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Just bought a 2005 RS Rage and there are a few issues.....

NLP_SLED_GUY

Extreme
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
105
Location
Northern Lower Michigan
Country
USA
Snowmobile
2019 SkiDoo GT-L 600R
2005 RS Rage
2003 RX1
1980 Arctic Cat Panther
First off thanks for reading my first post here. I did some searched and didn't find what I thought I needed. Also apologies for the long posts. I try to be accurate and thorough in my posts. That leads to a lot of words sometimes.

Got out of sleds for over 40 years. Military and Civil service. 2 years ago I retired back home in Northern LP of Michigan. First thing was to buy a new sled. I bought a 2019 Grand Touring Limited 600R. Not ouf any brand loyalty. It just seemed to be the best two-up sled at the time. And it was actually in stock nearby. Love it. Bought a second old sled to work on and restore, a 97 MXZ 440F. Came out great! But under powered for me but great for visitors and beginners.

I spent much of my life fixing military aircraft and building and racing cars as a hobby. So I can turn a wrench. After the MXZ came out so good I decided to take on a Polaris Indy 600 triple for a buddy. It came out great. Next was a buddy's 1997 Yamaha VMAX 700 SX. It's nearing completion. But while working on the Yamaha I did notice they have a different way of doing things. Especially in the engine area.

I decided a wanted to try a 4 stroke and Yamaha appears to be the good choice for older 4 strokes. So I bought a 2005 RS Rage, 5200 miles. The instant it started up I knew there was some massive exhaust leak. Before I even picked it up I ordered a fix kit for the exhaust system. Seems easy enough. But getting onto the trailer it didn't want to move. Once I got it home got deeper look, I found that The secondary was whacked and that the primary appeared to be sticking pretty badly. Slams on with a thunk and off with a thunk. An when disengaging there was a whirring noise to accompany the thunk. It was late but I could tell the clutches need work. I went to bed as I ordered a Ulmer clutch kit for it.

This morning I got the secondary off to find that the bottom turn of secondary spring was snapped off and is stuck into the sheave.

Onto the primary. I got it apart as far as I could without getting the clutch off. There was a lot of belt dust, strands and debris in the clutch. The outer cap seems to slide fine. But the outer sheave is sticky, it can move fine if you wobble it. Bushing? The ramps are also pitted and have round groove wore in the middle of them. There was also a lot of debris in the nylon sliders. But with the outer sheave binding it's hard to tell if there are bad.

Okay. Now for the questions. Does the usual water/bread tricks work on removing the primary? Rebuild or replace? If rebuild, is there a trusted Yamaha clutch rebuider nearby...West Branch....? Am I totally off base?

I'm sure I'm probably capable of rebuilding the clutch myself if I had the special tools. This is the only Yamaha I currently own. Is it just worth it to buy the tools and learn to do it myself? What other questions am I missing? :)

And final topic. Play in the steering. I don't like any. It's fatigue inducing and reduces rider confidence in the sled. While holding the skis tight I can no movement forward in the actual links to the skis. It all appears to be in the column or under the engine. Which watching videos I've heard comments about all Yamahas being this way. I do find that hard to believe. So this does appear to be a common issue. Is it just a matter of finding the worn parts or is just the way it is? Seems to me like it should be fixable with the right level of effort.

I've also read about weak grip heaters and possible fixes for them. But the guy I bought it from said they worked fine for him. So I'll wait and see how that goes.

Shocks need to be checked still.

So that's about all that I have found wrong with it. It actually looks really good and the engine seems fine. I'm going to add review mirrors and a 12 volt power point. Sled does need some glove box type of storage for often used items. My new doo has a glove box and extension and an added tank bag. They are mostly full. I carry a lot of crap as I generally ride alone and often long distances.

Thanks again and any input is appreciated.

Ed
 

A bit of an update. Even cleaned up the primary movable sheave binds from too much clearance.

I got the tank and seat off. Two of the flex couplings in the exhaust were split and about 1/2-3/4 inch seperated on the manifold side. The far PTO side was still intact but the coupling to the exhaust is loose enough to slide around and rotate. Of course the bolts on the clamps are all waster and will have to be cut off.

So I've read that some of the sleds need the rear suspension dropped to gain proper access to the exhaust. This appears to be one. Even heard the the driver and track might need to come out. I wasn't looking forward to doing that unless necessary. Dropping the rear suspension isn't usually a big deal. It's just the tearing apart the chain case is another level. The more I look at it the more I think I might be able to get the flex couplings in without removing everything.

Steering. It appears most of the play in in the steering shaft clamps and the hiem first joint at the bottom of it.

Thanks,
Ed
 
The reason for having to possibly remove the suspension in order to replace those exhaust donuts, clamps, and flex couplings is that you have to loosen the header pipe (#13) via the bolt (#14) in order to be able to slide it back so that you can then remove the bad flex couplings. You can get to this bolt after removing the seat and tank and if you're lucky, you can loosen the bolt and slide the header back:

RageExhaust.JPG


However, some run into issues with getting the bolt loosen and it ends up getting stripped. When that happens, you have to drill out the rivets holding the bracket (#33) that the aforementioned bolt screws into in order to slide the header back:

RageBracket.JPG


As you can see, it is close to the track drivers but when I had to do this on my 03 RX-1, I was able to remove the bracket without having to remove the track and driver.

As for the steering play, Yamaha is notorious for using lots of steering linkage with heim joints on the ends and that tends to be where the play is. Others have found the play to be in the ski bushings in the ski column assembly.

Regarding the steering blocks/bushings, there used to be a company that made the olite steering blocks rather than the plastic ones Yamaha offers.
 
welcome!

as to your clutch issues, sounds like it needs to come off for a good cleaning 1st. the clutch puller is about $30.00 canadian and i use grease in the hole to make it pop off better.

i have has to wire brush/sand where the bushings run on sleds that have sat for extended periods. i tend to bolt it together without the springs and weights to make sure that it slides properly as we have had a few stik/hang up right at idle.

same test for the secondary as well. if needed a secondary from any sx , rx, rs and apex will work on it.

thunder products does clutch rebuilding if you want to get it done by someone.
 
Thank you both the the replies.

Tonight I played with the steering for a bit. The two heim joints off the steering column do have a tiny bit of play. But most of it appeared to be in the plastic mounting blocks. I took them out and sanded them flat just a tiny bit. But the trick was to take a tiny bit of length off of the metal bushings that mount the blocks. This was the key. They set how much tension can be transferred to the blocks when tightened. I attempted to make them a bit closer to flush when assembled. Most of the play is now gone even with the old heim joints. I know there is another set of these blocks down in the guts. I'll bet that's where the remaining play is, as I can't see any play from the skis inward. Cool. Progress. Even if I don't find the rest of it, she's plenty tolerable now.

I didn't look much at the primary but the ramps/weights are trashed. It's been riding so much in the same spot there are big round spots worn in them. The roller and the weight pivots all appeared normal. I'll order a tool to pull the clutch.

The secondary. I also notice that the plastic buttons were trashed. big grooves melted in them. Also the bushing in the movable sheave had a lot of wobble. I have about $200 alone in hardware and parts ordered. I'll get the secondary fixed and the new clutch kit installed and see how the primary then works before deciding on rebuilding or sending it out.

The bowels of the sled are deep. Don't drop anything. I have a Snapon universal impact that dropped down in there. About 30 minutes with a bright light and still now sign of it. When the sled is ready I'll roll it around and it will probably shake itself loose.

Exhaust. I did get all of the couplings out with out loosening the rest of the exhaust. The center and mag side couplings were totally separated and loose. I drilled out the rivets but clearly missed a couple on the bracket. The two outside rivets on each side.

I may drop the rear suspension just to go thru it as there is still plenty of time. But the nights up here are starting to get colder and a few leaves are starting to turn.

It appears that the sled might have had a hard life. Or at least ignored. It appears that no regular clearing or lubrication have been done. The rear suspension is full of mud and grass. It also appears that the sled was driven quite a while with the secondary spring broken.

I have a few pictures. But I'm guessing that there are plenty of these on this site.

Thank you again,

Ed
 
Definitely sounds like she was ridden hard and put away wet. Not the way that you want to treat any sled. With so few miles on your sled, it's hard to believe the primary clutch has been trashed that much. Maybe a lot more miles on that sled than the odometer says? Before spending a lot of money on fixing the primary, price out a PowerBloc 80 primary. I just replaced my worn out primary on my 06 Vector last year with a PowerBloc, and am extremely happy with how it is performing. Your secondary should just need a new spring and buttons to make like new again, as is a very simple clutch design. I would pull the rear suspension and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Check for broken welds, worn bearings and wheels, and make sure that the grease zerts take grease. Replace the exhaust flex pipes that are broken, use copper exhaust donuts, and seal everything with copper gasket seal. I would also consider putting SnowTracker ski carbides on, to eliminate any darting issues. They are well worth the money. If the engine is running great with no bogging with throttle pull, great. Otherwise the carbs and jets should be cleaned, and the carbs synced. Grizztracks has a excellent post on carb syncing and the fabrication of a homemade sync tool. You have a good fall project ahead of you to have her ready for the upcoming season. Keep at it.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Today I did drop the rear suspension. It's actually in pretty decent shape after all of the mud and grass was washed off. Shocks seem fine. But I'll take the entire rear end apart to check, clean and regrease everything since it's apart.

I ordered the FX Garage flexible couplings. Spent an hour getting the rusted bolts out of the header hanger. But no damage. But the muffler side coupling to the header is rusted and cracked in a few places. I have a good welder nearby. I'll have him look at it. The header looks fine.

I thought I ordered an Ulmer Racing clutch kit. But after checking with them it appears I must not have completed the order in the middle of the night. But since these costs are adding up I just ordered the parts I think I need for now. The primary clearly needs the weights replaced. Those can be pretty expensive but they are on order. The primary might actually be okay but I'll clean and replace everything on both clutches before I declare victory. The secondary is getting a new stock spring, buttons and the inner sheave bushing.

Ordered oil filter and spark plugs also.

Ordered clutch puller.

The sled already has Woody's duals on it. Since they are fairly new I'll give them a try first.

After all of this work gets done I'll pull the carbs and clean them. I don't really like pulling too many things apart at one time. The sled is might broke down now as it is.

I'll check out the carb sync post. I do have a couple different carb sync tools. The Yamaha manual has a pretty good section on carb sync. I had the manual before I actually had the sled. :cool:

Pressure washed the massive amounts of belt dust that was everywhere.

I little more than I expected, but I totally go thru sleds when I buy them anyway.

Thanks,

Ed
 
Make sure you read the sticky on the cam chain tensioner. Do you know that it's been done?
 
Make sure you read the sticky on the cam chain tensioner. Do you know that it's been done?
I haven't heard about this one. Looking it up. Thanks.

BTW, Center shock is toast. Rear shock appears to be fine. The rest of the rear is good.

Thanks again
 
if it has aluminum bodies shocks, they are serviceable/rebuildable. if they are steel bodied shocks, you can substitute in used rx1 or sx viper ones that are serviceable. the rx war used the same set up and they where steel bodied non serviceable from factory.
 
ordered the FX Garage flexible couplings. Spent an hour getting the rusted bolts out of the header hanger. But no damage. But the muffler side coupling to the header is rusted and cracked in a few places. I have a good welder nearby. I'll have him look at it. The header looks fine.

Just a word of caution regarding the FX Garage kit:
https://ty4stroke.com/threads/fx-garage-works-braided-flex-pipe.163286/#post-1567164

If it was mine, I would contact Travis @hibshman25 of Barn of Parts as he sells used Yamaha 4 stroke parts and see if he has any good used OEM replacement parts to use instead.
 
Thanks for the heads up. The FX Garage kit is on it's way already. I'll see how it goes. I haven't cut anything yet!

As for the OEM parts. Was the design ever corrected. The originals were a mess.

As for an update. All of the shocks that aren't the center shock are good. I did find a place within an hour drive that can rebuild it.

Most all of the bushings in the front are toast. The bushings in the skis are toast and were causing a lot of wobble. All of these parts have been ordered.

The cam chain tensioner is orange. :-( Is there anyone that sells a kit with the mount tool I think?

Thank you,

Ed
 
One new question.

The secondary spring had half a winding broken off. I read elsewhere that these springs in this application may bind. There's not much else to cause springs to break like that but binding. The same site suggested that machining the spring pocket in the helix is a solution.

Is this common enough to be a known problem?

Thanks again,

Ed
 


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