09 XTX Broken Limiter Strap Destroyed my suspension

[Beenba]

On the third day of our sled trip now, and last night coming into North Bay I heard a loud slapping coming from under my track. Tore my front 2 limiter straps...not very happy. It would have been fine if the only damage was to the limiter straps, but once the straps broke, it allowed my rear shock to hinge around and lock up. Bent and broke both the metal supports that run along the shock, and shredded my shock hose leaking fluid everywhere.

Managed to make it 150km into North Bay and am currently waiting on the local dealer to deliver me some parts. I ended up removing the entire shock assembly, and using a rope to tie the skid compressed so the springs wouldn't pop out from their holders.

I cant believe Yamaha would design such a single fault condition with their skid. $9 limiter strap breaks and will end up costing me $600. Very bad engineering IMO.

Has this happened to anyone else? I know there has been a lot of talk about these limiter straps. The trails weren't even that bumpy, and we weren't riding very hard either...

 

[canoehead]

I noticed in the second pic you have moved your front idler wheel from original location and you've isolated the spring mount. I realize that's a 2011 config. It's a little blurry but your rear skid mount drop bracket looks funky also. Any possibility these changes might have had something to do with this problem. I know some have had problems with their straps but a double fail seems a bit much....Just throwing this out there.

 

[shadow44]

Geeze that sucks Mark...I hope you get it back up and running.

 

[mewaschuk]

on my 3rd set of straps this season and those are ready to be replaced as well.

 

[MOUNTY]

If you do a search on the issue, you will find a few good fixes for the problem. Good luck and hopefully you will be up and running soon.

 

[Jimdevjr]

Guys, I had the same problem with the straps. Mine never broke, but darn close. I wanted to wait alittle before posting my results.

When you buy new straps, buy new hardware while your at it. Mise well, and for whatever its worth, the bolts/washers/nuts are all updated part numbers. The new straps have an hour-glass shape at the bottom where they used to rub the driver lugs on the inside of the track.

Last thing. I did the kkraus double strap mod. Very simple, and I used two old straps to do it. Cut them to suite, and bolts it all together. Stock hardware works just fine. Tighten the nuts good, but I do not recommend buckling the washers. To tight.

700 miles, straps look brand new

 

[MOUNTY]

I did the double strap with mine last season as well and they look the same as they did when I installed them. The only difference is I just bought some bailer belt, cut them to speck and drilled the holes with a stud bore. Cheap!Cheap! and you have spares on hand.

 

[Groomer08]

mine are fine, yours look like they were overloaded....like the rebound was fooled with and shock decompressed and snapped it.
every other strap failure ive seen has been to to wear/rubbing on bottom. nothing above the bolts breaks

 

[Beenba]

I have relocated and added some wheels with custom brackets, but the actual geometry and shaft/shock locations in the skid are original, so I doubt that had any effect towards this damage. The rear skid mount plate is fine, just the flash messed up the pic!

I noticed in the second pic you have moved your front idler wheel from original location and you've isolated the spring mount. I realize that's a 2011 config. It's a little blurry but your rear skid mount drop bracket looks funky also. Any possibility these changes might have had something to do with this problem. I know some have had problems with their straps but a double fail seems a bit much....Just throwing this out there.

Once I get the sled into the shop I plan to pull the skid and will look into the cause of the issue...I doubt these 2 problems (limiter straps and rear shock/brackets) are unrelated to each other. It just seems weird that once the limiter straps snap, the rear shock binds and gets slammed...or maybe they are unrelated...don't know yet!

We did end up making it to Huntsville from North Bay today...250km. After replacing the two shock linkages, and two limiter straps (I reused the blown shock for now) we started riding at 2pm, and got here around 9:00...trails were terrible specifically D101b and D102b...motocross whoops the entire way. And with no compression in my skid it would bottom way too easy, so I had to take it slow. I have to admit though....with no compression in the rear, it was one hell of a nice ride on decently smooth trails! Definitely going to get my shock re valved and charged. Just have a quick 150km tomorrow back to Halliburton and that completes this eventful RAP tour.

 

[canoehead]

Ride on! Please keep us informed of your findings. I'm very curious if all this equates to a certain set-up on the rear skid. I did 2500 hard K's on mine and the first thing I did today in my shop was have another look at my limiters. I knew they were good but never second guess. I'm like an ole mother!!

 

[Beenba]

I will keep you updated through this thread. I will likely have my skid out this week to inspect and see.

But sure enough, as if this trip wasn't eventful enough, our "quick" ride today turned into another ordeal. I blew my belt in the middle of the trail (no problem, quick fix) but when my buddy shut down his apex, it wouldn't fire back up. Turned out to be the ground block near the clutch side...if it wasn't for totallyamaha (the issue was the fuel pump relay was clicking, but the pump wasn't running...a quick Google search lead me to a ty4 page with lots of similar issues and solutions) and my iPhone, we would have towed it back...this site is awesome and saved the day! AWESOME

 

[yamaha06]

I tried to do the double limiter strap fix but had a hard time with the stock bolts so I was going to get some longer ones, but after having one break tear on me I always shove a limited strap or 2 in my tank bag ha!

 

[Beenba]

Well guys, I pulled my skid tonight and i hope none of you break your limiter straps and cause the same problem I did.
Once the straps break, it allows the front of the skid to drop down and give the rear portion of the skid more room to move.
With this extra room, when the transfer rods are fully bottomed, it allows the rear shock to flip around and couple against the steel linkage (what happened to me).
Clearly I didnt notice this right away and was driving for some time like this to cause the damage to my sled.
But once this happens, you loose all your travel in the rear of the sled, and all the force is distributed along the steel shock linkages (which will eventually bend and snap like mine)

I am going to be doing the double limiter strap fix, and also plan to design up a safety cable, so if my straps were to ever break again, this cable will begin to hold.

Also, this is a copy from the Star Suspensions XTX installation instructions...clearly they have known about this issue too.

"Install the transfer limiter strap at the longest setting. In the stock arrangement itself, these straps easily get damaged by the track. If they break, it could also damage the suspension, especially the tie-rods of the rear shock. This could also happen with the new kit. To avoid negative consequences, it is best to calibrate the central shock absorber with the specifications of the kit. Then, broken limiter straps would not cause damage anymore."

 

[NFLD-Nytro]

My straps broke last year, but the only damage was the flat bars were bent. I straightened them out and reinstalled. I also made up my own limiter straps last winter out of old arctic cat straps because there was nothing in stock, but have since replaced them with Yamaha straps.

 

[battersea rider]

Welcome to the club when u get her back together do the double strap fix that Krause figured out, I did that and ive got 2200 miles on now with no more problems.