Apex RTX rear suspension

[tbrehm]

Is anyone else breaking the rear end in their Apex. I've broken the front torque arm, the limiter straps twice. I'm an aggressive rider that weighs about 220. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[stoutner]

Mine was all broken up also. I bought an aftermarket suspension and love it.

The 2008 Yamaha part# for the front torque arm is different. They have reinforced the arm in a few spots that they keep breaking. So, If you do get a new part, get the 2008 part. I never had any limiter strap problems...hmmm.

If you just re-weld the old arm, add some reinforcement in the areas that it is breaking. I rewelded mine and it worked fine.

 

[stealth800]

My sled cracked the upper arm, very small, at about 2700 miles. I caught it doing skid maintance. The 2008 part is updated, well see how it holds up. I still have a 2006 style arm and i'll watch it. I'm curious to know if a stiffer suspension that minimally bottoms has more or less tendancy to crack the arm than a stock style set up that will bottom often when riden aggressively.

 

[Highmiler]

Is anyone else breaking the rear end in their Apex. I've broken the front torque arm, the limiter straps twice. I'm an aggressive rider that weighs about 220. Any ideas would be appreciated.

If you've broken limiter straps you must have 07 or newer sled with ck skid. Stoutner's got 06 Mono. Different skid, but same problems. Junk!!!

 

[nate007]

Are you guys bottoming out alot? If you are, like I am, it causes more of the stresses of landing to go the the various suspension pieces rather than be absorbed by the shocks & springs.
Try a re-valve of your shocks if so. Just my .02

 

[favarcat]

Cracked a rail last year and found a crack in the front arm yesterday. Welded it in place, hope it holds up. Found a crack in my riding buddies rail yesterday also. Yamaha does not make tough suspensions. We do not abuse our sleds by jumping and over half our miles are on smooth Quebec trails.

 

[garserio]

I got an 05 Vector with the same Proactive suspension. I've broken everything... Limiter Straps, Rear Arm, (2) Front W-Arms, Center Pivot Link, Cracked Slide Rails and a bent rear tunnel. I do not jump or Snow-X... I do ride Tug Hill, though!

Anyhow, after I fixed every one of these problems with customizing the stock parts, Yammy came out with a updated parts with similar solutions to my own the next model year. Oh well, that what you get for buying something the first year it came out. I should send Yammy a bill for development work!

No that I'm on on my 3rd major skid repair, I'm at the end of my rope. I decided that any harsh bottoming must be prevented at all costs with this weak skid. So, I contacted Ross @ Hygear for revalving advice and we spoke at length about the deficiencies of this particular design. He explained how the suspension has a lot of self-induced binding action, mostly due to the center pivot link that couples the front and rear shocks. (That little triangular piece... Aluminum on RTX, Fabricated steel on the Vector & Nytro) Ross has come up with a linkage kit to eliminate this problem by decoupling the front shock from that weak pivot assembly. The solution is very similar to the mounting of the center shock on the proven SkiDoo SC10-3. The solution makes perfect sense once you analyze it, so I am going forward with it. I'll post pics when I'm done. For now, check out my collection of broken parts headed for my "Hall-of-Shame" shelf in the garage.

 

[Turtle]

I've purchased the linkage-removal kit that you are talking about from Hygear. It really makes a big improvement in the performance of the Proactive skid! Stutter bumps are all but gone. And you can hit the bigger bumps harder before the skid will hit the bump stops.

 

[garserio]

I've purchased the linkage-removal kit that you are talking about from Hygear. It really makes a big improvement in the performance of the Proactive skid! Stutter bumps are all but gone. And you can hit the bigger bumps harder before the skid will hit the bump stops.

That's great news! After speaking with Ross @ Hygear, I was convinced and bought the kit, but it was still a $1,000 leap of faith by the time I got done. Ross setup my buddy's 06 RTX with the monoshock and it made a huge improvement, so he definitely knows his stuff. I'm lloking forward to trying it all out once the snow guns turn back on...

The kit is high quality, but it did take some time to install. The new mounting shaft was a very tight fit and I had to sand the shaft down until it would go thru the shock eye bushing. I also noticed that the new shaft location based on the templates did not allow for full limit strap extension. I moved the mounting location forward by 0.700" and it was perfect. In fact, the lower shock eye lined up exactly where is was with the old link system. Also, if I used the suggested location, the corners of the outer crossbolt plates would have interfered with the mounting bolts for the new pivot tube. This was another sign to me that the template was wrong. Did you notice this?

 

[Turtle]

I had none of the problems you noted with your installation. Using the template provide, the lower eye of the shock ended up in the stock location - just as you described. I had no other problems with any of the other parts of the kit.

 

[garserio]

I had none of the problems you noted with your installation. Using the template provide, the lower eye of the shock ended up in the stock location - just as you described. I had no other problems with any of the other parts of the kit.

I wonder if my template was out of size? That sometimes happens when copying or printing things. You think you get 1:1, but sometimes it's a bit off. Anyhow, in the end, things went well and I'm excited to try it all out on the trail.

 

[ahicks]

<<<a $1,000 leap of faith >>>

Bound to get flamed for saying this, but even after this mod, there are still serious issues with this suspension (eg: transfer/coupler mech, track tension control). Thinking that I would have put that kind of money into a different (likely Polaris)suspension, maybe extroverts, and a different track.... Just me

 

[ReX]

garserio, did your front pivot arm failures only start after you installed the stiffer ohlins shock?

 

[garserio]

garserio, did your front pivot arm failures only start after you installed the stiffer ohlins shock?

After the first season on this skid, I put in the rear Ohlin and had the center shock revalved stiffer along with adding a 157# sping to the center as well. All these things contributed to more stiffness and stressed the suspension parts more. In season 2, I started having part failures, so there is highly likely that adding stiffness contributes to part breakage. However, after 3 seasons of wrenching and 5k miles of riding this sled, I am convinced that skid failures on this model are due to harsh bottoming. YOU MUST PREVENT THIS ON THE PROACTIVE SKID! The 05 Vector was setup for plushness, so I started out stock with a bigger problem thatn those with Nytros and RTX's.

After installing the Hygear setup and studying the skid movement in more detail, it is clear to me that Hygear's setup is going to eliminate the self-destructing cetner pivot link problem. The only risk left to skid self-destruction is harsh bottoming, but again that should be minimized by Hygear's progressive valving and spring loading recipe. When I return from sunny Florida, I will post pics of my new setup.

And by the way, the little challenges I mentioned previously in the thread with regards to the Hygear installation were quickly solved and Ross @ Hygear was great to work with. He spent a lot of time with me on the phone and was willing to do anything to make sure the installation was a success. Not many people are putting his kit on an 05 Vector, so I was kind of a test case. It is possible that the Vector center shock is slightly different in length than the Nytro/RTX which caused the confusion since he developed the kit using a Nytro. Whenever you get into mods like this, you have to expect some challenges. I can't wait to get this thing out on the trail!

 

[garserio]

<<<a $1,000 leap of faith >>>

Bound to get flamed for saying this, but even after this mod, there are still serious issues with this suspension (eg: transfer/coupler mech, track tension control). Thinking that I would have put that kind of money into a different (likely Polaris)suspension, maybe extroverts, and a different track.... Just me

I hear you about the potential to get flamed... Oh well! Since there were no reports posted here on Hyger's kit installed onto an 05 Vector, it was a leap of faith. Once I get some seat time, I'll post a review.

I hear you about the alternatives I had with a $1,000 budget. I considered grafting in a Doo SC10-3, but decided to give the Proactive one last chance, especially after speaking with Hygear. Basically, the Hygear linkage kit decouples the center shock from the rear which is how the SC10-3 is setup, so the solution made a lot of sense to me. The other thing to consider is that grafting in a different brand suspension will aboslutely require custom shock vavling and springs because the Yamaha tunnel is heavier with the rear mounted exhaust. This would add to the cost significantly because it is highly likely that you would have do a few iterations to get it right. With Hygear's kit, that valving optimization has already been done during their R&D. Also keep in mind that I got the linkge kit, two shock rebuilds/revalves, a dual rate center spring kit, An add on remote reservior for the center and torsion spring spacers for $1,000. That's a lot of work and hardware.

The bottom line is that any money spent for any of these solutions is BS. Yamaha needs to step it up with their rear suspension designs for their Rough Trail eXtreme sleds that they advertise. The simply do not hold up. You hear all kinds of stories on this site of customers getting turned away by Yamaha warantee reps becuase "the customer is riding too hard or misusing their machines" Facts are facts... Trails are rougher now and sleds have to perform through it. You can't market rough trail sleds and then turn your nose up when customers carry in their boxes- of broken parts. Yammy should be partnering with companies like Hygear and performing failure analysis on all broken parts to improve their designs OR stop marketing RTX sleds.

So now I've opened myself up to more flaming, but this is just one man's opinion. Yamaha has the sweetest powertrain on the market and all they have to do now is strenghten and lighten. I believe they can rise to this challenge if they start listening to the customer and bury their pride.