trail but not like this.
I’m looking for ideas. I’m going to put on some wider skis but that won’t take away the heavy up there. Im looking for some suspension setting points to start from and hope that someone can explain the control rods/transfer rods in the rear skid for me. I’d like to get some type of of trail abilities for it and lighter steering as the heavy steering does get tiring.

 

[YukonMP]

Unfortunately I'm not at home so I can't be as much help as I might be otherwise. My suspension settings are stock except the sway bar is now at the softest setting. Regards the rods in the back of the skid you can see that they limit how far the rear of the skid can compress which would happen when you accelerated and weight came off the skis and onto the skid. I wouldn't hesitate to try the front shocks with little preset and the limiter strap out or just in one hole. I know mine is slack by at least an inch as she sits in the shop.

If the sled is really grabbing the trailer and bridge decks it may be that the previous owner put some very aggressive carbides on the sled. Regards the wider skis ... I have eight inch and they work very well in this area. Hope this helps.

 

[gitrdun]

What about adding shims if there are non, to the heel of the rubber pad where the ski is attached. I am not familiar with the venture lite but I would think most skis would benefit from getting that tip of the ski up. Add 3/16-1/4 inch piece of rubber, belting or old mudflap material. Use the Search... option upper right corner and type in ski shim, and you should find some info.

 

[Trailmaker74]

I did look to ensure the limiter strap was out. I stiffened up the front skid spring, and moved the rear springs from hard down to medium in an attempt to get some transfer under power in now going to look at the transfer rod adjustment tonight hopefully if I have time as well as how the carbide sits in regards to shiming.

 

[Mooseman]

Don't let out the strap so much that the shock is taking the shock load of the fully extended front of the skid as that will destroy your front skid shock. Ask me how I know.

Shimming the skis is usually to help with darting. Check the carbides. As mentioned above, either there are really aggressive ones under there or the front of the carbide is really square in front grabbing stuff. You could try grinding the front of it on an angle.

Not much can be done for steering effort. Just the nature of the beast. However, @hibshman25 is looking at developing "mechanical power steering" for the Nytro as per this post:
https://ty4stroke.com/threads/mecha...for-sidewinder-mps.148349/page-8#post-1370468
The Nytro's and our steering are very similar so this could be something for us in the future. Here'a what the SW MPS system looks like installed:
https://ty4stroke.com/threads/mecha...or-sidewinder-mps.148349/page-12#post-1375733

I would love to have something like this on mine!

 

[maim]

you could try the curve skis on it as they do help lighten steering effort and they do flat better than the stock skis. still will need the shim to help get the tip up more but might fix some of the issues that you are having with the steering.

 

[Trailmaker74]

Had a chance last night to do some adjusting. Backed of the transfer rods on the skid.
I checked the ski runners and yes the carbides had extremely blunt edges that would catch on everything so I hit them with a grinder to ramp them up. When outing the skis back on I noticed that the skis would hang flat or very slightly tipped forward, so I tried spinning the ski rubbers 180 degrees and then the skis would hang tipped back. Could the rubbers of been backwards? Would that have any effect on digging in or in off trail abilities in the snow?
I also have an ultra plate coming for it, what effect might the skid plate have?
Would the wide ski ski package be of any benefit for powder riding?

 

[gitrdun]

Go to the Yamaha Parts Finder in the top right corner of this screen and type in your make, model, and then pick ski diagram, and you should be able to see which way the rubber goes.

 

[BombaPolaYama]

If it has the original 5" skis they are inadequate in snow, on any kind of soft trails, etc. for this heavy machine.. I switched mine out for the 7" Powder Hounds and shimmed the rear of the rubber and it's a different machine now in most conditions.