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AD Boivin ZX2 Durability & Performance Log


23,293 miles on the skid.

I have installed all new bolts, nuts, and threaded blocks for the track adjustment section in the rear of the skid and have put on at least a thousand miles with no more derailing issues.

A follow up to my pre season review, I did order a steel lower shock rod from AD. I will try and remember to report on the wear of the steel rod vs the aluminum one once I get more miles on her. This season has been horrible so I have not put many miles on the skid this year. I am at about 2,000 right now.

I have been meaning to post on this for awhile. When I installed my ZX2 on my 2006 Apex it had around 10,000 miles on it. Sometime during the last season that I had the sled (I am guessing it was around 19,000) the tunnel developed hairline cracks at both rear mounting points for the ZX2.

When I purchased my 2008 Apex, I contacted Muffin Works and had them fab up some reinforcement plates for me. So far so good. I have had the ZX2 on my 2008 for more miles then I did on my 2006 and no cracks have developed. I attached a picture of the cracks from my 06 sled. I drilled holes at the end of the cracks to try and stop the cracks from spreading. Although that did not work. I also attached a picture of the plates I put on my 08 sled.
 

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First Week With The ZX2

I just came back from a week out on the ZX2. Thank you all for the insight of this skid. It is everything you told me it was. I loved it and I am very happy I installed it into my Phazer. Talking about the revolver pins coming out, I think it is because of the ice build up around the head of the pin. I kept an eye on it and when ice was forming around the revolver plate, I noticed that the pins would push out. I did not have any come completely out, I kept pushing them back in and clearing the ice, no big deal, but without you guys alerting me to this, I could have lost them. Other than that, I made no changes to the stock setup since I only had a couple hundred miles on her and probably was not even broken in yet. It was plush and comfortable to ride. Thanks again for all of your input and advice. I think I am done for the year. It is going to be a very long summer waiting to get back out to ride.
 
Been reading this thread through several times now and gathering information. I am purchasing a zx2 from a freind of mine with only around 400 miles on it. It will be going on my 03 rx1. I will be instaling it at the end of the season as I don't have the time to install it or ride much more the rest of the season. I am extremely happy with the result that all of you are having and it makes me confident in my decision to buy it. I want to have all the fact straight before I install it so I can do what has to be done to it befor I install it. I think that I have most of the problems covered except for the thread locker issue.
When you remove all the bolts to put new thread locker on them are you using "red locktite" the permanent stuff. If so how hard are the bolts to take out for servicing the skid.
BTW mdkuni, you put on some serious mile on your sleds. Ever wonder how many sleds you would have gone through if you werent driving a yamaha 4 stroke.
 
stomper said:
Been reading this thread through several times now and gathering information. I am purchasing a zx2 from a freind of mine with only around 400 miles on it. It will be going on my 03 rx1. I will be instaling it at the end of the season as I don't have the time to install it or ride much more the rest of the season. I am extremely happy with the result that all of you are having and it makes me confident in my decision to buy it. I want to have all the fact straight before I install it so I can do what has to be done to it befor I install it. I think that I have most of the problems covered except for the thread locker issue.
When you remove all the bolts to put new thread locker on them are you using "red locktite" the permanent stuff. If so how hard are the bolts to take out for servicing the skid.
BTW mdkuni, you put on some serious mile on your sleds. Ever wonder how many sleds you would have gone through if you werent driving a yamaha 4 stroke.

I use red locktite on all bolts except the 2 rear wheels. No problems loosening the bolts.
 
Like you say KevinS. In fact the ADBoivin ZX-2 manual says the same :) I've did the same as you and no loose bolts ever since.
 
stomper said:
Been reading this thread through several times now and gathering information. I am purchasing a zx2 from a freind of mine with only around 400 miles on it. It will be going on my 03 rx1. I will be instaling it at the end of the season as I don't have the time to install it or ride much more the rest of the season. I am extremely happy with the result that all of you are having and it makes me confident in my decision to buy it. I want to have all the fact straight before I install it so I can do what has to be done to it befor I install it. I think that I have most of the problems covered except for the thread locker issue.
When you remove all the bolts to put new thread locker on them are you using "red locktite" the permanent stuff. If so how hard are the bolts to take out for servicing the skid.
BTW mdkuni, you put on some serious mile on your sleds. Ever wonder how many sleds you would have gone through if you werent driving a yamaha 4 stroke.

No question about it, I would have gone through a lot of motors by now if I wasn't on a Yamaha 4 stroke!

I use blue on all my bolts except the rear. When I replaced my bolts this year I did not put any loctite on the rear as I like to be able to loosen those bolts easily to adjust track tension. With both rear bolts being on the same shaft it can be a pain. Although I paid for it this weekend as I snapped one of my rear bolts and lost the wheel, washer, spacer, and tensioner plate. :o|
 
Well...... I broke the ZX2. About 24,000 miles on her. On Friday I hit a small bump and heard a strange noise. Pulled off to the side and found one of the shocks blew apart. The shocks were serviced about 5,700 miles ago. I wanted to get them sent out to be rebuilt again but wasn't going to do it while there was snow on the ground. I am guessing the shock blew earlier and eventually broke apart, not exactly sure. The bolt that screws into the bottom of the piston snapped. I was about 60 miles from home, and it was a long ride home. The body of the shock was laying on the track. I used up all the zip ties I carry with me to try and get the body of the shock to stay off of the track but was unsuccessful. It chewed up one row of the drive nobs on the track but I was still able to continue to use the track.

Never thought I would be doing this, but with the best snow storm we have had in years I wasn't going to miss it. I removed the ZX2, drilled out the mounting plates, and reinstalled the stock ProActive skid. I never put a single mile on that skid. The sled had 800 miles on it when I bought it so that was all that was on the skid. I have rode about 700 miles on the ProActive now. It did give me a chance to see how the skids compare. WOW, I miss the ZX2! The ProActive skid is valved way too soft, the ride quality is horrible. It transfers well but I am sure a large part of that is also because the shocks compress so easy. I can pull the front end easier with this skid which is fun but causes problems coming out of corners and makes my headlights very difficult to adjust. I do feel like I get better traction with the skid but maybe that is simply do to the feeling of the weight transfer. If I look at a bump wrong I will blow through this skid quickly. I hate dealing with grease! Last but not least, putting this skid in was a royal PITA!!! I can take out my ZX2 and put it back in within 15 minutes by myself. With the ProActive I had to ratchet the front arm to get it in then I realized the bolt holes were not even close, so I removed the limiter straps and the top shock bolt. Then I had to ratchet the arm again to get the shock bolted back in.

I attached some pictures of the damage. I ordered a new shock minus the spring, spring stopper, and adjuster collar. After taking pictures tonight I realized that the spring is bent. Not sure if I need to replace it or not. I will let my shock guy (CMP) decide. I also ordered a new piston bolt as I will be having that bolt replaced in my shock that is still good.
 

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kinger said:
I can honestly say I have never seen that!

That is what AD said! Story of my life. AD thought maybe something stopped the movement of the shock up and down. Seems strange that this shock broke while the shock right next to it still seems OK.
 
kinger said:
How did it ride on 1 shock?

Surprisingly not as bad as I would have thought. I did not push her hard though as I did not want to risk breaking anything else. After many failed attempts of getting the shock body to stay off the track I slowed down to about 25. It never did bottom out.
 
rxrider said:
Check what position the front stap is set at.
It can be let out a bit to put more track on the ground at take off. The revolver works in two different ways. The front two (1 and 2) holes regulates coupling, the rear three (3, 4 and 5) holes regulates transfer. Position 1 and 5 will give the least coupling and the most transfer. What type of track do you run. The RipSaw will spin no matter what, lugs are way too soft.

I just instaled the ZX2 in my 03 RX1 and could use some help to few questions. What exactly is meant by the terms "coupling" and "transfer". I have no idea about the coupling, but by transfer do you mean weight transfer to the skis from the skid. If I know what the pin positions do it will help me greatly to find the pin positions I perfer. I have too much weight on the skis and I can feel more feedback on the front end that I want or maybe I am not used to it from my stock skid. With my stock skid, while acceleration out of a turn the skis would lift and I would loose steering but it doesn't happen with this skid. I would like to take some of the pressure off of the skis. Also my limit strap and slack in it should it have slack or be tight. With the added height that the skid gives my sled I can really feel the front end roll in a corne now. I still have the stock sway bar so I will upgrade to a 13mm and hopefully it will help with this issue. The skid is still as rough as the proaction skid in the small studder bumps but it preforms much better at high speeds and harder hits on the bigger bumps.
Kinger
Just to clarify, you are getting better response from your sled when you compress your preload on your ski shocks. What will that do for ski pressure. Will it make things worse for my heavy front end or better? I still have the stock ski shock so maybe a revalve is in order so that they preform better with this skid?
 
Its all a balancing act, the ZX2 sits the sled up a little higher then stock so I found tightening the preload on the front shocks help the tippiness but made the stutter bumps a little more rough. Last year I ran soft preload and soft valving and actually liked that too. The skid is the most fun in 2/4 position but you cant carve a hard turn without a lot of other adjustments. 2/5 it rails but then it doesn't take up the moguls as good as 2/4. I have played with everything over the years and 2/4 with skis on softest preload seems to be the best OVERALL but will not be optimal in every instance.

Stutter bumps will not get eaten up with this skid, it likes to be rode hard. I get the jiggles on a long stretch of bumps with stock valving. I tried a hygear revalve last year and it was horrible soft but rode stutters good but couldn't take a hit, they redid it this year and I'm hoping I found a new compromise between stutter and big hits.
 


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