Ratcheting?

[foshizzle]

I am going to be loosening my track this weekend, and I am not understanding what this "ratcheting" term means, or what this sounds like. I am at a lost here. I see people talking about loosening their tracks just to the point before ratcheting. HUH? And then I see videos with snowmobiles that the poster says they can hear the ratcheting on the track. First, I cant hear anything in these videos can they usually have some music blasting louder than the snowmobile and even if they didnt have the music, could I actually still hear it? I need to know what this "ratcheting" is so that I know what to be aware of.
Thanks - P

 

[LoudHandle]

Debunking the loose track-Extrovert, Urban Performance Legend / Myth

First, DO NOT loosen your track! You are buying into an urban legend that a loose track is more efficient, IT IS NOT!

"Ratcheting" is when the driver is turning but not turning the track. Which is lost motion / performance and causes premature wearing of both parts. I reposted some reasons why from a previous post I made a year or two ago.

Reposted from years ago;

Running a track that loose is a very popular Urban Performance Legend / Myth (and Avid and others have made a mint by propagating this legend, and pushing their Extrovert drivers), all you do is add drag and allow the paddles to fold over. Let me try and draw a picture of what happens and why the "ridiculously tight, with 10lbs only 1/2",,,, seems too tight" is actually better in both performance and track and hyfax life.

The driver pulls the track from the top and pushes it out the bottom. So when accelerating the track is tight from the tail rollers to the drivers, any slack that you do not take out, is taken up in waves on the bottom where the track meets the snow (much like the Chinese bred Shar-Pei, dog with wrinkled skin). When the track is hitting the snow with these waves, rather than the paddles hitting the snow straight on and biting in, they are often folded over backwards and just slide and slip. You are losing traction, adding drag and friction, accelerating track wear (over flexing it), increasing Hyfax wear, etc.

What would you rather drive on? A washboard country road (running a loose track) or a freshly paved road (running a properly tensioned track)?

While it seems to roll easier when you are dragging it around the shop, in reality it is detrimental in every way. If you really want to gain performance and decrease rolling resistance. Increase driver diameter as well as rear tail roller diameter and tension the track as described in the manual.

Extroverts were designed by lazy people who don't want to do preventative maintenance and marketed as the fix all by those who will blindly take your money and encourage you to spend even more and buy a needed anti-stab kit.

My two cents, hope I explained that adequately for you.

 

[bholmlate]

foshizzle

the term ratcheting refers to the condition when the fingers of the drivers physically jump from window to window on the track without moving the track forward.. it often snouds like a ratcheting wrench when you turn it backwards and in a snowmobile you are more apt to feel the vibration caused by it then hear the sound it makes over the sound of the sled. If you take a stick and stick it in one of the windows in the track and and move stick down the track. the stick pops out of one window and slams into the next window as you pass over it. Now if you think of the fingers on the drives as multiple stick that is spinning at a higher rate then the track is moving the fingers will actually jump out of the windows and slam into the next. I think Loudhandle is making a lot of sense but running your track too tight is as bad as running it too loose. But the main point he made is a good one. run the track at the recommended tension for the best performance.

 

[foshizzle]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

Extroverts were designed by lazy people who don't want to do preventative maintenance and marketed as the fix all by those who will blindly take your money and encourage you to spend even more and buy a needed anti-stab kit..

I think you really should rethink and be a little less polarized in your answers.

ant-ratchets are very necasary given the power/track size of modern mountain sleds. can introvert only run and operate? yes! yes they can! but for the most part your track ends up far to tight and creates loads of rolling resistance.

I am in NO way suggesting to go out and run 4" sag in your track just because it doesn't ratchet. I prefer on 15x and 16x length tracks to tension until i can sneak middle and pointer finger between track and rails. to loose and you get the standing wave in the track as it ripples into the rails squandering power and drive efficiency, but on the same card, too tight and your wasting a LOT of HP merely heating up your track forcing it to bend under way to much tension.


Another thing i think is under considered is track tension in practical suspension cycles. most modern suspensions have a vast amount of tension variation when going through the range of motion. We for the most part only check tension under the completely unloaded portion of the suspension. food for thought.


as for the OP, you can feel ratcheting like crazy, it shakes the crap out of the sled and hear it. its a loud high speed clunking noise accompanied by some mega vibration.

 

[RobertTrivanovic]

Just curious what is more likely to stab, a tight or loose track? I run my track pretty loose with no issues but I would tighten it a bit if that meant it being less likely to stab.

 

[LoudHandle]

Just curious what is more likely to stab, a tight or loose track? I run my track pretty loose with no issues but I would tighten it a bit if that meant it being less likely to stab.

A loose track will stab a lot easier. Here is why; If the track is loose (slack in it) there is nothing to pull the track from the driver, thus a belly forms between the driver and the rail tip. This belly in the track is more easily stabbed by the rail due to it being more perpendicular to the rail tip than a properly tensioned track that does not have any slack in it and can not form the belly between the driver and the rail tip.

If you want to see this for yourself; mount your GoPro or camera of choice pointed at the rail tips and take a run on the flat. Tighten the track until the belly just disappears and it is at that point you are the most efficient. The belly and loose track is actually stealing your horsepower. Sure it rolls around the shop easier but the reality is it costs you power and traction when riding.

 

[bholmlate]

A loose one. As the track is spun off the drivers especially on boosted applications it wants to continue around in a circle but obviously it can't this action actually creates a concave wave in the track directly in front of the rail tips. The more slack in the track the deeper the wave. as the suspension travels the rails move slightly forward and backward. And if you are not careful the wave will form right in front of the rail tips as the rails are moving forwards and rail tip will catch on the window of the track and you now have a stabbed track. You can inspect the plastic rail caps for damage from the track clips to see. if they are damaged you have been very lucky so far not to have stabbed your track. Not a true indicator but if they are scuffed up it means that the track as been beating on them awhile.