2023 Top Gear is Powdered Metal Junk

[cannondale27]

Cat tried it before in 2012 and 13 and they did it again in 2023. One in pic is 21t. May be others maybe not. Not all 23’s have the junk gears but if it looks like this with small teeth extending all the way over get it out of your sled now. The pieces could possibly lock up your chain and cause a crash no doubt. This is second failed one I have seen. 6hrs on sled. Look!

In this second one the left one is the good Billet stock gear. The right is the junk powdered new gear with DMC Conversion. Nothing will help these junk gears survive unless you drive like a grandma. Get them out before you get hurt.

 

[sideshowBob]

This is why I run Scott Taylor gears in my SW...at least I know what I have!

 

[jonlafon1]

How to tell the good gear from the bad one in your pic? Steve can you explain?
Thanks

 

[cannondale27]

How to tell the good gear from the bad one in your pic? Steve can you explain?
Thanks

The good one is on left the bad one is on right in the last picture. See how the small teeth extend all the way to main gear on the bad ones?

 

[jonlafon1]

The good one is on left the bad one is on right in the last picture. See how the small teeth extend all the way to main gear on the bad ones?

Got it! I did not understand what you meant in your post.. Thanks for clarifying..

 

[sideshowBob]

The good one is on left the bad one is on right in the last picture. See how the small teeth extend all the way to main gear on the bad ones?

Great Info!

 

[blown apex]

so if we did the driveshaft saver
could the drive shaft need to float if the tunnell is moving and the driveshaft saver is causing some of this
did these 2 that had the gear go bad have driveshaft savers
and i saw on face book someone said early 2023 had the powdered gear
any way to have vin #of the ones that failed or build date and last 8 vin
andi do have metalic oil on 1st chain case oil change when i checked it the dealer changed oil and didnt say anything about oil @ 700miles
i have 3 2023 srx's one in dec 2 in january

 

[KnappAttack]

so if we did the driveshaft saver
could the drive shaft need to float if the tunnell is moving and the driveshaft saver is causing some of this
did these 2 that had the gear go bad have driveshaft savers
and i saw on face book someone said early 2023 had the powdered gear
any way to have vin #of the ones that failed or build date and last 8 vin
andi do have metalic oil on 1st chain case oil change when i checked it the dealer changed oil and didnt say anything about oil @ 700miles
i have 3 2023 srx's one in dec 2 in january

Drive shaft has nothing to do with it.

I had a new 23 SRX in the shop this last week that was just delivered last week and it had the billet gear in it. Using powder metal gears make zero sense. Up to this point all 9000's and Winders with the 998 have had billet top sprockets in them I believe made by Borg Warner, but regardless who they are made by, if they are billet and have machining marks on them they are good.

If its the sintered gear with no machining on it they will break. The DMC gear posted is from a client of mine that put only 15 miles on it. Shame on Cat/Yamaha and shame on DMC for even machining up that sintered POS gear for use in a machine. The DMC gear took out both chains when the teeth broke. Cost the guy over $400 for new chains. Yamaha dealer laughed at this when he tried to get warranty on that after DMC sold him that gear. I thought DMC had sourced some aftermarket sintered sprockets to cheapen things up, then I heard Yamaha sent sleds out with this new sintered gear in them.

I'm guessing some "new guy" at Textron thought hey this is great, we can save $20 on top sprockets using this China gear after they got rid of the old engineering team. They forgot the history and it repeats all over again.

 

[Turboflash]

This top gear does have some float on jackshaft already. Not allot but some. IMO, it's just a case of a bad gear not being able to stand the forces so it fractured. Won't have any of this junk in my sled!!
That said, I can tell you that when I used a precision straightedge to check my gear alignment, the top gear is off plane to the inside compared to bottom gear.

 

[KnappAttack]

This is why I run Scott Taylor gears in my SW...at least I know what I have!

Nothing special about his gears over the stock billet gear except the price. As long as you have billet and machined top sprocket you're golden.
Why Cat/Yamaha decided to go back and try sintered is beyond me. They'll need to be recalled because they will all break in no time leaving people stranded. The don't take any power to break, they'll never take turbo power.

I just don't understand why some 23's have billet and some have the new sintered gear.

 

[KnappAttack]

This top gear does have some float on jackshaft already. Not allot but some. IMO, it's just a case of a bad gear not being able to stand the forces so it fractured. Won't have any of this junk in my sled!!
That said, I can tell you that when I used a precision straightedge to check my gear alignment, the top gear is off plane to the inside compared to bottom gear.

Thats why is not such a bad idea to use the stock narrower bottom gear so it self aligns.

 

[sideshowBob]

I installed the Scott Taylor top and bottom gears on my SW from new...both gears are now 15 wide hyvo rather then the top being 15 wide and the bottom being 13 wide as the sled came stock.
I have aligned the gears with a straight edge with shims so the chain runs true on both gears just like I have always done on all my other sleds.
Works good

 

[sideshowBob]

Nothing special about his gears over the stock billet gear except the price. As long as you have billet and machined top sprocket you're golden.

All true but as my X-TX has 3" drivers I could not get the gear ratio from the OEM gears I was looking for and I also wanted the 15 wide bottom gear as well...S. T. gears provided both, but pricey for sure.

 

[earthling]

@cannondale27 Was that your post on FB or the owners?

 

[SideHogger]

DMC……any response to this? My DMC gear is perfect for 4 years now.