4300 Mile APEX GT report..

[welterracer]

Well after 4300 miles of great riding on my 2006 Apex GT i though i would give a little report about the sled..

The Pilot skis are awsome..

The 13mm Swaybar is Awsome..

Woodys SS Studs are AWSOME!! (and durable)

Here are some of the problems ive had with my sled..
07'bars work good down to about 0 degrees than below that they suck!

at 400miles i went threw my first set of Hyfax, and at 1200 miles i put on my third set along with SLP wear pads (they then lasted 1600 miles) I am now on my 4th set of Hyfax and second set of SLP wear pads.

at 1000 miles my rear shock wire broke (dealer soddered the wires) The shock blew and the rear wires broke again at 1600 miles..(dealer warrantied the rear shock)

At 4300 miles the rear shock is blow again and the wires are also broken again (THESE DARN MONOSHOCKS LOVE TO HOLD ICE AROUND THE SHOCK) My dealer is warranting the shock for the second and LAST time (according to yamaha)

I replaced a few of the front A-arm bushings at 2200 miles (my dealer warrantied the parts)

I replaced the Steering colume bushings at 2200 miles and greased the crap out of them (dealer coverd the parts under warranty)

at 4300 miles my two large upper rear suspensoin boggy wheels have bad bearings (no biggie) and a few of the bushings in the rear suspension are shot (they only cost $5 each)

I also warrantied a couple of the boggy wheels (one was delaminated and the other had a frozen bearing)



The sled has never let me down... has always started (even down to -30 with the smaller battery i run) and runs flawless.. I couldnt be happier... It also helps that i have a great dealer who goes out of his way to take care of me and my sled.. The engine doesnt burn a drop of oil, and doesnt leak a drop either..

I have no NO chaincase or tunnel problems what so ever!

I am only on my second belt (man these yamaha belts are tough)

 

[DaveyBoy]

Welter I have only about 850 on my 06 and i love it its so smooth and has awesome crisp pwer compared to carb sleds. I think i will have same hyfax wear as we have had low snow conditions til now.Cant say enough good about this sled compared to my 03 RX-1. Great post thanks for the info i am going to keep my eye on the things u mentioned

 

[dirkdiggler]

Nice report. It's a shame the Ohlin isn't setup right. If I was you I'd send it to Pioneeer and have Bruce set it up for your riding style and weight. I'm guessing it will last longer. Plus I would look into a way to protect the wires better.

 

[sxmatt]

Welterracer

How is the wear on your pilot skis. I know BRP addressed this in 07, but what have you seen on your skis?

Matt

 

[welterracer]

Nice report. It's a shame the Ohlin isn't setup right. If I was you I'd send it to Pioneeer and have Bruce set it up for your riding style and weight. I'm guessing it will last longer. Plus I would look into a way to protect the wires better.

I plan on sending it to pioneer this summer... But that wont stop the wire from breaking.

Its hard to measure the ski wear, as i wore one set of wear bars to the point i was actually melting the skis..

 

[sxmatt]

Welterracer

On the 06 version of the pilot skis they had issues of wear and damage to a certain area of the ski. Have you notice this the best you can tell even though you have damage from the runners melting it. Have you any pictures of the bottoms of the skis for us to view?

Thanks
Matt

 

[boone]

welterracer where do you ride, with 5900mi I am going to change my first pair of hyfax and my triple point carbides will last this year. boone

 

[nate007]

Welterracer is in Kieler Wi, which is just across the river from Duduque Ia. He has probably the same riding conditions I do in Iowa City, snirt, crap, grass, mud, rocks, and oh yeah, sometimes snow! I've given up on hyfax wear. I have just come to the realization that I will have to replace them quite often since my riding conditions usually suck! I usually have to ride the crap out of our ditch trails until thy are shot (3-5 days), then the snow is gone, and we have to wait for more. I rode last Friday on good snow, Saturday was very marginal, all week was in the upper 40's and now we have no snow hardly at all. This weekend could prove to add a little time to the season, though (ice and 6- 12 inches!!!

 

[Bodacious]

Great report, and awesome to see that your dealer is taking care of you. I've had bad idler bearings also (5-total) and front bushings were also shot along with the tie rod ends....my dealer said that those are all normal wear items, so no warranty applies. I installed internal-external drivers so that I can run my fully clipped 1.5" track much looser than specs call for, so far I have on 3200 miles and the hyfax is still at least 85 percent intact. Just replaced the drive belt last weekend, had a small area less than an inch that the side cord melted away.( I been running it hard in the powered so I'm very impressed to say the least, as far as belt wear goes.) If my dealer were as great as this sled has been...I'd be back to order another from them. Looking around and keeping my options open for 2008!

 

[apexgt4life]

06 apex gt, 1000 miles, no serious problems yet but the more i read this forum i get scared, that 1300 dollar mono shock seems to be junk, is your dealer warrantiy it even after your warranty is up, like the one year factory warranty and mine was up when i only had 300 miles on sled, is thier any way to keep these wires from breaking, I knew i should of never bought the electricl shock, something about water and electric, those 2 things just dont go together, aka broken wires etec.

 

[welterracer]

i would never buy the GT again... They shouldnt even make the electric shock... its just not possible to keep the ice and snow from building up around the shock and eventually breaking the wire..

I do most of my riding in the U.P... there snow is spotty just like everyone elses... 30+inches in one spot and 1 inch in another.. sometimes we are forced to ride the side of a road to the next trail.

 

[ReX]

i would never buy the GT again... They shouldnt even make the electric shock... its just not possible to keep the ice and snow from building up around the shock and eventually breaking the wire..

I wouldn't say its not possible, but would agree its not possible to make it reliable without putting some money into it. If they wanted to make it good for the life of the sled they could always encase the wire in a metal or strong plastic tube and use rotation sleeves to allow for the suspension movement. It should last forever if something like that was done right.

I've seen lots of sensors on wheels and suspension components in military vehicles and many of those things never break.

 

[Mighty]

What do you mean it's the last time Yamaha will cover it? If it keeps failing they will keep replacing it :ORC

 

[welterracer]

Yamaha said this was the last time they would cover the shock... They only cover it for one year from date of purchase.. (my dealer had to lie about my mileage to get it warrantied the second time)

 

[Mighty]

Yamaha said this was the last time they would cover the shock... They only cover it for one year from date of purchase.. (my dealer had to lie about my mileage to get it warrantied the second time)

Keep the documentation for future issues. Unless Yamaha can prove you are abusing the sled they will have to continue to cover it. The reason you have them over a barrel is because it 1st failed under warranty. If it would have happened the 1st time after the warranty expired that would be a different story.