2007 Apex MTX

[←snow∞motion→]

Bought a new 2007 Apex from the dealer and took it out finally. It's bare stock, exactly as it comes from Yamaha, and it seems good but I noticed a couple of things.

I've been riding a 1997 Exciter, and obviously the way you ride is very different, but I'm concerned about two things.

First, I got into some REALLY deep powder and the track stopped moving, in fact I smoked a belt trying to get the belt to even move. It wasn't iced up, it was just packed with snow, but the 150 HP motor that Yamaha advertised wouldn't even move the track. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong?

Second, it is REAL hard to steer. I mean really hard to steer. If the sled isn't moving it barely will move, and when I'm moving I can really feel it in my shoulders and arms, and I feel I'm having to really man-handle the sled to steer. Again, is this normal? Is there something I can do to fix this or at least make it better?

I've been reading the forum and I have found lots of things that I would like to do eventually when I recover from the initial purchase (cough) but I would like to make it at least enjoyable until then.

Thanks in advance, you guys are a plethora of knowledge.

Ed

 

[mud99]

Something is not right, you can definitely spin the track no matter how much snow is in it. Did you by any chance melt the sliders? I have heard of people getting the sliders so hot that the track sticks to them, and "glues" itself in place. Not likely to happen in powder, but if you rode for a few miles on trails with no snow in the skid, it could happen.

As far as the steering, this is normal for the factory setup with lots of ski pressure. The best mod I have done so far is to drill a 3/8" hole 1" up on the rear drop brackets, and remount the suspension there, which takes off a lot of the ski pressure. I have aftermarket drop brackets, but it should work as well on stock.

Doing this totally changes the way the sled rides, you will have to lean into the corners like riding a bike, it will pop the skis up when you hit the gas. I prefer it in general but high speed trail riders might not, it can be twitchy at high speed.

Mark

 

[mud99]

BTW, please put your location into your profile, it is required.

 

[←snow∞motion→]

Thanks for the reply,

I hadn't even been on the trail for a while, just playing in the deep stuff, until I got into the REAL deep stuff. Maybe it happened when I was trying to break myself loose.

As far as the steering, it sounds chinese to me, maybe I'll look for an aftermarket replacement to move the skis back.

Thanks again.

 

[Koby]

Drilling holes in a brand new machine may be a little hard to chew down.

You can set your front shocks to the middle ledge or to 60 psi if there fox floats. Then drop your limiter strap to the longest setting.

The track getting stuck to the point that you burn a belt is pretty wild. Never seen or heard of it.

 

[←snow∞motion→]

Yeah, I know. This thing was supposed to be the big dog, and I never got the track stuck on my Exciter.

 

[RX1MountainMan]

My bet is that you maybe sucked a rock or something and bound it up...had that happen once on the old T-Cat...

 

[WakeGD]

Increase the preload on the rear skid front shock and that will help reduce the steering effort.

 

[←snow∞motion→]

Increase the preload on the rear skid front shock and that will help reduce the steering effort.

How far should I increase it? Just a little bit?

Thanks for the reply

 

[WakeGD]

I maxxed mine out as far as preload goes. I'm about 210 with riding gear. I also have my limiter strap all the way out, but I'm thinking of going in one position to decrease wheelies while hillclimbing (because of me being boosted).