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Media
Coverage -
"Thunder
Shift Kit for Ski-Doo TRA"
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Snow Tech Magazine Oct/Nov 99
The concept of adjustable flyweights
can be applied to the Ski-Doo TRA clutch, even though the TRA doesn't
use flyweights.
Instead, a roller on an arm applies
force against a curvature (ramp) in the cover. Simply another way of
doing the same thing. Anyway, the moveable arm can be purchased
in different materials, as can the pin in the end of the arm. The pin
mass is what Ski-Doo usually changes for high altitude applications.
Instead of having several sets of pins,
all weighing different, why not a hollow pin that's threaded so we can
screw in different fasteners and shims? If this sounds kind of
like a Thunder Shift Kit, it is. The TSK for Ski-Doo includes your
choice of hollow pins in aluminum or steel. The aluminum pins
weigh 3.7 grams each, the steel pins weigh 10.1 grams each. Into
these, you can attach Allen head screws, aluminum bolts, or two
different weights of steel bolts, along with brass, steel, or for you
real nasty horsepower mongers, tungsten shims for even more mass. Your
tuning "resolution" is down to 0.4 grams. Add to this the
assortment of arms & rollers available from Ski-Doo and you can
make almost any mass combo, with different distribution of that mass.
What it boils down to is that the TSK
allows you to run just about any pin mass you could possibly
want or need for your application. The kit comes with complete
instructions and Allen wrenches and a 5x4O thread tap for
installation, along with the pins and assorted bolts and shims.
Don't the adjustable
"clickers" on the TRA allow you to do everything you need
to? If it did, why would there be different ramps, pins,
helixes, and the rest? Snow Tech has found that going back and
forth between Minnesota and Idaho that we can do most all of our basic
tuning with stock clutch components and a TSK. In Minnesota we may run
18 gram pins, in Idaho, 9 gram pins,
or whatever. By slightly increasing the pin mass (similar to
increased "tip" mass on a normal flyweight), you can tune
the shift RPM to a finer degree. Manipulate the tip mass, tweak
the clickers, and you now have more options to dial your clutching in
for whatever the application. If this isn't enough, then you can
get into different arms, rollers and ramps.
On a bone stock '98 Mach 1, we found
that by simply increasing the pin mass from stock 16.4 grams up to
17.9 grams that our track horsepower increased a healthy 3 HP across
almost the entire
curve. It pulls really hard off the line, loading the mighty
Rotax triple, but it'll grunt and accelerate hard. Not bad for
10 minutes of work and $88.00!
Order from just about
every Ski-Doo speed shop on the planet, or from Thunder Products @
320-597-2700. |