FRUSTRATED with Yamaha... Chaincase Blown at 400 miles

[Flatlander SE]

My sight glass was leaking upon delivery at the dealership. Replaced under warranty. Hopefully they tightened the chain while they were in there.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

My sight glass was leaking upon delivery at the dealership. Replaced under warranty. Hopefully they tightened the chain while they were in there.

The chains are set to 1.5 turns out as that is the SPEC.(after hand tight)

Many of us here feel that spec is too loose and I used 1 turn out.

It sounds like factory workers forgot to tighten the jam nuts past hand tight tho.

Dan

 

[XP123]

The chains are set to 1.5 turns out as that is the SPEC.(after hand tight)

Many of us here feel that spec is too loose and I used 1 turn out.

It sounds like factory workers forgot to tighten the jam nuts past hand tight tho.

Dan

That really makes you wonder what kind of workers are putting these sleds together. Just another problem that should never happen.

 

[dgjr636]

Update. Sight glass on chaincase falling in has claimed one of our customers 2018 Winder.

We just had a customer bring in his unit with the chaincase sight glass that fell in and ended his trip. While in Valdor Qb at tempitures bottoming out at -38 this customer had a issue with his Winder dropping the sight glass into the chaincase.
He mounted his Winder at 6am with no issues and just 15-20 miles later found his boot covered in oil. After further inspection the sight glass fell in slightly and caused the oil to get pushed out.

Here is what we found after taking apart. There was no internal damage that would cause the sight glass to get dislodged. The sight glass seemed to be installed properly ( in the correct direction atleast)
What we are considering at this point is that failure was do to extreme cold temps caused the sight glass eye to shrink at a faster rate than the chaincase housing. Then of coarse the heating of the chaincase back up while riding or possibly the chaincase not venting properly and sucking in the eye. Yes these are just theories.

I think we will try to check chaincase venting as well as adding silicone seal around the eye to help aid in preventing a failure in the future.

What has changed from previous years we do not know. But this is now our 3rd customer to have the same issue on a 2018.

 

[XP123]

Update. Sight glass on chaincase falling in has claimed one of our customers 2018 Winder.

We just had a customer bring in his unit with the chaincase sight glass that fell in and ended his trip. While in Valdor Qb at tempitures bottoming out at -38 this customer had a issue with his Winder dropping the sight glass into the chaincase.
He mounted his Winder at 6am with no issues and just 15-20 miles later found his boot covered in oil. After further inspection the sight glass fell in slightly and caused the oil to get pushed out.

Here is what we found after taking apart. There was no internal damage that would cause the sight glass to get dislodged. The sight glass seemed to be installed properly ( in the correct direction atleast)
What we are considering at this point is that failure was do to extreme cold temps caused the sight glass eye to shrink at a faster rate than the chaincase housing. Then of coarse the heating of the chaincase back up while riding or possibly the chaincase not venting properly and sucking in the eye. Yes these are just theories.

I think we will try to check chaincase venting as well as adding silicone seal around the eye to help aid in preventing a failure in the future.

What has changed from previous years we do not know. But this is now our 3rd customer to have the same issue on a 2018.

Have these same case covers been used since 2012 on all Cats? Have there been problems like this before or is this something that has only started in 2018? Lots of concerning issues this year with these sleds. Usually these things happen in the first year not the second.

 

[Al Bundy]

I'm posting in trail section for more views...

I have a 2018 Yamaha Sidewinder BTX, 433 miles! Not even to it's first service

Yesterday after driving 300 miles to ride Northern Maine I experienced a chaincase blow up... the machine hasn't even made the first service!! I would like to know if and how many people have experienced Chain case issues! I stopped at 3 dealers on the way home tryin to get a repair and 2/3 said they were working on sidewinders with blown chaincases!

My story goes like this....

We traveled very far to ride... we all checked sleds over well as they were all new machines... oil was full on my machine, and half way up sight Glass for chaincase... we did 140 miles of fast trail riding on the way home after entering a large field I did a hard pull till about 90-100mph. The engine redlines... thought I blew a belt but everything was Perfect... went to move again and the clothes worked fine but the machine let out a nasty growl... checked chaincase and found the sight glass was missing and all oil had drained out...

The 2 dealers that said they were working similar cases said it was their opinion that the tensioners are backing out And falling out of the hole... the oil then gets pumped out the new hole.... then the pieces start flying and knock out the glass! (Seems Yamaha could easily prevent this by installing hardware to tensioner bolt that would make it impossible to fall out of hole

I have 700 miles on my trip of driving, motels costs, a hard night at the bar, and the trauma of being towed back to civilization by a POLARIS! AND RUINING THE TRIP FORTHE WHOLE GROUP, I feel like YAMAHA should be doing something to make this right or I will never buy another YAMAHA!

At least you have a cool picture! Sorry for your trouble. Where did you take the photo?

 

[BlueByYou2000]

The chains are set to 1.5 turns out as that is the SPEC.(after hand tight)

Many of us here feel that spec is too loose and I used 1 turn out.

It sounds like factory workers forgot to tighten the jam nuts past hand tight tho.

Dan

Talking with Allen Ulmer yesterday, the 1.5 turns out is the magic number. If you run it tighter, it puts more stress on the bearings.

 

[formdog]

Is it just Yamaha having this issue or is cat also ? Would seem weird if it’s just the yamis

 

[RollinTurbo]

I would like to update:

My winder sufffered the above failures listed at the beginning of this thread... In short I had a glorious trip in the county for myself and a buddy cut short after one day of riding.... the repair wasn't able to be done locally and I heard parts were back-ordered.... Long day driving, hung over, and sleep deprived I returned to my dealer and prob wasn't the most polite customer, I was hugely concerned THROTTLE THERAPY would be cut short even before it began...

I think when dealers do great things they deserve credit, it's not everyday you find a dealer that will do WHATEVER they can to make problems right, I'm not sure if I can mention names however this dealer would be your mid coast dealer located in Topsham! They within a day and half had repaired my sled.... (not sure how they got parts but did!!) the failure was unfortunate, and was caused by the reverse actuator not fully shifting in/out of gear,... this resulted in the case failing (vibrations and pressure from gears not seating in splines) vibrated sight glass out! was a major repair and handled better then I could've asked for going above and beyond with extra service ALL free of charge!

I think I'll keep an eye on things alittle more rigorously, but have found a dealer worthy of the next sale for sure!

 

[Sevey]

Update. Sight glass on chaincase falling in has claimed one of our customers 2018 Winder.

We just had a customer bring in his unit with the chaincase sight glass that fell in and ended his trip. While in Valdor Qb at tempitures bottoming out at -38 this customer had a issue with his Winder dropping the sight glass into the chaincase.
He mounted his Winder at 6am with no issues and just 15-20 miles later found his boot covered in oil. After further inspection the sight glass fell in slightly and caused the oil to get pushed out.

Here is what we found after taking apart. There was no internal damage that would cause the sight glass to get dislodged. The sight glass seemed to be installed properly ( in the correct direction atleast)
What we are considering at this point is that failure was do to extreme cold temps caused the sight glass eye to shrink at a faster rate than the chaincase housing. Then of coarse the heating of the chaincase back up while riding or possibly the chaincase not venting properly and sucking in the eye. Yes these are just theories.

I think we will try to check chaincase venting as well as adding silicone seal around the eye to help aid in preventing a failure in the future.

What has changed from previous years we do not know. But this is now our 3rd customer to have the same issue on a 2018.

That chaincase has a small vent tube at the top that is pointed towards the exhaust. Has it had a history of clogging or does it work well?

MS

 

[Al Bundy]

I would like to update:

My winder sufffered the above failures listed at the beginning of this thread... In short I had a glorious trip in the county for myself and a buddy cut short after one day of riding.... the repair wasn't able to be done locally and I heard parts were back-ordered.... Long day driving, hung over, and sleep deprived I returned to my dealer and prob wasn't the most polite customer, I was hugely concerned THROTTLE THERAPY would be cut short even before it began...

I think when dealers do great things they deserve credit, it's not everyday you find a dealer that will do WHATEVER they can to make problems right, I'm not sure if I can mention names however this dealer would be your mid coast dealer located in Topsham! They within a day and half had repaired my sled.... (not sure how they got parts but did!!) the failure was unfortunate, and was caused by the reverse actuator not fully shifting in/out of gear,... this resulted in the case failing (vibrations and pressure from gears not seating in splines) vibrated sight glass out! was a major repair and handled better then I could've asked for going above and beyond with extra service ALL free of charge!

I think I'll keep an eye on things alittle more rigorously, but have found a dealer worthy of the next sale for sure!

So your saying your dealers exceptional service gave you a Woody??? I'm heading there today to pick up Chain case tensioner and bolt. Where is that photo from?

 

[yamahaguy]

The chains are set to 1.5 turns out as that is the SPEC.(after hand tight)

Many of us here feel that spec is too loose and I used 1 turn out.

It sounds like factory workers forgot to tighten the jam nuts past hand tight tho.

Dan

I thought the chain adjustment is part of the dealer prep/set up? If so the dealer forget to tighten then Jam nut? OR maybe I'm wrong.

 

[5valve]

I thought the chain adjustment is part of the dealer prep/set up? If so the dealer forget to tighten then Jam nut? OR maybe I'm wrong.

It is part of the PDI service....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[krm]

I would like to update:

My winder sufffered the above failures listed at the beginning of this thread... In short I had a glorious trip in the county for myself and a buddy cut short after one day of riding.... the repair wasn't able to be done locally and I heard parts were back-ordered.... Long day driving, hung over, and sleep deprived I returned to my dealer and prob wasn't the most polite customer, I was hugely concerned THROTTLE THERAPY would be cut short even before it began...

I think when dealers do great things they deserve credit, it's not everyday you find a dealer that will do WHATEVER they can to make problems right, I'm not sure if I can mention names however this dealer would be your mid coast dealer located in Topsham! They within a day and half had repaired my sled.... (not sure how they got parts but did!!) the failure was unfortunate, and was caused by the reverse actuator not fully shifting in/out of gear,... this resulted in the case failing (vibrations and pressure from gears not seating in splines) vibrated sight glass out! was a major repair and handled better then I could've asked for going above and beyond with extra service ALL free of charge!

I think I'll keep an eye on things alittle more rigorously, but have found a dealer worthy of the next sale for sure!

Your not the guy Ken from Long lake motor inn had to go get ?

 

[XP123]

I thought the chain adjustment is part of the dealer prep/set up? If so the dealer forget to tighten then Jam nut? OR maybe I'm wrong.

That I feel is the problem here. I think most dealers don't even look at this because they figure the factory set it up correctly during assembly. They probably just check the oil level and figure the owner will put on some miles and bring it back for it's first service and adjustment. Now the factory on the other hand probably does a half #*$&@ chain adjustment thinking the dealer will make sure it's right before delivery. That's why I go through everything on my sled for two reasons. One to make sure everything is correct and two to familiarize myself with my new sled.