Darting and to much bite on my switchback XCR 800

[ALFRED]

The owners manual states adjusting compression will take weight of the skis, but even though I adjusted my compression in every way I cant take much pressure off of them. I am a little afraid to mess with the springs on my sled because there is no info on the internet about what the ride Hight of an xcr should be.

Another problem I am having is when I'm on the trail my sled darts like CRAZY and it is super annoying! I have done some research on the problem and it could be a result if too much ski pressure or my skis are out of alignment. A tutorial on YouTube for adjusting ski alignment stated that the eye for the ball joint on the spindle should be parallel with the top of the spindle, and as I remember the last time I saw the sled,both eyes on each side of the sled were turned in opposite directions and not parallel at all, Should the be parallel or freely turn?

If any of you could give me any feedback on my issues it would be greatly appreciated!

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[Pro116]

Have you checked you ski alignment to make sure it’s not toed in? If you increase your center shock spring that will take weight off the skis and get more weight transfer to the track.

 

[ALFRED]

I tried tightening up the center shock and it had barely any affect, I didn't check the ski alignment, and I won't be able to until next year because I am not in Michigan until then. I have a feeling that's what is causing it tho. I just want to see if anyone has any other ideas to what the problem could be.

 

[Turtle]

Ski alignment, FTS preload, RTS preload and limiter strap length can all have an affect on ski pressure. But carbide choice can also have a lot to do with it. And I'm not talking about length of carbide - I'm referring to the style of runner you choose to use on the skis. Let me give you an example...

I run a Switchback 800 Pro S, and my brother has the same sled except it is an XCR. My steered great with no darting and steered easily with little effort. The XCR steered heavy and seemed to have a nervous and twitchy feeling to it. We messed with all kinds of suspension settings. And at one point we had both sleds setup exactly the same. But the difference between the two sleds couldn't have been more obvious. We thought the difference was due to the differences in the shocks and spring rates from the Pro S to the XCR. But one other item was different. The Pro S had Slim Jim dually runners and the XCR had shaper bars. So as a test, the very next day we swapped the runners and let everything else as a test. To our surprise, the XCR steered great, no twitching and light on the skis. The Pro S was now heaving steering and twitchy (almost darty) going down the trail. The problem followed the runners.

Both sleds now have Sim Jim dually runners, and life is good.

 

[Hyper2000]

As stated by turtle the woody slimjim eliminated the darting. My brother got me hook on these and swear by them, every body in our circle has set
Save yourself the head aches and buy set you won't regret it

 

[ALFRED]

Did the pros come with slim jims

 

[Turtle]

Did the pros come with slim jims

Slim Jims are not a stock runner. They are aftermarket only, made by Woody's. Don't confuse them with Woody's Dually runners. They are two different products.

 

[JWBERT427]

Woodys Duallies solved the problem on my sled, so they also work .

 

[Turtle]

Woodys Duallies solved the problem on my sled, so they also work .

My sled also came with the dually's and they worked well. But I thought that the Slim Jims performed just as good as the dually's in all conditions, and better in loose snow conditions.

 

[ZR SLEDHEAD]

2016 Pro S Rush

What dually and similar carbides are really doing, masking the problem by taking away front end bite. On my own, tried several different carbides on the stock skis then moved onto a set of Doo Pilot skis followed by SLP / SLTs (tried a bunch of different carbides on each of them). While several set ups took away the darting n twitching, they always hurt the sleds flexibility between a hard packed morning trail to perhaps a chewed up loose one in the afternoon to the next day on fresh loose snow. I accept any sled is going to be tighter with heavier steering on a freshly groomed, hard as concrete morning trail but I'm not willing to accept the pull your arms outta your socket effort that normally translates into. All the while I felt the sleds suspension lacked the flexibility between smooth, junked out or stutter bump trails I'd heard they were capable of. Yes was looking for my cake n eat it to.
Where I ended up, XCR FTS and spring combo and a whole bunch of spring preload all the while staying conservative on both RTS and IFS springs plus SLT skis and SLP round bar 6 inch carbides. Skid ht looks closer to what you'd expect a Pro X would look like