b4xc800nowapex
Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2005
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- 3
I had one of many bent tunnels that everyone is talking about on an Apex GT. Yamaha has as they say "good willed it" under their warranty. They are claiming that I ran over the snow flap while I was backing out of my trailer which pulled the back end of the tunnel down and dented the tunnel. I can assure you that this did not happen.
I spoke with the dealer today. They have installed the new tunnel. The new tunnel does not come with a vin number on it. What they are proposing to do is cut the old vin number out of the old tunnel and rivet it on to the new one.
I am not to happy about this. My sled will have a diminished value cause of it. They said that all I have to do is show the paper work to prove that it has a new tunnel from Yamaha and that the serial number was rivited on from the previous tunnel.
When I go to sell the sled someone is going to think that the sled has been stolen and the vin that is on the sled was taken from a wrecked sled and put on this alledgedly stolen sled. I don't want to have to produce paper work to show otherwise. If a sled similar to mine with an original tunnel was selling next to mine with a replacement tunnel i know which one they would buy first.
My question is why they can't have a vin number etched into the new tunnel instead of patching the old number on to the new tunnel? If they can't do that then I think that I should be compensated for having a sled that is not worth as much as it was before the tunnel was dented.
I spoke with the dealer today. They have installed the new tunnel. The new tunnel does not come with a vin number on it. What they are proposing to do is cut the old vin number out of the old tunnel and rivet it on to the new one.
I am not to happy about this. My sled will have a diminished value cause of it. They said that all I have to do is show the paper work to prove that it has a new tunnel from Yamaha and that the serial number was rivited on from the previous tunnel.
When I go to sell the sled someone is going to think that the sled has been stolen and the vin that is on the sled was taken from a wrecked sled and put on this alledgedly stolen sled. I don't want to have to produce paper work to show otherwise. If a sled similar to mine with an original tunnel was selling next to mine with a replacement tunnel i know which one they would buy first.
My question is why they can't have a vin number etched into the new tunnel instead of patching the old number on to the new tunnel? If they can't do that then I think that I should be compensated for having a sled that is not worth as much as it was before the tunnel was dented.
RTX-rev 8oox
Newbie
ALL you have to do is have the tunnel staped with your serial numbers.
Sledboy
Pro
How did you really bend the tunnel?
Any big air or a bad landing on the rear of tunnel?
What is Yami doing to prevent this on the 2007's?
Any big air or a bad landing on the rear of tunnel?
What is Yami doing to prevent this on the 2007's?
grader
TY 4 Stroke Master
well, i think your bent outa shape about nothin. the fact that you got a new tunnel on warrenty for free seems like a good deal to me. yamaha could have said you wrecked the tunnel and probably given you a list of ways it could have happened, but they dident. you say " i dont want to have to produce paper work to show otherwise". whats that about? you have to produce the ownership when you sell it, so whats the big deal with a few more papers. i dont see your sled having any less value because of this, especially since you have proper paperwork to explain the change. you should read this site back about 3 years to see the crap that yamaha hasent covered( rings, w arms coils etc.), then you would have reason to be pissed.
X-APE
Extreme
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2005
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- 122
Thats does suck and your sled will no doubt lose value. I would just leave the vin's off and keep the tag with your paperwork. Just tell everyone its a rare sled that slipped through the vin stamper unscathed. hehehehehehe Consider yourself lucky yam fixed it.
welterracer
TY 4 Stroke God
Yamaha changed the snow flaps for 07.. not that i believe this will cure the problem..
n2oiroc
Expert
i would also go this route. i would never have a piece of scrap riveted to my tunnel!X-APE said:
LazyBastard
TY 4 Stroke God
Its real easy to stamp a number into a tunnel. You just buy a set of metal stamps, hold a block on the back of the tunnel, and smash the numbers in with a hammer.
Besides, the only place the serial number matters is on the ENGINE (because thats the most valuable part of the sled), and since they're not replacing the engine, that will remain the same.
Besides, the only place the serial number matters is on the ENGINE (because thats the most valuable part of the sled), and since they're not replacing the engine, that will remain the same.
Alatalo
TY 4 Stroke Master
Bending the tunnel because of running over the snowflap is a strange explanation.
It is all about the way the rear end of the sled is designed:
The seat is sitting on top of the silencer heat shield.
The silencer heat shield is bolted to the back of the silencer.
The silencer is bolted to the tunnel.
All of this behind the rear suspension rear mounting points.
Sit on the seat and bottom the suspension out hard enough (no matter what shock you are using) and the part of the tunnel that is behind the rear suspension rear mounting points will bend downwards.
I have seen this happen on couple of -05 sleds. The -06 sleds seem to have some kind of stiffener to prevent this problem. In some cases this stiffener is obviously not enough...
It is all about the way the rear end of the sled is designed:
The seat is sitting on top of the silencer heat shield.
The silencer heat shield is bolted to the back of the silencer.
The silencer is bolted to the tunnel.
All of this behind the rear suspension rear mounting points.
Sit on the seat and bottom the suspension out hard enough (no matter what shock you are using) and the part of the tunnel that is behind the rear suspension rear mounting points will bend downwards.
I have seen this happen on couple of -05 sleds. The -06 sleds seem to have some kind of stiffener to prevent this problem. In some cases this stiffener is obviously not enough...
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I don’t want to push the issue but we ride pretty hard and I have yet to see a bent tunnel from normal trail riding on crappy trails on the last 4, 05s and 06s that I ride with. But I have seen owners back up really fast and kink their tunnel....so I have mixed feeling about the whole issue and you are very fortunate the Yamaha did fix yours.
This is what owners need to see that in some cases Yamaha will not fix the sled and others they will, why?? Well I feel it is do to that owners dealer that will take the extra effort to take care of the customer.
Just thoughts....
Tom
This is what owners need to see that in some cases Yamaha will not fix the sled and others they will, why?? Well I feel it is do to that owners dealer that will take the extra effort to take care of the customer.
Just thoughts....
Tom
yamadoo
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I am with Mr SLed on this, it is unfortunate that your tunnel bent and fortunate that they fixed it underwarrenty.
Yamadoo
Yamadoo
SledFreak
TY 4 Stroke God
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They did.... Are they shorter?welterracer said:
A lot of sleds have reverse and a lot of people including myself have gone in reverse and caught our flaps on our studs - myself on several different brands of sleds including many times on both my RX1 and XC8 - neither ever bent a tunnell but both bent up some aluminum brackets on the very back.
Yet until this year - I have never heard of bent tunnels on sled from reverse. And there have been quite a few reported - all Yamahas - I hardly believe they are all or if even many are from abuse.
And if Yam really is of the opinion these are all abuse - maybe they don't have a true understanding of how hard other brands of sleds get ridden.
Yam has problem and they need to take care of it - and for the most part, it seems like they are.
All I can say, with my dealings from Yamaha. Your dealer can only take you so far - you need to spend a lot of time on the phone with more than just the first person they send you to - and you may get results. Don't give up.
Yet until this year - I have never heard of bent tunnels on sled from reverse. And there have been quite a few reported - all Yamahas - I hardly believe they are all or if even many are from abuse.
And if Yam really is of the opinion these are all abuse - maybe they don't have a true understanding of how hard other brands of sleds get ridden.
Yam has problem and they need to take care of it - and for the most part, it seems like they are.
All I can say, with my dealings from Yamaha. Your dealer can only take you so far - you need to spend a lot of time on the phone with more than just the first person they send you to - and you may get results. Don't give up.
LazyBastard
TY 4 Stroke God
Actually, the seat is NOT sitting on top of the silencer, its sitting on the TUNNEL, up forward of the rear mounting point. The part above the silencer is just cosmetic and doesn't support any load, except to keep the seat from falling off.Alatalo said:
Dano
TY 4 Stroke Master
This is interesting. Just went in the garage to look at my tunnel and all seems ok except for the holes in the flap from when I did back out of my trailer and got stuck which did stop me cold. Seems something has to give if approx 800+ lbs (with rider) gets stopped cold from backing up and studs having a firm grip into the flaps. I’m going to cut mine or replace with the 07 flap. I rode my RTX hard this season and all seems to have held up good.
Dan
Dan
