ice scratcher blues

[catmechanic]

ah, good morning. nothing like beating the dead horse. i get so sick of doing searches and ending up just reading thread upon thread and still not getting an answer.

here's what i want to know. slidekicks, who uses them? do they work as good as a regular scratcher? is anybody still overheating?

there i said it. now hopefully i can get some answers. my big beef is that i finally have a sled with reverse and i actually use it. the last thing on my mind is if my scratchers. i want to be able back up without having to pick up the scratchers.

people say they don't put enough down pressure on the snow to do much good. others say they work great. they are going on an 07 M8 153. thanks in advance.

 

[likkerpig]

My brother and I have them, 06 M for me, 07 M for him. For us they work fine, never had a problem with overheating. For the most part, I think they do ok. I haven't run them on glare ice or very frozen trails before but on groomed/ set up trails they are good enough for us. I will say IF you go that route, I'd red loctite all the threads so the tips don't want to come loose. In the summer, don't leave them in the 'retracted' position either, the cable will want to stay that way. I did that with mine and have gotten them more back to normal but just pushing them forward (instead of backwards, as if you were moving.)

 

[hotshot]

ah,

here's what i want to know. slidekicks, who uses them? do they work as good as a regular scratcher?

.

Heres your answer from someone who has used them. NO, they do not work....and I am not happy with the customer service you get from the manufacture. I would recomend using the "old" traditional style. They work much better.

 

[catmechanic]

so we have one yay and one nay. continue folks......

 

[tripleXP]

just go with what works..regular ice sratchers..don't be lazy, and forget to pull them up when you reverse; you'll only make that mistake once, then you'll be retracting them when you do reverse! why are you reversing on packed trails anyways? reverse on many sleds is just used for unloading...

 

[Mtn-Track]

The tips fall off and they vibrate the running boards....

My .02c

 

[catmechanic]

ok, 1 yay and 3 nay. its not that i back up on packed trails and stuff. i know a lot of guys that just leave them down all day. like you said, i think i would only forget once.

 

[sledheadjake]

My first set of slide scratchers broke within a mile.I called the company and they just had me take pics of the broken scratchers and e mail them to them.They then sent me a new pair i have nothing but good things to say about the company that makes them and the product the new set they sent me have worked great.The reason the first set broke they said they had a few sets with problems.They dont put asa much down force as traditional scratchers but they still have enough to do the job, my seld has ran cool.

 

[tpollon2]

The second generation work fine.

 

[yz400ex]

I will not own another sled w/out them.. I see a HUGE difference when running them. Keeps the temps way down.. I have plenty of down pressure with mine..As long as they are installed correctly, torqued to spec and loctite used I dont see why there would be any problems.. Only issue I do have is they dont like staying up on the rail when not needed, but thats not big deal since its not necessary ti flip them up anyway. The nice thing is you can jump on and off the trail at any point and ride all day with never having to worry about flipping them up. I would highly recommend these!!

 

[MORSNO]

We run both styles. I have Holz traditional spring style on my 07 D7 and my wife has Slidekicks on her 2010 RMK 600. We do run some packed/groomed trails and both engine temp gauges run 118-126 degrees. I would say that both styles work in normal snow conditions if installed correctly. If you are riding on hard ice packed trails, well of course the spring style will chip up more ice (this is a mountain riding forum right, what are you doing on ice?).

The Slidekicks work to cool the engine, lube the hyfax, won't tear up your trailer decking, and will allow unlimited use of reverse.

 

[Jaynelson]

I run the traditional style....mine are the "over the top" brand that summitseeker on this forum sells. Would definetly recommend. They've been on my sled for 3 years now, no problems....works great. I pretty much leave them down whenever I'm on anything resembling a trail. I also take jumps and sidehill off the side of the trail as often as possible, go through deep powder, whatever....no big deal. I've never backed up over them because I don't parallel park my sled very often....I have no idea how people spend so much time in reverse on a mountain sled. Never had the slidekicks....can't comment there.

 

[MtnMaxMod]

i've broken 3 sets of traditonal ice scratches on 3 seperate rides. all within the first 5 miles. no i didn't go off the trail or anything, just normal trail riding.

now i run sideklicks, i have yet to try them out yet..but my dad has them on his sled and he leaves them down all day..his sled never heats up and his hyfax still look like new.

so i guess they work.

 

[snow addict]

I dont like the traditional, because they brake to easy, i have broke 5 of them in the last season, I was just riding trails. I like to play around on the side of the trails, and hate having to put them up every time i want to do somthing. I have the slidekicks now and just leave them down all the time, they do not have as much presure as the traditional but they do fine

 

[0neoldfart]

Slideclicks not for me...

I used a set on the M1K and the M8, couldn't get them to stay put on the rail when not in use, the cable sheathing falls apart quickly, and you loose tip pressure. I went back to the conventional style scratcher - they stay put and do thier job. I bought my slideclicks at the ASA show, the distributor wasn't interested in returns or exchanges when I called...

 

[TGZ-Tsunami]

If you could get the cables to stay inplace then they might work. We have a problem with them rotating adn then the done work at all. Went through two sets of highfax last year and dont ride much trails.

 

[sunbather1969]

sat and watched

so a poker run passed us on the trail and 90 percent had the slide kicks on doing actually nothing they were all down and rotated so the carbide was doing nill. behind my machine with traditional you better stay back aways they work just have to remember when backing, like said you'll only do it once

 

[Mtn-Track]

Try this....

 

[zx800x]

That should work.

 

[Jaynelson]

i've broken 3 sets of traditonal ice scratches on 3 seperate rides. all within the first 5 miles. no i didn't go off the trail or anything, just normal trail riding.

You must have installed them in the wrong place....because that is defiently not normal. I would gues you installed them somewhere that the suspension scissors on them when it compresses. I have hit jumps, drops, ridden double with my girl, you name it with the scratchers down and they have 1300 miles and counting....