Hey Guys, I'm finally getting around to the M7 install, but?

[Thatspec]

How is everybody, been a long summer eh?
I'm back in Govy for the season and am finally getting around to installing the M7/162x16 track I bought middle of last season. That part looks pretty straight forward thanks to all you pioneers. While I'm waiting for the Hartman tunnel extension, started doing a bunch of other maintenance and found this (crack1 jpg below). This is the left lower rear A-arm mount hole. Looks a little worse in the pic than in person. Could barely get the bolts out of the A-arms at the steering knuckle, fairly bent. The long bolts at the bulkhead side are perfectly straight and appear newer. I'm the third owner of this sled and am starting to suspect foul play! You see, when I first got her, first thing I did was change the oil and filter. Down in the pan were two bushing like things, thought they were something that wires might have gone through, I think I threw them out and thought nothing of it. Seems those two bushings go on the other side of the hole in the pic (and one in the upper A-arm). Whoever replaced those bolts forgot to put them back in, or didn't know they fell out when they pulled the bolts and metal bushings. New half a bulkhead is $232 plus shipping, DOH. The labor involved would be ridiculous.

Do you think this can be welded? For all I know this has been like this all of last season, maybe I'll just leave it alone, it can't really go anywhere but in.

Next question:
How the heck am I going to get the locknut that holds the drive gear loose now that I've already disconected everything? The shaft really spins beautifully and that nut is on there (see pic below)
I'm thinking of leaving it. Last season I had no idea what my gearing was but assumed it was too high as I blew three belts. Well its 20/40 which should be low enough so maybe the new 15mm rollers I traded High Miler my 16.5's for will do the trick, didn't get many miles on them last may. I'm also planning on venting the side of the clutch shroud. If I go to the 19 top I will definately need a new chain (mine is like new with 2500 miles). Interestingly its a 70 pin which shouldn't work with 20/40 according to the charts (sled has reverse, not sure if that makes a difference) everything looks really clean in there.

In the pic you can see that I just drove the lower driveshaft bearing out of the chaincase housing with the driveshaft. Seems to be fine, don't know how I'll get it back in though, dont have a socket that big to drive it in with. That was the only way I could see to get the driveshaft out. Couldn't get the chaincase rear shell off because I cant get the drive gear locknut off. Must have missed the sequence somewhere.


Any suggestions on any of the above, please I'm all ears.
One more pic below of the bike pipe I got from RX1M5 finally getting installed. Got a lot of metal work ahead to clean this thing up. Maybe by January...

Cheers, Mark

 

[AaronBND]

Mark, good to see you again man!! Hope you had a good summer? Wow.......major problem on the bulhead. There are a couple on ebay right now for around $100. When I changed mine last year I checked into the welding thing and the guy told me it's such thin cast that it probably wouldn't work. Mine was way worse than yours and I have heard of guys having them welded since. Boy, your in a tough location up there though. They are really not that hard to change, but I believe I would check into the welding for that one.

The big nut on the shaft.......I put the key back in the shaft and used a big cresent wrench over the shaft. What will happen is it will jam up against that key and then you can break the nut loose with another cresent or a crowsfoot. There is a special socket you can get, but you can get it without it.

Looks like fun. If you are like me a like messing with my sled! You got alot going on brother! Good luck. I'll call you next time I'm on my way over. Probably next week sometime.

Aaron

 

[Thatspec]

Hey Aaron,
Good to hear from you. Please stop by, need your opinion. As you can see, I have a mess. My way of secretly missing the early season stump dodging ;^) I have to load the whole mess into the van on weekends so its not an ideal work situation.

I see this one;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0052119419

If you see others or anyone sees a left side anywhere else please drop me a line. Didn't even think used might be possible. See what you mean though, replacement wouldn't be that much extra work. I asked the guy for the above to send me the part # so I can verify its the right one.

Mark

 

[Trxster]

Personally I don't think that little crack looks bad enough to warrant replacing it. If it messed up your alignment or camber, I'd replace it but it looks like everything is still straight so I'd probably reinforce it with a small metal plate and a couple of rivets before I bought a new one. Good luck though, it will be worth it in the end.


Rt

 

[Thatspec]

Hey Trxster,
I may just go that route and keep an eye on it. Didn't realize you had a stump incident, just noticed in the classifieds. If you run across a left side only while your searching, lemme know. Maybe we can split a set and get a deal, certainly worth a $100 to me to do it right. Just looking at it and its not as bad a replacement as I thought. Might even paint my rusty A-arms!

Mark

 

[Trxster]

Ends up I needed both Oh well, I know the one on ebay the people said they had left and right and were thinking they would get about $150 for it. Good luck man.


Rt

 

[Mountaintech]

There is a fairly inexpensive way to get the jackshaft nut off. Buy a cheap 1/2" drive socket of the correct size (36mm??) , cut it in half with a chopsaw or hack saw, Then have it welded back together with a piece of pipe in between to create an extra long socket. Worked great for me and then you can also retorque it as well. Make sense?

 

[coldwater]

So I had the same problem with the upper gear's nut... I think when serviced or if you've had a track replaced, they ratchet it down real tight with a air ratchet. The torque specs for the bolt are 65 ft/lbs, so when ya put it back on it definately doesn't need to be that tight. Anyhow sorry to be so long winded, but the idea of welding a pipe to a 36mm is an awesome idea... I ended up gettin a real deep 36mm socket from our local Yamaha dealer. Make sure it is a real snug fit though.. I ended up cracking the nut after really having to lay into it, and I'll forewarn you that its real hard to come up with another one of those nuts without ordering it from a yamaha dealer. To keep the shaft from spinning, put the clutch back on the other side if it isn't there and use a clutch tool to hold it... if you dont have one, you can slide a pry bar through the clutch, and rotate it so that it rests against the other clutch. Be mindful of where you put the pry bar, but I did it this way and it held the shaft real well.... hope this helps! Also you'll be real happy with the hartman extenstion..... gives the sled a great look!

 

[Thatspec]

Thanks Guys,
Your kinda making me want to live with the gearing I have though (20/40/8T 2.52). A little concerned with the heavier longer track that it may drop the rpms. Never had any problem with rpms stock but did go through three belts last season. Just ordered one of those large side air vents from 2coolairvents.com for the clutch side and am hoping that will solve much of my overheated clutch issues. I was meaning to do that all last season.

Hopefully parts arrive this week, we just got enough snow to make things reasonably safe....

 

[AaronBND]

Why is your clutch getting so hot. You getting alot of slipping or what? Mine stays pretty cool all the time. You are at 2.25 on gearing. That's about where you need to be. Thats where I am at and it is good Mark.

Aaron

 

[RED]

Somebody that can tig weld could fix the crack. If you know a good machinst, they could use a milling machine and make a bushing to fit the hole that you have. Or drill it out a standard size, then have the machinst make a bushing, alot less work than changing out the bulk head.