Hyfax wear question (with picture)

[Riceburner]

Somebody alluded to the wear issue being commented on here. Basically that area will wear down very fast......right to the wear line......and then won't change significantly for several thousand miles. As somebody else mentioned, as long as the slider fills the gap on a 10mm wrench, you're good to go.

X 2 !!!

Those Hyfax of yours are fine. They do not look to be at the wear line from the photo you posted. I would just run the sled as is.

Put the wheel kit on if you want but don't be surprised if you lose one or both. Red locktite may help prevent the loss

The Hyfax on my 06 Apex GT looked worse than that and have gone 12,000 KM since with no more wear to speak of.

 

[grizztracks]

I run as loose as possible. I know the tracks tight enough if it doesn't ratchet. I just changed the hyfax on a Nytro that wore past the wear line in about 400 miles. The guy had them replaced by a dealer who set the track on the tight side of Yamaha's specs. I rode with him for all of those 400 miles on my Nytro which also had a new set of hyfax. Mine did wear some but still had over half remaining.

 

[Bluebullet]

I set my track to about 1 inch sag also and have 5023 miles on my stock hyfax. No racheting, they have been at the wear marks in simular places for the last two seasons. I check under the track through the windows for metal on the slide rails after each ride and still see all hyfax. all my yammers 2 and 4 strokes always wore to min fast and then stayed for a long time after at min wear marks. I had extra wheels in front on my viper and RX1 and had to replace bearings almost every year on them. I do not run them anymore.
just my 2 cents
good luck

 

[Irv]

Somebody alluded to the wear issue being commented on here. Basically that area will wear down very fast......right to the wear line......and then won't change significantly for several thousand miles. As somebody else mentioned, as long as the slider fills the gap on a 10mm wrench, you're good to go.

X 2 !!!

Those Hyfax of yours are fine. They do not look to be at the wear line from the photo you posted. I would just run the sled as is.

Put the wheel kit on if you want but don't be surprised if you lose one or both. Red locktite may help prevent the loss

The Hyfax on my 06 Apex GT looked worse than that and have gone 12,000 KM since with no more wear to speak of.

I have had mine on now going on 3yrs and not one issue.
I don't believe I used Red loctite either but I could have?

I know when I installed mine, I followed the directions to the "T" and made doubly sure the bolt that secures the block to the rail was as snug as it could be without stripping it.

 

[grizztracks]

Some say that the heat cycle of the hyfax material hardens them and slows the wearing process. I believe two things happen... 1) the hyfax wears to a point that allows the idler wheel to take some of the pressure and 2) the rails are made out of aluminum which is a very good heat sink so the hyfax wear to a point that the rail is dissipating some of the heat developed and slows the wearing process. Less heat = Less wear

 

[Jfet]

Some say that the heat cycle of the hyfax material hardens them and slows the wearing process. I believe two things happen... 1) the hyfax wears to a point that allows the idler wheel to take some of the pressure and 2) the rails are made out of aluminum which is a very good heat sink so the hyfax wear to a point that the rail is dissipating some of the heat developed and slows the wearing process. Less heat = Less wear

I think what you just wrote makes more sense than anything else posted. Rather than the material going through some mysterious chemical change, I could really believe the idler is taking on more pressure and the aluminum rails are pulling more heat from the thinner hyfax.

 

[buddah]

......Rather than the material going through some mysterious chemical change, I could really believe the idler is taking on more pressure and the aluminum rails are pulling more heat from the thinner hyfax.

Have you ever read the recommendation in the owners manual about new sliders? They even recommended getting brand new sliders very hot and then pulling off in deeper snow to quick cool them. And they recommend doing this multiple times. If this isn't a form of heat treating the plastic, I don't know what is.

 

[Jfet]

......Rather than the material going through some mysterious chemical change, I could really believe the idler is taking on more pressure and the aluminum rails are pulling more heat from the thinner hyfax.

Have you ever read the recommendation in the owners manual about new sliders? They even recommended getting brand new sliders very hot and then pulling off in deeper snow to quick cool them. And they recommend doing this multiple times. If this isn't a form of heat treating the plastic, I don't know what is.

Yeah, I read it, but I am doubtful. Metal is crystaline and definately can be hardened by heat treating. I am unsure if anything can really be done to plastic except maybe remove mold stresses. Can you find a scientific source other than the manufacturer that describes hardening plastic?

 

[buddah]

Can you find a scientific source other than the manufacturer that describes hardening plastic?

Never really tried.......it's just something the guy that first got me on a sled back in the mid 90's taught me and I've always done.......I was just pointing out that even Yamaha recommends it........never really looked into the scientific basis.......

 

[Geezer 2]

Heat treatment of Sliders

I have a friend that is a chemist for a company that makes products with materials like that and he assured me that you can't change the properties by getting them hot. Just wasting sliders.

 

[grizztracks]

If this heat treatment of the hyfax material really works then why do so many of us have them wear so quickly in less than 1000 miles? I work with material scientists and as far as I know you can't change the properties of the polymer by heat treatment. I'll try to get more info from our polymers experts.