carbides

I just took my front end apart on my 08 rtx, so i can replace all the bushings with the Ulmer racing oil lite pieces, and i took a look at the bottom of my skis. Ive got the 4" round bar carbides on, and the whole front of the bar is worn down to almost nothing, and the rear hardly looks like its touched the ground( besides the fact that its a little rusty). Is that normal ? Could this be a reason why my sled is super twitchy on hard pact surfaces ? The reason im replacing all the bushings is because everything is real loose of front, and i know that its contributing to the darting up front, but if something is wrong with the angle or pressure on the skis up front, i certainly want to fix that too. I hate to say that i had better luck with the stock skis and dual runners, maybe not so much in powder, but on hard pact trails, it was alot more stable in a straight line.

Oops, didn't see this!  Sounds like your rubbers are a bit worn out causing the skis to dive up front.  You can either pick up some new spindle rubbers or shim under the back on the ones you currently have.

In all honesty, you will be hard pressed to surpass the straight line performance of a stock ski with dual runners on a hard packet trail with our ski and your Nytro.  Having said that, keep in mind you can come real close with toe and suspension setup OR by adding a Leading Edge.  Although Curve XS skis are far superior to stock skis without a dual runner, they are after all a single runner ski and may fall victim to hard packed, grooved trail conditions - especially on the Nytro.

Having said that, I would argue that you'd be hard pressed to take all conditions, trail types and riding styles into consideration and come up with a better performing ski than the XS.  It takes time but our Nytro in its current form is out of this world.

What are your floats set at?

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

Well, the rubbers shouldn't be too bad at that low of mileage actually but to test, you can pick the skis off the ground and see if they droop, stay level with the track or point upward from level with the track.  If the skis droop, I suggest shimming under the rear of the rubber to provide some heel pressure and keep the skis pointing upward.  The Phazer and Nytro are probably the most abusive on rubbers and can wear them out in very little time.  Mostly what happens as you may observe is the rubber begins to pull apart in the center (underneath the spindle bolt) as the front and rear of the rubber ride up on the spindle.

We run the Floats on our SE @ 55psi.... you can try dropping yours down a bit and see what happens.

Let us know what you come up with!

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

Unfortunately on the Nytro and Phazer, the rubber is not 'captive' other than through the center of the spindle.  This results in tension on the center of the rubber as the spindle pushes the two ends apart and consequently, causes slop and droop.  Once you shim under the back part of the rubber, there shouldn't be any further issues - at least concerning our direct experience.

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

You could start with an 1/8" of shim and work up from there.  Remember that shimming will cause the ski to fit very tightly as you are effectively increasing the interference of the rubber with the spindle at the neutral position.  For this, the spindle cannot simply be set into the ski saddle and the spindle bolt pushed through because of hole misalignment.

To install the skis with high spindle rubber interference (after shimming):

1. Pick the spindle off the ground and slide the ski into position.
2. Cock the ski so that the outside saddle bushing somewhat lines up to the hole in the spindle.
3. Take the spindle bolt (don't forget the washer), push it through the ski and work it into the spindle hole a small amount.
4. Lift the ski up and slide a block of wood under the side cut radius on the inside of the ski so that all the weight of the machine is on the block and the carbide is off the floor.
5. The spindle hole should now be very closely aligned with the inside saddle bushing.  Use a hammer to lightly tap the spindle bolt all the way through.
6. Install the washer and torque to the recommended value in the manual.

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com