jross2828
Newbie
Hey all,
Long time lurker first time poster on the forum. I actually have a 2014 ZR7000 but nearly everything translates to my sled. I have been a bit behind this year and didn't get to looking over my sled for our trip to the UP till last night. We are leaving on Dec. 26th so it's going to be tough to get parts if you guys think it's absolutely necessary.
I have a little less than 5k miles on my sled and have had it for the past few years. The previous owner owned it for 1300 miles and didn't perform much for maintenance from what I can see. I'm new to the sled world and am still learning. Here's what I found last night.
Front arm is cracked at one of the welds on the bottom. The only reason is we hit the zerk with grease and noticed some oozing out of that weld. It seemed corroded, I'm pretty convinced it's been like this for the past few years. I didn't grease my skid last year or the year before (I know, I'm still getting there) I'm lucky if I get two trips a year and at best put on average around 1k a year. There was plenty of grease in there, started oozing quickly. How significant will this be for one trip. I just don't think I'll be able to get it taken care of before we go. Has anyone else had issues in this particular spot? I've seen a few threads where others beef the arm up with gussets.
2nd thing we noticed was the front shock bushing was broken and the shock is able to move on the arm a little bit (nothing is snapped, it was just the bushing.) Again, wondering if I can make it through this trip and just buy a new shock after. Do you replace the whole shock or can you replace that bushing?
Any advice would be appreciated. I of course don't want to do further damage but I'm also a bit out of time. If some suggest I'm setting myself up for a horrible trip then I may try my best to rectify these two issues. If anyone up near the Keeweenaw has a spare Front arm and shock let me know ..haha
Thanks guys!
Long time lurker first time poster on the forum. I actually have a 2014 ZR7000 but nearly everything translates to my sled. I have been a bit behind this year and didn't get to looking over my sled for our trip to the UP till last night. We are leaving on Dec. 26th so it's going to be tough to get parts if you guys think it's absolutely necessary.
I have a little less than 5k miles on my sled and have had it for the past few years. The previous owner owned it for 1300 miles and didn't perform much for maintenance from what I can see. I'm new to the sled world and am still learning. Here's what I found last night.
Front arm is cracked at one of the welds on the bottom. The only reason is we hit the zerk with grease and noticed some oozing out of that weld. It seemed corroded, I'm pretty convinced it's been like this for the past few years. I didn't grease my skid last year or the year before (I know, I'm still getting there) I'm lucky if I get two trips a year and at best put on average around 1k a year. There was plenty of grease in there, started oozing quickly. How significant will this be for one trip. I just don't think I'll be able to get it taken care of before we go. Has anyone else had issues in this particular spot? I've seen a few threads where others beef the arm up with gussets.
2nd thing we noticed was the front shock bushing was broken and the shock is able to move on the arm a little bit (nothing is snapped, it was just the bushing.) Again, wondering if I can make it through this trip and just buy a new shock after. Do you replace the whole shock or can you replace that bushing?
Any advice would be appreciated. I of course don't want to do further damage but I'm also a bit out of time. If some suggest I'm setting myself up for a horrible trip then I may try my best to rectify these two issues. If anyone up near the Keeweenaw has a spare Front arm and shock let me know ..haha
Thanks guys!
mike800
Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2022
- Messages
- 28
- Age
- 66
- Location
- Anoka County, Minnesota
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 137" Procross
Use your noggin. If those parts break and somehow stab the track at speed or you wreck or get pitched over the bars it's will get painful and expensive.
InRBigness
Lifetime Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
- Messages
- 735
- Location
- winnipeg, manitoba
- Country
- Canada
- Snowmobile
- 2016 Viper XTX-LE w/ MPI turbo
I have broken that exact same front suspension arm. When I got my new one, I welded some gussets on them to prevent it happening again. I would replace the bushing when you can but not worry about it for this trip. Weld up the Arm and enjoy your trip.
jross2828
Newbie
Good to hear, I figured there were a few out there. I'm not going to have a chance to fix it at home before we leave but called Pat's and it sounds like they can get me straightened out once we get up there.
SeX Viper
Extreme
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
- Messages
- 52
- Age
- 41
- Location
- Minnetonka, MN
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2002 SX Viper
2014 SR Viper RTX
Pat's is the best dealer I have ever been to, they will take care of you. I agree with InRBigness you need to address the rear skid. I have seen several ruined tracks from broken skid parts over the years. Those guys were lucky and it didn't happen at speed but it did ruin a very expensive track.
jross2828
Newbie
I'm betting my skid was cracked for our trip last year. I was confident with what they mentioned over the phone. It sounds like I should be in good hands!
