2011 APEX-SE---STUD LENGTH AND NUMBER???

[NH_Sledder]

Here's a potential solution to the collapsing tunnel protector mounts. I found a rubber foot at a local electronics surplus store. It must have been for a cabinet or a piece of equipment. At the top of the tunnel mounts is a 12mm nut. The bottom of the foot had a hole for a fastener about 11mm in diameter and the top of the foot had small hole that would accept a #10 screw. I opened up the 11mm hole in the rubber foot to 12mm so that it would fit over the nut. I slid the rubber foot into place and the nut and mount held it nicely in place. Now the small hole at the top of the foot was exposed through the cutout of the mount. I made some mounting plates out of 1/8 inch aluminum stock and added a couple of washers to account for the thickness of the mount. I screwed them into the rubber foot and found that my tunnel protectors have a lot more strength. See the attached pictures...

 

[pro116]

Here's a potential solution to the collapsing tunnel protector mounts. I found a rubber foot at a local electronics surplus store. It must have been for a cabinet or a piece of equipment. At the top of tunnel mounts is a 12mm nut. The bottom of the foot had a hole for a fastener about 11mm in diameter and the top of the foot had small hole that would accept a #10 screw. I opened up the 11mm hole in the rubber foot to 12mm so that it would fit over the nut. I slid the rubber foot into place and the nut and mount held it nicely in place. Now the small hole at the top of the foot was exposed through the cutout of the mount. I made some mounting plates out of 1/8 inch aluminum stock and added a couple of washers to account for the thickness of the mount. I screwed them into the rubber foot and found that my tunnel protectors have a lot more strength. See the attached pictures...

Exllent Idea!

 

[MrSled]

Here's a potential solution to the collapsing tunnel protector mounts. I found a rubber foot at a local electronics surplus store. It must have been for a cabinet or a piece of equipment. At the top of the tunnel mounts is a 12mm nut. The bottom of the foot had a hole for a fastener about 11mm in diameter and the top of the foot had small hole that would accept a #10 screw. I opened up the 11mm hole in the rubber foot to 12mm so that it would fit over the nut. I slid the rubber foot into place and the nut and mount held it nicely in place. Now the small hole at the top of the foot was exposed through the cutout of the mount. I made some mounting plates out of 1/8 inch aluminum stock and added a couple of washers to account for the thickness of the mount. I screwed them into the rubber foot and found that my tunnel protectors have a lot more strength. See the attached pictures...

Does it work?? I have to be honest. I have spent 4 hours and then some trying to figure out what will work... the studs only stick past the lugs 1/4" ...

I have made some changes but until I ride this thing I cannot tell if it will fix the issue...... if this dont work I will have no choice but to yank the studs.....

 

[KnappAttack]

Mr. Sled,

I'd go ride it. I doubt it will do any harm at trail speeds. If it does, Yamaha ought to take care of it for you anyway. I wouldn't even have added the extra strips to the stock protectors. Perhaps tighten the track?

 

[Banks93]

I think we should tar and feather the dumba$$ engineer who didn't plan for it.

I am glad I went with the XTX and not the SE but I would be pissed if they did a change on the tunnel protectors and then don't stand behind it because they say they don't recommend studs.

I bought it for the EPS system but sounds like I should of just waited for the EPS to be put on the Vector GT LTX.

 

[freedom sled]

Maybe this works

After reading many ideas on this studding problem, I am convinced just adding 1/8 or if you have room 1/4 inch to the tunnel protectors is not the best fix. It seems the big difference between the 2011 and previous years is that the protectors flex up because of the silly C shaped bracket rather than mounting them to the solid support of previous years. Here are pics of what my dealer did and I believe it will work. A cross track support was added (tack welded to under tunnel) and a rubber bushing on each side to hold the tunnel protector from flexing. One support toward the front and one toward the back. Only 300 miles, but so far so good!

 

[MrSled]

Here is what I have done, I hope this helps someone

http://www.totallyamaha.com/snowmobiles ... ectors.htm

 

[lowboy]

guys what i have done his turn down my top idler wheels the one.s you remove with 3 12mm head bolts works for me

 

[NH_Sledder]

I have a little over 200 miles on my approach and all is well. I will continue to update the forum as I get more miles on it.

 

[Riceburner]

3,000 km update. 2011 Apex SE.

I left the sled stock. No extra protection added. I have 102 1.325 Woody's Megabytes up the middle.

No tick marke anywhere. No problems.

I have had the sled up to 175 kph. I run the track tension on the loose side of spec.

I do avoid hitting the brakes agressively on hardpack or ice.

 

[RtxViper]

does anyone have a pic of the hyfax trick on the rear heat exchanger?

 

[SLEDSTART]

So at the end of the day, It looks like these C brackets crush from bottoming etc...

Whatever approach you take to keep them from crushing does anyone know what the total length should be from the bottom of the protector to the top of the C bracket where it meets the tunnel? Or does it really matter as long as the studs clear the exhaust?

I like the cross bar the dealer did on freedoms sleds's sled....that looks beefy

 

[MrSled]

Kurt,
Tossing this out for others to see since we were talking by pm.

"I have 3000 miles on mine and they have not moved.... there are several ways to make the change and they all seem to work. You have to pick one and run with it. Bottom line is bend the brackets out to allow the most clearance to the tunnel and not touch the track and fix them in that position."

 

[SLEDSTART]

Thanks for the info Tom, I plan on attacking it next weekend.

 

[SLEDSTART]

I have been chatting with the previous owner of this 2011 I picked up. He already shimmed the C brackets so I went out to take a peek. There is one nick dead center on the lip of the muffler but that's it. So it's close. He thinks they are 1.375 studs. If you look at the picture this method will not keep the brackets from crushing closed. I think I will change this set up over to one of the other methods shown just to be safe.