zoomzoom
Extreme
Sled Dog - I'm not looking to create any havoc just yet but I will be in touch with everyone in this forum if I experience these same issues on the new 06 Apex. At that point we can get everyone together with details on how we will proceed.
Also, I would like to see someone (possibly Rex) coordinate a group meeting with an 06 available and I can supply that so that we could all discuss how to resolve many of these issues in the simplest fashion.
just a thought
zoom
Also, I would like to see someone (possibly Rex) coordinate a group meeting with an 06 available and I can supply that so that we could all discuss how to resolve many of these issues in the simplest fashion.
just a thought
zoom
nhrxrider
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
cobalt650 said:
I can't speak for everyone, but on my '03 there were several "updates" that were supposed to be free, such as cutting the slit in the vent tube, adding extra rubber pads for the hood, and replace the seat cover and relocate some rivets that were causing problems. Well I had to fight to get the seat cover replaced, and nobody ever notified me about any of the problems. Another thing to watch, especially for the zerk thing, is that they like to charge for stuff like that. A good example is the larger sway bar and longer links that are "updates", but you have to pay for them.
As far as dealer vs. Yamaha problems, I feel that they are ALL Yamaha problems. The dealer is still part of Yamaha, and is their link to their customer base. Any smart company would want their customers to stay happy, and for future customers to hear nothing but good things. When a dealer screws someone, Yamaha loses.
In all fairness to Yamaha, they have a unique sled design that is truly awesome, and nobody has come close to matching it. They could have the market cornered if so many people weren't jumping ship after having so many problems with part's breakage and dealers who don't stand behind the sled. Of course Yamaha service doesn't stand behind them either, so why should the dealers? If their service depertment would get as good as their design team, they could have a good shot of being #1 in the market, or at least very close to it.
Billyboy, you better get that taken care of as soon as possible. Wait too long, and Yamaha can claim you didn't have the work done in a timely manner and try to get out of it. At the very least, get it on paper that your dealer knows about the problems. When I complained about my oil problems to 2 different dealers while under warranty, Yamaha said they had no record of it. But the dealer doing the work on my sled told me he knew about the problem because it was in my records with Yamaha! So they knew, but were just trying to get out of taking care of the problem. Get everything on paper!
Jim
IF the slide rails have been reinforced where they are breaking on the 05's then if just goes to show it was needed and was a design flaw and that goes for the grease zerts also. I bet the 06's bushings and collars are not considered annual maintenance now that they have grease fittings. More BS again we have to move now on the lawsuit not in the fall or next year the case is open and shut. They are making the case for us by doing what it is needed on the 06's that the 05's didnt have on the same skid.
nhrxrider
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I think the slide problems are dealer-related, since they are the ones who adjust the track. Hell, when I picked up my new sled, the track was so loose the sled wouldn't move! I had to bring it back for them to tighten it, then the slides lasted for 4500 miles, when I swapped in the Cat skid. With as many problems as I had, the slides weren't one of them. 4500 miles and they were only about half worn.
Jim
Jim
RX1 Yooper
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
How do you guys explain the majority of us that never broke a suspension part, and get excellent slide wear?
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
RX1 Yooper said:
Majority? On a high mileage 2005 RX-1?
I haven't heard of a single 2005 RX-1 with much over 8000 kms (5000 miles) that doesn't have a broken suspension.
There might be some out there, but I'd bet the riders don't punch the throttle too often. Why bother owning the top performing Yamaha sled if you're not going to ride it?
The majority with 5000 kms (3000 miles) that I've spoken to have had failures too.
Also, look at the w-arm failure poll. http://www.rx1.info/viewtopic.php?t=7576 36.7% of the people who have checked have found a broken w-arm. I wonder how many of the 63.3% without failures yet have low miles on their sleds.
You can't possibly consider a 36.7% failure rate reasonable?
As far as slide wear I did get 10,000 kms (6000 miles) on my first set and many of the high mileage guys I've talked have done similar. There are many others changing them very early, but I'm sure the reason is due to the way 65% (or more) of the slide wears away in the first 300 miles (with typical trail conditions). After about 1000 miles, with about 20-30% remaining, the wear rate slowed to a crawl on mine.
The 05 Vector's wore their slides down much faster than the 05 RX-1's.
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
RX1 Yooper,
How many miles do you have on your sled? What year is it?
How many miles do you have on your sled? What year is it?
BillyBoy
Newbie
We both only changed slides once at about 3500 miles. They could of gone further.
RX1 Yooper
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I'm sorry, I was talking about RX1's in general, not just 05. I would still say that the vast majority of 05s are not breaking parts. I have an 03 with about 9,000 miles. Buddah 03 has about 11,000 miles with one metal strap that broke. I don't know what they are called. He is almost 300 pounds. I hear about people breaking 2 or 3 W arms. Why haven't Buddah or I broke one?
Tfin
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Will Yamaha contact us if there is a service bulletin, update, or recall? Or just if there is a recall? Does anyone know the phone number to Yamaha customer relations here in the states. Maybe if everyone hounded them they would make it more of an issue.
nhrxrider
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I doubt they will do anything about the '05s. They haven't even admitted that there was a problem with the '03/'04 W arms, and in the other thread, we have like 38% of reporting people with broken arms! I wouldn't be surprised for them to come out with a zerk upgrade, and maybe even make stronger arms available, but they will be "upgrades", at the owner's expense.
Jim
Jim
RX1-er-2005
Expert
RX1 Yooper said:
How can you be commenting on our "05" problems when you don't even ride one and say that the ones that do have is caused by abuse... :ORC
I own one and don't even have as much as a FINGER PRINT on it...it's babied every week...sleeps in a heated garage with a tarp on it...wax every 2nd week and dealer serviced once a month and still have the same problems that everybody else has???
I have a lot of respect for all of my TOYS...but this one is not cutting it.
If YAMAHA doesn't come thru for me it'll be my 1ST and LAST...
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
RX1 Yooper said:
I would guess the reason is you don't ride your sleds as hard as us younger guys :wink: (I'm close to 40).
Same thing with the 05's. I have looked at the suspension on about 10 05 RX-1s (most covered in snow to some extent). Only 1 of them (in addition to mine) had an actual broken pivot arm (it had been welded back together with a fair bit of reinforcement added). That same one and one other had a cracked slide rail (at the time my rails were fine). About 50% of the remaining ones were showing signs of hairline cracks starting on the pivot arms. The one that was welded up and had the cracked rail had 11,000 kms (6900 miles) on it. The owner told me the arm broke at 8000 kms and parts were back ordered. I would estimate he weighed about 150-160 lbs.
One of the sleds I looked at surprized me. With 6000 kms (4000 miles) it looked absolutely perfect. There was also very little paint flaking off at the welds. It had already gone through a set of bushings and idler wheels/bearings though.
Also, I don't know how many 05 RX-1's my dealer sold (I would guess between 5 and 10), but I do know there has been at least 2 of them (including mine) with broken/cracked pivot arms.
You can argue that this doesn't point to "the majority" of 05 RX-1s having cracked pivot arms and rails and you are correct. To me these are very bad statistics with far too many failures though. Especially if you keep in mind this is all after only a single season of use.
Reading through this thread you can see there are obviously many more of us with these problems too.
IMO, in the life of the sled there should be a statistically insignificant number of structural suspension failures (cracks, etc.). Yamaha doesn't come anywhere close to this. At least within my riding group Doo, Cat and Poo do.
I guess since I'm riding an 05 Yamaha in order to not "abuse" it I should call up all of my buddies and say "Sorry guys, I can't sled with you any more unless the trails are perfectly smooth. My Yamaha can't handle the bumps and I don't want to abuse it".
jimmie d
TY 4 Stroke Master
I don't understand the critism on this topic as most posts are constructive and trying to find a solution to what could be a very serious problem with these suspensions. Many riders today put thousands of miles on their sleds and rightfully expect the major components to hold up. In all my years of riding I have never had a suspension with the problems eluded to here and that included the ones my sons would jump over anything they could find.
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim