Vibrations in loose snow on the Viper MTX 162 -15

[A Sundström]

On the trail, I experience no abnormal vibrations, but if I ride in loose snow (at least a little "heavier" loose snow, which is what we have here right now) I feel clear vibrations in the running boards. My hypothesis is that it is because the track is pushed in/up so that it goes against the rail caps. Alternatively, that the anti-stab wheels are not aligned with the pads on the inside of the track (the wheels go pretty close when track is aligned to the hyfax), but I think it would be noticeable outside the loose snow if the wheels climbed over the pads (and I'm thinking that would create even worse vibrations).

I have tried to tighten the front straps, which may have made a small difference (but not much).

Any ideas? Anyone else riding the Viper who has experienced something similar?

 

[Ding]

Try a different belt to eliminate that.

 

[Mtnviper]

Mine was doing the same thing and I believe that your hypothesis is correct.
What I noticed was that the track/clips were contacting the plastic rail tips instead of the anti-stab wheels. What I did to fix it, was pull the rail caps off and re-shaped the profile of the cap by sanding them with a stationary belt sander. I removed a small amount of plastic at a time. Each time checking the contact points on sled compared to the anti-stab wheels as I went along.
I ended up sanding/re-shaping them so that the track contacted both the wheels and caps with approximately the same amount of pressure and it eliminated about 90% of the vibration.

 

[A Sundström]

Ah, that makes sense. I did notice some wear on the rail caps and that the track seemed to go against the caps before touching the wheels. Thanks!

I looked at track alignment and took some measurements last night and noticed that the track is about 3 millimeters too far to the left in the back, and about the same distance too far to the right in the front. The knobs in the track seems to rest against the right side of the trihub in the rear and the left side of the anti-stab wheels in the front. When spinning it dances around a bit, so perhaps it's not a problem (or at least not related to the vibrations), but it seems worth mentioning anyway. I guess I'll give the dealer a call a see what they say about it.

 

[phazerelit]

What my fellow swede just said, that makes total sense. I have experienced the same issue on all three of my 3 Vipers over the last three seasons with 2,25", 2,5" and now 3" belt, but have never come to a conclusion.

Mtnviper: You do not happen to have a pic of how your rail caps look after mod?

 

[Mtnviper]

What my fellow swede just said, that makes total sense. I have experienced the same issue on all three of my 3 Vipers over the last three seasons with 2,25", 2,5" and now 3" belt, but have never come to a conclusion.

Mtnviper: You do not happen to have a pic of how your rail caps look after mod?

I don't have any pic's at this time. However I think that still have a couple of stock rail caps kicking around in the shop somewhere. I'll have to do some searching to see if I can find them and then I may be able to get a couple of comparison pics for you.

 

[phazerelit]

I don't have any pic's at this time. However I think that still have a couple of stock rail caps kicking around in the shop somewhere. I'll have to do some searching to see if I can find them and then I may be able to get a couple of comparison pics for you.

That would be perfect. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mtnviper]

Here is a comparison. The stock one above is from a different year (note in Green rectangle), so it's a little different then the ones on the rails. The caps on the rails are the ones that came with the anti-stab wheel kit and I reshaped the area between the Red arrows to give it more of a gradual approach angle.

HTH
Bill

 

[A Sundström]

I think I might have solved my problem. I went for a longer ride yesterday with quite varied snow conditions and noted vibrations in some situations, not only in the deep. I concluded that the common denominator was that the track was pressed to the right in the front of the skid. There was a difference of about 1 mm between the hyfax and railcap on the left side. I sanded the end of the hyfax so that it became even with the rail cap, which appears to have eliminated the vibrations I felt before. Perhaps there are more vibrations to eliminate, but at least this was a huge step in the right direction...

 

[Skytt]

Had the same problem during easter riding in north of Sweden when all the snow turned to slush. Have to try your solution Sundström, just to be clear hyfax = slides right?

 

[thor452]

hyfax = slides = yes

 

[Martens199]

I have the same problem as well. Mine I have noticed bad track alignment on my drivers. Still have not figured why it's crooked up front. But I did full clip my track and that helped a lot.

 

[780ghostrider]

Really

 

[Off Trail Mike]

Guys:
Another thing to check is your clip spacing. I have an arctic cat power claw 2.25 on my Nytro MTX. It was a notoriously bad vibrating track when first installed. I checked alignment, clipped every cleat and it still vibrated excessively. I finally checked the clip spacing and found some clips weren't installed properly....they weren't crimped enough on the track (or too much) which resulted in some track lugs pitched at 3", some at 2-7/8" and some at 3-1/8". It was pretty easy to see that this was causing some of the vibration!!!

Once I put the clip tool on and was able to compress the clips closer to spec....the vibration decreased a lot.

I also noticed the track clips were catching the tips of the drive sprockets too so I ground down slightly with a Dremel tool.

Once both these changes were made, the vibrations were totally gone.

OTM

 

[Jakelfin]

Bigger wheels to antistab helps a lot, alignment can be adjusted with file and spacers if it is needed. If there is alignment issues, something is bendt, and then you need spacers and/or some grinding.