Thanks for the response. I’m definitely looking forward to the next season.

The XS Ski’s showed up a few days ago. Wow, just from appearance it is a night and day difference. For installing, where are you setting the nut torque? (For the carbides and the mount.) The days of sledding on 2” of snow are over. I don’t want to put a single blemish on them. Pictures do not do these any justice. A++,,,+

Hygear is/are on the last stage of machining and assembling the shocks. They should be here in about a week.

Hygear does it right the first time.  Incredible products.

I’ll be checking with the guys at excel motorsports for a few other mods if you are recommending them.

Excell Motorsports is outstanding.  We have a header back system on our Nytro with the matching clutch upgrades and WOW... really livens up the midrange!

Everyone I’ve talked too said, “Do not do the ball joint modification”. It’s just not necessary with the XS ski’s and the Hygear suspension. You just confirmed it, thanks. I’m going to spend a lot of time making adjustments. I want to finish that and just ride as soon as possible. No need to toss in another variable to complicate things. I’m going to hold off on the studs for now too. 96 seemed good last year. If it needs it, I’ll add a few.  

I mentioned before how much different your sled will be after the skis and shocks.  Believe me when I say, AMAZING does little to describe the ride after you get it dialed.  Skis and shocks are dollar for dollar the two best investments you can make on a Nytro.

I was at the dealership after I bought the sled (used). “They” said the new one (2010) will do 120+. I am very happy with a top end in the 90’s. I’m assuming this means my power train is good if you are in the high 90’s. Thanks for the correction.

I still don't believe you will ever see 120mph out of a stock Nytro.  On the Nytro, it's not how fast you go but how quick you get there!  There isn't too much on the snow that will holeshot and walk away from a properly set up Nytro in the 0-70mph range.  Above 70mph is fair game!

I have to admit, “I am intimidated with the Hygear shocks”. They assured me to not worry about it. It’s easier than I am imagining it will be. When I have them installed, I’ll put up another post if I have some questions or I’ll post what I discovered.

Again, thanks for the ski’s and all the advice.

The nice part about Hygear as with Curve Industries is you can call with questions just about any time.  Both of us take extremely good care of our customers!  I openly invite you to post in here any time and for any reason Mark.  It has been a true pleasure working with you thus far and I believe things will only get better.  We love your passion for the sport!  Lets keep our favorite winter activity on the up and up!

Thanx,

Mark    

Hey Guys,

I read these articles last season. It really helped me out and now I’m back “in deep” in snowmobiling. I was having so many problems with a used 08’ RTX, I was about to drive it off a cliff and be done with it. Here’s the story on it.

It must have been set up for a 150 lb rider (I’m 6’4”, 260). I’ll elaborate on that later. I only had a 5 minute ride before making a trip to Cadillac MI. My first impression, “fun in a straight line”! Never had a snowmobile lift and hold a wheelie at half throttle. The front suspension would bottom out on the landing. They were set at 50lb, the max is 150lb, so I “thought” it was a good idea to set it at 100lb. That was one of many mistakes. It gets better later.

So I took a trip to Cadillac with a self proclaimed expert SRX rider (mistake #2). I am trying to play catch up to him. The fastest I was willing to go was about 50. This is with white knuckles. The darting was so bad it felt like I was about to be catapulted off the seat. In the parking lot I ran over something slightly bigger than a snowball and almost tipped the sled over. Something was seriously wrong.

The next morning I was slow to get dressed so I tossed the keys to my cousin with the warning, “It isn’t right, be careful”. About 10 seconds later he is running it like he stole it. One bump later he is spinning in the air in one direction and the sled is spinning in the air in the other direction. Landing solidly upside down. Other than being able to go straight and turn only right,,, the sled was in great condition (mechanically).

2 weeks, a set of handle bars and steering shaft later, I was back on the trails with a mission. “To make this pig oink”! 

I got the suspension setup paperwork from the Yamaha dealership. It is 100 times more useful than the owner’s manual. Everything was set to the factory setting. (It was way off).  

I rode it on the cornfield and wooded trails from South Bend IN to New Buffalo MI.

My first impressions were mixed. Turning was slightly better. It was like driving a pickup with manual steering. The Hardcore acceleration was gone. Now I shot a 20 foot rooster tail. Grandma’s would pass me on 1980’s sleds shouting, “get off the trail lard ass”! Cutting across plowed fields at an angle felt like the steering wheel was about to be “ripped” from my hands. Literally I could only ride 1 or 200 feet and need a break. It just didn’t matter how far I leaned into a turn, if I was going over 30 mph, the inside ski was coming up,,, high!

Each trip I made one adjustment on one component. Slowly it was coming together. Towards the end of the season, both track shocks they were about ¾ maxed out. The front shocks were decent around 70lb. The biggest improvement came from maxing out the center coil spring. Extremely difficult to adjust! The torsion spring was good on medium.

It was good but you were still taking your life in your hands over 70mph. It still wasn’t hooking up and still had some darting.

The book says 20 pounds of force should deflect the track about 2”. It actually hooked up better when it deflected 3 ½”. I don’t know if this is dangerous or not but it worked.

In another post string, I saw you recommended reversing the rubber ski grommet to get the front of the ski’s to stop dropping. It also worked but I’m not sure if I like it. Darting is lessened in the ruts, but the feel is gone on fresh snow. It’s like sex with an industrial strength condom on.

Then I ran out of snow and story time is over,

The shocks are with Hygear Suspensions now. Yes, I told them you recommended them and they know you guys by name. They are doing “the trailpro mod” with a setting just below the “aggressive trail rider”. I also have the sled in the shop getting the “ball joint recall” corrected. What is this talk about the upper ball joint upgrades? What does it fix? I haven’t seen any information about where to get this correction. Is it an “all good” modification or are there drawbacks to installing it?

We are not to familiar with the ball joint mod that people have been discussing although it has proven time and time again to be worth the time.  There are a bunch of people on TY4Stroke.com that swear by it.  During our testing on a bone stock '08 Nytro, we found that the majority of the twitch could be removed by controlling transfer and removing aggression from directly under the spindle.  IE... a 4" round carbide maximum.  I would hold off on the mod until you get your SWEET Hygear setup in!

On the last ride’s of the season, I was comfortable maxing out my throttle (on straightaway’s). The RPM should be about 9200-9500 at 120mph. I was stuck at about 8500 and 95mph. I ran injector cleaner threw it and 92 octane. To me, that’s stupid fast enough. But it also means there is a problem somewhere. I’m loosing 1000 rpm. Granted, I am 265 lbs. Is weight the problem or is there something else? Some people recommend a clutch kit. I am clueless about clutches. Aaen makes one that converts the Nytro clutch to work like a Ski Doo clutch. I’m already knee deep in spare parts. I’m problably going to spend half of next season adjusting everything. Is this really necessary?

Our '09 Nytro SE pulls a solid 104mph on the speedo which probably equates to a little over 90mph in real life.  I honestly have never heard of a stock Nytro cruising at 120mph.  When is the last time you replaced your belt?  A tremendous amount of power and speed can be lost from a worn belt!

I also have the complete Aaen exhaust system on order, header, silencer and EFI. I want to add the Schmidt Bros air box but I’m holding out right now. Have you had any experience with it?

Finally about ski’s. Waiting for the best for last. I’m running 48 dual (96) carbides and may add more later. I’m assuming this will effect the steering in some way. What information do you need to match up a set of ski’s? What do you recommend?

We have zero experience with any of Aaen's products.  We've found that stud patterns and quantity have very little influence on carbide selection with our skis.  Instead we go by chassis and skid length.  Rule of thumb for a 121" Nytro is a 4" round bar.  A shaper is too much and a 6" bar might be a little much also.  If you insist on something more aggressive, choose the 6" round over the shaper.

I saw the trail performance and drift banging video. Seriously if that was a red and white Nytro, I would swear that was me on the films. It’s like my riding style and similar snow.

So I guess the question is, what ski’s are on “that” Nytro?

That should be enough for now. I already wrote a book. Well, the Nytro has a lot of problems but I’m sure with the right guidance, “I can turn this chunky Yamaha piglet into a razorback”.

Piece out. 

We run Curve XS skis with 4" round bars and a Leading Edge on our Nytro.  The majority of our riding is field/ditch with some groomed trail mixed in.  This is a stellar combination and lets us walk off the machine with a grin from ear to ear - every time.  Without a doubt, the Nytro's and especially the early Nytro's have some drawbacks out of the box.  That said, they can all be tuned out and I feel you are well on your way to a mind blowing setup this season!

.... We would be sad without ours parked in the shop.

- Sean