[Saber]

My first year with an adjustable carbide ski. It is a TX. Found it easy to steer and have a consistent bite on groomed trails. Not darty but sometimes a little busy on hard crusty trails. Rarely felt the need to adjust the depth of the carbide once I found the sweet spot which was about a third down. I'm good with them as is but of course I ready to make them better for next year.

About the slight dartiness, I'm thinking shimming the back of the ski down.( A well known fix) However the metal bump that hits the rubber has such little area of contact it has already deformed the rubber in 2600 miles so just adding a shim under the rubber will work but not for long. So a bigger metal foot needs to be added the back of the spindle.

Second thing is to add a second carbide to the outside of the ski. There is no provision for one on the TX but a vertical milling machine can create one real quick. I'm thinking a studboy Duce bar( I have lots of used ones) will provide more grip and lift giving the sled a wider feel. They are short enough to keep the steering effort low. Some concern is where to position it with respect to the spindle.

Appreciate any comments
Saber

 

[Mike Fischer]

I know that Woodys makes navigators that fit the TS/TX skis. I’ve never used them myself, but I’ve never heard anything bad about them, either

 

[In2racn]

My first year with an adjustable carbide ski. It is a TX. Found it easy to steer and have a consistent bite on groomed trails. Not darty but sometimes a little busy on hard crusty trails. Rarely felt the need to adjust the depth of the carbide once I found the sweet spot which was about a third down. I'm good with them as is but of course I ready to make them better for next year.

About the slight dartiness, I'm thinking shimming the back of the ski down.( A well known fix) However the metal bump that hits the rubber has such little area of contact it has already deformed the rubber in 2600 miles so just adding a shim under the rubber will work but not for long. So a bigger metal foot needs to be added the back of the spindle.

Second thing is to add a second carbide to the outside of the ski. There is no provision for one on the TX but a vertical milling machine can create one real quick. I'm thinking a studboy Duce bar( I have lots of used ones) will provide more grip and lift giving the sled a wider feel. They are short enough to keep the steering effort low. Some concern is where to position it with respect to the spindle.

Appreciate any comments
Saber

I like the TX ski for big mile touring riding. So nice to be able to tweak the steering feel during the day. I use the Woodys Navigators and heavily shim the ski.

I also run the Roller-ski wheel setup and one interesting aspect of the Roller-ski, they supply you with a ski rubber that has some built-in shimming over the stock Ski Doo stuff. I further shim this option ski rubber even further, this results in a lot of tail drag on the ski. I have very little darting issues.

On my 2020, I have the same setup in a TS adjustable with 9300 miles and the ski is still in fine shape. I like the idea of an outer carbide to protect the ski, however, I dont believe it is not a mandatory feature.

 

[krm]

Navigators and bergstrom ts/tx ski rubbers is what you want

 

[Saber]

I started the season with Navigators and Qualiport wheels (which attach thru spindle and supply new rubbers). The navigators make the ski ride higher in the front pusing the rear down making the carbide act more as a rudder and thus stablizing it from darting. OK good but it added to the steering effort too much for me. I had to remove them to be able to ride big mile days on firm trails in Quebec.

The rubbers that came with the wheels were quite stiff so I my have gotten a shim effect to start but as I stated in the original post, the shape of the TX spindle on the back side has minimal contact area on the rubber and the rubber deforms quickly. I will fix that with a yet to be made modification.

 

[krm]

I started the season with Navigators and Qualiport wheels (which attach thru spindle and supply new rubbers). The navigators make the ski ride higher in the front pusing the rear down making the carbide act more as a rudder and thus stablizing it from darting. OK good but it added to the steering effort too much for me. I had to remove them to be able to ride big mile days on firm trails in Quebec.

The rubbers that came with the wheels were quite stiff so I my have gotten a shim effect to start but as I stated in the original post, the shape of the TX spindle on the back side has minimal contact area on the rubber and the rubber deforms quickly. I will fix that with a yet to be made modification.

you want the Bergstrom rubbers they're flat in the front and the bad pushes the ski forward with a built-in shim

 

[krm]

Here is a better picture

 

[mooser15etec]

Here is a better picture

Where do you get these?

 

[krm]

Bergstrom

 

[Upnorthwi]

My first year with an adjustable carbide ski. It is a TX. Found it easy to steer and have a consistent bite on groomed trails. Not darty but sometimes a little busy on hard crusty trails. Rarely felt the need to adjust the depth of the carbide once I found the sweet spot which was about a third down. I'm good with them as is but of course I ready to make them better for next year.

About the slight dartiness, I'm thinking shimming the back of the ski down.( A well known fix) However the metal bump that hits the rubber has such little area of contact it has already deformed the rubber in 2600 miles so just adding a shim under the rubber will work but not for long. So a bigger metal foot needs to be added the back of the spindle.

Second thing is to add a second carbide to the outside of the ski. There is no provision for one on the TX but a vertical milling machine can create one real quick. I'm thinking a studboy Duce bar( I have lots of used ones) will provide more grip and lift giving the sled a wider feel. They are short enough to keep the steering effort low. Some concern is where to position it with respect to the spindle.

Appreciate any comments
Saber

Did you modify to put outer carbide on?

 

[Saber]

No I didn’t add the outside carbides. A lot of work maybe for nothing.

took navigators off. Caused too much heavy steering.

added MPS FROM barn of parts and lowered the carbide. Easy steering , good bite but still a little hunting.
I ride hard groomed trails in Quebec and noticed lots of riders using snow trackers. Tried several sleds equipped and it’s tough to not notice how stabile they are. For long distance riding anything that keeps your body quiet in the seat is going to let you ride with less fatigue. So I bought snowtrackers for next season

 

[Upnorthwi]

No I didn’t add the outside carbides. A lot of work maybe for nothing.

took navigators off. Caused too much heavy steering.

added MPS FROM barn of parts and lowered the carbide. Easy steering , good bite but still a little hunting.
I ride hard groomed trails in Quebec and noticed lots of riders using snow trackers. Tried several sleds equipped and it’s tough to not notice how stabile they are. For long distance riding anything that keeps your body quiet in the seat is going to let you ride with less fatigue. So I bought snowtrackers for next season

This will be my first skidoo so I’m looking for next season. We ride groomed hard packed trails in North Wisconsin. We do a few overnight trips a years so comfort and stability is important. Some areas are a lot of twisties in the woods so handling is important too. We generally get close to 200 miles every ride. Thanks for the tips.

 

[DOOLIFE800]

I put Navigators on my ts skis this year.No hard steering or darting. Very happy.900 miles in 3 days!

 

[Blueblood]

No I didn’t add the outside carbides. A lot of work maybe for nothing.

took navigators off. Caused too much heavy steering.

added MPS FROM barn of parts and lowered the carbide. Easy steering , good bite but still a little hunting.
I ride hard groomed trails in Quebec and noticed lots of riders using snow trackers. Tried several sleds equipped and it’s tough to not notice how stabile they are. For long distance riding anything that keeps your body quiet in the seat is going to let you ride with less fatigue. So I bought snowtrackers for next season

the trackers work extremely well on hard trails. but the trade off is they stear like crap in powder. if you wake up to just a inch or two of new snow your ok. but more than that your sled will push bad.