Opinions on slide wear/overheating on 2009 Apex

[smurf]

Old topic that never really dies. Slide wear and overheating always a problem for Apex/Vector when in hard pack snow in cold weather. We ride in northern wisconsin where we can also ride in icy conditions. Tired of just watching all the friends just sled on by. On cold hard packed mornings and then again after dusk, we can't even consider running the sleds. My Apex was especially a problem with the overheating in these conditions.

Time to change a few things for me this year. Please give me your opinion on what priority you'd give to the following changes.

1) Wheel kit
2) Ice scrapers
3) Dupont slides

No long explanation necessary. Just looking for what others have seen work. Due to cost, thinking of doing 2 of the 3.

Appreciated,

Smurf

 

[Teamblue4]

How many miles are you expecting to get out of a set of hyfaxs? Check your antifreeze mixture.

 

[hibshman25]

Duponts work well in ice conditions. We encountered an icy weekend at camp last year with minimal dust. My father had duponts on his 11 apex and I had stock slides on my 13 vector. In 500 miles of running the same trails I went through (3) sets of stock slides and the duponts didn't wear at all on my fathers sled.

The excel x wheels work well to minimize slide wear. They are a direct fit. No drilling rails and messing with wheel mounts.

I'm going to be testing some white slides that have no dye. Kimpex offers these, and they claim the dye is what cause slides to wear faster. They are cheaper than duponts. My father and I ride all our miles together so it will be interesting to see how they hold up to duponts.

As for the overheating do you have a rear cooler on your sled? Is yours 121 or 136? I'm actually designing and building my own line of rear coolers that have more surface area and capacity than the factory Yamaha rear coolers.

Do you run a temp gauge? If so, how hot does it get? The factory temp light is very premature to even be concerned about the engine overheating. I'm working on another product that addresses this. There's a thread in the general forum about this product (engine saver)

 

[thor452]

duponts would be my number one and switching to 50/50 mix on the antifreeze

 

[YammiMoose]

Check out this.
http://pioneerperformance.net/store/page4.html.
I bought theP-S133 Hyfax Extender Wheel Spacer Kit Monoshock II. it allowed me to keep my stock wheels. Very important as aftermarkets aren't available while on vacation. It made a huge difference in where spots.
With these problem solved! And yes I ate up a set of Douponts in 500 miles before buying. They are a direct bolt on. No drilling required.

 

[snobill]

How many miles do you have on the spacers ? No issues ? cracking, wheels wearing out ?

 

[smurf]

We ride 2,000 - 3,000 miles/year. 2500 last year in northern wisconsin where we had an exceptional snow cover year. I changed slides twice on both sleds. Year before we put on 2,000 miles in a average snow cover year and changed Vector twice and Apex 3 times. We've been riding for 20+ years on yamahas and this topic has always been an issue.

This last season was a bit frustrating for me due to the apex overheating light coming on so much with the extremely cold weather we had. Checking the antifreeze mixture is a good idea. What really seemed to be going on though was on those cold, hard packed trail conditions, the sled just wasn't getting enough lube underneath. Maddening to see all the other sleds roll on by.

Track is a 121 on both with 96 studs, no temperature guage. Hibs - I'll check into the excel kit vs. the pioneer spacer that Yamimoose uses. How is the wheel wear for both of you?

Did anyone have any experience with the ice scratchers?

Smurf

 

[Teamblue4]

Dont mean to bust your ba--s but we got 4186 and 3756 miles last year on our Apex's and were still on the same Hyfax's and going to run them again this season. 11 weekends in Northern Wi. and never a temp light. I would have to say something is wrong in your suspension set up. Wheel bearings, limiter strap or shocks something is not working together.

 

[Irv]

Dont mean to bust your ba--s but we got 4186 and 3756 miles last year on our Apex's and were still on the same Hyfax's and going to run them again this season. 11 weekends in Northern Wi. and never a temp light. I would have to say something is wrong in your suspension set up. Wheel bearings, limiter strap or shocks something is not working together.

I agree, not a lot of miles the last 3 seasons, but still using the same white Yamaha slides. I frequently checked them this year using 10, 11, 12 and 13 mm wrenches on them and seen virtually zero wear.

 

[Riceburner]

Scratcher's. Cheap & they work. Probably all you need. I got 5 years & 16,000 km on my former stocker a 06 Apex GT on the stock Hyfax.They were still good when I sold it. Put the scratcher's down in the conditions you described.

Duponts & Excell Wheels on my Turbo at the moment. Don't need scratcher's with that combo.

 

[Bluebullet]

I have almost never had a cooling issue with my 2010 apex LTX ( 188 pics) only time I rember the light comming on was on glare Ice with no snow for a few lake miles after I stopped. Scratchers will probally help you for sure as it has with many. Hyfax issue, larger wheel kits, ( never use colored hyfax) I bought and installed red and ate them up in 500 miles. I had original blacks on for first 5,000 miles so went back to black and ran all year with no issue. Also run your track loose( don't use tech set up) too tight. I adjust to 1 in of play in center of both side rails. hope this helps

 

[smurf]

Teamblue4 - no sticking slides or coolant lights even when running in the extremely cold, hard packed conditions? I'm especially talking about those early morning or sundown conditions when the trails are like concrete. When I say I changed them twice I actually mean that I had new ones to start the season and replaced them once during. The snow was obviously more than normal this year. Average years I'm going thru 2-3/season. Strap is stock setting - where is yours at? Wheels/bearings are reviewed every ride and maintained. Not so sure about the shock though. Could that really effect it that much? I'm having the center shock rebuilt this summer but haven't done anything to the fronts. They still seem in good condition. We don't ride hard anymore.

Bluebullet - are you saying you use a larger wheel kit? I've always run blue slides, never have used black. Could they seriously wear differently? I am using OEM blue slides. Track is always as loose as it can go without slapping tunnel.

Again the primary cause of my issues is the hard pack, cold conditions when the trails turn to rock. When snow is loose, everything is wonderful.

Thanks for the comments all. Keep them coming.

Smurf

 

[Bluebullet]

Smurf, I didn't think slide color would make a differance either, however a couple guys on here stated the die in the color makes more heat and causes more friction. I have no issues with black slides, that's all I can say. I have zero heating issues on cold hard pack mornings but mostly think it's because of the pics ( 188) the long track plus rear cooler. As far as wheels I rum poo wheels wich are 1/4" larger in front where most of wear or heat seems to start. Goodluck hope it helps

 

[smurf]

Don't know if anyone will ever see his update but here it is. I've had awesome success with the excel wheel kits. Getting a seasons worth out of a set of slides and would be more if I didn't just change them in the fall for yearly maintenance. Never would have thought I'd see this improvement. Thanks Hibshman25 ! and others out there.

 

[coolio]

We run cable style ice scratchers and they are fantastic, worth their weight in gold! Also in very cold conditions an ice dam can actually form over the front cooler and if your sled doesn't have a rear cooler this will be a big problem. When the light comes on in these conditions check and see if its iced over. I also run Duponts on my 14 xtx.