Cat DNA Strikes again! -CHAINCASE TENSIONER ROLLER WHEEL FAIL

[Chris Rose]

Looking at the pictures Dan took it looks like the case if it was made of aluminum it could be welded. Magnesium isn't.

 

[lovesledding]

Cat has had that chaincase since 2012 so i doubt there is more sidewinder out there than there is cats with that chaincase. Not to many people on the cat forums complaining about the chaincase,

 

[XP123]

My brother in law and his son went to the U.P. with their new ski doo's and ended up renting arctic cat sleds because both of their ski doo's went down. So its not just a cat engineering thing.

Not only two brand new Ski Doo's went down but they ended up renting Cats! WOW you can't make that #*$&@ up! Or can you?

I have probably owned more Cats by at least 10 to 1 over any other brand. I don't need anybody to convince me how well Cat's are built.

 

[lovesledding]

I think the biggest problem here is these sleds are not designed to have huge power, most of the time something breaks it is due to us trying to get more of the equipment than it was designed for.

Good example is the clutches falling apart, i had one dealer refusing to talk to me because i had a tune on mine. He told me that there were designed to be 180-200 hp not for 200 plus.

 

[journeyman]

Cat has had that chaincase since 2012 so i doubt there is more sidewinder out there than there is cats with that chaincase. Not to many people on the cat forums complaining about the chaincase,

That wasn’t the point. I said more Sidewinders vs TCat’s/ZR9’s with this Yamaha engine. Not talking about how long the general design has been around.
Plus Cat owners are conditioned for failures. They have the mindset that sleds break all the time. Yamaha owners have higher standards. We are not used to this near as much. As for the poorly designed chain tensioner....it could easily fail with a stock machine as it could a tuned one.

 

[Shagnos]

That sucks Dan. If that happened to my sled the chaincase would probably have gotten so hot it would have burst into flame and the whole sled burnt to the ground.

 

[lilrez]

Cat has had that chaincase since 2012 so i doubt there is more sidewinder out there than there is cats with that chaincase. Not to many people on the cat forums complaining about the chaincase,

Tensioner design is different than it was in 2012- 16 with the zuk engine. Looks like this tensioner or "holder" was found in the 2014 7000's. Yamy probably influenced the change

 

[KnappAttack]

Mike do you think chain tension has anything to do with it?Do you run your chain at 1 turn or 1.5 turns like the manual says

It could. I run mine at 1 turn out on 22/41 gears setup. Finger tight could be 1.5 turns from contacting the chain say on the 22/41 though. Ones guys fingers could put massive pressure on the chain vs another guys. If anything I always run it tighter. Maybe only 1/8" from tensioner at best when looking at it. Too tight and it howls.

 

[rtx moose]

I checked my chain adjuster this fall when changing out my driven shaft and brake side bearing and it looked good, notice I said looked good. Upon inspection I could rotate the screws and axel in the adjuster rather easily. So I took it apart and also found green loctite in the middle of the two screws. I cleaned it up real good and tightened everything down real good using Red Loctite and my Makita cordless impact as hard as it could go, and I know thats darn tight!

I wished now I had welded and even really thought about welding it, but figured I had 5 years of warranty. Next time I have it apart I will be tack welding the screws. I don't think the factory loctited them good enough or gets the screws tight enough. That or the loctite just deteriorates enough where it doesn't hold good enough either.

Its a poor design and should have a simple shoe on the tensioner like Doo does instead of a rattling roller on the tensioner. The roller has too much vibration as it rolls across the links of the chain and is not smooth enough causing it too loosen up. Maybe we should check into what it would take to install Ski-Doos tensioner shoe on Cats arm.

I will say that if you see green loctite its no good,it means the bolts were purchased with loctite already on them and i know this because we buy them where i work!!!!ITS CHEAP #*$&@...

 

[KnappAttack]

I will say that if you see green loctite its no good,it means the bolts were purchased with loctite already on them and i know this because we buy them where i work!!!!ITS CHEAP #*$&@...

The green loctite is also in between the two screws, so it's not just preinstalled on the screws.

 

[rtx moose]

The green loctite is also in between the two screws, so it's not just preinstalled on the screws.

My point being is green loctite is worthless..i would reinstall with blue

 

[JayM]

I used red when I took mine out, on my 17 the screws were in there pretty good it wasn't easy to get them out. Hoping it last till spring, I check my chain tension often.

 

[sideshowBob]

I would think that if the bolts were removed, cleaned and had red Loctite applied properly welding would not be necessary.
Good thing about welding it...there is no way its coming appart again.

 

[journeyman]

Yes I would go with red too if I had it apart. Clean the bolt good with brake cleaner, let it dry, then apply red locktite and let it sit overnight before installing so it cures. Otherwise I could see the oil in the chaincase messing it up if it didn't cure yet.

 

[J & J Racing]

Did mine with red today
Another tonight
Thanks for the warning!!

My 19 looked like it had dirt in the chain case when put together at factory. Lol