End of an era

[boondoggle]

That's it. The Phazer's done. Popped a arm number 4 a couple of weeks ago. I had spare a arms and could have thrown another on but the frame bolt holes are pretty egged out and the a arm bolts are just going to shear that much easier. The shop said it was borderline to fix or total. I ultimately made the decision to cut my losses and go with the total. At the end of the day I feel like this front end breaks way too easy. As much as I enjoyed riding the sled it left me stranded 4 times in 1300 miles with a arms breaking on some pretty light impacts. All of them were on the side of or under the ski, none were from bashing something with the a arm itself. In my opinion there is something wrong with the design. Weight distribution is no good for a arm design or frame and bolts have to be stronger. Too bad. I was enjoying the sled, particularly with the 151 setback.

I've got some Phazer items I don't have use for now and will be looking to sell. If anyone is interested I'll post up some pictures. I have a new left a arm and a used (straightened) right one. I've got a tool kit with new belt, the owners manual and the mtx snowmobile cover and some miscellaneous hardware. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Thanks to all the TY people for lots of great help and information while I had this sled.

 

[boondoggle]

Here you go Kodak.

 

[couch]

Why not pull the front slip and tack on a couple of small plates drilled for proper bolt fit ... easy and cheap fix to prolong its life.

 

[boondoggle]

Yeah that is a good suggestion and I wish I had done that from the beginning. I couldn't do that work myself but in hindsight I should have found someone to do it and paid them the few dollars. Probably would have saved me a lot of down time, a arms and missed powder and I may still have the sled.

 

[boondoggle]

In fact I asked the dealer to do it but he didn't want to.

 

[blueironranger]

It's not just the Phazers, its ALL A-arm sleds. I've bent 2 on light hits in 2100 miles but my Buddy has already bent 2 on his 11' Polaris in his first 900 miles on equally light hits. There is alot of leverage placed on those small 10mm bolts, trailing arms sleds took ALOT more abuse without breaking stuff.

 

[boondoggle]

It's not just the Phazers, its ALL A-arm sleds. I've bent 2 on light hits in 2100 miles but my Buddy has already bent 2 on his 11' Polaris in his first 900 miles on equally light hits. There is alot of leverage placed on those small 10mm bolts, trailing arms sleds took ALOT more abuse without breaking stuff.

I agree they do all bend. I don't mind some bending and misalignment. My buddy bent his arm on his 2011 cat the same day I broke an a arm. The difference was he kept riding and noticed his arm later and fixed it at his leisure. I've smashed some things with a arms on other sleds and they do bend and the sled may not ride perfectly but you don't have to immediately go home. You also don't immediately sustain subframe damage like the bolt hole egging you get with the phazer. I've had better luck with other sleds taking hits and still being ridable.