cds13us
Newbie
Hey guys.
was out for a rip this weekend, pushed the throttle, caught some air, then, all the sudden, sounded like I was running on 2 cylinders...
Weird. I figured, Yamaha, just hit the throttle again it'd go away... Well, pushed the throttle a bit more, and eventually, lost all power, and braking.
After rolling down the hill and coming to a stop, I thought I blew the belt. I checked, belt was fine. Then, I turned the clutch and it'd just spin??
So, I checked the brake side, it was turning. I figured, I must of snapped the chain. But there wasn't much noise.
So, had to tow it home cause I couldn't do much on the trail.
I took apart the chain case, chain was fine. Looked @ all the gears, they were fine, nothing broken. I pullled out the chain case housing (back side), and found the drive shaft snapped right at the first sprocket.
I've never seen 1' steel snap like that? Has anyone else had this happen? What causes it? I wasn't riding that hard???
Kinda scary to lose your braking ability on a downhill!!
cds13
Speed Kills, Buy a Polaris and live forever!
was out for a rip this weekend, pushed the throttle, caught some air, then, all the sudden, sounded like I was running on 2 cylinders...
Weird. I figured, Yamaha, just hit the throttle again it'd go away... Well, pushed the throttle a bit more, and eventually, lost all power, and braking.
After rolling down the hill and coming to a stop, I thought I blew the belt. I checked, belt was fine. Then, I turned the clutch and it'd just spin??
So, I checked the brake side, it was turning. I figured, I must of snapped the chain. But there wasn't much noise.
So, had to tow it home cause I couldn't do much on the trail.
I took apart the chain case, chain was fine. Looked @ all the gears, they were fine, nothing broken. I pullled out the chain case housing (back side), and found the drive shaft snapped right at the first sprocket.
I've never seen 1' steel snap like that? Has anyone else had this happen? What causes it? I wasn't riding that hard???
Kinda scary to lose your braking ability on a downhill!!
cds13
Speed Kills, Buy a Polaris and live forever!
KnappAttack
24X ISR World Drag Racing Champion
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2004
- Messages
- 4,685
- Location
- Welch MN
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2023 Sidewinder LTX-LE
2017 Sidewinder LTX-LE
Normal for the sno-crossers prior to the slipper sprocket. Not supposed to have the track blazing with the power on with a trail sled. I have twisted a couple on a drag sled too. Dont land using full power if you are going to jump, or it will twist off.
ROCKERDAN
OCD Sledhead
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
- Messages
- 7,503
- Location
- Huntsville Ontario & Niagara NY
- Country
- Other
- Snowmobile
- '18 RTX 50th "Winder"
what year is it?..how many miles on it?
Dan
Dan
My RXWarrior broke the same way. I was going 15 mph when it snapped.
When I looked at it close it looked like it had a crack in it for a while. (rusted)
When I looked at it close it looked like it had a crack in it for a while. (rusted)
cds13us
Newbie
it's an 06, about 12,000 km, wasn't rusty, but I got the sled used, so who knows if the person before me rode it really hard...
I bet it had a crack but I didn't get a chance to see it before it happened. I didn't think I was riding it that hard, I've done worse...
I bet it had a crack but I didn't get a chance to see it before it happened. I didn't think I was riding it that hard, I've done worse...
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
Landing hard at low speeds at full throttle would probably twist the axle, but the failures I've seen with these Apex drive shafts are a slow growth fatigue crack, without any twisting evidence at all. There have also been others posting here with the same problem.
All of the ones I've seen have shown rust almost all the way through the axle with something like 25-30% of the material left to fail when it finally lets go. The other 70-75% of the failure surface has been coated in rust.
Mike, are "slipper sprockets" available to replace the stock lower sprocket on our sleds? I've always figured its the cyclic loading when accelerating over stutter bumps that causes the drive shafts to eventually crack through and fail. If there was some way to take the edge off the shaft loading, these drive shafts would probably last forever.
All of the ones I've seen have shown rust almost all the way through the axle with something like 25-30% of the material left to fail when it finally lets go. The other 70-75% of the failure surface has been coated in rust.
Mike, are "slipper sprockets" available to replace the stock lower sprocket on our sleds? I've always figured its the cyclic loading when accelerating over stutter bumps that causes the drive shafts to eventually crack through and fail. If there was some way to take the edge off the shaft loading, these drive shafts would probably last forever.
JERSEYJOE
Expert
DRIVE SHAFT BREAKAGE
IS THIS A VERY COMMON OCCURANCE? MY GT HAS 4000 MILES AND I AM GOING ON A LONG TOUR. SHOULD I JUST CHANGE IT AND THE FRONT ARM AS A PREVENTATIVE MOVE? I DON'T RUN STUDS AND I DONT TORTURE IT IN THE MOGULS. I DO TREND TO HAMMER IT ON THE LONG STRAIGHTAWAYS LIKE YOU FINE IN QUEBEC.
REX: WHAT DO YOU THINK???
IS THIS A VERY COMMON OCCURANCE? MY GT HAS 4000 MILES AND I AM GOING ON A LONG TOUR. SHOULD I JUST CHANGE IT AND THE FRONT ARM AS A PREVENTATIVE MOVE? I DON'T RUN STUDS AND I DONT TORTURE IT IN THE MOGULS. I DO TREND TO HAMMER IT ON THE LONG STRAIGHTAWAYS LIKE YOU FINE IN QUEBEC.
REX: WHAT DO YOU THINK???
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
I really don't know. I do know that a couple of guys I ride with have broken their drive shafts at around 7000-8000 miles.
I put about 6500 miles on the drive shaft from my RX-1 before it was changed - before it broke. I never did inspect it to see if cracks were forming.
My theory is how quickly these drive shafts crack is totally dependent on the rider. If you don't accelerate hard over bumps at all, I suspect the drive shaft should last a very long time. I also suspect that most aggressive riders (your typical purchaser of ultra-high performance sleds) do accelerate over bumps...
I put about 6500 miles on the drive shaft from my RX-1 before it was changed - before it broke. I never did inspect it to see if cracks were forming.
My theory is how quickly these drive shafts crack is totally dependent on the rider. If you don't accelerate hard over bumps at all, I suspect the drive shaft should last a very long time. I also suspect that most aggressive riders (your typical purchaser of ultra-high performance sleds) do accelerate over bumps...
racer765
Newbie
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2006
- Messages
- 5
Has anyone noticed a vibration before this failure ???? I have a BAD vibration from about 74 to 90 MPH, then at 90 it dissapears !!! Anyone else experiencing this??????????????????????????????????????? ( Hope its not this failure waiting to happen !!)
cds13us
Newbie
there was a numbing vibration in the handlebars, to the point where my hands and arms were going NUMB.
i also noticed a loud clunk noise when the front suspension was compressed on the stutter bumps. But i also had the limiter strap set short... I have lengthened it since.
not sure what to say about how you would know - keep an eye - it's a difficult part to inspect unless you have the track out, and you can see very clearly...
The shaft isn't too expensive, sometimes it's worth replacing just for the piece of mind...
i also noticed a loud clunk noise when the front suspension was compressed on the stutter bumps. But i also had the limiter strap set short... I have lengthened it since.
not sure what to say about how you would know - keep an eye - it's a difficult part to inspect unless you have the track out, and you can see very clearly...
The shaft isn't too expensive, sometimes it's worth replacing just for the piece of mind...
