BIG BLACK WARRIOR
VIP Member
My sled was ay my dealer since mid-March waiting on new parts. Finally got sled back Wednesday with every thing updated to the 2006 specs. This included all new idler wheels, rail and rail stiffner kit, new 2006 pivot arm, new cable and boot, even though I had these put on last Jan. after the first one broke., new bushings again. Also bought the heavy duty spring as long as he had the whole suspension apart. Still not very happy with Yamaha becuse no way should it take them almost 8 months to fix it. If anyboby bought a new car and three months later asuspension part broke and it took 8 months before you could use your car again, I don't think anybody would be happy. 
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
I picked up my sled from the dealer a couple of days ago too. Everything to do with the suspension is new and my dealer also installed the new track for only 1 hour of labour (including changing all chaincase bearings, seals, etc.). I'm not sure if my dealer or Yamaha covered the remaining hours (I figure it takes a good mechanic 5 hours to do the job right - it takes me about 10...).
I totally agree with you about still not feeling satisfied about the whole ordeal though. I missed out on about 2 months of sledding last winter in total (adding up all the down time) and the parts weren't available until a couple of weeks ago. In 28 years of sledding I've never had a sled down for more than a couple of weeks and this is the only brand new sled I've ever bought. Not exactly a great improvement in reliability from riding $2000-$3000 used Poo or Doo sleds to a riding a new top of the line $13,000 Yamaha. I also spent well over $2000 in maintenance out of my own pocket (track - badly stretched by pivot arm failure, secondary clutch - buttons fell out and damaged main bushings, brakes, tune ups, etc.), not to mention a good $500 in gas trailering the sled to and from the dealer. In previous years with older sleds I would typically spend about $1000 total in maintenance per season - some years maybe a little more.
To grind more dirt into the wound, Yamaha is unwilling to even consider extending the warranty on my machine (to cover the down time) so now I am without any warranty and haven't even had a chance to ride the sled. I specifically asked Yamaha Customer Service and was told I was on my own unless I bought an almost $1000 warranty extension for one extra season. My warranty ended yesterday, November 11.
To top it off, this whole mess has stressed out my relationship with my dealer to the point where they told me they don't want customers who ride high miles because they loose money on repair work. I was told they would fix it up right one last time and that's it - they don't want me as a customer any more.
I'm glad the machine is finally fixed and fixed as good or better than new, but this failure prone suspension and Yamaha's approach has left me far from satisfied.
My new suspension is coming out tomorrow and it's going to the machine shop to be heavily reinforced. I am NOT going to allow another pivot arm failure to take out the track and twist up the rails (I know the new one is stronger - I'm just not 100% sure it's strong enough and it's not worth the risk).
I probably will buy another new Yamaha in the next year or two (unless the competition catches up in the powertrain department), but at the first sign of suspension trouble it's not going to the dealer, it's going to the machine shop.
I totally agree with you about still not feeling satisfied about the whole ordeal though. I missed out on about 2 months of sledding last winter in total (adding up all the down time) and the parts weren't available until a couple of weeks ago. In 28 years of sledding I've never had a sled down for more than a couple of weeks and this is the only brand new sled I've ever bought. Not exactly a great improvement in reliability from riding $2000-$3000 used Poo or Doo sleds to a riding a new top of the line $13,000 Yamaha. I also spent well over $2000 in maintenance out of my own pocket (track - badly stretched by pivot arm failure, secondary clutch - buttons fell out and damaged main bushings, brakes, tune ups, etc.), not to mention a good $500 in gas trailering the sled to and from the dealer. In previous years with older sleds I would typically spend about $1000 total in maintenance per season - some years maybe a little more.
To grind more dirt into the wound, Yamaha is unwilling to even consider extending the warranty on my machine (to cover the down time) so now I am without any warranty and haven't even had a chance to ride the sled. I specifically asked Yamaha Customer Service and was told I was on my own unless I bought an almost $1000 warranty extension for one extra season. My warranty ended yesterday, November 11.
To top it off, this whole mess has stressed out my relationship with my dealer to the point where they told me they don't want customers who ride high miles because they loose money on repair work. I was told they would fix it up right one last time and that's it - they don't want me as a customer any more.
I'm glad the machine is finally fixed and fixed as good or better than new, but this failure prone suspension and Yamaha's approach has left me far from satisfied.
My new suspension is coming out tomorrow and it's going to the machine shop to be heavily reinforced. I am NOT going to allow another pivot arm failure to take out the track and twist up the rails (I know the new one is stronger - I'm just not 100% sure it's strong enough and it's not worth the risk).
I probably will buy another new Yamaha in the next year or two (unless the competition catches up in the powertrain department), but at the first sign of suspension trouble it's not going to the dealer, it's going to the machine shop.
