Track Howl

What do you do if your sled has a terrible “track howl”? This isn’t something that just shows up, it is with the sled from day one. Normally, the track will howl quite loudly at a very specific speed, yet makes much less noise at speeds above and below this. It is caused by a resonant frequency of the track at a certain speed range, and riding the sled at this speed is very annoying.

Two recent examples include the 2005 Yamaha RS Venture and the 2006 Polaris Classic 700. Some of these models will howl at speeds around 40-60 mph.

We don’t have a quick fix for this one; things riders have tried include verifying proper track tension, replacing plastic idlers with rubber wheels, varying approach angles, and ultimately installing a different track. Any one with suggestions, send them in!