NEW Slider Wear Theory

[quebecmoutainrider]

there is alot of water comming from the underside of the sled..exhaust..spray some jigalooo..under the sled..all over the susppention..and slides..everything under there..this will help the water to repel and the snow slide of...less weight and the snow seems to move around more...

 

[RJH]

1999 Phazer..

If you want some good news..

Same sliders since 2000..put the wheels back on..changed all to alum..fixed

same drive belt..mods in that area.

 

[wcfpusher]

@ spike...exactly bro!

 

[MadMax]

OK here's my story. 05 vector. 2,500 miles on first set. Black....On my V-max I had the best luck with the blue ones so I bought a set... Took them to work, got an 5/8" end mill and placed the hyfax upside down and started milling dimples almost to the wear line. I staggered them from side to side about 4" apart.. All the way down.. Put them on and now have 4,700 miles and they look great................ MM.

 

[tommyt5078]

Here's my 2 cent opinion on what's going on with Yamaha slider wear problem. After 3 days in a row of changing sliders during 200 mile runs last season I have concluded that any snow that is kicked up into the tunnel gets melted off from excessive heat generated by the exhaust system, thus warming up the sliders. All the other none Yamaha sleds in the group had so much snow caked up on them you couldn't see the rails and swing arms. The snow build up is what I believe is keeping the rails and sliders COLD thus no slider wear on their sleds.

Check out other makes for how much snow is in their suspension then look at yours, you'll see what I mean. The only thing that I did find is that the faster I went the cooler the slides got. My theory here is that the added air flow is evacuating the heat inside the tunnel in turn allowing the sliders to operate at a lower temp. BTW, the trail conditions I'm talking about is freshly groomed trail which had set up over night where the surface was hard and crusty (riding temp ~ 25-30F). Again, the other make sleds had ZERO slider problems in the total 600 trip.

Its funny you say this, I had so much snow in my tunnel today that I had to pull most of it out after I put her on the trailer, couldn't see the shock at all, so I don't have a clue what your talking about!!!!!

 

[ess]

Here's my 2 cent opinion on what's going on with Yamaha slider wear problem. After 3 days in a row of changing sliders during 200 mile runs last season I have concluded that any snow that is kicked up into the tunnel gets melted off from excessive heat generated by the exhaust system, thus warming up the sliders. All the other none Yamaha sleds in the group had so much snow caked up on them you couldn't see the rails and swing arms. The snow build up is what I believe is keeping the rails and sliders COLD thus no slider wear on their sleds.

Check out other makes for how much snow is in their suspension then look at yours, you'll see what I mean. The only thing that I did find is that the faster I went the cooler the slides got. My theory here is that the added air flow is evacuating the heat inside the tunnel in turn allowing the sliders to operate at a lower temp. BTW, the trail conditions I'm talking about is freshly groomed trail which had set up over night where the surface was hard and crusty (riding temp ~ 25-30F). Again, the other make sleds had ZERO slider problems in the total 600 trip.

Its funny you say this, I had so much snow in my tunnel today that I had to pull most of it out after I put her on the trailer, couldn't see the shock at all, so I don't have a clue what your talking about!!!!!

Don't read me wrong, when there is snow in the tunnel and especially on the rails, I have not experienced excessive premature slider wear. I'm referring to those conditions where due to the frozen groomed trails where the suspension and rails have minimal to no snow. My beefs is that the other manufactures sleds riding with me are covered and they have no wear issues. This is where I'm blaming the exhaust system.

 

[ess]

Re: SLIDE WEAR THEORY

Here is my theory to everyone heating your slides up and then cooling them. I don't see this working. I get over 1500 miles on a set of slides when I take care of them.

That whole hy-fax tempering thing is an old wives tale.

I totally agree.

The slides wear until they wear down closer to the rail which takes the heat away from the slide keeping them cool and the wear all but stops. You guys are changing your slides too soon.

We are on the same page. I agree with your idea and it goes alone with what I'm trying say. The cooler the sliders the slower the wear. My issues is that the aluminum rails are warming up (above 32F) due to the increase in tunnel temperature from the exhaust system which minimizes the thermal transfer between the plastic sliders and the aluminum rail. Yes, plastic is a poor conductor of heat but the aluminum rail is a great heat sink. As long as the differential of temperatures between both material is significant slider heat will transfer to the rail. As the slider does wear it has less materiel to store heat, hence the sliders don't wear as fast due to the greater heat absorbed by the rail as long as the rail temperature is sufficiently lower.

Everyone that post stating that their suspension is full of snow, that is not when your sliders are wearing and 2000-3000 mile is not uncommon. You know when you smell sliders? That's when it is burns them off. At that time how much snow is in your suspension? When you experience this look at your buddies non Yamaha and see how much snow is in their suspension an you will see what I'm talking about.

Others are indicating that larger wheels is the secret. Indirectly this is true. By minimizing the contact force on the sliders the lesser the friction generated and the lower the temperature of the sliders. If your going to fill the suspension with idlers might as well go back to a fully boogie design and remove the sliders.

Why is this only a Yamaha problem? Any Yamaha Engineers out there?