ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
My 05 RX-1's parking brake needed adjusting regularly during the first 2500 miles on my sled and stopped working all together after that.
My dealer always said it was a wear item so it wasn't covered under warranty. I also called Yamaha back then and was told the same thing.
Well today I decided I should have a look at it (I want a working parking brake) and I discovered a very annoying problem.
The parking brake appeared to be seized and wouldn't float as it was supposed to. I had tried to lube it up at lower miles and had talked to my dealer about it seizing when I noticed it the first time (about the same time it stopped working). I figured it was brake material in the bushings - but no....
The two machined surfaces on the chaincase that the parking brake bolts to are not parallel to each other. I can rock a piece of metal back and forth and can fit a 0.010" feeler gauge in the gap. If I tighten up the parking brake mouting bolts - as soon as they are tight the caliper jams and won't slide. Now I know what caused the parking brake pad wear.
The sled is now out of warranty (2 weeks ago), the parking brake caliper costs $180 (brake pads are not available separately), and to do it right I should remove the chain cover and have the surfaces machined flat.
Arghh!!!!
Has anyone else seen this problem?
Does anyone have any parking brake pads (or parking brake assembly) they are willing to sell?
My dealer always said it was a wear item so it wasn't covered under warranty. I also called Yamaha back then and was told the same thing.
Well today I decided I should have a look at it (I want a working parking brake) and I discovered a very annoying problem.
The parking brake appeared to be seized and wouldn't float as it was supposed to. I had tried to lube it up at lower miles and had talked to my dealer about it seizing when I noticed it the first time (about the same time it stopped working). I figured it was brake material in the bushings - but no....
The two machined surfaces on the chaincase that the parking brake bolts to are not parallel to each other. I can rock a piece of metal back and forth and can fit a 0.010" feeler gauge in the gap. If I tighten up the parking brake mouting bolts - as soon as they are tight the caliper jams and won't slide. Now I know what caused the parking brake pad wear.
The sled is now out of warranty (2 weeks ago), the parking brake caliper costs $180 (brake pads are not available separately), and to do it right I should remove the chain cover and have the surfaces machined flat.
Arghh!!!!
Has anyone else seen this problem?
Does anyone have any parking brake pads (or parking brake assembly) they are willing to sell?
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LazyBastard
TY 4 Stroke God
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You spoke to them before about the problem. Yell at them RIGHT NOW.
BlgsRX-1mtn
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If they won't replace it no charge; call MPI and get a wightles parking brake. You remove the factory one all together and install a billet locking mechanism on the brake level (I think they're $100). Or you could do like me and go to the automotive section of Wal-Mart and get some velcro wire ties and use tem to maintain pressure on the brake lever. Total cost was about $4 for a pack of eight.
Red2003
TY 4 Stroke Guru
A 1/4 " bolt stuffed in behind the lever as you hold pressure on it works fine too. Hauled hundreds of miles that way, never had a problem. When you get there, squeeze the lever, the bolf falls out, stick it in your pocket and off you go. I like the wire tie idea too! What the hell was yammi thinking when they came up with this set up??????
DaveyBoy
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Can u shim the caliper to make it work I have to do this on the calipers on my race car to get the right spaceing
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not so concerned about weight and I like knowing it will never let off so if possible I'd rather stay stock.
I called my dealer this morning and was very pleased with their response. They are going to talk to Yamaha and try to get me a set of parking brake pads - or a new parking brake caliper through warranty. It sounds like the only real issue is the part is back ordered (it turns out they tried to order a parking brake caliper for me when it was there a few weeks ago for warranty repairs - it was on the list for the work order when I dropped it off).
As far as fixing the chaincase cover, since the bosses are only 2" apart I think carefully taking a file to both surfaces simultaneously should be able to take down the ~0.010 in parallelism error. To make it work they need to be parallel to each other, but I don't think a small error relative to the rotor will matter much.
I called my dealer this morning and was very pleased with their response. They are going to talk to Yamaha and try to get me a set of parking brake pads - or a new parking brake caliper through warranty. It sounds like the only real issue is the part is back ordered (it turns out they tried to order a parking brake caliper for me when it was there a few weeks ago for warranty repairs - it was on the list for the work order when I dropped it off).
As far as fixing the chaincase cover, since the bosses are only 2" apart I think carefully taking a file to both surfaces simultaneously should be able to take down the ~0.010 in parallelism error. To make it work they need to be parallel to each other, but I don't think a small error relative to the rotor will matter much.
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
I finally got Yamaha's response and they won't do anything for the parking brake, nor for the chaincase cover bosses being machined incorrectly when the sled was manufactured.
It's things like this that really take away from making these sleds truly great.
I don't understand how they feel this is reasonable. When I bought the sled it had a manufacturing defect and this defect lead to a premature failure of a part well within the warranty period. This problem was listed on the work order several times while the machine was in getting other repairs.
I was told that the parking brake system isn't covered under warranty in any way so this problem is simply not covered. This is the same story I got last winter (before I knew the chaincase cover was causing the problem).
This in many ways is similar to my premature track failure that was caused by the front pivot arm breaking. Yamaha did cover the pivot arm and the rest of the damaged suspension, but I had to pay for the new track because "tracks aren't covered under warranty". I even spoke to Camoplast and provided names and numbers for the "track experts" to Yamaha to demonstrate the pivot arm failure would definitely cause the track failure. Yamaha's response after this was tracks aren't covered under warranty regardless of what causes them to fail.
Yamaha Canada really needs to change the way they treat customers if they really want to become number 1.
It's things like this that really take away from making these sleds truly great.
I don't understand how they feel this is reasonable. When I bought the sled it had a manufacturing defect and this defect lead to a premature failure of a part well within the warranty period. This problem was listed on the work order several times while the machine was in getting other repairs.
I was told that the parking brake system isn't covered under warranty in any way so this problem is simply not covered. This is the same story I got last winter (before I knew the chaincase cover was causing the problem).
This in many ways is similar to my premature track failure that was caused by the front pivot arm breaking. Yamaha did cover the pivot arm and the rest of the damaged suspension, but I had to pay for the new track because "tracks aren't covered under warranty". I even spoke to Camoplast and provided names and numbers for the "track experts" to Yamaha to demonstrate the pivot arm failure would definitely cause the track failure. Yamaha's response after this was tracks aren't covered under warranty regardless of what causes them to fail.
Yamaha Canada really needs to change the way they treat customers if they really want to become number 1.
PAR III
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I think your dealer sucks. A good dealer finds ways to handle issues like this.
parking brake
Rex, I agree with your comments about Yamaha Canada. Just look at the position they have put their dealers near the Canada US border in. Back to the brake. I have the same situation. I'm going to get a Willwood master cylinder from a wrecked Arctic Cat from a salvage yard. I don't think this will be too expensive as I'm sure they survive all but the worst accidents unscathed. I've never heard of one failing so the salvage yards must be full of them. You will have to use a little ingenuity to join the Yamaha brakeline to the caliper but it can be done. I'm sure it can be done cheaper than buying the MPI kit which seems way overpriced. I just did some business with Al's Snowmobile Parts Warehouse. Great people to deal with, lots of new parts and good prices. Let me know what you think. Maybe I can order 2 and bring them into Canada and send one to you. I live in Sault Ste. Marie and cross into Michigan 3 times a week. I have a US shipping address. This really simplifies things.
Rex, I agree with your comments about Yamaha Canada. Just look at the position they have put their dealers near the Canada US border in. Back to the brake. I have the same situation. I'm going to get a Willwood master cylinder from a wrecked Arctic Cat from a salvage yard. I don't think this will be too expensive as I'm sure they survive all but the worst accidents unscathed. I've never heard of one failing so the salvage yards must be full of them. You will have to use a little ingenuity to join the Yamaha brakeline to the caliper but it can be done. I'm sure it can be done cheaper than buying the MPI kit which seems way overpriced. I just did some business with Al's Snowmobile Parts Warehouse. Great people to deal with, lots of new parts and good prices. Let me know what you think. Maybe I can order 2 and bring them into Canada and send one to you. I live in Sault Ste. Marie and cross into Michigan 3 times a week. I have a US shipping address. This really simplifies things.
