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steering, cg problems with SWT & med G2
Topic Started: Jan 26 2010, 08:29 PM (994 Views)
JEvans
Newbie
[ * ]
Our nordic council bought a skandic SWT 4-stroke and medium G2 with tracksetter this season to better deal with feet of very dry snow at 11,000' elevation in W. Colo. Currently using bumper hitch with the SWT which seems to want to lean left with the engine placement. When the teeth are down, steering to the right is very difficult and the teeth start plowing snow instead of tilling. HP is not a problem, but sometimes lose traction with the teeth down. Tidd Tech recommends flexi-skis and a goose neck, but since they didn't say much about this before the sale, we are wondering whether throwing more of our non-profit's funds at this will solve the problem or to step down to the small G2. Anyone have experience with a similar setup? Thanks
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couchsachraga
Advanced Operator
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Flexi skis and the gooseneck do indeed make a HUGE difference... I would imagine in your powder conditions especially. Even here in the east I roll everything over 4" first before taking the Ginzu out - if you are not rolling you may notice a big difference.

Flexi skis will save the backs of your operators, and reduce the frustration level as well.

The Gooseneck makes turning around a breeze, and transfers more of the weight to the track vs. pulling back and picking your skis up.

Make sure the sleds suspension is adjusted for stiffness and maximum steering first.

Oh - and on the steering - do you notice that when you are track setting, or regardless of whether the track setter is up or down? I've found turning "away" from the track setter when it is down with a Skandic to be a real chore sometimes (when I used a Skandic they wouldn't spring for the flexi skis... we did have the gooseneck however).
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JEvans
Newbie
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Thanks so much. The tracksetter was down with at least some of the steering problems, which caused the track to wander into the skating lane. Don't know if the suspension has been tweaked, but will find out.
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skier2
Advanced Operator
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We have the med G2 with SWT 2 two stroke model withoutout the gooseneck. I have 50lbs weigh in the engine bay and the flex skis with no problems.
Not sure about the four stroke model and if you can fit the weights. The flex skis are a diffinit plus and I would think see deffiniate improvement in turning.
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air19
Advanced Operator
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JEvans
Jan 26 2010, 08:29 PM
Our nordic council bought a skandic SWT 4-stroke and medium G2 with tracksetter this season to better deal with feet of very dry snow at 11,000' elevation in W. Colo. Currently using bumper hitch with the SWT which seems to want to lean left with the engine placement. When the teeth are down, steering to the right is very difficult and the teeth start plowing snow instead of tilling. HP is not a problem, but sometimes lose traction with the teeth down. Tidd Tech recommends flexi-skis and a goose neck, but since they didn't say much about this before the sale, we are wondering whether throwing more of our non-profit's funds at this will solve the problem or to step down to the small G2. Anyone have experience with a similar setup? Thanks
Welcome to the club - we all have steering challenges. The only guys who are now exempt have tracked ATVs.

Here are the usual steps to go through to help, starting with low cost, moving to higher cost.

1. Check the suspension of your SWT. If you are running it with the stock settings you can probably do much better. For those on the forum that just went to the grooming seminar at ABR I think their was mention of a DVD that will probably walk you through the changes to get more weight to the front end, and stiffen up the back so it doesn't sag as much with hitch weight.

2. Consider creating a mount for weights on your front bumper. There are probably pictures on this forum if you search around. Imagine a mount that will allow you to put 50 lbs of weights on a pin tied into your front bumper.

3. When you say you ar using the bumper hitch with the SWT, are you talking about the one that rotates up and down, or did you upgrade to a pintle hitch. If you have the one that rotates get rid of it, and get a pintle hitch. Ski-Doo sells them for SWTs. Probably $50.

4. Buy the flexi-skis! It will be the best $450 you spend. I have the superwide 10" flexi-skis and really like them with my Yamaha VK Pro which is the heavy weight hog of all sleds. The superwides will give you better floatation up front and make the sled feel less tippy - big problems for the VK Pro, not so much for the Skandic SWT. I haven't heard of any disadvantages on mounting the superwides compared to the regular flexi-skis, except for the strange looks you might get when other sledders see them.

At this point go out and test these improvements and then decide if you need to go the next step in terms of the gooseneck.
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air19
Advanced Operator
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One other point I just noticed in your original post - small vs. medium G2. I have used both for many years. If you have steering problems, you need to fix them in the ways that posters are recommending. Going down to a small G2 compared to what you have won't really change things.

But there is one comment you made about plowing snow when the teeth are down - I can think of two possibilities without knowing more. 1) you have one of those rotating hitches and the tongue of the G2 is moving around and not being held in a fixed position behind the sled. If you put the teeth down, the rotating hitch may allow the tongue to go down farther, and then the teeth go down even deeper and you will be plowing for sure if you can move at all. Solution - a fixed pintle hitch. 2) you are dropping the teeth down too far. I run my teeth about 1/2 inch in the snow and I do multiple passes. I get much better results this way than trying to drop the teeth a couple inches into the snow or their maximum depth and trying to do the job in one pass - this is very hard on the snowmobile pulling such an anchor, and you will have chunkier results.

If this doesn't help then get on the phone to TiddTech and talk to Dave Zink. He lives out in Colorado and is grooming with his equipment in conditions similar to yours all the time.
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semntrails
Advanced Operator
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There are 3 suspension changes that are listed in your owners manual if they aren't already done I'd definately do them, they are simple to do and free. I can try to look up the real directions in the morning if you don't have a manual handy but in essence they are...

1 - Tighten the front track strap
2 - Install the 2 horse shoe washers behind the rubber bumpers
3 - Adjust the cam for the rear springs to the tightest of the three options.

I've seen several weight designs for the front of the Skandics - I've got pictures of three different ones but still haven't downloaded them from my camera, I'll try to do that tomorrow.

If you aren't used to riding a snowmobile shifting your body weight can help with steering as can letting of the gas and tapping the brake.

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mt groomer
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semntrails
Jan 27 2010, 01:40 AM
There are 3 suspension changes that are listed in your owners manual if they aren't already done I'd definately do them, they are simple to do and free. I can try to look up the real directions in the morning if you don't have a manual handy but in essence they are...

1 - Tighten the front track strap
2 - Install the 2 horse shoe washers behind the rubber bumpers
3 - Adjust the cam for the rear springs to the tightest of the three options.

I've seen several weight designs for the front of the Skandics - I've got pictures of three different ones but still haven't downloaded them from my camera, I'll try to do that tomorrow.

If you aren't used to riding a snowmobile shifting your body weight can help with steering as can letting of the gas and tapping the brake.

These adjustments made a big difference in steering our SWT.

I also strapped a 20# dumbbell around each ski leg.

Suggestion:
Tightening/adjusting the rear pre-load spring w/ the supplied socket and spanner was pretty much impossible. I needed a 'cheater'. A 1" socket fit over their tool, and with an extension on a 1/2" drive ratchet there was plenty of leverage. Make sure you have you're groomer disconnected when you do this adjustment.
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JEvans
Newbie
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Thanks for all this great information, guys. I am running this by our groomers/mechanics now. Hopefully, I can get them to log in to this forum with some more specifics.
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Boldy
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We're using a 2009 SWT V800 with a 84" Ginzu. As mentioned in some of the previous posts it's really important to roll/pack if there is more than 4" of snow.
In the case of the Ginzu the snow keeps piling up until there is so much weight/resistence that it's extremely difficult to turn. We have a roller we use before the Ginzu. If you don't have a roller you may want to pack with the Skandic.
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yoopergroomer
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Just a reminder that there is a balance between traction and steering. You need to decide where to put the weight...on the front to turn or on the rear for traction. You can chain down the front of the rear suspension for additional steering pressure, but will suffer on the up hills for traction.
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