Phazer Steering Upgrades, many, many, many

[BETHEVIPER]

Good pics! That reminds me I need to swap over the inner tie rod ends to the ATV style this summer. I have them sitting in a box somewhere. I also bought rubber boots for the outers. Hoping to keep lube in and water out.

part number on the rubber boots? kind of look like the ones on a sportsman.

 

[turbogts22]

part number on the rubber boots? kind of look like the ones on a sportsman.

Ebay special is all. I got a six pack, enough for my two sleds and a couple spares.

Ebay item # 324972682101

 

[matty k]

It's been a while since I have contributed. I'll try to make this useful.
I do like the above link to the needle bearing conversion other than it is a tad out of reach of most.
This yamaha upgrade is great but for one thing. They sell it as a bolt on it is not going to stay in place for long.

Before I ordered it, I made sure my drag links were steel. They are and so the pieces can be welded in.

For better weld, see someone else with the patience to grind all the galvanizing off first.

First, obviously, disassembly. Now grind everything for welding. Install bearings and the original bushing. Use the old plastic thrust washer to take up the slack between the drag link and the steering arms. (see second picture) It is too thick. to get this the correct thickness, make up a block of wood with a plastic or wooden dowel the size of the center in the spacer. (see third picture) Then use this to sand the spacer starting on a piece of 80 grit glued to a flat something. It will take a few minutes. As you get close to the finish thickness, switch to 180 grit. This needs to be close because the bearing used is not designed for much side load. The tie rods push up and down as they are mounted at an angle. A close tolerance here will be one more rock in our foundation of tight, long lasting steering.
Now bolt it together, use a big washer against the bottom of the spacer so the collar is not being tightened into the aluminum. Assemble with grease, something light and waterproof, your not going back here again. I used Super Lube, silicone grease. Great product. Keep fine tuning till you get no slop and moves freely without resistance.
Now that that is done, disassemble one last time and paint.
Before final assembly, make a strap to tie the tops of the bolts together. This will insure the bolts will stay parallel to each other and not put that load on the aluminum drag link. (see first picture)
Also, this sits close to the motor, grind a taper on the motor side of the bearing cups. (see fourth picture)

Much thanks for the photos! I like the addition of the strap across the top of the bearings.

 

[BETHEVIPER]

Posted a few videos. I'll put up more later in the week after I take it apart and fix my issues.

This sled already had an ulmer bushing kit in it. I added grease fittings to all the arms as well as the lower spindle mount. I will post videos on that as well.

For next year I plan to put a mono shock skid in this I have sitting around. I prefer an m10 but have one laying around. It has to be better than the skid in them that I remember riding like crap.

youtube videos to go with this thread

 

[BETHEVIPER]

Ebay special is all. I got a six pack, enough for my two sleds and a couple spares.

Ebay item # 324972682101

I looked these up. Humorous that 6 of these are 33$ shipped and 4 sportsman tier ods with boots are 22 shipped. They do look like the polaris boots. Ill have to go into my pile of parts. I have 4 polaris wheelers

 

[turbogts22]

I looked these up. Humorous that 6 of these are 33$ shipped and 4 sportsman tier ods with boots are 22 shipped. They do look like the polaris boots. Ill have to go into my pile of parts. I have 4 polaris wheelers

I'm curious if those Polaris boots would fit good. I saw those too but I didn't think they were quite the right dimensions. Who knows, could be a perfect fit.
The rubber ones I got were actually better than I was expecting. It took one hell of a stretch to get it over the joint and it didn't split or loose it's original shape. How it holds up to low-temp grease remains to be seen.

 

[cannondale27]

Good pics! That reminds me I need to swap over the inner tie rod ends to the ATV style this summer. I have them sitting in a box somewhere. I also bought rubber boots for the outers. Hoping to keep lube in and water out.

Dont bother with the boots on outers. They dont help. Those and the a arm joints are the only thing that still loosen up on mine. all the inner joints and mechanism are still as tight as day I modded them years later. Is reason I so wanted new arms https://ty4stroke.com/threads/new-front-end-for-pz50-phazer.154626/

 

[turbogts22]

Dont bother with the boots on outers. They dont help. Those and the a arm joints are the only thing that still loosen up on mine. all the inner joints and mechanism are still as tight as day I modded them years later. Is reason I so wanted new arms https://ty4stroke.com/threads/new-front-end-for-pz50-phazer.154626/

That doesn't really surprise me. I absolutely love my Phazers for what they are and the entertainment value but they sure do suffer from poor choice of materials on several parts. I'm always looking for ways to preserve the components that can't be upgraded. But sometimes it's a lost cause, oh well.

I've been watching for the Mountaintech arms to become available as my 9,200mile sled needs lower ball joints SOON. I'd rather upgrade it but might have to go OEM for the time being.

 

[cannondale27]

That doesn't really surprise me. I absolutely love my Phazers for what they are and the entertainment value but they sure do suffer from poor choice of materials on several parts. I'm always looking for ways to preserve the components that can't be upgraded. But sometimes it's a lost cause, oh well.

I've been watching for the Mountaintech arms to become available as my 9,200mile sled needs lower ball joints SOON. I'd rather upgrade it but might have to go OEM for the time being.

I feel your pain. Just replaced my lower joints before daughter hit tree and bent arm.

 

[BETHEVIPER]

That doesn't really surprise me. I absolutely love my Phazers for what they are and the entertainment value but they sure do suffer from poor choice of materials on several parts. I'm always looking for ways to preserve the components that can't be upgraded. But sometimes it's a lost cause, oh well.

I've been watching for the Mountaintech arms to become available as my 9,200mile sled needs lower ball joints SOON. I'd rather upgrade it but might have to go OEM for the time being.

I installed used ones on mine. Have you tried tightening them up? I know that sounds dumb. I have been doing this for years to loose yamaha tie rod ends. Hard to do on the stud style ones but the heim ones it works great. There is a compression side and a fixed side usually to any ball joint. One side is pressed tight after the ball is installed. If you support the back evenly, with the correct size socket works the best, then use a hammer and punch and slowly tap around the parameter inward move the punch half it's width as you go. This trick will not fix a wrecked ball joint but will take miner slack out of many of them. I had a set of takeoffs from the dealer I bought out, tightened them up a little and reinstalled them.

Again, I am not touting this a a fix for wrecked ball joints.

 

[turbogts22]

I installed used ones on mine. Have you tried tightening them up? I know that sounds dumb. I have been doing this for years to loose yamaha tie rod ends. Hard to do on the stud style ones but the heim ones it works great. There is a compression side and a fixed side usually to any ball joint. One side is pressed tight after the ball is installed. If you support the back evenly, with the correct size socket works the best, then use a hammer and punch and slowly tap around the parameter inward move the punch half it's width as you go. This trick will not fix a wrecked ball joint but will take miner slack out of many of them. I had a set of takeoffs from the dealer I bought out, tightened them up a little and reinstalled them.

Again, I am not touting this a a fix for wrecked ball joints.

I picked up a new set of OEM ball joints as I'm sure my old ones are too far gone at this point. I noticed on one side there's three arrows, possibly indicating the side that was pressed shut during manufacturing. I'll keep that in mind for future maintenance.

Do these joints wear out from lack of lube/friction or do they just get hammered to death? Maybe a little of both. My old Cat's had there share of issues but worn out front end components wasn't ever one of them. This is new to me but challenge excepted! Still love the Phazer's regardless.

 

[Mooseman]

What I do with these exposed joints is carry a spray can of lithium grease and spritz them once in a while. Don't know if it really helps but it can't hurt. Fluid Film is also a good choice as it clings more.

I never understood the idea of having joints exposed to the elements like that.

 

[BETHEVIPER]

I found a boot and and all the holes are a little bigger. The enter hole is 14mm and the through hole for the heim are 12mm.
I finally pulled the bulkhead off the sled again to fixe all my issues. Instead of buying new tie rod ends, I just reamed them into the lower mount further and made a spacer for the other side. This moved them away from the motor 3/16 of an inch. It's not perfect but it's together.
Anyone doing this, make sure you get the rod ends that are shorter from the taper to the body. Mine are aftermarket and after looking around on the interwebs I have found that different brand aftermarkets show a different picture of this length. I am sure on a 4 wheeler, it doesn't matter but it sure made some work for me.

Now If I could get this thing to run. Have one injector not firing.
Going to pull the injectors and soak them in sea foam tonight.

Also, picked up another phazer for parts. A gt with reverse. I'll be converting this one over. Got the servo and plug in but no harness or gauge (guy doing an ultralite conversion) I'll just have to wire up a switch and maybe a warning light or beeper.