Cat DNA Strikes again! -CHAINCASE TENSIONER ROLLER WHEEL FAIL

[Big_Phil]

Rockerdan: Had a big trip wrecked two weeks ago, it sucks big time, sorry to hear!
Hope your warranty claim goes smoothly, my dealer had a F%&# of a go with Yam over my recent warranty claim after my rear skid shock grenaded on me for no apparent reason. Yamaha warranty said they are all backlogged with claims, shocking! Plus they are training some newbie claims adjusters, which is just fantastic in peak sledding season!
8 days in the shop for a total of 8 hours work to repair.
Dealer got me back on snow even though he didn't have a 100% green light on replacing the track, he said he's always fighting claims these days, first they deny, then the epic battle begins.
Hope all goes well with the repairs and replacement parts availability.
Crack a beer in the meantime! Cheers man.

I heard the same thing about warranty claims from my dealer as well. He said lots and lots. More claims than hes ever seen.

 

[Hammer70]

Sorry to hear Dan that sucks well looks like I’m pulling mine down this week to look at and tac it.

 

[sideshowBob]

Sorry to hear about your trip being messed up. What a huge job to fix!!
Thanks for the info...just another item I have added to my list of items to do before I ever ride a new Sidewinder[if I pull the trigger on one]

 

[Motorhead]

Terrible news and timing Dan. Ruined the whole trip for you and your riding partner.

Man O Man, I have been in my chaincase many times since I bought mine, and have checked those roller bolts the last couple of times in there. But now I am Wishing I had also tack welded those suckers last time in there.

Hope warranty Treats you right. Always heard how good Yamaha is with their warranty pertaining to more then just repair. Motels, sled rental etc ? I am sure you will find out.

 

[cannondale27]

Oh Man!

 

[fourload]

This really sucks Dan. The riding season is so short. Piss poor engineering. I think everyone is going to check their tensioner after this! Thanks for all your informative posts.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Sorry to hear of your loss Dan, I will keep your sanity in my prayers.

Pop the seals out and pack that Chinese driveshaft bearing with some high quality grease, mine was pretty dry when I had it off.

I actually just had this all apart in the fall and repacked the bearing.....Grrr...so Im back here again, this time Ill add some loctite 680 bearing mount and installing a set screw too.

I suppose enough re-engineering we may have a reliable sled? LOL

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Dan no warranty on this unit

5 yr warranty....had I known it would take removing zillion items to get that case out, id likely have let dealer do it. I had hoped to get parts and sled back together by weekend, so doing it myself was needed for this.

Have to go home actually to my dealer to get parts, YAM in Canada will not warranty my US sled...there is a possibility of reimbursement but I decided to drive home(only 3.5hrs) and go to my dealer which got my parts on order. I sure hope its all covered. Heck im doing all the labor.

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

The only thing i have to say about this thread that it seems like Yamaha has more failures than the cat guys. I wonder if there is something in their clutching that causes these failures. Cat has way less belt and chaincase issues.

Cases are same, diff gearing tho....honestly I think it comes down to more Winders out in the field. Just not as many Cat 998s sold is my guess.

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Damn, I think Im going to pull my chaincase apart tonight and have those screws tack welded. You're taking it better than I would have. I would have sold the sled already. Mine looked great at the beginning of the season, but Im over 1500 kms now and my track setup is hooking up better this season than last.

LOL....I had lots of choice words Saturday in middle of Trout lake, Dano heard them all, and my talk about this "Cat" and i need to go back to a Doo...ect ect..lol

In the end, a stupid screw ruined everything....and even though its a ton of work, It can be re-engineered easily with a split second tack weld. So maybe we all just tack weld them and this never happens again, cause Cat sure isn't fixing this design anytime soon IMO.

If we fix the 3 or 4 items that we all know, these become reliable...and we get to keep our rocketships.....alternative is to go down to a WAY WAY slower sled, with less giggle factor on power. But maybe something that is more trail friendly(IE:lighter) is not a bad thing. Watching what everyone brings for '20 , even before this chain case fail.

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Sorry to hear it happened on a trip Dan. That totally sucks! This is a real buzz kill! Going on a trip next week and i thought i had all the gremlins taken care of. This one was in the back of my mind since the last time it reared it's ugly head, but at the time i had already opened the case up twice. Maybe guys that have had this issue can post their build numbers so we can identify a timeline for the lack of loctite.

Yeah happening at very beginning of a trip was even more painful.....grrrr

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Rockerdan: Had a big trip wrecked two weeks ago, it sucks big time, sorry to hear!
Hope your warranty claim goes smoothly, my dealer had a F%&# of a go with Yam over my recent warranty claim after my rear skid shock grenaded on me for no apparent reason. Yamaha warranty said they are all backlogged with claims, shocking! Plus they are training some newbie claims adjusters, which is just fantastic in peak sledding season!
8 days in the shop for a total of 8 hours work to repair.
Dealer got me back on snow even though he didn't have a 100% green light on replacing the track, he said he's always fighting claims these days, first they deny, then the epic battle begins.
Hope all goes well with the repairs and replacement parts availability.
Crack a beer in the meantime! Cheers man.

I hear ya.....this was one reason I wanted to do this job myself, I knew full well if I had dealer do this, I would lose at least one weekend and maybe two, this way I ordered parts myself and can have sled back together for weekend even if I do have to drive home to my NY dealer. Sure hope they cover this, as its a well known issue.

Ill be less stressed when she is back together, sorta not too upset that we had a meltdown and rain....riding doesn't look too great now anyway.

Dan

 

[fatchance]

Maybe the next time we sno-check a sled we can assemble the whole damn thing ourselves! It might save all the headaches from these half #*$&@ builds !

 

[ROCKERDAN]

It pains me to read this. But - on behalf of all of us, thanks for taking the time to post this info and detail it.

You must be a patient man, certainly in a better frame of mind than I would be with the same situation.

Instead of two bolts loctited in place, is there enough room to replace with a single bolt with a nut on the end?
MS

Probably not enough room for normal bolt head and locknut.... but certainly a specialty bolt/locknut item or a plethora of other ways to secure this roller and not use two tiny flat head screws and loctite...grrr

Im actually a very IMpatient person...haha....lucky sledding is my main hobby and I enjoy all aspects of working on them, even if some of it is fixing.

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Mine was warranty Dan. Blue sky marine in New Hamburg. Maybe it helps i took a 2nd mortgage out to pay for all my toys in the past 5 years! Haha

LOL....yeah I swear YAM probably asks the dealer how much has this guy spent on YAM products, before putting through warranty.....And I got a new shock last summer from a leak, and now I wonder if YAM beancounters may not like that and this claim.

I believe Im now on the 5 yr warranty vs year 1.....and I think its actually easier to get claims thru on the latter, at least my dealer has said this before.

Dan

 

[ROCKERDAN]

I heard the same thing about warranty claims from my dealer as well. He said lots and lots. More claims than hes ever seen.

I dont think Yamaha is used to so many claims....YAM is learning fast how well these CATs are engineered!

Dan