VMAX 1997 600 darting issue

Y

Yamaha007

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Joined
Mar 1, 2007
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10
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72
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Upper Michigan
:confused: Hello Folks,
Need some help here please, bought a 1997 Vmax 600 xtc last year and just about wore out my arm sockets trying to keep it on the trail. Now I know that I probably am not the only one that has this problem, and that there are probably some go links or suggestions that have been discussed previously on this forum, could I get some direction and or advice here please.

Thank You in Advance
Peter :o|
 
You need to shim your skis. You can get the shims for free if you get ahold of Bergstroms skegs. Or just make some. They're just thin pieces of hifax that you install to lift the front of the ski up. See this page

Edit: The shims shown on the page I gave you the link to are actually pieces of his ski savers. But I know you can use hifax.
 
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^^ what he said. Yeah I would ditch those steel ski's first of all. Look for a set of plastic yamaha ski's. You can get a set relatively inexpensive. I have cut up old belts and used the pieces for shims also.
 
SpartaSXr said:
^^ what he said. Yeah I would ditch those steel ski's first of all. Look for a set of plastic yamaha ski's. You can get a set relatively inexpensive. I have cut up old belts and used the pieces for shims also.
Click to expand...

Yeah I forgot that he's got steel skis. I'd throw those as far away (and as fast) as you can.
:D:DP
 
tedgoesfast,
I guess to you this is going to sound stupid ,however, here it goes, can you explain what setting up the front/rear suspension/ ski pressure means???
I do have plastic skis.... answering the question asked earlier.
:o|
 
get the sled on a straight floor lift the back and get somone to lift sled up watch the track when they set it back on the floor i suspect the front of the rear suspension is hitting first tighten limiter straps pull the front of the rear suspension up about a inch also sofen up the rear shock and that should take care of it
 
Yama49601 said:
Yeah I forgot that he's got steel skis. I'd throw those as far away (and as fast) as you can.
:D:DP
Click to expand...


precively why our newly acquired venture 600 has only yard miles put on it with the stock steel skis with skins on it. A set of 98 SRX plastic skis were sourced as soon as I rode it around the yard when there was enough snow. Those will go on this week.


Ifyou have the plastic skis, do you still need to run the sghims? I was told no, but what is your guys take?
 
Yamaha007 said:
tedgoesfast,
I guess to you this is going to sound stupid ,however, here it goes, can you explain what setting up the front/rear suspension/ ski pressure means???
I do have plastic skis.... answering the question asked earlier.
:o|
Click to expand...


are they like the ones in my Avatar?? if so, those are the stock plastic skinned steel skis that are just too mild, and dart all over.
 
horkn said:
precively why our newly acquired venture 600 has only yard miles put on it with the stock steel skis with skins on it. A set of 98 SRX plastic skis were sourced as soon as I rode it around the yard when there was enough snow. Those will go on this week.


Ifyou have the plastic skis, do you still need to run the sghims? I was told no, but what is your guys take?
Click to expand...

I still needed shims with plastic skis (the stock skis I'm talking about), but since I put the USI's on I don't need the shims anymore. It still darts very slightly but I haven't bothered putting shims on these.
 
the yami skis are USI skis.

I can tolerate a little darting. usually a little darting can be sorted out through ski pressure changes, and front limiter strap adjustments.
 
Darting can be caused by a few things, but on that exact sled it'd usually due to too much pressure on the FRONT half of the skis.

With the steel skis and stock bumpers, I had great results using an old drive belt, cutting it to fit inside the spindle, and using a small wood screw to fasten it to the rubber bumper.

This lets the ski slice into ruts and create their own path through the snow. Think how easy it is to push your skis back and forth by grabbing the front...it's easy for the ruts in the snow to do that too.

There was a technical write up I did in the tech section, been awhile since I checked though.

As a side note, I rented a Rev MXZ 550 over the weekend. Damn thing darted all over the place, as did all the others in the group. Ski design DOES NOT MATTER when it comes to darting. If there's too much pressure in front of the spindle, a ski will follow ruts, especially if the sled in front has the same skis.

Good luck!
 
Darting, Fuel mileage stinks

The sled is darting just started riding again this year want to try the limiter strap do I pull up or down to adjust front end weight over ski's?
Also the primary clutch was hot when I got off about a 50 mile run this should not be right? getting miserable fuel mileage.Thanks All :o|
 
I have a 96 vmax600Xt with USI ski's on it. I have the same problem, it darts all over the place. I just finished putting the shim's on it and will try it next week. I also put some shims in the TSS suspension to tighten it up.Vmaxjohn how much pressure should be on the ski's.
 
Wrong toe setting will do that also. My 700 darted like nuts. I checked toe and it was toed in almost 3/4 of an inch. I reset to toe out of about 1/4 inch total and now it steers perfect. Your wear bars will give you a bit of insight as to where the weight is on the skis. IE: worn front or rear of the bar.
 
It funny you say that. I just did the shim this morning and when I looked are my brand new wear bars with about 300 miles on them the front and rear carbides are gone. The middle carbides are hardly touched. Any input?
 
I just looked at my wear bars on my USI ski's. The front carbide and rear are gone. The 8" in the middle look like they haven't even been touched. I only have 300 miles on brand new wear bars. Any help on why this would happen?
 
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