# Correct idler wheel position



## jloar (Feb 10, 2010)

I have a couple single cam bows (Martin Cheetah, Diamond Black Ice). Does it matter if the idler wheel is parallel with the string when the bow is at rest? On my Diamond an arrow laid across the left side of the idler wheel (right handed bow) would intersect the string about half way to the peep sight. That just doesn't smell right to me but I can't find any discussion on the topic. I see discussion of the topic regarding dual cam bows but not single cam bows (Mathews excluded). Anyone have any thoughts?


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## Spotshooter2 (Oct 23, 2003)

Cam lean, put your press in a bow press and put some twists on the cable guard side of they yoke on the buss cable. Do this till the arrow lays parallel to the string.


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## dwagoner (Sep 27, 2007)

Spotshooter2 said:


> Cam lean, put your press in a bow press and put some twists on the cable guard side of they yoke on the buss cable. Do this till the arrow lays parallel to the string.


pretty smart for a nebraska guy!! Hes very correct, get that lean out


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## bbloom96 (May 5, 2009)

Typically, it is recommended to have a slight lean away from the riser at rest. The arrow should be about 1/8 inch from the nock at rest. This is due to the fact that when you draw the bow, there is pull on the cable towards the cable guard which will lean the idler towards the guard at full draw.

Brian


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## PB26 (Dec 31, 2006)

You need to check for lean at full draw -- the string should be tracking straight off the wheel and there should be no wheel lean. Usually this means that at rest there is a slight lean where the wheel looks like this \

Lean is inherent in the system. The question is whether it shows up at rest or at full draw. Set the lean to zero at rest, and it will lean at full draw; set it to zero lean at full draw and it will lean a little at rest. All of the single cam gurus agree that you want the zero lean to happen at full draw. You'll see the difference in tunability if you compare the two different set ups.


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## bbloom96 (May 5, 2009)

For the majority of folks that do not have a draw board, set the idler wheel slightly away from the riser like this / at rest so it looks like this |at full draw. If you had it set like this\ at rest, the lean would be worse at full draw because of the cable pull towards the cable slide.


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## jloar (Feb 10, 2010)

Interesting discussion. I'm not sure what to take out of it so far. The idler can either look like / or l or \ at rest and we have proponents of all 3 possibilities so far. Does that mean that there is no definitive answer to the question?


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## Ches (Aug 3, 2009)

jloar
I read the postings that you want the idler at | or / at idle and | at full draw. I always set my Vengeance (single cam PSE) like this | at idle because I didn't have a drawing board (Plan on making one soon). I never set it like / at idele because I didn't know how much past center I wanted the lean. My Vengeance shot BH's out to 40 yds with FP's set this way. My Axe is also set this way and I shoot it out to 50 yards. Good Luck.

Spotshooter 2
I like your explanation, left and right get's confused at times for people. This fits both left and right hand shooters.

Ches.


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## BlacktailBryan (Aug 12, 2010)

My bow, a Lights Out, came from the factory like this \ about an 1/8" right of the nock point. I just assumed that was right since it came that way. After having my shop put new string/cable on it, and several rounds on his drawboard along with some twisting here and there, it ended uo being around 1/8" /, however, now at full draw, its perfectly strait off the idler and down my riser. My bow is 30" A2A, which I believe makes it a little more finicky when it comes to adjusting lean.


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## jloar (Feb 10, 2010)

OK, so an idler that starts out like / will move toward l as the bow is draw. Is that an accurate assessment?


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## BlacktailBryan (Aug 12, 2010)

jloar said:


> OK, so an idler that starts out like / will move toward l as the bow is draw. Is that an accurate assessment?


Im no tuner or anything, but thats how it worked out on my bow.


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## hunter74 (Nov 23, 2007)

blacktailbryan said:


> Im no tuner or anything, but thats how it worked out on my bow.


that is right set the string straight at full draw


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## cloquet (Jan 12, 2004)

I have a SBXT. The guru on the Mathews site said lay an arrow on the left side of the idler ( R hand bow ) and the tip of the arrow should touch the string at about the nocking point. This was back when the SBXT was just out and many owners were having tuning troubles. No more tuning problems, love my bow. Tom.


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## shawn13 (Nov 22, 2010)

jloar said:


> OK, so an idler that starts out like / will move toward l as the bow is draw. Is that an accurate assessment?


 That is correct ! At full draw you want ZERO Idler wheel lean . Then when is at rest it is what it is.
Have someone take a few pics while you are in your full draw shoot stance then you can see what needs done..


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## PB26 (Dec 31, 2006)

jloar said:


> OK, so an idler that starts out like / will move toward l as the bow is draw. Is that an accurate assessment?


Looking at the bow from behind, at rest the idler should lean just a little like this \ and as you draw the bow the bottom part of the wheel moves left (toward the arrow shelf) and the top part of the wheel moves right until it looks like |

A good starting point at rest is to have just the slightest bit of visible lean like \ so that you see a little bit of the string track to the right of the right edge of the string.


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## BlacktailBryan (Aug 12, 2010)

PB26 said:


> Looking at the bow from behind, at rest the idler should lean just a little like this \ and as you draw the bow the bottom part of the wheel moves left (toward the arrow shelf) and the top part of the wheel moves right until it looks like |
> 
> A good starting point at rest is to have just the slightest bit of visible lean like \ so that you see a little bit of the string track to the right of the right edge of the string.


See my bow is opposite of that. Not sure if it has to do with really short A2A or the angle my cable rod is, or both. Not saying mine is correct for everyones bow, just how mine became strait at full draw after many rounds on a draw board.


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## jloar (Feb 10, 2010)

Sounds like the concensus is that the idler should be straight at full draw so do whatever it takes to make that happen. I had an old trailer winch laying around so I'll bolt that onto one end of a 2x8 and mount something to hold the bow on the other end to make myself a drawboard and we'll see where it goes from there. Thanks to those that gave input.


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## jloar (Feb 10, 2010)

Learned the answer to the question last night on the draw board. At least for the Diamond Black Ice you want to start with the idler pointed a little like \ and as you draw it moves to this | (parallel to the string) at full draw.

Haven't tried the Martin yet but I'm guessing it's the same but I'll find out.


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