Ski Pressure or Steering Effort Problems? Watch This!

[@Eighty8Fitter]

Mark the spanner nut on the spring with a paint pen to keep your # of turns accurate too

[@ponycarfan]

Excellent point, thank you!

[@twinturbohenry]

What an informative and intelligent video! Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[@charlespalmerii4299]

Thank you for video, Im working on reducing some Ski Pressure on my Riot as well (2020 800 with the QS3's , at Minute 9:28, are you reffering to tightening the 2 black (knobs for lack of a better term), which Tightens the Spring ? If so do you know what direction it is to tighten it , is it to the Right? also looks like you need a special tool for that ? thanks and great job on the Video! Sorry for my lack of knowledge of some these parts , but I am trying to learn.

[@ponycarfan]

That's a good question, and my next video on the subject will include a visual explanation. There are two rings - an adjustment ring and a locking ring (looks like one big ring, but there are actually two). Once you loosen the locking ring ("lefty loosey"), then sometimes you can just turn the adjustment ring by hand. But, you'll need some kind of tool to break the locking ring loose. Tightening ("righty tighty", a term I learned in fire engineer training, lol) will increase the pressure on the front of the skid, which theoretically lifts the front of the snowmobile - it raises the fulcrum. As Joseph Wassman pointed out, it's a good idea to mark the adjustment ring so that you know when you've gone around a full revolution. Rather than use a water pump pliers or screw driver, I'd recommend using a spanner wrench to move those rings. This is a curved wrench with a hook at the end. The size of the rings determines the size of the curve and shape of the hook. Some of the Arctic Cat tool kits come with at least one of these wrenches, sometimes two, depending on the kit. If you can get your hands on AC Toolkit 0744-087, that comes with two spanner wrenches that are the correct size. Last I checked, Country Cat was out of stock, but check again, or search eBay - I'm sure someone has that kit. I decided to go with a generic Amazon spanner wrench set, and the size of wrench that fit was "ER40". I've done most of the filming for the second video, but haven't tried it on the snow yet. I don't know what to expect, hopefully I can lighten up the front end without sacrificing bite in the corners. We'll see.

[@thip65]

Nice explanation 👍

[@Upracefan]

Ski pressure is certainly affected by preload on the front springs as well as the rear springs.

[@ponycarfan]

Agreed. However, my point was that the last place most people would look is the first place I'd recommend looking, as far as trying to find out how to improve ski pressure. Once people understand that there are three parts to suspension tuning (front - middle - rear), it isn't that hard. It just takes persistence to find the right combination. If they only see two parts, they'll never quite figure out ski pressure.

[@youareright5431]

You're sway bar take is completely off,the only reason a sway bar works is because that r/s starts to extend which in turn pushes a little amount of torsion pressure on the left side effectively making that left front spring temporarily tighter.... The limiter strap is only going to effect steering pressure when you're on the throttle especially since your uncoupled, but tightening that front spring is going to make it easy to turn but maybe it won't ,and just push,That why two strokes still rule the trails you can get nice light steering with precision!! If it weren't for that everyone would have a Four stroke....or get the new one with power steering 😂😂Good luck....

[@ponycarfan]

I appreciate your comment, especially the part about steering under power, that makes a huge difference in whether the sled pushes or not. It’s all a balance that requires trial and error to get it right. If anything, I hope my how-to videos give viewers the confidence to try things and see what works.