HELP! Rear Skid Removal

[Matt Daniels]

Any advice would be appreciated. Trying to remove the rear skid on my 2009 Nytro and 3 of the 4 bolts came out no problem. The last one seems to be loose but won't back out. I've tried putting pressure on the bolt head while trying to back out, but no luck. Anyone have any tricks that might help here? Thanks

 

[1nc 2000]

Front two bolts have nuts inside tunnel. Rear two go to a thru shaft. If it's on the rear shaft put bolt back in the other side tight and remove the other one.

 

[new rob]

If it's one of the front bolts try impact gun

 

[rlbock]

Use impact on rear bolts also, should override the shaft spinning

 

[Matt Daniels]

Thanks for the input, I'll give it a try again.

 

[Sevey]

The rear bolts have Loctite on them so they can be a bugger. Like the previous comment - use the impact gun. Once one side is loose - retighten it and go to the other side until it breaks free. Just go back and forth until it spins out.

If you don't retighten, you will just end of spinning the inside shaft and get nowhere.

Good luck.

MS

 

[Matt Daniels]

Thanks for the direction. I managed to get them out this evening. I really appreciate the help.

 

[Dr. FeeLGooD]

Learning to put it back in is even more fun

 

[Matt Daniels]

Lol. Sounds like I'll be reaching out again.

 

[SteelerJim]

I use a generous amount of profanity. Works every time!

 

[Sevey]

Putting it back in isn't that bad:
- I have strap mounted to the ceiling with a cam cleat on my rear bumper, so I can adjust the tunnel's height easily.
- make sure the torsion springs on the skid are loose, and not in the saddles. Make sure the back shaft is completely loose and as short as possible.
- wiggle the skid back inside the track area with the tunnel raised high.
- lower, and align the tunnel with the rear bolts on the shaft with the high rollers with blue Loctite. tighten to spec.
- use a block (2x4) of wood and crowbar under the front of the track to gently pry, and fine tune alignment of front arms with the hole.
- when you line up one side, I put a screw driver in it to hold the spot.
- then go to the other side, line it up and put the bolt through and loosely tighten the nut to hold things.
- go back to the other side remove the screwdriver and install bolt.
- tighten front bolts up to spec.
- lay on the floor with head facing front of the sled and press the long arm of torsion spring up - and over the outside roller and into the saddle (its like a one arm bench press)
- tighten, and align track. Don't be afraid to rotate the track a lot to watch its alignment. Keep tweeking until everything lines up.
- tighten back bolt on rear shaft to spec.
-done!

MS

 

[Dr. FeeLGooD]

I do the same except hang the back of the sled with a small set of rope blocks make it very easy to raise and lower. I also use a small floor jack to raise and lower the front of skid for bolt hole alignment.
I slide the skid in with the springs in position and the suspension squashed down with a ratchet strap to avoid fighting the ends of the loose springs getting caught until I have the first two bolts in, then I remove the strap and lift the front of the springs out to align the back bolts.

 

[Deeppow16]

I use a generous amount of profanity. Works every time!

Haha that made my laugh. I do the same thing. haha!

 

[Ethan_Messinger]

Putting it back in isn't that bad:
- I have strap mounted to the ceiling with a cam cleat on my rear bumper, so I can adjust the tunnel's height easily.
- make sure the torsion springs on the skid are loose, and not in the saddles. Make sure the back shaft is completely loose and as short as possible.
- wiggle the skid back inside the track area with the tunnel raised high.
- lower, and align the tunnel with the rear bolts on the shaft with the high rollers with blue Loctite. tighten to spec.
- use a block (2x4) of wood and crowbar under the front of the track to gently pry, and fine tune alignment of front arms with the hole.
- when you line up one side, I put a screw driver in it to hold the spot.
- then go to the other side, line it up and put the bolt through and loosely tighten the nut to hold things.
- go back to the other side remove the screwdriver and install bolt.
- tighten front bolts up to spec.
- lay on the floor with head facing front of the sled and press the long arm of torsion spring up - and over the outside roller and into the saddle (its like a one arm bench press)
- tighten, and align track. Don't be afraid to rotate the track a lot to watch its alignment. Keep tweeking until everything lines up.
- tighten back bolt on rear shaft to spec.
-done!

MS

I was looking through this thread and it looks like you've done this more than once... So I just put my skid back in and tightened my track, but how do I make sure that it is aligned properly? Thanks in advance!

 

[Sevey]

/Once you have the skid in place, bolts are torqued, torsion springs in place - begin tightening the track tension bolts at the rear of the skid through the holes in the track, evenly with the ratchet (make sure you haven't tightened the rear axle so it can slide back)
/Once you see the track getting tight, start rotating the track and watch how it rotates
- watch the spacing along the sliders at the front / the back / and each side.
- work the track tension bolts to get the desired effect (check your manual, it has pics of what tensioning one side vs the other will do). It doesn't hurt to play and exaggerate to get the feel for it. You will see quickly what happens - it can always be undone by backing off a few turns.
- keep rotating the track until everything is even.
- I tend to keep my track on the tighter side, and have gotten used to how much it sags below the rails.
- make sure the sag is even - pick a spot on the rail to compare one side vs the other - once again, make sure it runs fairly even along the sliders.
- tighten rear axle to spec.
- done

Hope that is an easy way to approach it..
MS