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Setting up suspension

ReedZ

New Member
Messages
23
Age
48
Location
Ontario
Country
Canada
Years Snowmobiling
12
Snowmobile
2011 pro r rush 800 retro
I just got back from a 2 day ride where the trail conditions were pretty bumpy. Lots of railway beds etc. My sled is new to me 2017 pro s le 800 with ice attAk xt track and hi/lo we shocks. I set all shocks to factory preloads and clicks prior to leaving for the trip. My skis have shaper bars on them as well that the PO put on. What I found was that my ifs springs and clicks seemed good with handing the bumps (no bottoming) but my rear end seemed soft and I was bottoming at the back a lot. I increased the rts preload to attempt to increase stiffness and seemed to help for cruising the smooth stretches but still bottomed a lot on bumps. Sled also darts all over the place but feels extremely planted to the trails. I like the bite the skis have but found it a lot of effort to steer. I’m thinking I should reduce some of the rts preload and turn up clickers in rts instead a bit to help reduce steering effort etc.
What do you guys think?
I’m a bit lost with this suspension tuning.
 
Did you put hi/lo XCR shocks all around. Factory setting Big knob 4 clicks Small knob 7 clicks.
 
IMHO
Place you need to start, either opt for the 150 front track spring or even better jump right to the XCR shock and spring combo. My initial problem was never ending bottom of the front track shock along with heavy steering and darting. No matter how much I adjusted, could improve it but never got out the heavy steering or darting. Next mod, XCR shock n spring combo, first ride was wow what a difference in ride but steering still far too heavy and yes it darted pretty good. Read all the forums I could find and tried n tried different sets up with limited improvemend, also tried several sets of skis (including shimming) with some improvement but not what I was looking for. Finally towards end of last season I was at the point of moving well away from what I'd already tried, figured I was at the point of giving up on it and moving onto a different sled for this year.
XCR FTS with XCR spring 1-1/4" preload (not positive but think high is on 4 and low around 2 or 3, very easy to dial in).
Front shocks / stock springs 2 -3/4 (clicker on 4)
Rear track shock / stock spring 2 - 1/2
Went away for last two days of riding logging a little over 1000kms in conditions ranging from frozen fresh groomed to loose junked out corners in the afternoon and some medium rough sections. Skis are SLP-SLT (have tried 4" with anti dart spoons / shaper bars / 8" SLP round bars as well) with their 6" round bar carbides, track is studded 3 per bar, rider around 230lb. Sled now steers well on the light side, yes even on freshly groomed but frozen concrete surface all the while providing stellar turn in no matter how loose the trails got in the junked out corners. Ride wise, by far the best it's ever been, in the air and landing over a hill, hard to know you even left the ground, eats up the junk like it never has and most important of all, it does not dart, period. Now a 1 hand 70+ mph down a rutted out railway sled, far and away better than it's ever been. Only noticed one slight downside, on a roller type bump, especially a few in a row where it was junked out going into lunch, back end did feel too soft and yes did bottom a time or two unless I stood up. Tried to dial more clicker into the shock which did help there but it hurt some of the feel good in the steering as it did not allow the rear of the sled to settle nearly as much. What I'm trying this year, bought the matching XCR rear track shock, will be installing it along with the stock Pro S spring and setting to previous preload. Idea being, have low / high speed I can likely better dial in how it works in the those rollers, feel strongly it's going to the key here.
One thing I can tell you, this combo has taken it from a sled I really liked but hated at the same time to one I can't imagine replacing anytime soon, yea it's that good.
Given where I am now, feel pretty strongly the stock front track shock plus 150lb spring cranked up to where I've got mine would make most peeps very happy, for sure a huge improvement over the sacks out way too early stock dual rate version. Time will tell and I've got two friends trying that exact combo this year (neither ridden yet).
 
ZR - your post really makes sense to me. I have 2018 800 Switchback adventure. I'm a 290 lb guy and struggle with the heavy steering... my hands gonumb riding because the damn thing is so hard to turn and I can't ride with my buddies on the second day become my grip is too weak after 1 day riding. Everything is stock on my machine. I've cranked up preload on the the Front Track Shock as far it can go. The RTS spring isn't adjustable on the Adventure (uggh really); I have a air pump to set the pressure based on my weight but the spring preload can't be adjusted. I have rear suspension air pressure set to my weight. The front ski shock's I haven't changed. I'm going to increase the front ski spring preload and will be measuring the ride height before and afterwards. As I understand, I need the front to have a higher ride height to take weight off the front when I'm sitting on the machine. What would you change up for a 290 lb rider? You mentioned something about changing the FTS spring to 150 or XCR. Tell me more about this. Also please share with me if you think changing the ski's to the SLP power pro ski will help.
 
According to the parts looks up, came with a dual rate FTS (95/280) which is the same as mine had. If you look at the spring with sled sitting static, suspect you'll see tighter coils are actually in full coil bind, yes even with you off the sled. This means you've lost, benefit of the lighter coil rate, some travel and are now stuck with the high rate only plus spring is too short to properly support the sled. Given mine sacked out at very low miles and I weigh a fair bit less, pretty much a given yours has gone south as well.
If it was mine, would substitute a straight 150lb spring in the front track shock and retest. If budget will allow, accessory XCR front track shock n spring combo would make it just that much better. After first going with the heavier spring in mine (and being pretty darn pleased) I can tell you for sure the combo of larger shock body, base valving and adjustability of the XCR unit leaves it in the dust under all conditions with none of the downsides (harsh ride etc) I've seen some post.
As for the rear, your rear spring reallly is adjustable just not via winding the spring itself but by adding air to the shock.
As for the skis, while I really enjoy the SLP-SLTs on my own, would advise you to fix your suspension issue first cause I'll be the stock skis end up being a bunch more to your liking once you better control the pressure being applied.
Interested to hear your feedback afterwards.
 
ZR- after reading all your posts hoping you can help me also. i purchased a leftover an 18 600 Switchback XCR. rode the sled for the first time this past weekend. absolutely love the sled but I know I could make it ride a lot better than what the dealer did, which was nothing. i put 6'' shaper bars with the Bergstrom ski shims. me and gear on the sled weight is around 200. any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Art
What specific issues are you having with your XCR? Are you riding primarily trails?
 
Art
What specific issues are you having with your XCR? Are you riding primarily trails?
hello,
i just want to make sure it's set up for my weight style of riding. i don't go off trail. mostly N.Wisconsin trails so i'm sure you know the type i'm riding. just don't fully understand all the adjustments these shocks will do
 
No problem, I’ll see if I can help you out. The XCR is fairly stiff but depending on how far you want to go you can make it better. First things first - check your owners manual as almost everything want to know is in there.

The WE hi/lo shocks are valued for a beating so you can’t change that unless you revalve them.
Think of the hi speed(red)adjuster as high speed bumps and the low speed adjuster as ride quality. Everyone’s preference on ride quality is different. I start with them on full soft and dial it up from there till I’m happy.

On to the springs. Once again the XCR has different spring rates than the pro-s so you have to live with that or change them. For instance the pro-s IFS(ski shock)spring is 80# and the XCR is 100#. Now that we got that out of the way you need to check the pre load on all the springs. Both of my XCR’s from the factory/dealer were way off. IFS should be 2.75”, FTS 1” and RTS 2.6”.
MY 2018 came from the dealer with 4” of preload on the ski shocks. Sleds don’t ride very well with statically compressed springs.

If your having ski lift issues in our tight Wisconsin trails I would suggest changing the sway bar. Once again the XCR is made for hauling ass over bumpy terrain so the sway bar has a much smaller diameter than the the trail oriented pro-s.

On both of mine I have changed the sway bar, replaced the front ski springs and replaced the FTS spring. In reality I should have bought pro-s sleds and just swapped the front track shock with the hi/lo shock because it’s the one thing that really works great on any axys chassis.
 

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No problem, I’ll see if I can help you out. The XCR is fairly stiff but depending on how far you want to go you can make it better. First things first - check your owners manual as almost everything want to know is in there.

The WE hi/lo shocks are valued for a beating so you can’t change that unless you revalve them.
Think of the hi speed(red)adjuster as high speed bumps and the low speed adjuster as ride quality. Everyone’s preference on ride quality is different. I start with them on full soft and dial it up from there till I’m happy.

On to the springs. Once again the XCR has different spring rates than the pro-s so you have to live with that or change them. For instance the pro-s IFS(ski shock)spring is 80# and the XCR is 100#. Now that we got that out of the way you need to check the pre load on all the springs. Both of my XCR’s from the factory/dealer were way off. IFS should be 2.75”, FTS 1” and RTS 2.6”.
MY 2018 came from the dealer with 4” of preload on the ski shocks. Sleds don’t ride very well with statically compressed springs.

If your having ski lift issues in our tight Wisconsin trails I would suggest changing the sway bar. Once again the XCR is made for hauling ass over bumpy terrain so the sway bar has a much smaller diameter than the the trail oriented pro-s.

On both of mine I have changed the sway bar, replaced the front ski springs and replaced the FTS spring. In reality I should have bought pro-s sleds and just swapped the front track shock with the hi/lo shock because it’s the one thing that really works great on any axys chassis.
thank you! i understand this suspension a little better. if i put dials on "softer setting" it will absorb bumps better? were you lost me was the pre load on the springs? unfortunately sled is in trailer otherwise i could go see were springs are set. i wanna say basically in the middle?
 
Softer dial settings will make it ride more plush but the adverse effect would be not handling larger or harder hits. It’s up to you to find the the happy medium. Kinda like picking a bed mattress. Start at the bottom and work your way up or start at factory settings and adjust from there. Keep a note of where your at cause you can get frustrated in a hurry.

Spring pre load measurement pictures from owners manual. Basically shock cap to retaining collar distance
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ok makes a lot more sense now! I think one of my issues may be is because it was a left over 18 I don't know how many people have played with the shock settings? I plan on getting it out of the trailer in the next day or two and putting it in the garage and starting from scratch. This thing is way different from what I came from. I knew I wanted the sled, just a little intimidated to adjust it I guess. thank you so much for your help!
 


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