Broken axel shaft

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My 04 Warrior left me stranded this weekend .The axel shaft broke right at the bearing chain case side.Thought when it happened that it was some thing in the chain case.Did not have enough tools to check and see had to tow it 10 miles making god awful noise I thought for sure it was destroying everything in side.Much to my suprize after I torn in to it tonight that chain case was still in tack.Put wrench on bottom gear and chain spins but axel does not.Has anyone heard of any others breaking.Sled does have 9,300 miles on it but did not think that would ever break.To top it off we were on a small bagger trip parked at the Big Mac bridge and were on are way to the buckhorn lodge.(just down from 43 and trail 88 corner)Thank god my inlaws have a cabin a few miles from adams trail and came and picked me and my dead unit up.Still had fun I think.Almost forgot the grommer stopped and offered to toss it on the sled and haul back to Seney nice gesture but looked a little precarious figured my luck it would fall off.Mike
 
Hey I broke mine this saturday on my way to mackinaw too.90 miles into the trip had to buy a 50.00 sled to put under the track to tow it out of the woods,was no way to tow it otherwise.Snapped right in the center.I have almost exactly the same miles as you.

No funny vibration,wasnt even getting on it just accelerating.Wrecked all kinds of stuff,reverse gear,reverse gear idler,one of my new extrovert drives,upper and lower chain case bearings which were new as well,one of the shift forks.Chaincase is savable.

First time in 4 years the yamaha left me stranded.Rented a zl600 to finish the trip.
 
Guys;

Can you tell if the PTO Side Drive Shaft Bearings were still in good shape when the shafts snapped?
 
Are you guy's STUDDED by any chance?

Just trying to see if their's a pattern here, is it mostly STUDDED sleds breaking shafts...
 
LOL,you might want to trailer past.

I am not studded now but it was before the 1.5" track.My speedo bearing is still good(original).THe chain case bearing was brand new as the upper chaincase bearing went out peviously and took the seal out losing gearlube and the chain got so hot it melted the seal on the chain case cover.

I wonder if the shaft are just geting brittle with age?I seen some guys had the same problem in the apex section a while back most all had higher mileage.You would think the turbo,supercharger guys would be breaking them long before we would.I ordered a new driveshaft from yamaha ,i guess ill just change it at 5000 miles.I know polaris lower chaincase gears fit our sleds,id like to measure one up and see if it would fit.I cant remember ever hearing of a polaris shaft breaking.cats thats a different story.The speedo side bearing is press fit on the newer polaris shafts.
 
The trails were smooth too.Few rocks in the trail,I wonder if one could have picked up by the track and wedged in between.But I didnt hear any kind of noise like that.
 
I'm studded but only have like 120 down the middle.Steve that is weird that we broke the same thing on the same weekend.What is even stranger is I almost called you Friday to see if you wanted to go with us as we had a guy drop out last minute and had rented a cabin and had lots of space never did make it to the cabin.I towed mine makeing god awful noise but did not damage any thing but the shaft.Mine broke 3" in from end on the chain case side.So nothing in the chain case was turning.All my bearings in the chain case were brand new this year.
 
My best guess is that for those who have this problem, there was probably some kind of impact against the driveshaft at some point, weakening it. Either a big chunk of ice fell in and wedged, or it was driven over something like a big rock that hit the drivers hard.
 
I'm quite sure I've hit a few things along my travels.Still don't think it should have broke but I guess it could have been worse.
 
As we all know when on smooth trails that major ice builds in the tunnel. Could it be when the ice lets go, it breaks through the front axle forced in by studs? That combined with a tight tension on the track might be all it takes. Are these breaks clean through or do they have fatigue marks with maybe a bit of discolor or rust? I do know some suspensions tighten the track as they compress which I think is a ZX-2 characteristic. That alone will break the drive axle under compression combined with an overtight track.

I’m curious to know the true cause.

Dan
 
I did just put a hauk exhaust on and noticed more ice build up under the rear of sled.Less heat from the muffler.

I have extrovert drives and my track was pretty loose.Looser than it probaply should have been since the track is all most new and stretched some.

I dont remember hearing anything hit under the tunnel like ice build up.You would think the aluminum of the tunnel would give before a 1.062" shaft of solid steel would,Ill have to look it over good for some fresh marks under the tunnel.

One thing I notice no,or at least very few sleds that the drives break have low miles.Every broken shaft i have seen on this site except one have been over 5000 miles most over 8000.It seems to me that every sled is subjected to the rocks and ice equally.
 
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