8mm Skid Bolt Upgrade

[cannondale27]

Guys if you look at the 16's and maybe 15's the 8mm bolts with 10mm heads have been upgraded to 10mm with 13mm heads on all sleds 129" and 137". Noticed it when I found one of mine snapped off. The bolt is the one that holds bottom of rear scissor to the rail. I drilled and tapped for the bolts but you can order the shaft and bolts from a 16. You will have to drill the rail to fit the bolt.

So it got me thinking. I don't like any of the 8mm bolts. Good enough for holding wheels on but not the shafts. I replaced all with 10mm shoulder bolts. That way if one should happen to come loose the thread wont dig into the rail. Much stronger and longer. Just a heads up.
8mm on left,10mm shoulder bolt on right.Cant take credit for the shoulder bolt idea. I got that from YAMAHA!

 

[Studroes144]

That's definitely good to know! That bolt snapped on mine 2 winters ago, talk about a pain trying to tow in a sled that had the suspension hung up on the track so it wouldn't roll. Skid will be out at the end of the season to do some Powdercoating, definitely getting the heavier bolt!

 

[cannondale27]

That's definitely good to know! That bolt snapped on mine 2 winters ago, talk about a pain trying to tow in a sled that had the suspension hung up on the track so it wouldn't roll. Skid will be out at the end of the season to do some Powdercoating, definitely getting the heavier bolt!

Really. You have to give me heads up on this stuff. Don't hesitate. I trust if it happened to you it will happen to me eventually!

 

[cannondale27]

I am thinking about making a RR/XC/LE Upgrade kit. Think its a good idea? Shock business is in the tank right now with no snow around here.

 

[Studroes144]

Really. You have to give me heads up on this stuff. Don't hesitate. I trust if it happened to you it will happen to me eventually!

That was the last ride of the season when that happened, got the sled home and put a new bolt in and out it away in storage and just kinda forgot about it until seeing this. I do recall it being very frustrating tho and we had to drive around to a couple different places until we found a plastic sled to put under the track so it could atleast slide. I think an upgrade kit would be a great idea, I'm nowhere near the miles that you have but mine just clicked 4200 so definitely need to be thinking of checking things over closer and replacing some of these things that can easily spoil a trip.

 

[cannondale27]

That was the last ride of the season when that happened, got the sled home and put a new bolt in and out it away in storage and just kinda forgot about it until seeing this. I do recall it being very frustrating tho and we had to drive around to a couple different places until we found a plastic sled to put under the track so it could atleast slide. I think an upgrade kit would be a great idea, I'm nowhere near the miles that you have but mine just clicked 4200 so definitely need to be thinking of checking things over closer and replacing some of these things that can easily spoil a trip.

Wish there was a way to ship whole skids shocks and all. I do a lot of the work for shafts on Lathe and the holes I put in skid to fit larger bolts are fitted very close to bolt size so I use Letter drills which most don't have. I would think most would keep their Yamahas till 20,000 mi or more. I plan too!

 

[ksiesel]

As a reference point, my 15 RTX DX with the early build sight glass oil tank has the larger 13 mm head on the rear scissor to rail shaft.

 

[cannondale27]

As a reference point, my 15 RTX DX with the early build sight glass oil tank has the larger 13 mm head on the rear scissor to rail shaft.

Cool. Must have been 15's that updated then. Thanks