[dan weiss]

I am using my husband's address as I do not have one. Last year my husband and I bought new snowmobiles. (First time riders and purchasers) I purchased the 2005 Ski-Doo MXZ Adrenaline 600 SDI - (My husband purchased the 2005 Ski-Doo Mach Z 1000 SDI) - Last year I was only able to ride about 350 miles as we experienced low snow conditions. After making it through a horrible "plug fouling" period with my sled (not the 1000 SDI that was supposed to have the problems) last year we did some modifications/upgrades on my sled. I made the mistake of moving the handle bars closer to the rider, thinking I would be more comfortable, however this proved to make me feel less comfortable trail riding. I also got new billet idler wheels, J-hooks and a studded track. (Using the premarked holes - 96 pattern existing on my track, 1.175 Woody's).
I was finally able to go on my first real ride this season on the trails. It was a very scary experience!! The back of my sled handled very nicely with very little slipping of the track - but the steering was erratic. On the plowed (but snowcovered) roads I was only able to go 35 - 40 mph tops. The steering wheel kept "darting" back and forth. On the groomed trails I had a very difficult time turning the wheel - (like I wasn't strong enough) and a had time taking my hand off the steering wheel to signal other riders. I experienced none of these things last year.
I told my husband about this and he first, moved the handlebars back into the forward positions and was able to ride my sled on Friday and Staturday. He agreed that it was a scary ride and
(the following is with help from my husband)
-- then he adjusted "the front springs from 1 to 4 and that stopped the sled from feeling as "loose".
So Question is - Is this normal to run "alot of front spring pre-load" and alot meaning my husband weights 150 and I weight 125 and according to the manual - 1 should be setting up to 170 lbs - even after front spring adjustment the mach Z still feels much more stable and makes me feel more confident.
Also do you have any other suggestions to make the steering / sled more stable.
Thank you for taking the time.
Jean. - Dan's wife

 

[jake100]

This has been a highly discussed topic. Its common for the precision skis to cause the revs to dart. The precision skis were designed for the zx chassi. You have to either replace the skis or go to http://www.bergstromskegs.com/oui/useful.htm and check out darting.

 

[blackmxz]

I to bought a 600 SDI last year and hated the darting. Just like you it scared the He%^ out of me. My friend had a Zx chassis and we swapped skis. I put on a set of the old flex skis with the pcs strips on and now I can fly down the road. It's like a different sled. His Zx is better with the precision skis. A win- win situation.

 

[Paddletrack]

I to bought a 600 SDI last year and hated the darting. Just like you it scared the He%^ out of me. My friend had a Zx chassis and we swapped skis. I put on a set of the old flex skis with the pcs strips on and now I can fly down the road. It's like a different sled. His Zx is better with the precision skis. A win- win situation.

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Did you try adjusting your rear suspension?

 

[JagerRevBomb]

Here is a few suggestions for you to try.. Move the bars alll the way forward and get a set of knee pads to put on the side panels. To make that sled corner well with your weight your gonna need to be up so your knees are on the side panels all the time. Install a set of bergrstom tripple points on the inside and use ur stock ski doo carbides on the outside. Install a shim into the back of the rubber block between the ski and the spindle, this will help with the darting alot..

 

[dan weiss]

Here is a few suggestions for you to try.. Move the bars alll the way forward and get a set of knee pads to put on the side panels. To make that sled corner well with your weight your gonna need to be up so your knees are on the side panels all the time. Install a set of bergrstom tripple points on the inside and use ur stock ski doo carbides on the outside. Install a shim into the back of the rubber block between the ski and the spindle, this will help with the darting alot..

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Dear JagerRevBomb,
My steering colum is now moved all forward (like it was last year)
"bergstrom tripple points" are these carbides and if so - what size? - better than getting different skis - I've read bad ratings of the precision skis.

Also - someonelse suggested adjusting the rear suspension - what adjustment do you recommend?

Thank you again.
Jean

 

[grover]

What were the rest of the suspension settings? Where any other adjustments made or add ons, change anything else(like ski carbides)? Center spring or shock my have taken some "set" (soften) and added more weight to front end. How much "Jerky" have you been picking up?

(kiddin!) Daughter thought you were very pretty! Went to Traverse today, they have some snow but alot more to the east!

-Grover

 

[800 H.O. X Man]

You didn't say what length carbide you are running. Here are my recommendation to fix your problem. Run 4" carbides on the inside of the ski and 6" on the outside position. (Skidoo sell a kit for this set up). Your ski pre-load should be on #2 (Due to Studs). Set your center spring on #3 and your rear springs on #1. Put your handle bars in the factory position. With you sled sitting on the ground with NO rider and the handle bars straight put a light bungee cord across the ski loops in front to take up any free play. Now measure the distance between the aluminum ski shoe (inboard to inboard edge) at the wearbar bolts. The skis need to be toed out 1/8" -3/16". This will solve the darting problem. The sled will be a little jittery for the fist 25-50 miles with new wearbars, but your handling will be excellent after that.

Enjoy the ride

 

[dan weiss]

You didn't say what length carbide you are running. Here are my recommendation to fix your problem. Run 4" carbides on the inside of the ski and 6" on the outside position. (Skidoo sell a kit for this set up). Your ski pre-load should be on #2 (Due to Studs). Set your center spring on #3 and your rear springs on #1. Put your handle bars in the factory position. With you sled sitting on the ground with NO rider and the handle bars straight put a light bungee cord across the ski loops in front to take up any free play. Now measure the distance between the aluminum ski shoe (inboard to inboard edge) at the wearbar bolts. The skis need to be toed out 1/8" -3/16". This will solve the darting problem. The sled will be a little jittery for the fist 25-50 miles with new wearbars, but your handling will be excellent after that.

Enjoy the ride

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TTT thanks jean

 

[Burning Man]

Jean: I posted this a few days ago in a different spot but I thought it might be of interest to you. There have been a large number of discussions about the "best" skis to have but there is no substitute for tuning the rest of the chassis. My precisions pushed pretty badly until... well just read on:

My buddy rode my 600 SDI Gade earlier this year. He said "This thing handles like a pig!" To be honest I had to agree after riding his 550 SS Polaris. So I bought some Simmons skis but when they arrived they looked so similar to the Precisions I returned them. Don't get me wrong, I put a set of Simmons on my Indy 500 and the difference was nothing short of incredible so I know the skis are great, it's just that they don't look or flex much different from the Precisions. So I decided to try some other things first to improve the handling.

First define the problem. The sled understeers terribly (see: handles like a pig). (note to Viper: I know the difference between understeer and simply entering a corner too fast). To get through a turn I had to get out of the throttle in advance of the turn and let the weight transfer to the skis. Then turn in and wait until the sled was pointed in the direction you want to go and only then could you get on the throttle. It was almost impossible to get the sled to oversteer unless you were going in a straight line and gave it full throttle to break the track loose. On top of all this, the steering effort was very high. The 550 SS Polaris had almost zero steering effort in comparison.

Instead of making one change at a time and keeping detailed notes of each change, I made four significant changes with a huge change in handling. The change is most likely a result of all four things. Here are the changes:
1) The toe was set at 1/4" in. This was changed to 3/8" toe out.
2) I shortened the snubber strap as far as it would go. Previously it was two holes longer.
3) Added Berstrom triple point carbides to the insides of each ski.
4) I shimmed the skis per Bergstroms instructions so that the front of the carbide has a little more weight on it than the rear part of the carbide.

End result: WOW Understeer is gone in both low and highspeed situations. Steers on concrete too! Tested all this in the UP last week over about 500 miles.

So what changes did what? My gut feeling as follows:

1) Snubber strap. This shifted a significant amount of weight onto the skis and more importantly lifted the center of the track. I think a lot of weight on the center of the track really has to keep it from turning easily.

2) Toe change. I know better than to use toe-in I just had not checked and I certainly doubt the dealer did either. I think a lot of my dealer I just recognize that you really have to attend to the details yourself.

3)The SHIMS! This is the one change I wish I had done by itself. I am convinced that this is an important tuning tool that is not widely used.

4) Finally the Bergstrom triple point carbides. I could not decide where to put this in the list so it ended up last only by default. Anybody that has held these things in hand knows that all other carbides are just pretenders by comparison. These are worth it alone just to be able to steer on concrete almost like a car.

Once these changes were made the sled went exactly where I pointed it. The oversteer/understeer balance was excellent. Up to 1/3 throttle there was slight understeer, at 1/3 throttle and above I could vary the oversteer precisely and point the sled with the throttle only or I could pin the throttle and countersteer slightly to point through the turns. All this with a minimum of steering input. The steering effort was still high but it didn't matter any more because I hardly had to turn to get where I wanted to go.

Note: Traction devices: I use 300 carbide tipped screws for acceleration and braking, no studs.

The point of this post is that tuning what you have is as important as the sled itself.

Jean - hope this helps.

Tim

 

[GrizzlyGriff]

You didn't say what length carbide you are running. Here are my recommendation to fix your problem. Run 4" carbides on the inside of the ski and 6" on the outside position. (Skidoo sell a kit for this set up). Your ski pre-load should be on #2 (Due to Studs). Set your center spring on #3 and your rear springs on #1. Put your handle bars in the factory position. With you sled sitting on the ground with NO rider and the handle bars straight put a light bungee cord across the ski loops in front to take up any free play. Now measure the distance between the aluminum ski shoe (inboard to inboard edge) at the wearbar bolts. The skis need to be toed out 1/8" -3/16". This will solve the darting problem. The sled will be a little jittery for the fist 25-50 miles with new wearbars, but your handling will be excellent after that.

Enjoy the ride

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Hey 800HO X Man
Put longer carbides on inside of ski, not outside as per popular misconception. Check out Bergstom Skegs website for study of this issue. Also, shims on the back underside of rubber ski boots are necessary on the Rev. Check out your carbide wear and you will see severe wear at the front. This is because the ski's have too much pressure at the front causing the skis to hunt grooves in the trail. Think of a boat with a severe bow down planing angle...bow gets pushed everywhere. Get the nose up and you run straighter.

 

[dan weiss]

Thanks for all the help, will let you know how things work out

thanks again jean