New Driveshaft ID Smaller

[ClutchMaster]

Well clearly they have changed suppliers or the design of the part. Thanks for posting to make us aware.
The thickness of the original shaft was pretty flimsy.
Nice of AC to post or make their customers aware of a part upgrade........
MS

I wouldn’t be so sure of that. It’s only .015” thousandths of an inch per side, that’s not gonna stiffen the shaft hardly at all. Plus or minus 1/64” of an inch is not an uncommon Specification for a non critical dimension like this.

 

[RAMSOMAIR]

I have a used shaft from a 2017 LTX LE with 600 miles on it if anyone needs one.

 

[cannondale27]

IMO, the million dollar question is, were the shafts machined (no matter who the supplier was/is) to Cat print?! For me, it would be hard to believe this whole problem (shaft spinning inside bearing) has been caused by the supplier not machining shafts to specification (ie blueprint). Therefore, as I am holding fast to believing, this problem is a DESIGN problem and I place the blame and responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Arctic Cat engineering.
It will be interesting to learn if now the shaft has a smaller ID via design change, or is it a shaft that was not machined to print?
The mess continues.

The thing is there always has been shafts out there that fit the bearing perfectly. Have seen them myself. So because of that I believe they just haven’t hit the numbers.

 

[ClutchMaster]

The thing is there always has been shafts out there that fit the bearing perfectly. Have seen them myself. So because of that I believe they just haven’t hit the numbers.

Yes but even with a tight fit I’ve never heard of someone getting over 6~7k miles on a shaft. If it’s loose 3k miles it’s toast.

 

[cannondale27]

Yes but even with a tight fit I’ve never heard of someone getting over 6~7k miles on a shaft. If it’s loose 3k miles it’s toast.

Well you have now. I know of two with over 9000mi. Never spun. They fit tight.

 

[1nc 2000]

Tight fit is good.

 

[Big_Phil]

IMO, the million dollar question is, were the shafts machined (no matter who the supplier was/is) to Cat print?! For me, it would be hard to believe this whole problem (shaft spinning inside bearing) has been caused by the supplier not machining shafts to specification (ie blueprint). Therefore, as I am holding fast to believing, this problem is a DESIGN problem and I place the blame and responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Arctic Cat engineering.
It will be interesting to learn if now the shaft has a smaller ID via design change, or is it a shaft that was not machined to print?
The mess continues.

Crappy thing is, we will never know. If you ask anyone at Yamaha, these sleds have no problems with belt life, flat spotting secondary rollers, pushing the bushing out on primary rollers, top gear bushing issues, etc. Crazy how anything goes wrong on these sleds, Yamaha says you are the first they have heard of this. LOL

 

[Turboflash]

The thing is there always has been shafts out there that fit the bearing perfectly. Have seen them myself. So because of that I believe they just haven’t hit the numbers.

When you say "fit the bearing perfectly" I'm not sure what you mean? To me, "perfect fit" would be interference fit. There is no way I would want the OD of the shaft to be smaller than the ID of the bearing. How else can the shaft and bearing not slip or spin on each other?
After my failure, I had my track shaft spray-welded to build it up, then had it ground to fit a brand new SKF high-quality bearing with interference. Now, I know for a fact the shaft will not spin inside bearing. (P.S. When I put it together, I also used some green loctite). Problem solved. Yes, I have a puller to get it off when the bearing needs replacing.

 

[DennyTuna]

I purchased a new shaft a couple of months ago and installed it today. After reading this thread this morning the first thing I did was check to see if the BOP Mcwedgie fit correctly...it did. The second thing was to see how the new SKF bearing fit, it slid on but you had to work it on. Torqued the drive shaft saver and at 25 Ft. Lbs. the bearing was nice and snug. Seems I may have gotten a diamond with this new shaft. I feel lucky!

 

[cannondale27]

When you say "fit the bearing perfectly" I'm not sure what you mean? To me, "perfect fit" would be interference fit. There is no way I would want the OD of the shaft to be smaller than the ID of the bearing. How else can the shaft and bearing not slip or spin on each other?
After my failure, I had my track shaft spray-welded to build it up, then had it ground to fit a brand new SKF high-quality bearing with interference. Now, I know for a fact the shaft will not spin inside bearing. (P.S. When I put it together, I also used some green loctite). Problem solved. Yes, I have a puller to get it off when the bearing needs replacing.

Yes interference fit. Has to be pushed on with force. The new one I got falls on.

 

[hibshman25]

Been thinking about this over the weekend and I do recall Mr. Sled's 2020 SRX had a smaller ID on drive shaft and he had to rework the wedge to make it fit. So overall that makes it 2 shafts to date that I was made aware of now that the wedge did not fit. I'm going to speculate that they were just fluke out of spec ID.

 

[eightpilot]

Cats whole design team is "out of spec".... just ridiculous.

 

[DennyTuna]

When you say "fit the bearing perfectly" I'm not sure what you mean? To me, "perfect fit" would be interference fit. There is no way I would want the OD of the shaft to be smaller than the ID of the bearing. How else can the shaft and bearing not slip or spin on each other?
After my failure, I had my track shaft spray-welded to build it up, then had it ground to fit a brand new SKF high-quality bearing with interference. Now, I know for a fact the shaft will not spin inside bearing. (P.S. When I put it together, I also used some green loctite). Problem solved. Yes, I have a puller to get it off when the bearing needs replacing.

Do you have any miles yet with the shaft spray welded? I decided to go one step up and have the winder shaft chrome plated, its harder than a weld and I was told by more than a few people that spray welding is prone to flaking. Fit is very tight with a new SKF bearing, I have to heat the inner race of the bearing to slip it on the shaft. This may bring on some headaches and I will find that out soon but once together I wont be worrying about it.

 

[stevewithOCD]

The OD is still incorrect just the ID is smaller.
My bud who bought my sled had his new Driveshaft spray welded & turned so the bearing fits properly.
Then we tried the BOP McWedgy Tool & it doesn't fit.
Thought it was just the Mcwedgy Tool was stretched at first.

 

[ClutchMaster]

Well you have now. I know of two with over 9000mi. Never spun. They fit tight.

It’s called Palm press or zero clearance, extremely hard to hold a tolerance of -.0002” +.0000” shaft temperature during grinding can mess you up. That said, it should have some sort of locking device like McWedgy from the factory like the old sleds had, common sense.

I purchased a new shaft a couple of months ago and installed it today. After reading this thread this morning the first thing I did was check to see if the BOP Mcwedgie fit correctly...it did. The second thing was to see how the new SKF bearing fit, it slid on but you had to work it on. Torqued the drive shaft saver and at 25 Ft. Lbs. the bearing was nice and snug. Seems I may have gotten a diamond with this new shaft. I feel lucky!

Tighten that McWedge to atleast 45ft-lbs it won’t hurt the bearing. I’ve press fitted bearings so tight they “popped” going together, no issues.

Been thinking about this over the weekend and I do recall Mr. Sled's 2020 SRX had a smaller ID on drive shaft and he had to rework the wedge to make it fit. So overall that makes it 2 shafts to date that I was made aware of now that the wedge did not fit. I'm going to speculate that they were just fluke out of spec ID.

It’s a gun drilled hole with a very loose tolerance since nothing was ever expected to go inside, strictly for weight savings and rigidity. a hollow shaft is actually much stiffer than a solid one.

You might have to spec them down another 10 thou, I don’t think it would really matter, should just bend the tangs out a little further.