Need Advice/Help on Rage trouble...Bearings???

[Berlin]

I would greatly appreciate any advice or thoughts on this issue. Sled is an 05 with less than 500 miles. Sled was working perfect last week. Had one ride in some real hard conditions and melted my clips to the hyfax. Took a bit of effort to free them after a stop. I have since replaced the drive belt that had some wear spots. Currently I am encountering a pulsing and uneven take off at slow speeds. It feels as if something is binding. Did 60 miles last night and it is noticeable only at walking speeds. I have checked track tension and alignment as well as chain tension. All the idlers roll smooth. I have not checked the rear wheel bearings. Symptom is not obvious on the stand with the track up. I did soften the suspension up just before the ride but cannot see how that would have any connection.

So at this point I am thinking that I need to pull the skid (check the rear wheels) remove the belt and try to get the track off of the drivers and move the drive shaft/jack shaft/chain case assembly and check for binding in any of these bearings. Can I get the track far enough off of the drivers to make this possible? I can not see any obvious signs of a spent bearing... yet. Speedo works and no grinding or play in shafts. Has the feeling like when you start off with a dry stiff track.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Jamie

 

[Rockmeister]

Hi Jamie!

Would venture a guess that you are on the right track looking at the skid first.

Loosen the track & check all the wheels by trying to wiggle and turn them.
Can usually feel/hear bad bearings.
Might also check the left lower drive shaft bearing(Clutch side)

Also double-check that the chain is not too tight in the chaincase.
(No more than finger tip tight.)

Double-check that the drive belt is smooth all along the length of it.

Hope this helps!

Rock : )

PS Need to add your location to your profile. (Site rules)

 

[apltx08]

The only way to get your track off DRIVERS is to pull out your skid...before doing that I'd check your SPEEDO bearing the lower 1 behind your secondary clutch, its usually the culprit!!! you must grease this bearing during riding season and end of season pull it off, clean & repack or else I'd also check your rear AXLE wheel bearings also, how about you DISC brake caliper is everything free nothing sticking or binding...caliper pistons etc...

Here's a good thread on SPEEDO bearing... http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=

 

[Berlin]

Rock,
I have much of your wisdom on this site. I am honored.
Any advice on how to figure out which of the four bearings would be bad without obvious slop as they are all linked though the chain case? I will check the rear wheel skid bearings first. Will I have to pull the skid to get enough room to have the drivers clear the track? I am guessing yes.
Thanks
Jamie

 

[The Artist]

I would clean the clutch surfaces and try a new belt as this can give a pulsing and uneven take off at slow speeds

 

[Berlin]

I was thinking of hitting them some cleaner and an abrasive pad. Can only help. Thanks for the tip.
Jamie

 

[Rockmeister]

Rock,
I have much of your wisdom on this site. I am honored.
Any advice on how to figure out which of the four bearings would be bad without obvious slop as they are all linked though the chain case? I will check the rear wheel skid bearings first. Will I have to pull the skid to get enough room to have the drivers clear the track? I am guessing yes.
Thanks
Jamie

Lol, don't know about wisdom, have just riden, broken, & fixed alot of sleds, still thank you.

As apltx08 stated, you can't easily rotate the driveshaft with the skid in the sled.
You CAN grab the shaft & shake it to see if there is any play in the lower left (speedo) bearing.
Would definitely do a visual inspection of it two ways.
Look at it straight on the end & make sure it is perfectly centered.
Carefully pry off the rubber seal and inspect it carefully inside.
Should definitely have some grease still in it, if it is rusted or void of any grease would replace it.
If it is reasonably clean and still has some grease, would pack it full of grease & re-install the seal.

It is very unlikely you will get a failure of the bearings on the right side.
(Very good oil bathed design.)

Apltx08 also had a very good point with checking the brake system including the parking brake.
The parking break is very easy to leave on on these sleds.

If after checking all this & you still do not find it, would check inside the chaincase, possibly chain etc.

Hope this helps!

Rock

 

[Berlin]

The brakes seem to be free and clear of the rotor. I am going to have to stop using the parking brake in the trailer as I unloaded it the night I stuck to my hyfax with the parking brake on. Kind of embarrassing to admit...
That was before I swapped belts.

Right now my order of operations is this.
Loosen track and check rear wheel and top wheel bearings.
Clean and re-surface clutch faces.
Pull secondary and check left drive bearing.
Double check current belt or replace with a new one.
I would like to try everything I can before I pull the whole skid.

As far as my chain. I purchased the sled this fall and serviced it (filter, oil, cleaned the carbs, chaincase fluid, grease, and when I checked the chaincase tension I noticed that the bolt is not real free on the threads in the adjustment range making it hard to get a good finger tight adjustment. I have not run into this on other sled I have adjusted. I did the best I could and only tightened it a very small amount from the factory setting.

Thanks for the help guys.
jamie

 

[sgilbert]

sounds like hourglass in belt, some people cant even load there sled after new belt with wrecking it. I remove belt and feel aroung the sides with eyes closed, if its bad enough to feel riding, youll feel it with fingers

 

[rancidjo]

The brakes seem to be free and clear of the rotor. I am going to have to stop using the parking brake in the trailer as I unloaded it the night I stuck to my hyfax with the parking brake on. Kind of embarrassing to admit...
That was before I swapped belts.

Right now my order of operations is this.
Loosen track and check rear wheel and top wheel bearings.
Clean and re-surface clutch faces.
Pull secondary and check left drive bearing.
Double check current belt or replace with a new one.
I would like to try everything I can before I pull the whole skid.

As far as my chain. I purchased the sled this fall and serviced it (filter, oil, cleaned the carbs, chaincase fluid, grease, and when I checked the chaincase tension I noticed that the bolt is not real free on the threads in the adjustment range making it hard to get a good finger tight adjustment. I have not run into this on other sled I have adjusted. I did the best I could and only tightened it a very small amount from the factory setting.

Thanks for the help guys.
jamie

You are on teh right track...I would try a NEW belt, I have had this happen to me before, put one on with a wear spot only to have have the same problem, "hmm it can't be the belt I just swapped it", a few hours later after tearinig through many other things, put a new one on, yep it was the belt!!

 

[Berlin]

That was my first thought and I swapped belts mid ride last night and it was still there. The current belt seems 100%. I think I will try a brand new one just for kicks. I am not totally sure that the one I stuck on there was new as it was the spare on the sled when I purchased it. I does look like it has seen some use. I did notice that it also runs bit tighter than the one that came off by faint squeal at idle.

Thanks for the thoughts.
jamie

 

[sgilbert]

I put a new one on my Apex before summer. without thinking about it, started few times over summer to idle. new $80 belt was nice and tight and ended up with small flat spot. might be alright for a citation, but puts a big fuss in an Apex. I have a "friend" who likes free belts, so I stack all the hour glass belts I come across (repairing sleds) and put them on the hood of his indy. he will swap them for hours until he finds the least violent one.
my point is if you haven't taken a new one out of package, then you haven't changed anything....your sled will not forgive you for being cheap. when you do put new one on, be carefull to never smoke it taking off, getting stuck, loading etc. takes 2 seconds to flatten one and will never smooth out.

 

[Rockmeister]

Everyone is exactly right about the belt.

First rule of Troubleshooting is... "Check the easy stuff first!"

Let us know what you find!

 

[sgilbert]

another trail side check is lay down and feel around left side of driveshaft, if it's that bearing, you will know by the blood running down your arm

 

[Berlin]

So here is where I stand. I have...
1. Loosened track and checked each wheel bearing
2; Removed secondary and belt
3. Pulled seal covers left jackshaft and added grease (bearing good)
4. Removed left driveshaft seal and found some ice in the bearing so I pulled the bearing and got out all water/ice and repacked the bearing. I could not see and wear or rust in bearing so it was re-installed.
5. Resurfaced the primary with sandpaper and a scotchbrite and finished with a wipe down with alcohol.
6. Tightened the track and checked alignment.
7. Rotated the track/driveshaft/chain/jackshaft and checked for any binding-none felt.
8. Installed a brand new belt.

Hopefully I can get in a ride tomorrow and see if there is any difference.
Nothing was an a obvious issue. Hopefully it was just a clutch belt issue.

Thanks for all the advice so far.
Jamie