Mountaintech 38" +3" A Arms Test Report

I posted this in the Mountain forum, but decided to post on this forum also because I have never seen a real mountain.....

I received a set of Mountaintech 38" wide 3+ forward A arms with stabilizer bar mounts on Monday. I installed MPI oilite bushings and got everything mounted on the sled. I am extremely impressed with the quality and build design. The ball joints are super heavy duty and make the Yamaha ball joint set up look like a joke. Apparently they are very economical to replace if they ever wear out....unlike a Yamaha ball joint where I paid something like $108 for one from the dealer. Installing them was straight forward like any other A arm. I also received clear and concise instructions....but what guy reads/needs instructions??

While setting up the caster/camber angles a couple of friends of mine dropped by and whipped out their smart phones with these angle apps. Turned out I was getting some whacked out readings that almost made sense, but didn't. I called Mountaintech for some tech support and I was told to get a good old Angle Finder from Princess Auto. I picked up an Angle finder for 10 bucks and got the readings I needed. As for the smart phone, it works great if you have the correct app which the guys didn't have the first time. The correct app is called the Clinometer. It is very accurate to a tenth of a degree. The coolest and most innovative part of this design is being able to adjust caster AND camber quite easily. I have read in sled magazines for many many years about caster and camber angles where manufacturers have played around with it from one year to the next and the spindles have always been fixed in one position. Now one can set the spindles up the way they want. Recommended settings for the Nytro are 23 degrees caster and -1 to -2 degrees camber. My subframe may be slightly tweaked so I can compensate and still get the 23 degree caster sweet spot.

I removed my JRE spindles and put on my stock 08 spindles to really be able to gauge an opinion on how the A arms will affect the sled. My 08 MTX came with a stabilizer bar and I recall many people taking it off completely (mainly true mountain riders). I never wanted to take mine off because my riding is on lakes and bush trails and when I play in the powder in swamps and climbing hydrolines I disconnect the swaybar. So, I am happy I have the option of being able to utilize a swaybar on actual mountain/narrow A arms.

I am taking the rest of the week off to really put these to the test. Tomorrow I will be doing the initial spindle settings and getting all the plastics back on. I will go for a shakedown run and make sure my install holds together. Then I will be taking off to camp with lots of gas for 3 days. They are calling for another snowstorm tomorrow. It was -30C again this morning. The snow is very deep and winter is still going on strong!

I will keep everyone posted.

There's some super deep snow in the Sudbury area....found that out the hard way last night!

are you going to bayshell?

Nice write up thanks for the info. Let us know how you make out.

Pete

Tyloor, not sure when the official Bayshell date is...so if I am working I will turn a blind eye and stay away! I am going to camp this weekend up Onaping Lake.

Back to the garage and I set the caster to 23 degrees and camber at -1.5 degrees. It is pretty easy to do where a full turn of the ball joint would bring it up over a degree on the gauge. I just set it and forget it.

I went for a shakedown this evening with buddy who has an 800 Summit 146 x 2". I immediately hit the powder when we arrived at the swamps and almost killed myself right from the get go. The sled takes much less effort to tip over! I felt like I had to learn how to drive all over again! I couldn't believe that I didn't have to hang off the sled with two feet on the running board to get it lay down. I could carve tight donuts with ease. There is a little bit of a crust a few inches below that made things a little hairy.

My steering effort felt cut in half. I felt like I had power steering because it is effortless. I don't know where that comes from but I will take it. Obviously there is less pressure on the skis so I have to watch the corners a little bit. I need to tighten the limiters to give me a little more ski pressure so I can get some more bite in the corners. I was riding single lane extremely rough bush trails so there isn't much room for error.

I did drag race the Summit 800 a couple of times. He took me out of the hole but I quickly reeled him in. There wasn't enough of a stretch, but I easily have more top end and could have walked right by. I was impressed with that too! Last year, he would blow me away in all aspects. This year is a totally different story. We traded machines and I didn't like it at all. I was happy to get back onto the Nytro.

So far, a short little ride was very impressive! I am heading to the camp for 3 days tomorrow morning and will put the front end to the test.

I heard it's next weekend (April 5th)

Great write up! I am rockin the trail kit, sure changes the sled. This is the front end Yamaha SHOULD have made.

Well, I did a couple of hundred kilometres on the weekend. I guess I logistically could have done more, but I wasn't into doing high mileage. When you go out and tear up the shorelines, bays, swamps carving and doing donuts...you don't really rack up the miles.

Again, I found the machine much easier to flick and predictable. Steering effort is greatly reduced. I did tighten up the limiters to get more bite so I could take corners with confidence. Usually I unhook my stabilizer bar and soften my front shocks when playing in the powder. Call me lazy, but I didn't feel the need to do so because carving was very easy. My front shocks are set at 85 psi and 50 psi in the reservoirs so they are set pretty stiff.

My only issue with my sled is the skid can't keep up to the speed I am taking the moguls. My skid shocks are baffed and the rear bucks me all over the place. It would be impossible to drive while sitting down. The front end hammers the bumps and corners extremely well (for being a narrow kit), but the skid is just not working. So, I need to find some rebuildable shocks and install a Star suspension kit. My skid is identical to an XTX but longer. That is next season's plan if all goes well.

It is weird to see the ski tips sticking further out while driving...I guess I will get used to that eventually. It is something that really stands out to me being so used to the skis tucked back 3 inches.

Much of my riding is on lakes and I have about a 15 km ride up the lake to the camp on a lake that is about 40 miles long. The machine is very stable on the lake at high speed. I remember the days when my sled was just plain scary to drive and I honestly hated to drive it. I just wouldn't admit it to anyone! I installed JRE spindles to lower my centre of gravity and that improved things greatly.

The Mountaintech A arms are definitely a huge improvement over stock. I can drive the sled with stock spindles which really says a lot! I also really like the look of the A arms. They really look trick. Several people checked out my sled and it was fun getting into spindle/castor/camber discussions. They think I am some kind of expert...imagine that!

Love or hate the Nytro. I really love mine. I really like the look, I like the feel, I like the sound, I like the power, I like the mods. I now can really drive this machine vs the machine driving me.

I went to camp on my days off and burned lots of gas. Powder is gone, but there is still lots of snow in the bush and a ton of ice on the lake. Conditions are pretty slushy. I found a rebuilt rear clicker shock rebuilt by Star Suspension and installed in the skid. I was able to hammer through the moguls much better and the front end remained stable and cornered nicely. I was able to double jump moguls and land with confidence. Front end is point and shoot. I still can't get over how easy the steering is now. It has to be because of the Caster/Camber settings. I am getting zero darting also. I am running with the ski spacers on each side of the ski so it is narrow. I can't expect extreme stability with narrow a arms, but when I was running stock spindles with stock a arms, I could barely drive the thing without killing myself. Totally different now. I forgot to mention earlier that I am running my stock steering rods.

I am glad I got to keep my stabilizer bar. This time of year there is no more powder and all my riding is high speed lake running and rough trails. I have the Star Suspension kit arriving this week so I will be able to hit the moguls even faster and I don't have to worry about a twitchy front end.

Too bad they are calling for a pile of rain tomorrow and Monday. They were initially calling for 30cm of snow. I knew it was too good to be true. I am far from letting go of winter.

I can honestly say I am extremely pleased with the Mountaintech front end. I have beaten it, jumped it, pounded it and everything is holding together fine. My sled is modded out and I have basically run out of things to do to improve handling. I guess now I can spend time tinkering with different camber/castor settings (because I can), shock pressures, suspension settings etc. The best part of doing that is....it's free.

What a difference it is compared to when I first bought the sled bone stock.

Good to hear. You will get use to skis being further forward. You should hop on a sled with Skinz +4.5, I actually wish mine were back around the +2.5-3 range.

Nikolai said:

Good to hear. You will get use to skis being further forward. You should hop on a sled with Skinz +4.5, I actually wish mine were back around the +2.5-3 range.

Click to expand...

I agree. During development I found 2.5"-3" to be the sweet spot.

Well, it is a sad day today....it was my last weekend to ride and loaded the sled in the trailer this evening for the last time this riding season.

Nothing much to add other than I played around with shock pressures a dropped them down to 65psi and set the torsion spring to the softest setting. Hammered on the moguls again in the bush and did some stretches of open water on the lake. I can't imagine driving with a stock front end.

Today was all high speeds (if you can say 150kms/h is high speed). Normally with stock front end you really need to pay attention but I feel much more in control with the forward front end at high speed especially. I can ride standing up and even turn around to look back while going fast. I could never do that in stock form...way too dangerous.

Put on about 160 kms today.