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

[Motorhead]

Trails up north were actually worse than my area when i rode there. I did almost 2000 miles in the County this year.
The shaft broke at both bolt ends & flew out. Then there was nothing holding the tunnel apart so it tore like it did.
I bottomed once in a while on the nastiest of the nastiest of bumps. That's the way it should be so you know you are using the whole suspension.

Yeah fresh snow makes for bumpy trails when there’s lot’s of traffic.
So, new tunnel needed?
Did not realize that the Viper has had this same inherent problem as Knapp implied. Meowwwww??

 

[yamadoo]

Sorry for the sled, Yamacat and dealer experience.

We will still talk to you, especially if you bring cookies.

Seriously we will talk to you, we want real snowmobile experience on any color just be careful to not hurt our feelings if you like another brand better.
You will it’s human nature to have our likes follow our money , makes us think we are wiser.

 

[STAIN]

I think Cannondale may have made some repair plates for this problem???????

 

[AnythingButLast]

Yea just if insurance wont cover it. That would be an option. Fairly time consuming job drilling all the rivers and removing everything. Just being that it's the long off season now time wont be as big of an issue and can save yourself a lot of money that route most likely. I had the same thing happen to my 17 with the bent cross shaft. Luckily mine only bent a small but and just spider cracked around the bolt holes. Seen many do that. So I drilled at the end of each crack and added some cat gusset plates over the mounting locations. 2000 miles later with the plates and adding all the rr shafts/parts and no more issues thus far.

 

[stevewithOCD]

Just looked up prices. $315 for just front tunnel piece & $400 for whole tunnel. Not bad, but that's got to be over 20 hours of labor.
I have a bike that will get lonely. Plus i was gonna see if i can find a summer girlfriend & those take up a lot of time.
Plus i'm just not in the mood to have the WHOLE garage covered in parts for weeks at a time.
Anyone have info on the Cat plates & RR parts?

 

[DMCTurbo]

Wow! I wouldn't be happy either. Just another poorly engineered area for the Cat chassis. Gonna need to get the RR shaft installed in mine for next season as I had planned. How can Cat not see this crap happening? It happened with the Vipers too. No excuse for this sub-par engineering. They are guilty of not fixing these common deficits like this cross shaft along with the drive shaft, bearing and brake caliper area. Its an easy fix at the factory level.

Is it any wonder Cat and Yamaha are stuck at the bottom? We can fix their shortfalls but surely we shouldn't have to.

What's the issue with the drive shaft, bearing and brake calipers area?

 

[WinterWolf]

Steve, get yourself a chick...and have it fixed with a new tunnel. Then you can sell it or keep it in good faith...everything new and stock. And yes...that should be covered...get yourself a new dealer!!

Don’t go with that 900 ace turbo..think you’ll be disappointed...don’t think that will even come close in stock form, to the stock form of the 998 turbo genesis. It’s an inferior motor(900 ace) imo with regards to power output compared to the 998 Yamaha turbo.

If you’re going to get a new sled...get the new Sidewinder.

 

[hibshman25]

So there are existing plates available to reinforce and or repair this? If not i will certainly be creating something.

 

[AnythingButLast]

Cat had/has small plates "diamond" shaped that fit into that pocket where the front bolt goes in. You can just drill and rivet them on the outside of the tunnel there so you have an added layer of thickness where the bolt passes through. Was an update/upgrade before the tunnels were updated with an internal extra plate. These little external plates can be added to our sleds though.

 

[Crossfire12]

Must be hitting those three foot bumps aggressively! After you fix try hitting them slower, HA HA that why dealer won't cover. It's a accident, insurance job.

 

[1nc 2000]

Too bad Yamaha didn't deliver what you ordered for a sled based on their information.

Now I have to go look at mine to make sure it's still straight. I'm a trail rider too.

I hope a different dealer will get it fixed for you.

 

[stevewithOCD]

Must be hitting those three foot bumps aggressively! After you fix try hitting them slower, HA HA that why dealer won't cover. It's a accident, insurance job.

I rode my Apex harder. I broke the W-arm once, but it was rusted & i knew it so that was on me.
19,000 miles & it just broke another part where the shock mounts. I was gonna redo the whole rear suspension this summer anyways.

 

[stevewithOCD]

Here's the worst thing about this whole scenario.

We were headed to the trains from Chesuncook. There are some ungroomed sections then a 22 mile lake. I was planning on really embarrassing the 850 for 20 miles on the lake. On the ungroomed sections, i was going SLOW to wait for my cousin on my Apex. The 270 pound rider on the 850 kept antagonizing & blowing past me on the bumps. I didn't bite. I was actually driving SLOW! You heard it......SLOW! He saw something shoot out from my sled. It was the crossbar.
Once we realized what happened, i kept it to 30 mph to the next hunting camp, Mattagammon.

Well the 850 wanted to race the lake. My Sidewinder friend didn't want to blow a belt so he didn't bite. The second Apex wasn't doing too well against him so it was up to my newbie cousin on my Ape to take him. He doesn't understand how to get top speed so the 850 was gloating the whole time.
I was trying to trade with my cousin so i could show up the cocky 850, but he didn't see me. Me on my Apex WILL take him!
Can you imagine the PAIN i was going through! 30 Miles Per effin' Hour while a die hard Yellow man thumped his chest!

We'll call it OCD purgatory. It was like having a hard-on in traffic. Nothing you can do.....

 

[Byam]

I broke the rear suspension front crossbar/pin that ended up tearing my tunnel. It snapped right beyond the bolts.
I did this a month ago, but did not post it because i was waiting on the warranty news.
Well the news is.......they will not cover it. Not happy!

My dealer said the wrong words. He needed to say it was a part defect. He said he's never seen one break. I said, well if you've NEVER seen one break, doesn't that mean mine was defective?
Dealer said my bump stops were worn so he knows i ride hard.
I weigh 165, i'm 50 years old with a fused neck. I don't jump or look for bumps. I run the bumps because they are there & i can't go around them.
I bought an "aggressive trail" sled to......you guessed it......ride "aggressive on the trails"!

Same dealer that doesn't know of any belt issues. Time to get a new dealer. Going to talk to the manager when i pick the sled up.

What bothers me is everyone in the group including my 19,000 mile Apex hit the same stuff.
Also we were SUPPOSED to have the RR suspension that Yamaha reneged on that would have had a STEEL bar in there.

Cost will be $3000 to $4000 maybe more.
I will call insurance tomorrow, but i may just pay cash & trade it in for a 900T.

The big question is:
If i turn Yellow will you fella's still talk to me? I don't think they'll get my humor on DOOTALK

A LA YAMAHA always not covered .....SAD
It's a well l known probleme since 2012! Even for the drive shaft bearing clearance....:-/
From day one i have the RR crossshaft + RR center shock botom shaft+ glued drive shaft bearing


barn of part stronger outside tunnel part would be a good thing to have

Rr crosshaft compared to stock

 

[Pstn head]

Upper and lower shaft Artic Cat part #'s