Tried swapping my snowmobile track for a wider one and it totally changed how it handles in deep powder

I threw on a 1.75 inch paddle track on my '06 Ski-Doo last weekend and now it floats way better in the soft stuff around here in Northern Michigan. Did anyone else see a big difference when they went with a wider track or was it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_anna10d ago

Oh boy, I tried a wider track on my old Polaris a few years back and it pretty much just highlighted how bad my riding skills really are in the deep stuff! Still floats better though, so I'll take what I can get.

sanchez.mia10d ago

I remember reading some article from one of those snowmobile mags a while back that said a wider track can actually mask bad technique at first. It gives you more float so you don't have to work as hard to stay on top, but then you hit a steep slope or a weird drift and it all falls apart if you're not used to it. Made sense to me. You're brave for trying it on an older sled too, @the_anna, those things don't always have the power to spin a big track without bogging down. At least you got the floating part right, that's half the battle in powder. The other thing that article pointed out was that a wider track changes the way the sled wants to turn. Suddenly you're fighting it in the trees because it wants to stay planted instead of carving. Feels like you're wrestling a bear sometimes. Still, if it gets you through the deep stuff without trenching every ten feet, it's probably worth the tradeoff. Just takes a lot more throttle control than you'd expect.