Finally tore down the front clip **Updated Jan 12**

[Crewchief47]

Please read the part in quotes! This is a post I made back in Feb of 08 after a week long trip in central Ontario:

I have returned, for the most part un-scathed. Stiff neck and lower back.

Crested a hill at 30-40 MPH with a slight left turn on the downhill side(about 4 foot drop at the 30 foot mark). I got on the brakes too late and probably should have let off on them before I went 'light' at the crest, but I was slightly sideways coming over the top(lots of ice after the RAIN on Sunday).

Nothing major, sled and I were one for the first 30 feet while I was saying 'o chit' very loudly in my helmet. Slammed off a snow covered brush pile. At this point I'm not sure of my relationship to the sled but I'm pretty sure the first hit tweaked the front,(not sure where yet, still very trail worthy). The sled leaves a mark in the snow at 45ish feet and comes to rest on it's left side at 60ish in a little hollow that runs along the right side of the trail. At 80 feet, Ian touches down in the same gully without leaving any marks in the snow leading up to the touchdown location.

Broke the rachet/gear thing on my helmet shield, lost the Yami emblem on the front, both nose stickers gone, and probably bent the sub-frame in the lower control arm area. I may have bent the steering post but I didn't look at it yet, still on the trailer.

That was on Thursday and we did almost 300KM on Friday so the sled is still going where I point it.

I finally pulled it out of storage this past week and took the clip off. It is apparent that I dumped the sled ALOT harder than I thought. I guess 500+ pounds coming to a sudden stop will do that. I had the clip off in around 2.5 hours. Could probably do the next one in 1.5ish. I used an arbor press today to get some of the tweak out of it. I'm going to slot the left lower control arm holes to get the rest(amazingly enough, only need about an 1/8" to get 3/8" at the ball joint). I will also re-enforce like the 09's. The sled tracked real well after the hit so I'm not too concerned about the corrections I'm making, as long as I can get the caster back, I'm going to try it this way. I will consider getting an 09 clip if I feel it needs it after a test ride on snow. Also, keep in mind this is an MTX, it already wasn't a corner rocket.

 

[RowdyRoddy]

A similiar thing happened to me a few years ago. I was lucky that it was only superficial damage to the sled. The funny thing was that it happened the day after I bought my tekvest and boy was I glad I had it on. Landed on a buried stump right square in the chest. Hardly felt it.

Hope your repairs go quickly.

RR

 

[Lococoin]

Thanks for the detailed pictures.

 

[Daranello]

that neat, how the front clip detaches...didnt know it did that

 

[OneBadWarrior]

So are you claiming your front end is bad and that was normal trail riding that caused this? LOL...(sorry guys! I couldn't resist!) well, I'm glad you are ok after your impact! It's easier to talk about AFTER the fact. You know they say it's not the acceleration that kills you, it's the sudden stopping! Good photos of the damage btw, sorry you had to experience this but, you have a couple of months to get her ready... keep us posted on your progress too, could be useful for some if they end up a little tweaked like you did.

On a second note, do you have any plans to reinforce anything on the front clip since you have her torn down?

 

[skyboz]

Re: Finally tore down the front clip

Please read the part in quotes! This is a post I made back in Feb of 08 after a week long trip in central Ontario:

I have returned, for the most part un-scathed. Stiff neck and lower back.

Crested a hill at 30-40 MPH with a slight left turn on the downhill side(about 4 foot drop at the 30 foot mark). I got on the brakes too late and probably should have let off on them before I went 'light' at the crest, but I was slightly sideways coming over the top(lots of ice after the RAIN on Sunday).

Nothing major, sled and I were one for the first 30 feet while I was saying 'o chit' very loudly in my helmet. Slammed off a snow covered brush pile. At this point I'm not sure of my relationship to the sled but I'm pretty sure the first hit tweaked the front,(not sure where yet, still very trail worthy). The sled leaves a mark in the snow at 45ish feet and comes to rest on it's left side at 60ish in a little hollow that runs along the right side of the trail. At 80 feet, Ian touches down in the same gully without leaving any marks in the snow leading up to the touchdown location.

Broke the rachet/gear thing on my helmet shield, lost the Yami emblem on the front, both nose stickers gone, and probably bent the sub-frame in the lower control arm area. I may have bent the steering post but I didn't look at it yet, still on the trailer.

That was on Thursday and we did almost 300KM on Friday so the sled is still going where I point it.

I finally pulled it out of storage this past week and took the clip off. It is apparent that I dumped the sled ALOT harder than I thought. I guess 500+ pounds coming to a sudden stop will do that. I had the clip off in around 2.5 hours. Could probably do the next one in 1.5ish. I used an arbor press today to get some of the tweak out of it. I'm going to slot the left lower control arm holes to get the rest(amazingly enough, only need about an 1/8" to get 3/8" at the ball joint). I will also re-enforce like the 09's. The sled tracked real well after the hit so I'm not too concerned about the corrections I'm making, as long as I can get the caster back, I'm going to try it this way. I will consider getting an 09 clip if I feel it needs it after a test ride on snow. Also, keep in mind this is an MTX, it already wasn't a corner rocket.

 

[OneBadWarrior]

Gotcha..... How do you like the MTX? How much trail riding does it see? Curious as my MTX is on its way and I cannot wait!!!

 

[Crewchief47]

I love the MTX, even on the trails, which it saw around 85% of the time last year. 10 trs ago, it would have been hard to keep up with the group, but we've slown down some. I cut about a 1/2" off the lugs trying to help slider wear. We had pretty crappy conditions on our week long trip(rain on Sunday that froze with very little snow on top for the rest of the week. I'm still undecided on a slider fix that works for me, extra wheels or scratchers.

If they had released the XTX last year, I would have ordered one of those. But I "had to have it"

 

[OneBadWarrior]

Right on, I know the feeling. I was on the fence about the MTX or XTX but, I would always wonder how much 'better' the actual mountain sled would be than a cross over. I went big, as they say! I can't wait to run it this year... my dealer runs an Apex mountain as his primary sled and swears by the extra/oversized wheels for slider wear. I opted for that method and hopefully it works as he says! He put over 2k on his sled last year and his slides looked real good. I love boondocking and got pretty good at sticking my Warrior where it didn't belong, can't wait to see the MTX's capabilities~

 

[Crewchief47]

Well, I finally got some time to put into the sled. I was able to 'persuade' the clip about halfway back to it's origional shape. I opened up the rear lower control arm holes so that I could get the rest of the caster back, and welded some braces on to stiffen it up some. It doesn't take too much hogging in the mount holes to get the balljoint to move, about an 1/8" to get around 3/8" at the ball joint. I have the clip back on but stopped when I had to look at the manual for wire routing info. Have a couple pics.

 

[Crewchief47]

Added some zerks to the lowers today. I'm going to leave the uppers alone for now as there are clearance issues for a screw in zerk and I'm not going to weld a nut on at this point. The lowers are drilled and zerks screwed in without tapping(which went better than I thought it would).

 

[sheetwright]

Like the zirk idea. Hopefully adds more life to them.

 

[Crewchief47]

Re: Finally tore down the front clip

Well I finally got a picture of the 'scene'. The quote below should answer and questions but fire away if you have any. The guy who gave me the pic said he stepped it off at 47 paces from the point I left the ground at the top of the hill to where the sled landed, but I'm not sure I trust his memory.

I have returned, for the most part un-scathed. Stiff neck and lower back.

Crested a hill at 30-40 MPH with a slight left turn on the downhill side(about 4 foot drop at the 30 foot mark). I got on the brakes too late and probably should have let off on them before I went 'light' at the crest, but I was slightly sideways coming over the top(lots of ice after the RAIN on Sunday).

Nothing major, sled and I were one for the first 30 feet while I was saying 'o chit' very loudly in my helmet. Slammed off a snow covered brush pile. At this point I'm not sure of my relationship to the sled but I'm pretty sure the first hit tweaked the front,(not sure where yet, still very trail worthy). The sled leaves a mark in the snow at 45ish feet and comes to rest on it's left side at 60ish in a little hollow that runs along the right side of the trail. At 80 feet, Ian touches down in the same gully without leaving any marks in the snow leading up to the touchdown location.

Broke the ratchet/gear thing on my helmet shield, lost the Yami emblem on the front, both nose stickers gone, and probably bent the sub-frame in the lower control arm area. I may have bent the steering post but I didn't look at it yet, still on the trailer.

That was on Thursday and we did almost 300KM on Friday so the sled is still going where I point it.

 

[Nikolai]

I did the same thing to mine. My right a-arm was back, but not much so I welded plates on each side of the lower rear a-arm mount and re-drilled the hole.

 

[Kråkan]

I just left mine at my dealer and told him to get me a -09 subframe.. And now its home again, straight as ever!!! Changed all the bushings as well.