Need some more info here...
What I found this year is that there is a balance in the suspension regarding height and handling.
Got suspension mounting tips from Curtis at FTX and "adjusted" these a bit. Put my M-10 lower in the tunnel = higher sled, more clearance I thought.
Also has tall front suspension to match.
What I find is that on steep climbs it is very tippy!! It wants to steer to the sides and send you back down the mountain. The slightest touch of my skis on the snow pushes my front out from the hill, not to good!
I got my height and clearance, but it cost me climbing ability and I think it hurts the sidehilling/laying over in trees etc.
It seems the height coupled with a triple up front makes for a "go/no-go" sidehilling. You either manage to muscle it over, or it dives7tips down again.
My plan for the summer is to look at the bulkhead and see if it is worth re-doing to a lower engine (tubes or something) or just lowering the suspension.
Thoughts/comments?
There is a balancing act between when you have too much clearance and it starts to affect the balance center of the sled.
One of the best things you can do is take scales and balance out the front and rear of the sled. You cant imagine how much better this makes the sled handle and ride.
In my opinion you should never try to gain clearance by moving the suspension down in the tunnel of the sled. Just like you should never try to put a longer track on a sled by moving the suspension back in the tunnel. This creates the situation that you exactly described and creates a odd attack angle on the front on the skid which as everyone knows is terrible for deep snow performance. There is a Gen 2 mod sled on this forum on about the 2nd or third page of the picture thread with a M-10 skid in it fairly far down in the tunnel that has one of the worst attack angles I have ever seen that illustrates this problem to a T.
A drop and roll is a much better solution to gain track clearance in the rear off the sled. However that as well is not without its own issues as it makes the steering effort and the front end handling suffer. The whole thing is just a balancing act, and no two people like a sled to do the same things performance wise out of a sled.
Kinda like how some people like to put edge shocks on the front end of a Gen 2 because it raises the front up, well not only does this raise the sled up and narrow up the ski's its also dangerous because it causes the suspension to bind under certain conditions and makes the shocks more likely to bottom out on drops and jumps. To do this properly you need to move the shock mounts. Or use a dual spring method like the 02 Pro X 440 used. I had this on both of my 00 Gen 2 mod sleds and it raised the front end a couple inches and helped significantly with deep snow performance.