Mono shock damage / rubbing track --PICS--

[Mighty]

Thanks for the illustrations Allen. I can see why there will be more wear with the 121 now.

 

[SledFreak]

The angled backers could be causing the stud to hit the shock, because they are not flush with the track? I'm interested to see if that's the issue, because I have been thinking of putting them on my sled. Got any pics of the track with the studs on the inside and outside.

 

[Mighty]

I believe the natural flexing of the track is causing the wear. It may be excellerated with studs but wear will still occur on the 121's. I have an EC ohlins that came out of a GT that wasn't studded. Sled had only a few hundred miles and the end of the shock is starting to wear. Other than that, the shock appears new.

 

[BA APEX]

I just looked at the shock in my attak. I cant see how the track could rub.Along the side of the shock there are two big nylon wear pads that sit higher than the top of the shock. I would think these pads would wear first. Did your pads have any marks on them?

Does anyone know if the 121 inchers have these pads?

i went out and took more pics. no there is no pads on the rear of the 121. oops, i see that it was answered allready.

 

[QCRider]

The pads on the short track 121" monoshock are on the front arm only. The 136" monoshock has pads on both the front and rear arm.

You're right, but that's because the wheels attach at that point on the 121" so there is no need for pads.

 

[Srxspec]

The 121" sleds don't have the same pads that the Attak has as they have the idler wheels on this shaft on the 121" sleds.

Just as I stated in the post just above your original one. The thing that is happening is on the Attak the plastic pads are closer to the shock and not allowing the track to bend in at the center. If you watch the track on an Apex at that upper mount position you will see the track flexes in towards the shock in the middle because all the support is at the outside edges of the track.

 

[BA APEX]

The angled backers could be causing the stud to hit the shock, because they are not flush with the track? I'm interested to see if that's the issue, because I have been thinking of putting them on my sled. Got any pics of the track with the studs on the inside and outside.

rotax, I definitely think the angle backers made it worse, but still, track shouldn't rub. the pic below shows how the back of the stud does not sit flush in the track. Angle backers are a great idea and work well but not when there are parts close the the inside of the track.

I guess i'll head to the garage to take out some studs. Will my track hold up if I restud? trying to get mostly the studs from the center without having to pull the rest. If not, I my just pull all of them, this track is really quite good without studs.
BA

 

[QCRider]

I agree with Allen that the longer distance between the wheels allows for the track to sag. Also, having 144 studs in the center of the track means that there is a lot of weight there. That along with the angled backers and studs in the center are probably most of what is causing the issue. Will the pads fit the 121"skid?

 

[chrishall]

My opinion of the angled backers,

In theory the Angled Backer up against a lug seemed like a good idea. Except that once a new track stretches, they no longer come into contact with the lug. Therefore you are carrying a lot of extra weight for nothing. I also had to replace 12 double backers because they had broken in half. One good thing was that at least both parts of the broken backers remained on the track and hadn't flown off and damaged anything. The Single Angle backers all held together, but they had all bent to the point where they were even further away from the lugs. I had 160 installed into the track of my 2005 RX1-ER, so it wasn't a case of not enough studs for the HP.

Stay away from these angled backers. They're as useless as boobs on a bull.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[YammiMoose]

The angled backers could be causing the stud to hit the shock, because they are not flush with the track? I'm interested to see if that's the issue, because I have been thinking of putting them on my sled. Got any pics of the track with the studs on the inside and outside.

rotax, I definitely think the angle backers made it worse, but still, track shouldn't rub. the pic below shows how the back of the stud does not sit flush in the track. Angle backers are a great idea and work well but not when there are parts close the the inside of the track.

Also- I just got back from the local dealer. They haven't heard of any other apex having this problem(but they didn't sell many) AND hadn't heard of handwarmer issue. I find it hard to believe that someone there doesn't know about this site. I get the "playing stupid" feeling. I know the owner a litte bit and I'm going there later to give them my VIN and try to get more info.
I gues i'll head to the garage to take out some studs. Will my track hold up if I restud? trying to get mostly the studs from the center without having to pull the rest. If not, I my just pull all of them, this track is really quite good without studs.
BA

Is it me or... I can see the whole head of the stud. They don't look like they are seated very well....

I have had studs on 5 sleds previous to the Apex. One with over 10,000 miles. All have some ware on the shock but nothing like what we are seeing in these pictures.

 

[SledFreak]

So, the stud is bending in the same direction as the angle of the backer. How is this possible? I could see it maybe bending the other way. I'm unclear on how the streching of the track has anything to do with it. Can anyone explain?

 

[thumbs up]

I would go along with yammimoose that the head of the stud is not sucked into the track near enough?

 

[BA APEX]

Is it me or... I can see the whole head of the stud. They don't look like they are seated very well....

I have had studs on 5 sleds previous to the Apex. One with over 10,000 miles. All have some ware on the shock but nothing like what we are seeing in these pictures.

In the pictures it does look like the studs are not seated well, but they are. one side is seate into the track but the other can't too much because of the angled backer. below is a pic of what the angled backer is, you can see how it would make the back of the stud uneven on the iside of the track. which is no problem unless there is something mounted too close to the track.

 

[dirkdiggler]

To me it looks like your studs are not tight enough. Mine studs are counter sunk right into the track

 

[BA APEX]

To me it looks like your studs are not tight enough. Mine studs are counter sunk right into the track

with the angled backers, one side is sunk into the track but the the other side isn't. if you tighten more then you can see the tighter(sunk in) side start to warp the track, showing that it's too tight. I tried that allready.