Good artical in Snowest about Yamahas and Slide wear..

[RTX Meirda]

What material are the SLP wear pads made from?

 

[craze1cars]

As far as I could tell, they're just steel carriage bolts with nylock nuts, but with a wider/thinner head on the bolt than what you find typically in the hardware store.

 

[RTX Meirda]

Hmmm. I dont think they can be made from steel. Some are saying that they are wearing out.

 

[UPsledder]

It's true, in general, more wheels = lower top speed. NOTE TOP speed. On shorter runs many other factors come in to play.

Also, oversize wheels make this worse in addition to being harder on the reinforcement bars inside the track. Each time the fiberglass bars have to ride up over the wheel, the bar bends and more load is being applied to the bar at the small surface area of the wheel. You can imagine the more the wheel protrudes below the hyfax the more load is applied at the wheel. This is tough on the fiberglass bar and scrubs track speed.

When putting over size wheels on make sure you replace the hyfax They will wear down as far as the wheels will allow and should not put any additional pressure on the rails. I am considering the SLP anti-wear pads as well.

 

[Grimm]

Yamaha needs to make a better quality slide plain and simple. My old doo had the original slides on it and it was 12 years old when I got rid of it and I bought it second hand.

Sled dog, I don't believe it has to do with the quality of the slides. Whenever I have changed slides, I usually go the aftermarket route, ie. not made by Yamaha. A buddy of mine does the same and he rides a Skidoo. My slides wore out 3 times last year compared to him not having to change his slides yet.

So, we have used identical slides (except for profile) using the same materials and rode the same trails, same speed, same mileage...

Therefore Yammy should look into their suspension design, maybe not for the current style, but maybe for a future design.

 

[Tork]

What material are the SLP wear pads made from?

They are not a hardened steel by any means.
you will get 2-4 k miles and at $.90 ea, no big deal to replace, the 24-28 of them.

 

[NY_Nytro]

What material are the SLP wear pads made from?

They are not a hardened steel by any means.
you will get 2-4 k miles and at $.90 ea, no big deal to replace, the 24-28 of them.

I think they are zinc coated steel, but just standard bolt grade steel. After 1500 miles they looked barely worn last year on my Warrior.

 

[Len Todd]

Open up the windows slightly with a dremel

Can you expound on this a bit. How much is slightly?

 

[Tork]

Open up the windows slightly with a dremel

Can you expound on this a bit. How much is slightly?

dont go into the corners, but you can round them out say 1/16 ea side, dont go any more.

dremel with sanding drum melts and bonds the cords.

This lets a little more snow into the hyfax, it is not a huge factor at all but my thinking is every little bit helps.

 

[welterracer]

THe proaction went threw hyfax like nuts..

My mono goes alot better now that i have the SLP pads.. so they must help alot..

 

[Len Todd]

Thanks for the explanation Tork. I added Pioneer's offset axle kit last spring. Put on Fresh Hyfax. We'll see how it goes.

The first set of Hyfax (when the sled was new) went a several K miles. The Ice Ripper I put on last year seems to chew up the hyfax more quickly. However, it really only goes so far and then seems to stop, like the rest of us are experiencing. Becasue the first set of hyfax went so far with the OEM track, I think the added open windows in the Ice Ripper actually casued more hyfax wear. But, it could also have been snow conditions. Or the diameter of my wheels may have worn smaller. (Need to measure these.)

The difference in the two tracks is; The Ice Ripper is fully punched with 1/3 being clipped. The clips have holes punched in them and they appeared to be thinner from day one. The OEM Track had every third window punched with 1/3 being clipped. I am beginning to think that, when fully punched with only 1/3 clipped puts more pressure on the clip, causing it to heat up more quickly. I may next try going fully clipped. Also, it makes sense that a thinner clip heats up faster causing it to melt hyfax. That may be why they always seem to have hyfax melted on the leading edge, after a long trip.

However, there does appear to be a bit more side gap in the windows on my A-Cat. Inadequate side-space between the track and hyfax may just be part of the problem. I was also thinking that if we changed the mount of the skid up 1/4" in the tunnel we would not see the hyfax wear. However, it could be tough finding a 1/4" of additional clearance between the Track and Tunnel. Another design approach would be to lower the drive shaft 1/4." But that would take a major effort.

But there is no doubt that track lug height impacts us flat-landers. I have scraped the hyfax off the clips after almost every trip. Those plowed roads and shoulders we are dumped on from time to time take a very quick toll on the hyfax, even when you think you are adequately "dipping" in the snow.

 

[kyzer]

I don't know if this gut is totally off his rocker, but a guy at my Yammi dealership ( does not work there just was buying something when I was there ) told my he put tranny fluid on his clips and let it sit for a while..He said the fluid would absorb into the metal and help them for heating up and make them more slippery..He was dead serious he said it was like a brass bushing in are clutches that are oil soaked...I don't know ???????????

 

[Len Todd]

put tranny fluid on his clips and let it sit for a while..He said the fluid would absorb into the metal and help them for heating up and make them more slippery. ... was like a brass bushing in our clutches that are oil soaked.

Interesting, ... I always used to put penetrating oil on the clips in the Spring to keep them from rusting. I also use to spray it on when I am aligning the track in the Fall, etc. I have not been doing that for a few years. Can't hirt. Although, I was always carefull to keep it from getting on the rubber cogs, etc.

 

[canadianhunter]

put tranny fluid on his clips and let it sit for a while..He said the fluid would absorb into the metal and help them for heating up and make them more slippery. ... was like a brass bushing in our clutches that are oil soaked.

Interesting: I once polished the top of an old table saw with silicone grease and it was so slippery and hard to control the wood I got rid of the saw.

 

[BlgsRX-1mtn]

I think some of Yamaha's slide issues stem from the angle of attack. They have alot less track on the ground compaired to the other manufaturer's with a track that is the same length (at least on the mountain sleds). This means you have more lbs/sq in of force exerted on the slides. To prove my point look at the two pictures attached and count the lugs making contact on my trailer deck (remember the lugs stagger from side to side).

My wife's polaris with a 151" track has as much track touching the snow as my 162" RX-1 mtn. You short track guys might want to do a similar comparison and see what the out come is.

Jim