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AD Boivin ZX2 Durability & Performance Log

kinger said:
Somtimes I wish we didn't have these forums I keep worrying about mine loosening up and stuff and never had a issue. I have installed it and never looked back but now were heading on the 600 back pack trip so I will try to bring the TQ wrench cause I don't want anything to loosen up on me!

I'm about 90% happy with the skid I think i can adjust out the last 10%



I would have most likely lost two bolts if it was not for these forms. Like many things with my Apex, they will not apply to 95%-99% of the people on here but to the remainder it will and we will be able to help each other out.... :rocks:
 

Put on 80 more miles tonight. I moved the front shock back to all the way loose. I am still trying to find that balance that will allow me to absorb bumps softly yet allow my to pound through without bottoming out.

I checked the limiter strap tonight and tightened it up some and have no idea what Jeff was talking about as there is no change. It is still able to move on the shaft. I guess I need to pull the washers and nuts out and take a look.

I tried adjusting the track by measuring the back wheels as mentioned in another post. I still am getting a vibration. It is only on hardpack that I notice it. In the powder I do not feel it.

Skid is getting closer to 1,000 miles. I have been trained with my old skid to expect something to break. I am getting nervous as I am riding this one even harder...

One of the rear wheels has a small chunk or two out of it. Nothing worth replacing yet but I will keep an eye on it.
 
Kevin Garceau said:
A few weeks ago I was sold on this suspension for next year - now Im beginning to wonder


I wouldn't write it off by any means. If this skid does not brake I will be happy. Just some minor issues that need to be worked out.
 
Finally got to ride the ZX and I have to say compared to the pro action it was a joy to ride. I'm set on 2 and 5 and preload at 6. Hit some big drifts on the lake that would have made me loose control on the old skid. ZX handled them quite well. Way less ski pressure than the pro action and thats a good thing.

Put about 50 miles on mostly groomed trails and the only real issue I have is it bottoms the track out on the rear exchanger the odd time. Not a big problem but I had to put larger protectors on the exchanger because the studs hit the exchanger and messed the fins up a bit. No leaks (knock on wood)

It wasn't the groomed trail that did it or pounding the lake. It was running a ungroomed connector trail at slow speeds over big moguls! Also at the bottom of gully's at speed. You know where gravity pushes the whole sled down as you round the bottom and head up the other side. Going to try 7 preload to see if that helps.

All in all the sled seems way better balanced. It is no where near as harsh as the pro action and it doesn't bottom out the way the pro action did either.

Happy so far!
 
About 1,270 miles on the skid.

Hose pieces in the revolver are shot! I put in the bumpers Jeff sent me. I need to find a better solution.

One mounting bolt was backed out pretty good. I am glad I caught it before my 360 mile ride on Sat. All other bolts in the skid are good.

I bottomed out with the preload at 4. Bumped the preload up to 5 and still managed to bottom out. Only once though, and I am not upset about it. The skid handled some nasty stuff.

Rode 140 miles with some nasty 4"+ moguls. Durability will surely be tested. Time will tell.

I wish I would have got video of a secton on Sunday that consisted of 6-12" moguls. It was incredible how the suspension worked through them without bottoming.

Limiter strap is still moving. I pulled the bolts off and did not find any differences in the washers as Jeff suggested there were.

Started throwing track clips this weekend. I contribute this to my riding style.

I looked for the rubbing/vibration cause for probably a good 15-30min and have no idea what is going on!!! Will someone please find what the issue is.

So far so good. I am happy with it minus the rubbing/vibration!
 
One suggestion that I have regarding replacing the rubber bumpers is to use rubber gas line hose, as opposed to the vinyl ones that you used. The rubber gas lines have cords within the material for added strength, and most likely, durability. Maybe another piece of tubing could then be slid inside of this piece of hose to prevent "squishing".

I haven't checked my bumpers since replacing them, but I intend to do this when I have to replace them next time.

Has anyone recently received a replacement set of rubber bumpers from AD Boivin? Just curious to see if they have been updated/upgraded in anyway and curious to hear what AD Boivin's response is regarding the premature failure in these parts...accusing the rider of ruining them when changing pin positions is not acceptable imo.
 
Jeff sent me replacements after I first saw the problem. They are the same soft material. I haven't used them. The gas line is holding up well. His explaination was that they are getting wrecked when taking the pins in and out. I think its poor material choice.
 
I have over 1000 miles on the skid now and the only problem was the 1 bolt that backed out. Installed the replacement, loctite, and torqued.

No problems since then. Rubbers are like new, all bolts and wheels good, and the skid rides awsome.

I have beat the skid up in many different conditions and it rides great.
I have the preload set to 4 and the revolver to 2-4 stock. ( I am 215 without riding clothes) I did try 2-5, was not as good on the smaller stuff, but still rode good. Also tried 6 on preload and was way too much rebound, 5 was ok.

It is a little bit of adjusting to get the track centered, and tension right, but have that set now.

I am very satified with the skid an the service from AD Bovin.

:yam: :4STroke: :rocks:
 
JEff / AD Boivin / ZX2 suspension

Sorry not to be here more often, the reason is simple: We have so many suspension going out, i can't keep up everywhere.

So yes, i apologies for not being here enought like at the beginning.

The rubber issue, everybody seem to make a big deal out of it, but the rubber is only there to keep the noise down. Yes the rubber for some guys is to soft but 90% of the peoples don't have issue with it.The one that did have issue, receive from me new pieces. Denis is working on a harder compound of rubber. i should have the final result next week.

Mike, your noise that you are looking for and the track guide that you are loosing, i will tell you again, it is you track with 1 clip every 3.
i told you earlier when you brought this up to me that your vibration problem was from your Track.

The bolt problem that make you lose your spacer (no bolt= no spacer or washer) is from the bolts supplier. we bought the bolts with locktite already on it to make sure all bolts would have locktite in the production but the locktite use from the bolts factory was not as good as the one we use directly from locktite. so there is your bolt problem. peoples think they broke some bolts but in reality, they came loose firts, lost there strengh and then brake if they broke. the guys that cut it in time only add a loose bolt. They red locktite it back up and they are fine now.
We send all of you guys a recall to check the torque of the bolt and if any of them come loose, red locktite all of them (M-10 bolt) back and torque it to 50 foot/pound.

About some difficulty aligning the track, i have no report here about this.
Alain at the Factory use the distance between the rear axle and the spacer behind the wheel in front of the 8 inch wheel.
If this distance is equal, then you only need to fine tune. you should be pretty much on the money there.

if your track is to tight, or if the weather is really warm or just coming out of the heated garage. The front rail may make a little noise until the track free itself up (cold) or you re-adjust your track tension.

i will read more post to help you guys out. i sure hope i help some of you.
 
Without the stops it seems we will also get an extra 1/2" of transfer and coupling as the pins will move further correct? May not be a bad thing after all.

I am installing a new track this week that is fully clipped and will report back on whether or not the vibration still exists.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Jeff! I am glad things are busy.
 
I'm around 1000 km on the skid now. Preset at 5 2-4. I was able to really test the skid out on the lake on Sunday big wind blown snow drifts. Never bottomed out and I never felt out of control. ;)! I remember with the stock skid last similar conditions I was getting bounced all around. No problems to date. Question If I set it to 2-3 would this create more ski lift from a dead start. Not that it's practical or useful it just looks cool. :Rockon:
 
I have my settings at 1/4 at the revolver, preload at 5, limiter stock 1/3. I ride rough trail all the time, have got 1200 kms on the ZX-2 so far. No problems encountered. I check all bolts once a week. None have come out, a few have come down on tork but not by much, on the ones affected it takes only 1/16-1/8 turn to reach 50 Ft/Lb or 68Nm.

I often ride trails with 1-2 ft moguls and the skid only bottoms out occationally like it should. The only negative so far is the lack of rebound dampening. When running preload at 5 to hinder bottoming and to get a softer ride over the small stuff the spring force need more rebound dampening. It is not that it will kick me in the back like the Proaction did, but the rear end is coming off ground and I have lost control over the sled a few times as a cause of that. A stiffer rebound valving would fix this, and would make this skid even better than it already is.

The ZX-2 is actually a very decent deep snow skid. I have been out riding with a bunch of Polaris guys all running mountain suspensions. They commented on how well the RX-1 rode in the deep stuff. I had no problem following their tracks, nor did I have any problem riding outside of their tracks :)

Bottoming out have caused the studs I run to rub the rubber charge tube hose between turbo and precooler, the rear heat exchanger, the exhaust and part of the rear bulkhead frame. I did not have these issues with the Proaction suspension. I have added 7 millimeters of slider material to the tunnel protectors, it is not rubbing the rear heat exchanger anymore, still touching the charge tube ocationally.
 
I havea full 1100 miles on the skid now.

My settings are rev 1/4 and preload 4 and stock limit strap positon. I weigh 215.

Maint issues with durability of skid:

NONE, I marked all the bolts and didn't even bring a TQ wrench along on our 600+ mile back trip this last week. I figured if it blew apart I not going to have it in mysled and I would get rid of it. Well NOTHING happened, no loose bolts, no F-ed up rubber bumpers, no bad bogey wheels, no maint issues at all. I'm happy man.

HANDLING:
PERFECT with the revolver transfer on 1, if I lean way back and pull up the bars I may get 1-3" of ski lift other wise shes planted in the corners, I spent more time dialing in the front clicker shocks and never messed with the skid.

On the last 100 miles of our 600 mile trip the trails were whooped out bad and we were so tired and wanted to get home we decided to hit them hard to get back to the cabin as quick as we could. WOW does this skid when riding like that. For the first time in my life I found myself WANTING to hit the bumps, she would bounce a tiny bit otherwise she soaked up the bumps with out me feeling a thing. The guy leading was on a ski doo Sc4 and I was EASILY 40% faster I had to let off because he was running out of steam. I felt great the sled NEVER bottomed although it came dang close once. Even guys behind me said boy that thing really has some travel dont it? LOL

The skid also is feeling better in the small stutter bumps, I think the shocks are fully broken in and it seems to soak them up real nice.

The negatives are that to me its impossible to adjust the revlover on the trail, its gets all iced up from the melting snow off the heat exchangers when parked and you can't even see it much less pretend to make a adjustment. Also get little ice balls hanging off the loops of the pins. Some ice also forms around the the rear idler wheels and seems causing the idlers to rub against the ice, I didn't seem any issues with that hurting anything but it didn't seem real good. I kept looking at all the other skids and they were bare while this one was full of snow.

Overall I'm happy and I feel its 100% reliable now.
 


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