Broke my sled.......again!

[Q. Arrius]

I'm not saying the design is the greatest, but I'd be willing to bet you're seeing the results from cheap China steel, and aluminum.

Face it: I'll just throw a percentage out here.....80% of their steel is fine, 20% is counterfeit, and/or known to be defective. I'm just making this number up....but anyone with a construction, mechanical, or engineering background knows China ships defective steel. I've read a lot of crappy steel is showing up from Europe as well. I would venture to bet as well, the initial shipments of steel, bolts, valves, whatever.....is top of the line. They know the goods are heavily tested for quality. Fast forward a couple years, and crappy parts and steel gets diluted into the mix. You have to assume US manufactures slow or cut the cost of testing as the years roll on.

You have SWs like mine with 3k miles and no snapping. You have SWs with 10 miles with snapping bolts. This clearly tells you that there is cheap China parts in the mix. The design was done using the correct metal. What the engineers can't control, is when their design is used with counterfeit parts. You're left with a manunufacturer scratching their head over what to do....design is ok if the parts are true, and how do you go after a China supplier for defective parts.

That last part is the killer that I'd love to know more about. How do you get remedy from shitty China companies who disappear and/or are protected by the government?

How do you avoid this problem? You buy a Jap made sled. I knew when I bought jet skis 20 years ago, that when buying Yamaha, you're not only buying their quality design......you're buying their ability to filter out and NOT use cheap China bolts and plastics.

Don't think SkiDoo and Polaris are immune from this. I am certain everyone is riding around with a good 20% of shitty parts, just waiting to snap, sheer, peel, or blow.

Maybe I'm wrong....but that's my 2-cents.

Q. Arrius

 

[yamadoo]

Interesting.
When Arctic Cat came out with the design of the sliding front rear suspension mount they showed how it allowed weight shift with out pulling the front rails ie. track up out of contact with the ground leading to more traction and better Sno cross hole shots
I am sure the quality of Hibberts cross shafts were top notch. Certainly the consumer design was lighter duty, ie. cheaper and then possibly the metal quality began to vary and now we have some failures.
Seems a great design WHEN parts are top quality.
Tough for the guys who have had failures.

 

[KnappAttack]

Cat/Yamaha could have prevented this if they had used the RR suspension in the first place. It's a know fact if ridden aggressive that these pieces break in a non RR suspension. Thats why they actually built the RR suspension in the first place for its ability to stand up to the punishment.

It's not rocket science, that front shaft takes the brunt of the hammering when the suspension is working by design. It's just flat out too weak no matter which countries alum its made out of. Not to mention the end of the non RR bolt hole in the shaft is right there at point it wants to break at.

Poor engineering from Cat to put the weak suspension on a turbo sled, plain and simple, any that break should be warrantied.

 

[yamadoo]

Agree

 

[actionjack]

Cat/Yamaha could have prevented this if they had used the RR suspension in the first place. It's a know fact if ridden aggressive that these pieces break in a non RR suspension. Thats why they actually built the RR suspension in the first place for its ability to stand up to the punishment.

It's not rocket science, that front shaft takes the brunt of the hammering when the suspension is working by design. It's just flat out too weak no matter which countries alum its made out of. Not to mention the end of the non RR bolt hole in the shaft is right there at point it wants to break at.

Poor engineering from Cat to put the weak suspension on a turbo sled, plain and simple, any that break should be warrantied.

Hard to argue with this. The Viper thread about this is long and not recently started. I think a lot of guys won't experience this at all depending on the way they ride and when and where they ride. Meaning if you live in Quebec and only ride once its full winter, reliably groomed, you could probably ride this piss out of your Winder and still have less of chance of this happening then a less aggressive rider that rides a regularly moguled up place like Tug Hill. Maybe it was Cat but My guess is Yamaha value engineered this out of production to us. Remember Soucie's videos with the RR thick skid rails.

 

[stevewithOCD]

I can agree with the last 5 posts.
It is possible that when designed , this system worked great.
Then the fresh out of school engineer said we can shave weight with a non-rusting piece of aluminum.
Then some corporate penny pincher saved $.22 per sled with a slightly smaller non-rusting lighter part.
Then the penny pitchers' boss saved $1.57 per sled by buying his undersized non-rusting lighter aluminum from an over seas vendor.
Then the original engineer stormed into the office stating they just compromised the dependability of the sled.
He is now in the unemployment line.

Meanwhile my sled is sitting in New Hampshire waiting to see who will pay the $4000 bill because of a $1.79.
OH well. I will beef it up 'cuz i still love the sled!

 

[actionjack]

I can agree with the last 5 posts.
It is possible that when designed , this system worked great.
Then the fresh out of school engineer said we can shave weight with a non-rusting piece of aluminum.
Then some corporate penny pincher saved $.22 per sled with a slightly smaller non-rusting lighter part.
Then the penny pitchers' boss saved $1.57 per sled by buying his undersized non-rusting lighter aluminum from an over seas vendor.
Then the original engineer stormed into the office stating they just compromised the dependability of the sled.
He is now in the unemployment line.

Meanwhile my sled is sitting in New Hampshire waiting to see who will pay the $4000 bill because of a $1.79.
OH well. I will beef it up 'cuz i still love the sled!

Right except I think CR retired - forcibly . . . or in protest

 

[Beerman]

I can agree with the last 5 posts.
It is possible that when designed , this system worked great.
Then the fresh out of school engineer said we can shave weight with a non-rusting piece of aluminum.
Then some corporate penny pincher saved $.22 per sled with a slightly smaller non-rusting lighter part.
Then the penny pitchers' boss saved $1.57 per sled by buying his undersized non-rusting lighter aluminum from an over seas vendor.
Then the original engineer stormed into the office stating they just compromised the dependability of the sled.
He is now in the unemployment line.

Meanwhile my sled is sitting in New Hampshire waiting to see who will pay the $4000 bill because of a $1.79.
OH well. I will beef it up 'cuz i still love the sled!

Steve, glad you’re staying with us. I don’t know what I’d do without your posts making me laugh.

Hopefully they warranty it like they should!

 

[stevewithOCD]

Dealer is optimistic.

 

[snowbeast]

Here tell them we need sponsors here at TY too.
https://thomassnosports.com/
View attachment 140243

what is price steve?

 

[cannondale27]

what is price steve?

$70

 

[stevewithOCD]

GOOD NEWS BOYS!

I started a new thread called Black & Blue.

P.S. That's not the good news......what i say in the thread is!

 

[JPS]

Cat/Yamaha could have prevented this if they had used the RR suspension in the first place. It's a know fact if ridden aggressive that these pieces break in a non RR suspension. Thats why they actually built the RR suspension in the first place for its ability to stand up to the punishment.

It's not rocket science, that front shaft takes the brunt of the hammering when the suspension is working by design. It's just flat out too weak no matter which countries alum its made out of. Not to mention the end of the non RR bolt hole in the shaft is right there at point it wants to break at.

Poor engineering from Cat to put the weak suspension on a turbo sled, plain and simple, any that break should be warrantied.

Cat/Yamaha could have prevented this if they had used the RR suspension in the first place. It's a know fact if ridden aggressive that these pieces break in a non RR suspension. Thats why they actually built the RR suspension in the first place for its ability to stand up to the punishment.

It's not rocket science, that front shaft takes the brunt of the hammering when the suspension is working by design. It's just flat out too weak no matter which countries alum its made out of. Not to mention the end of the non RR bolt hole in the shaft is right there at point it wants to break at.

Poor engineering from Cat to put the weak suspension on a turbo sled, plain and simple, any that break should be warrantied.

When i called my dealer and explained what had broke he told me i am S O L , told me that would come under a wear item?? I sent pictures to him and asked if he could show a yamaha rep what happened but i got no where. besides the fact that when that breaks you are screwed. I had to take the center shock off, pump up my rear shock and have my girlfriend at 120lbs. ride my sled back to where we were staying, 125 miles.

 

[mikextx]

Cat problems. No one should be surprised by this

 

[RTX]

When i called my dealer and explained what had broke he told me i am S O L , told me that would come under a wear item?? I sent pictures to him and asked if he could show a yamaha rep what happened but i got no where. besides the fact that when that breaks you are screwed. I had to take the center shock off, pump up my rear shock and have my girlfriend at 120lbs. ride my sled back to where we were staying, 125 miles.

You need to call Yamaha customer service and Ditch that dealer!