Hey guys I'm just waiting for my sled lift to be delivered and then I am going to start my seasonal maintenance on both my viper and wife's zr 7000. Here's my list of what I plan to do to be prepared and hopefully minimize any potential break downs next season! As usual I appreciate any feed back from you knowledgeable and experienced viper owners. Please add or let me know if you think I am doing to much!!!
Both of the sleds have approx. 2000kms/1243miles (trouble free)
SKID: -check all bearings in idlers/trihub
-replace sliders with duponts
-check all bolts
-track and studs
-suspension/lub
clutches:-remove primary cover and clean belt dust and inspect for wear
-remove secondary clean and inspect
chain case: remove cover clean, inspect, change oil
driveline: check and grease bearings
motor: change oil
brakes: inspect
steering (a little loose) adjust and grease
Am I missing anything!!!!
Thanks in advance for you input
Marc
Well, be prepared for about 10 different complications:
1. Oil tank is on the outside of the chain case. The only way to remove chaincase cover is to remove oil tank with 3 wire plugs and 4 hoses with clamps. You can drain the chaincase by loosening the bolts and letting the oil leak out but to remove the cover and clean it like it looks in the manual. Good luck.
2. Adjusting chain tension. '14 manual says loosen locknut, finger tighten, then back off 1/4 turn. '15 manual says to back off a whole turn. I did a 1/4 last year, worked ok though a little noisy for a while.
3. Oil and chain case drain. The plastic is riveted to the chassis and the oil tank drain plug runs directly to the plastic. I took and old oil bottle an cut it to make a funnel so that when I took the plug out the oil ran into that bottle, through the bottle neck and into the running board hole and into a bucket. Fun.
4. Have to remove muffler. Gasket between header and muffler will probably break. ($13.00) get one ahead of time. Getting spring off of muffler to remove it and then get it back on is fun. Either buy a spring tool or fabricate one with a spare allen wrench bent like a "u" and a pair of vice grips or find and infant who is strong because that's the only hand that can get close to that spring.
5. Oil filter wrench- get one as non of the 5 other ones I had fit.
6. Clutch adjustment - belt deflection. the three bolts on the inside of the secondary (9mm) need to be removed and washers added. This is common with all of the 4 stroke Yamahas I have owned (7 now). You can buy the 1mm washers at the dealer and add multiple ones or take the bolt to a hardware store and get some stainless steel washers that fit. They are thicker but you will need thicker anyway. One of those equals about 2 of the factory ones. My Viper has 2600 on it and I have 2 factory and 1 regular washer on all three bolts. Again to do this, infant hands help. Once adjusted properly, track should barely move at idle on the stand. You will notice major low end change with this. My belt was original at 2500 miles. Changed it just because. Oh yeah, the clutch safety cover on top does not come off. There are 3 bolt to take out and it just bends back toward the seat to get at the belt.
7. Sliders - mine have 2500 on the originals. Most Yamahas I changed them every 7oo miles or so. Mine are still fine. I don't know that the Duponts are worth it. ($65 vs $13 each) I have duponts on my Nytro because it eats them, but on this I probably wouldn't spend the money, your choice.
8. Lastly, get everything prepared first. I took the hood and muffler off and then realized I needed to start it and warm it up to drain oil. Duh. You can leave the top hood on to just change the oil, but the chain case, you need to remove the top hood, windshield and muffler.
9. Tighten all hose clamps when all of the plastic is off. Both oil ones and cooling system.
10. My dealer charges $100.00 plus parts to do all of this. Might be the best money you spend. Last night I was thinking, "Why am I doing all of this?" I guess to have a better understanding of how it works and relieve boredom since I can't ride. I'll say this, a pure Yamaha is much easier to work on that the "hybrid" yamaha. Although this is the best sled I have owned to date, it was not planned out well from a maintenance end.
Good luck, hope this helps.
I will be using a few of your threads in "just the facts" thanks for posting your maintenance proceedures it's helps allot!!!
