20,000 Mile 2006 Apex ER Review

[1xr]

I have 13500 miles on mine now, I drive it hard and race rip and tear with it.
On the 3rd track, 1 brake rotor 4 sets of pads, changed dounuts for the seconds time, 1 set of front end ushings, secondary bushing and set of ramps, nothing in the primary, reinforced the w aem before I could break it, revalve the shock, countless ra cables, wheels and bearings and wear items like that.
No big isues yet.

 

[Yamanator]

looks like you ride in brimley, michigan quite alot? The trails are always great up there...

yami ryder, are you talking about mdkuni? I believe he does the majority of his riding in the lower of Michigan. As far as I know he has only been to Brimley twice this year, once was with me for a day ride. Its too bad my friend with his Mach blew his belt apart or I would have rode with him the whole day. Mark can correct me if I am wrong but I would say 80% of his riding is in the lower on washed out beat up trails. Trust me, I rode with him most of the winter...............

 

[mdkuni]

What type pf exhaust do you have that keeps cracking?

My last bender cracked in 5 different places....

Stock exhaust

Nice report. Thanks for posting.

I'm curious if you are replacing parts with OEM or after market, in particular the:
-Drive chain - (Royal Distributing sell for $70 Cdn, Yamaha like double the price)
-drive bearing (after market $20, Yamaha $48)
-secondary clutch ramps, Yamaha want like $14 a piece, can purchase after market one for like $2 a piece.

Kaz

I use OEM parts. The only thing that is not replaced with OEM are wheel bearings and that is no longer a Yamaha skid anyways.

Let me just say that everything mdkuni (Mark) said is true, I was lucky enough to hook up with Mark this year and do some riding with him. I did some real miles with him and he really enjoys the moguls with the ZX2 suspension, I am riding a 07 Attak and am a agressive rider and still could not keep up with him down the long bumpy straight aways. He really does put that sled through its workouts and is not afraid to try and break it. Mark, looking forward to riding with you again and again and again. Keep up the good post and let us know what you decide to do with the sled.

Thanks bud

In my expirence DO NOT use the cheap ramps. I had the same thought a few years ago and we got the $2 one for a friends Viper. Two trips later they were gone. Not saying that it wasn't something else but, we luckily had a spare secondary and he finished the year on that. Which by the way had a few thousand miles on it already. It seems crazy to pay $14 for a piece of plastic but if they fail, the clutch is toast, as it will likely snap off a tower. If your lucky you will only destroy the helix.

Thanks, as I was debating the aftermarket ramps this year. I guess I will stick with the Yamaha ones.

Nice report - thanks for posting. I see that you are having some problems with the muffler connection and mounting points. I solved this by installing a bracket in the tunnel above the Y junction then fixing the 2 into 1 point of the muffler section to tne bracket with a bolt that could be loosened to assist in movement when changing the donuts. ( same as the Y pipe fixing point).
Since doing this no problems with muffler connection and so far nothing from the donuts.
I see that in the new Apex there is a bracket welded to the 2 into 1 point on the muffler and it is fixed at this point to the tunnel. This of course does the same job. Too late for me though!!!

I have a 2008 muffler and all of the Yamaha hardware to make that setup happen in the off season. I am hoping that will resolve my problem as well. How many miles do you have with the bracket installed?

Wow I can honestly say I wont ever be able to put that many miles on a sled. I was on a quest for 10,000 on my RX 1 and only made it to 5130 before I got the SC Apex. I do a 1000 miles a year and thought that was a lot!

Nice report for all those miles and has hard as it sounds like you ride the sled has held up good! Its funny to see the same repair come up 2-4 times so at least you know what to expect out of it.

Your going to need to open the motor soon and adjust the valves, I think at 25K you do that?

Looks great man, keep up the posts, I'm looking forward to the "50,000 mile report" LOL

I might like to ride a little bit

I was actually hoping to get some input from ty riders on whether or not I should have the valves adjusted…

I am sure I will be on something else before the Apex has a chance to see 50,000 miles! Although that could be something to shoot for.

looks like you ride in brimley, michigan quite alot? The trails are always great up there...

lol, I would love to know how you jumped to this conclusion!? I rode probably 1,100 miles in the UP this year and that is way more than I ever have. The majority of my miles are in lower Michigan on the weekend.


Thanks to all for the good feedback.

 

[Yamaheart]

Excellent report 4600 miles on my Apex y pipes donuts
the normal Lovin every mile
Thanks

 

[mdkuni]

The sled has seen it's better days. Here are the leak down and compression numbers:

COMP
#1 = 160 PSI
#2 = 165 PSI
#3 = 155 PSI
#4 = 165 PSI

LEAK DOWN
#1 = 18%
#2 = 20%
#3 = 36%
#4 = 16%

I expected the motor to last longer. Yamaha is working on covering the repairs.

 

[kinger]

Ironically MDKUNI I bought a SC apec and my compression was 150 across the board. The leakdown was also high (10-15%) I took it to ulmer to put a shim in it and full inspection. He got in there and it was perfect. I dunno why the numbers were low but as long as its even and seems to be running right I wouldn't say its shot. At that mileage you need to shim the valves and that will bring some compression and leak down back if you haven't already.

You swapping the ZX2 into the new one this year? How many miles do you have on the ZX2?

Lata!

 

[mdkuni]

Ironically MDKUNI I bought a SC apec and my compression was 150 across the board. The leakdown was also high (10-15%) I took it to ulmer to put a shim in it and full inspection. He got in there and it was perfect. I dunno why the numbers were low but as long as its even and seems to be running right I wouldn't say its shot. At that mileage you need to shim the valves and that will bring some compression and leak down back if you haven't already.

You swapping the ZX2 into the new one this year? How many miles do you have on the ZX2?

Lata!

The motor has been torn down. Right now they are looking at possibly replacing the valves and valve guides. Sounded like it may need rings as well. Once put back together I will post what was replaced for sure.

ZX2 is in the new Apex already! Over 11,000 miles on that skid. Going to update that durability thread soon with some findings. What a great skid!

 

[GotJuice]

HMMM glad I read this thread

WOW....sad to hear this info....makes me wonder how mine is and if I could be loosing some performance? Damn my warrantee just ran out too......if it does check out bad do you think Yamaha would possibly cover it anyway? Makes me want to go big bore now that I'm thinking aboutit....hmmmm maybe next year I can do something exotic.....LOL. Let us know how it turns out very interested!

 

[shanksyamaha]

Re: HMMM glad I read this thread

Damn my warrantee just ran out too......if it does check out bad do you think Yamaha would possibly cover it anyway?

You would be very lucky if they did. They usually look pretty hard for a reason not to cover repairs and if you're warranty has run out it would give them a perfect excuse...

 

[Yamaheart]

Thanks for the great post excellent feedback

 

[mdkuni]

Just realized I never posted the final outcome of this.

In Jan. the valve guides were replaced and the valves were cleaned up. She still needed rings but the sled was put back together and sold to a performance shop as I was not going to dump any more money into it.

Here is to hoping the motor on my 08 Apex will last longer.

 

[Banks93]

Yes, because 21,352 miles is still good miles to get on a sled that you yourself admitted were hard on the sled that is $.46/mile. I would say you got your moneys worth out of it. Probably even got a trade in value.

 

[mdkuni]

Yes, because 21,352 miles is still good miles to get on a sled that you yourself admitted were hard on the sled that is $.46/mile. I would say you got your moneys worth out of it. Probably even got a trade in value.

It is good miles on a snowmobile. Although, I expect out off all the parts, that the motor would last much longer. That is all. I do love these sleds! The 2006 was definitely a learning experience though, both for Yamaha and myself. Hopefully the 2008 Apex list will be much shorter.

 

[kinger]

Yeah I guess I was expecting that outcome at 40,000 vs 21K. Eitherway mdkuni rides that thing wow I probably wont put that many miles on in 20 years!

Your a good benchmark for yamaha I still think they should give you a sled to ride and give feedback to them.