Driveshaft - be pro-active and replace before it breaks???

Here ya go! I was just going to post this and saw your thread!!!

06 Attak with 12181 miles and the driveshaft snapped today. Not studded. About 1700 miles with Ice Ripper.

I am supposed to be in Quebec this week but postponed due to the rain. 56 miles into my ride today and SNAP! I would have been effed.

I am not a very aggressive rider either.

I was towed by a Ski Doo. Yes, a Ski Doo!!!

So, I would either replace now or in the off season.
 
drive shaft

If I were you I would be more concerned about breaking the W arm. I ordered a 2008 model for my 2006 GT. I have about 8000 miles, no studs, no jumping , mostly trail riding and might consider changing the drive shaft next year when I do the track swap.


HEY YUMMY GOT ANY SNOW OUT THERE IN R N? WE ARE HEADED TO MOUNT LAURIER IN THE END OF FEBRUARY.
 
Good point on the W arm. Mine went last year at 11,000 miles and my buddies at 7000.
 
Hey Joe - Already broke my W-arm and replaced that and other parts this offseason! So you guys are doing your Quebec trip at the end of Feb. this year? I would love to go on that trip sometime, but I dont get to choose my vacations and I am always off during President's week. Tell Rex and Steve S. that I said hello (my name is Chris Nicol). Do you still own that camp in BC?

Budweiser - I just got done reading your post. Glad you werent in Quebec when that happened...there's some pretty desolate riding up there. I havent been there in 5 years, unfortunately. Used to go 2x per season, but the exchange rate and price of gas began to get in the way. Would like to make a return one of these seasons.

Seems as though these things break at all sorts of different odometer readings. The trend follows belt wear - the harder you are on the throttle, the shorter the life of the belt & driveshaft. I am not going to change it before my Old Forge trip...but will budget to change it in the off-season where my sled will have about 8,500 miles on it. Thanks for all of the input!
 
Here' some info on my "DRIVESHAFT EXPERIENCE" that might be helpful!
This happened a couple of years ago!

Up in Quebec this past week and Thursday afternoon near Shawinigan (100 miles from where I was staying something went wrong) Thought it was the chain and gears but upon investigation it was the driveshaft #$%&*
I have 9800 miles on this 04 Warrior, everything else looked good
The shaft broke on the chaincase side right next to the locking collar on the drive sprocket.
From what I'm reading here, it would be a good bet to change it at 7500 mile intervals! It cost me $425 to hire a guy with a truck to bring it back to the Motel.
Did not have much of a choice considering where it got stuck :o|


LazyBastard wrote:
My best guess is that for those who have this problem, there was probably some kind of impact against the driveshaft at some point, weakening it. Either a big chunk of ice fell in and wedged, or it was driven over something like a big rock that hit the drivers hard.


Interesting that you mention this LB. That morning when we started out I warmed up the sled on a stand and 5 of us set out for a 200 miler. I was lead and we move at a pretty good pace. As I'm into the first few miles a BIG chunk of ice broke off in the tunnel and started thumping and a grinding! I kept going but I should have stopped and backed it out of there! This very well might have played a major part in doing that driveshaft in! That won't happen again Live and learn
 
12,500 miles, 144 studs. No problems with suspension, or drive line. I use common sense when I ride it.
 
When you first start the sled jack it up and put it in reverse.This will push the falling ice out the back(won,t have these sleds without reverse,lots of ice build-up).
 
gun nut said:
12,500 miles, 144 studs. No problems with suspension, or drive line. I use common sense when I ride it.
Click to expand...

Man I'd like to ride with you...I got 6k now and now problems except Ypipe was just starting to go so I changed them. I hope I make it to 12500 like you have ;)!
 
CaptCaper said:
gun nut said:
12,500 miles, 144 studs. No problems with suspension, or drive line. I use common sense when I ride it.
Click to expand...

Man I'd like to ride with you...I got 6k now and now problems except Ypipe was just starting to go so I changed them. I hope I make it to 12500 like you have ;)!
Click to expand...

Believe me if theirs someone that PAMPERS their sled its myself and my buddy and have had issues with DONUTS, "Y" pipes,exhaust and Driveshaft and other things...we sometimes ask ourselves...we're maybe just to easy on them and they still require maintenance, example my buddy's '05 RX1 just replaced his OE front pivot arm at 13.000kms, his track still looks new, he's never had his front shocks rebuilt yet! but will at the end of season...
 
I pamper my sled 90% of the time. I usually accelerate at 7000-8000 rpm and then cruise anywhere between 40-60 mph. I still had the Y pipe, suspension and idler wheel issues too. Looks like I will able to get another few thousand out of the driveshaft based on responses here, but i will check into getting it replaced this offseason.
 
The 2009 has a different part number from all previous years. 2003 through 2008 all have the same part number.

As a follow up to the statement that Bob Miller quoted from me above.... it appears that the failures are a result of prolonged flexing of the shaft. There is some sign of metal fatigue on the broken shafts, suggesting that it weakens over an extended amount of time. Typical use results in large chunks of ice being shoved in there repeatedly. Mostly result of ice falling off the tunnel protectors. I believe (though make no guarantees) that removal of the tunnel protectors will go a long way in preventing driveshaft fatigue since ice will no longer build up in huge chunks in the tunnel.

However, this does not apply to those who have steel in their tracks since your tunnels will get sliced to ribbons without those protectors.

If you do NOT have steel in your track, then the tunnel protectors are entirely USELESS. If nothing else, removing them will save a HUGE amount of weight (a little from the protectors themselves, lots from the ice you won't be carrying around any more).
 
05 Warrior, driveshaft broke at 9,000 miles. No ice chunks no studs. Way to coincidental that almost all of them go in the 6,000 to 9,000 miles range and they break right under the collar. When looking at mine the set screw imprint is right on the break!

Some say ice. I say the collar set screw sets up a stress riser, that combined with the constant on off throttle over time like we impose upon our sleds, just causes metal fatigue to the point it starts a hairline crack that one day finally twists off.

If it was ice chunks then the mileage would be more random, the break point more random and likely the shafts would be bent. Now that is not saying that a chunk of ice could not be the final straw. Once a shaft gets a hairline crack going a chunk of ice would be all it took to finish it.

In my case it was around 200 miles into the day that the shaft snapped. Did some hard launches on the lake and hit some very frozen drifts. No vibration at any time. Slow speed up a slight grade 80 miles from the lake and just after some high speeds on the pipeline it just lost drive. kinda like if you put something into nuetral! No warning of any kind!

I have 3,000 on the new shaft and in 5,000 more give or take at seasons end a new shaft is going in along with new bearings. I'm going to call it P.M.
 
I was just checking on Yamaha Sports Plaza's website, comparing part numbers for driveshafts and as LB mentioned they used the same driveshaft in RX, RS, and Apex models up till 09, the Nytro I checked was different also!

I wonder if the 09 Apex Driveshaft is stronger than previous models, and if it would fit? Something to consider! ANY FEEDBACK?

2004 Yamaha Warrior
SKU: 8FA-47511-00-00
AXLE, FRONT 1 $101.33

2008 Apex
SKU: 8FA-47511-00-00
AXLE, FRONT 1 $101.33

2007 Rs Vector
SKU: 8FA-47511-00-00
AXLE, FRONT 1 $101.33

2009 Nytro
SKU: 8GL-47511-10-00
AXLE, FRONT 1 $157.91

2009 Apex
SKU: 8HF-47511-00-00
AXLE, FRONT 1 $146.65
 
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