Snowmobile ski with alignment points
AssigneeBRP Finland Oy
InventorJyri Välikangas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A snowmobile ski includes front and rear alignment points, which are preferably notches in the outer ribs of each of the skis. The notches facilitate alignment of the skis by receiving the end of a tape measure that is used to measure front and rear distances between corresponding front notches and corresponding rear notches of the skis. In one variant, the notches are equidistant from the skags to further simplify the task of aligning the skis.
Claims24
A method for aligning a pair of skis on a snowmobile, the pair of skis including a first ski and a second ski, each of the first and second skis having a pivot axis, a front portion forward of the pivot axis, and a rear portion rearward of the pivot axis, one of the first ski and the second ski having a front recess at a first location on the front portion thereof, the other of the first ski and the second ski having a front alignment point at a location on the front portion thereof corresponding to the first location, one of the first ski and the second ski having a rear recess at a second location on the rear portion thereof, the other of the first ski and the second ski having a rear alignment point at a location on the rear portion thereof corresponding to the second location, the method comprising:
- measuring a front distance D1 between the front recess and the front alignment point;
- measuring a rear distance D2 between the rear recess and the rear alignment point;
- and
- readjusting the first and second skis to make D1 equal to D2.
A snowmobile ski comprising:
- a base, the base having a pivot axis about which the ski is pivotally connected to a snowmobile, and the base having a central longitudinal axis;
- a front portion forward of the pivot axis;
- a rear portion rearward of the pivot axis;
- a front alignment point in the front portion;
- and
- a rear alignment point in the rear portion, one of the front alignment point and the rear alignment point including a recess.
A snowmobile comprising:
- a frame, the frame including a tunnel;
- an engine disposed on the frame;
- a drive track disposed below and supported by the tunnel, the drive track being operatively connected to the engine;
- a straddle seat disposed on the tunnel;
- a front suspension assembly connected to the frame;
- a first ski connected to the front suspension assembly, the first ski including:
- a first base, the first base having a first pivot axis about which the first ski is pivotally connected to the front suspension assembly, and the first base having a first central longitudinal axis;
- a first front portion forward of the first pivot axis;
- a first rear portion rearward of the first pivot axis;
- a first front alignment point at a first location in the first front portion;
- and
- a first rear alignment point at a second location in the first rear portion;
- a second ski connected to the front suspension assembly, the second ski including:
- a second base, the second base having a second pivot axis about which the second ski is pivotally connected to the front suspension assembly, and the second base having a second central longitudinal axis;
- a second front portion forward of the second pivot axis;
- a second rear portion rearward of the second pivot axis;
- a second front alignment point at a location in the second front portion corresponding to the first location;
- a second rear alignment point at a location in the second rear portion corresponding to the second location;
- one of the first front alignment point and the second front alignment point including a front recess;
- and
- one of the first rear alignment point and the second rear alignment point including a rear recess.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.