sway bar consensus

[Going West]

Sway bars are for the trial, throw that thing in the bush. I rode the first day with it due to just picking the sled up the morning of the ride, took it off for the next 3 days and thought it was much nicer. I didnt notice all that much difference on the trail either, but we dont race down the trail.

 

[m1kflyingtiger]

Just got my first ride in on my '13 Pro. My previous ride was a '10 M8. First thing I noticed were the trail manners. Awesome, never had that kind of stability through the whoops and cornering was great! Then I leaned slightly to lift a ski, nothing happened, granted I'm on a trail but i wasn't impressed. Got to the pow and it was waste deep and no base. Still wasn't anywhere near as responsive as my M was. My buddy who bought it from me was riding with me and.........well you get the picture. Pulled the sway bar this morning. Somebody said to adjust the shocks after removing the sway bar???? Why is this necessary?

There's a lot you can do to make the sled more responsive without screwing up the spring tension of your front suspension. Set the rear track shock up as recommended in the manual for your weight ready to ride. Then if you want more response add preload to the front track shock. Less response remove preload. It only requires little adjustments. When fine tuning mine I normally do 2-3 full threads tops. When I was trying to figure out where I wanted it I would go bigger moves like 1/4-1/2 inch just to see how much difference I was making. Also start with your handlebars pulled back to the point where they directly line up with the steering post. I, and a lot of buddies, felt the sled was too planted and unpredictable with the bars too far forward causing us to use not use enough effort at first, then over ride the sled by using too much effort to compensate.

I'm pretty sure it's posted in this thread already but the front shocks are spec'd out for the sled with a certain poundage of spring pressure. That weight comes from a combination of the spring, sway bar, and borrowed spring from the other side. When you remove the latter two from the equation your front shock spring is operating WAY out of its designed range. Either it's way to soft from start to finish and doesn't compress/rebound at the proper rate, or you over pre-load to make up for this and have a spring that's already 2/3 through its useful travel before it starts to move.

 

[550iq]

550iq.
Can I get some of what yer smokin'? unhook one side is the same as taking the sway bar out. A sway bar linked to only one ski is no sway bar!!! It's a little pivoting rod attached to one a arm!

I know. We have been experimenting with sway bars since the mid-eighties. I just do not understand why folks ask about whether you need swaybars or not without experimenting for themselves. What works for you, may not be what works for me. 550iq.

 

[icerider600]

I had a quick disconnect on my XP and it worked good,if I remembered it! I guess I am so use to throwing the big XP around that I am still tipping my Pro on its side without even trying Just like one of the guys said, what works for me, might not work for you. All in your taste for the way your our Pro handles, yank it out and try it, if ya dont like it put it back in, its as simple as that.

 

[Vfrtrader]

also first day with stage 4. Rips good. Better then etec on bottom and mid. Etec still pulls harder IMO on top.

So, you are saying that a stock E-tec pulls harder than a stage 4 pro?

 

[Coleniuk]

Pulled the Sway bar on my 12 Pro, Used to ride a M Series with no Swaybar, going out riding this weekend. I will get back and comment with my findings!

 

[mrquick68]

This is true. This suspension was designed for usage w/ a swaybar. Due to the arc of the suspension travel and the speed it travels within its arc, the sway bar is of a higher necessity than it is in an XP or an M (which don't have swaybars). The XP suspension works fine w/out a bar, and that's mostly due to the fact that its suspension arc speed lends itself to peform adequately w/out the bar. It maybe possible to custom valve your shocks so that it works correctly w/out a bar, but noone to my knowledge has approached a solution like this yet.

FYI - i have NEVER owned a sled and kept the swaybar in, so we'll see if i do this, but all the other sleds i've owned had suspension that worked fine with or w/out a bar. The Pro is a different animal. Plus is super tippy to start with anyway where an XP was a bitch to pull up in comparison.

Haha!



The pro chassis is so easy to initiate a turn that i couldn't see pulling it especially with the stock shocks. I also believe that these shocks are not built for running it without a sway bar. Sure you can crank up the spring but when you do that the sled doesn't have enough rebound control.

The raptors and exits are built for running no sway bar because of the purpose built valving and they can control the slow speed compression .

I'm a big fan of yanking sway bars. My daily driver (05 tacoma) has no sway bar because it articulates better that way but i have coil overs built for that.

 

[FatDogX]

From what I've seen and heard, if your going to pull the sway bar you should really consider re valving the existing shocks or upgrading the shock completely. The stock shocks are set up for a sway bar and once you remove it, one should make the shock change / upgrade to compensate for the change.

Some guys will crank up the pre-load on the springs, but really just limiting the capabilities of the shock.

For example, with a sway bar removed the sled will feel more nimble side to side but all your really doing to collapsing the shock easier.

Now take it one step further and put the sled on a side hill. While side hilling, without a sway bar the shock will be collapsed more (less travel). As you traverse the side of the hill and happen to strike an object like a tree, rock or just hard snow, there is less shock travel to absorb the hit. this translates to a heavier hit that is transferred through the sled and ultimately to you.

Now if you have the sway bar in or removed and shocks upgraded, your maximizing what the shock is capable of. The sled is on edge (sidehill) with more shock travel being utilized.

Anyways, that's what I've come across and have been told, hopefully that makes some sense. ha ha

In a nut shell, stock shocks equals sway bar in. Sway bar out equals doing some kind of shock work to compensate.

 

[Dirty10]

sway bar

Just remove one side of the sway bar. Then one can have the best of both worlds. 550iq

now thats funny!!! a man with a since of humor..

 

[Norway]

Just got my first ride in on my '13 Pro. My previous ride was a '10 M8. First thing I noticed were the trail manners. Awesome, never had that kind of stability through the whoops and cornering was great! Then I leaned slightly to lift a ski, nothing happened, granted I'm on a trail but i wasn't impressed. Got to the pow and it was waste deep and no base. Still wasn't anywhere near as responsive as my M was. My buddy who bought it from me was riding with me and.........well you get the picture. Pulled the sway bar this morning. Somebody said to adjust the shocks after removing the sway bar???? Why is this necessary?

Had similar experience between my pro and buddys M. His was easier to lean over specially when initiating a downhill U-turn. He would just lean a little to the side while countersteering ever so slightly, then tap the break and it just fell over.

Took out my swaybar and could copy that turn-move a lot easier, but it did suffer in the trees with diving. Steep decents were a challenge.

In the end I believe it is a complete setup, but that M still has some things going for it...

Oh, and 550iq; disconnecting the swaybar on just one side has to be the dumbest mod ever! You end up with stock handling on one side and super soft on the other

 

[Going West]

Is there something different with the 2013 suspension calibration/mounting (front or back). It seems the front of the sled is very planted this year compared to the 2012's I rode last year. In fact I also noticed that my 09 M series is easier to hold a steep slop on blown out hard snow then the RMK, the M seemed to have a easier tip up and required less effort to hold it up in these situations. I found this really odd b/c last year I was really impressed at how effortlessly the RMK did this.

Where do you need to run the bars on these sleds, right now I have them straight up, on the M sereies cats I ran my bar about 2" forward.

 

[m1kflyingtiger]

Always start in line with the steering post.

 

[Woodsrider]

Norway

I believe that there is only one sway bar and that IQ 550 was suggesting that unhooking one one drop link will in fact render it inactive on both sides. Understand that some have used a quick pin in place of one bolt. Drop link would have to secured with tape wire tie are clamp.

 

[crf118r]

Norway

I believe that there is only one sway bar and that IQ 550 was suggesting that unhooking one one drop link will in fact render it inactive on both sides. Understand that some have used a quick pin in place of one bolt. Drop link would have to secured with tape wire tie are clamp.

I think he was just kidding...

 

[AaronBND]

I came off of an M for the last few years and think that this '13 Pro is harder to throw over too. I have played with the shocks, but have not tried pulling the sway bar yet hoping I could get it dialed in. I have my ski shocks set at a loose spring and a couple threads of pressure, my front skid shock about 3-5 threads below the adjuster and the rear skid shock set at the 180-200lb setting. All of this is with the weight off of course. I have 60 miles on it now. I have jumped on my buddies new Pro-Climb and it is night and day easier to carve and pull over. What is going on here? Now we have guys saying the '13 seems way firmer than the '12. Do you guys that think this sled is so easy to throw around know anything different or am I just loosing it? I just know I have to say I really am impressed with my buddies Pro-Climb so far. Just sayin'................. I would love to get this thing more nimble though. I will be following this thread hoping someone has some valuable input.

Aaron

 

[buckshot]

I did my own version of mountainhorse's mod above. It is no good to do this because if the ski with the connected side is down and the opposite side hits a bump then the end of the sway bar and bend the 2 tabs all up....if anything you need to disconnect both sides.

 

[smoothdawg]

I have just recently purchased a 2013 pro as well. I have tried sway bar removal and front shock adjustments with little to no effect. The 2013 pro feels very planted in the front end. What do i need to adjust to make it pull over or initiate side hilling/turnin easier. I am 6ft 3in tall. I am thinking about adding a bar riser but have been told you actually lose leverage with the taller heigth. Would cranking the front spring in the rear skid down help? I was thinking I would try this but worry about the negative effects of trenching during hill climbing. Need help from some suspension proffesionals here. Thanks.

 

[gman086]

I came off of an M for the last few years and think that this '13 Pro is harder to throw over too. I have played with the shocks, but have not tried pulling the sway bar yet hoping I could get it dialed in. I have my ski shocks set at a loose spring and a couple threads of pressure, my front skid shock about 3-5 threads below the adjuster and the rear skid shock set at the 180-200lb setting. All of this is with the weight off of course. I have 60 miles on it now. I have jumped on my buddies new Pro-Climb and it is night and day easier to carve and pull over. What is going on here? Now we have guys saying the '13 seems way firmer than the '12. Do you guys that think this sled is so easy to throw around know anything different or am I just loosing it? I just know I have to say I really am impressed with my buddies Pro-Climb so far. Just sayin'................. I would love to get this thing more nimble though. I will be following this thread hoping someone has some valuable input.

Aaron

On the first day on my Pro I was cursing my decision as I could run circles around it with my buddy's M8. Then I turned up the front skid shock (or center shock as I call it) spring pressure (to about an inch of threads showing) and PROBLEM SOLVED!

Also I've ridden a half season without the sway bar and can honestly say the Pro NEEDS it UNLESS you get stiffer aftermarket springs because the sled will dive horribly. Honestly with it in you really don't notice it and if you can't carve with it then you need lessons. All of my Doos have them out so I'm not biased one way or the other!

Have FUN!

G MAN

 

[RMK935VA]

I talked to a good friend of mine who is a great rider (former Snocross racer). He rode a 13 Pro without a sway bar in it last weekend and he claimed that it was horrible in all conditions, especially descents. The stock shocks were going all of the way through their stroke when he had the sled on its side before even encountering a bump. He fought the sled through every maneuver. He said that it turned it into a tank slapper when going through other sleds tracks on climbs too. I had enough of that with my Dragons to know that I never want to repeat that experience. I will never remove my sway bar based on his report. I like the way the Pro handles. I do think that the 13 is a little harder to get on its side than my 11 was. I attribute that to the geometry change resulting from the new Lower A arms.

 

[kda1966]

stiffen the center shock and or lengthen limiter strap ie drill new holes