What is Trail?

[00-NUKE]

I've had a few PM's asking about the term "Trail" and what it means. Trail is the relation of the Ski Saddle to the Upper and Lower mounting points on the spindle. Trail was originally introduced in snowmobiling to improve darting with trail sleds. I have heard that it helps to track in deep powder as well, but I do not have much experience with this.

Positive
-Reduce Darting

Negative
-Forces steering pivot point to be off center. This adds to steering effort.

I have attached a genaric image of the differences between the stock FX Nytro spindle and the SLP spindle with trail added for clarification.

 

[grizztracks]

I'm assuming stock means 09 and newer spindle. I believe Yamaha added trail to the 09 geometry update which makes the newer sleds have heavier steering than the 2008 models. Any information on the 2008 spindles compared to SLP? I was interested in the aftermarket spindles but I'm beginning to think the 2008 spindles are not all that bad. I don't experience any significant darting or twitchiness with the 2008 geometry, it also handles better with less effort than many of the newer Nytro's that I've rode and I'm a little concerned with lowering the front of the sled with aftermarket spindles like the SLP's. I've already broke a chaincase cover and have taken several hard hits on the Mountaintech skid plate.

 

[00-NUKE]

I'm assuming stock means 09 and newer spindle. I believe Yamaha added trail to the 09 geometry update which makes the newer sleds have heavier steering than the 2008 models. Any information on the 2008 spindles compared to SLP? I was interested in the aftermarket spindles but I'm beginning to think the 2008 spindles are not all that bad. I don't experience any significant darting or twitchiness with the 2008 geometry, it also handles better with less effort than many of the newer Nytro's that I've rode and I'm a little concerned with lowering the front of the sled with aftermarket spindles like the SLP's. I've already broke a chaincase cover and have taken several hard hits on the Mountaintech skid plate.

I'm not sure about the 2008 spindles??? I owned a 2008 and wrecked it before I started any different spindles. Did you do the Ball Joint mod on your 2008? That helped mine when I had it.

As far as running shorter spindles, in most cases a 1 inch drop isn't the factor in underside damage. If you get damage from hitting something, one more inch isn't usually going to save you. The advantages of the lower spindles are worth it. I don't care forthe amount of trail that SLP added to their spindles, but IMO they are still an overall improvement over stock (09 and newer) spindles.

I would also recommend an aftermarket skid plate or at least modify the stock skid plate to remove the ribs that are inline with the oil filter no matter what spindles you use.

 

[grizztracks]

Yes, I did the upper ball joint mod but I'm always looking for improvements. I was set on buying aftermarket spindles but I'm no longer convinced they are what I'm looking for. I know the sled would handle better if I dropped the front an inch or two but with low snow conditions we've had in the past few years there's always junk lurking just under the snow so every inch does matter. Have you ever looked at how low the chain case is with no significant protection?

Because I don't experience much if any darting with my setup the added trail would only add increased steering effort which I don't want. I'm planning on installing the Hygear upper a-arms for the extra adjustment but I think I'll stick with the 08 spindles.

 

[couch]

lost a chaincase on a phaser ... cracked in same spot and didn't even feel the impact. The sub frame really needs some lower protection ... a slight piece of steel on the lower edge would save some heartache.