Pre season maintenance observations

[XP123]

Since I'm now retired I spent the day in the shop working on my Winder. I have some observations to share for those who might care.

First thing I did was drill out all the rivets on the lower panel chain case side and installed rivet nuts. WOW does that make working on the case and changing oil easy. No more crazy funnels and oil all over the place. Now it will take a few minutes and a screw gun to get that panel off and out of the way.

I figured I would do everything at once so I drained the engine oil and removed the cover/oil tank completely from the sled and got it out of my way. I then removed everything from the case and cleaned everything up.

I wanted to check and repack the bearing behind the brake rotor and that went well except the rotor gave me some trouble. The groove where the circlip sets had a burr around it so I had to lightly file it off and I still needed to split the caliper to get the rotor off. Once off there was grease everywhere and to my surprise the bearing was like new and still full of grease. I'm thinking some China man got carried away packing the bearing and put too much in. I didn't notice any grooving from a spinning bearing but I will keep my track fairly tight as suggested by a few guys on here.

My biggest surprise came when I took the seal off the bearing behind the secondary clutch. The grease flowed out like milk! It was full of water. There was no rust and the bearing looked new but I can't understand how that bearing got so much water in it. I only put 1500 miles on my sled last year and I would recommend EVERYBODY to pull the seal on that bearing and clean and repack it.

I did check out the rear suspension and found all the bearings and the tri hub in excellent shape. I was extremely surprised that the hyfax had zero wear. I mean they looked brand new. I know my Doo hyfax wear very fast up under the front wheels at the bend but then stop wearing. These hyfax look like I never rode the sled.

Having worked on sleds for over 45 years I will say that working on this Winder is very easy. It's much easier than working on my 1200 Doo especially now that I put those rivet nuts on the lower panel.

 

[Doc Harley]

Hmmmm?????? Still waiting for your pics to upload. Dan.....I mean Joe.

 

[XP123]

I took some pics but I got tired of typing with one finger and didn't feel like posting them.

 

[krm]

I installed a lite weight rotor on mine today ,you need to rock the rotor off with 2 screwdrivers ,1 on each side then no file needed .

 

[raptordan]

What size rivnuts and style of bolt did you use? I'm considering doing this too as my viper was a pain in the azz
Changing fluids.

 

[Carla 123]

Yes what size .I think this is almost a must on these vipers

 

[Motorhead]

Nice to hear that the bearing behind the brake rotor was still looking good, especially with the worn shaft problems seemingly inherited from the Viper.

Like what you did for future oil change ease. I may copy that next year.

I have never had a Cat that wore slides, and I have never had a Yamaha that did not wear slides, so I expect the DuPont slides and the JT 8.5” stealth wheel kit will prolong the already long wearing Sidewinder slides. That would be very different compared to my past Yamaha’s.

 

[silverram323]

Following also.

 

[krm]

Just checked my bearing behind the driven ,it needed grease .

 

[XP123]

Just checked my bearing behind the driven ,it needed grease .

I have no problem with bearings that need grease. What I don't understand is how that bearing ended up full of water. Located high under the hood behind the secondary clutch is not a place I would think a bearing would be exposed to a lot of moisture. I have heard of many bearing failures behind the secondary clutch on Doo's also so maybe they are vulnerable.

 

[krm]

I have no problem with bearings that need grease. What I don't understand is how that bearing ended up full of water. Located high under the hood behind the secondary clutch is not a place I would think a bearing would be exposed to a lot of moisture. I have heard of many bearing failures behind the secondary clutch on Doo's also so maybe they are vulnerable.

Don't think it's water ,more like cheap grease that melted from heat/friction .

 

[XP123]

Don't think it's water ,more like cheap grease that melted from heat/friction .

Could be but it looked like water mixed with white grease. It flowed like milk.

 

[Joe ltx-le]

Since I'm now retired I spent the day in the shop working on my Winder. I have some observations to share for those who might care. First thing I did was drill out all the rivets on the lower panel chain case side and installed rivet nuts. WOW does that make working on the case and changing oil easy. No more crazy funnels and oil all over the place. Now it will take a few minutes and a screw gun to get that panel off and out of the way. I figured I would do everything at once so I drained the engine oil and removed the cover/oil tank completely from the sled and got it out of my way. I then removed everything from the case and cleaned everything up. I wanted to check and repack the bearing behind the brake rotor and that went well except the rotor gave me some trouble. The groove where the circlip sets had a burr around it so I had to lightly file it off and I still needed to split the caliper to get the rotor off. Once off there was grease everywhere and to my surprise the bearing was like new and still full of grease. I'm thinking some China man got carried away packing the bearing and put too much in. I didn't notice any grooving from a spinning bearing but I will keep my track fairly tight as suggested by a few guys on here. My biggest surprise came when I took the seal off the bearing behind the secondary clutch. The grease flowed out like milk! It was full of water. There was no rust and the bearing looked new but I can't understand how that bearing got so much water in it. I only put 1500 miles on my sled last year and I would recommend EVERYBODY to pull the seal on that bearing and clean and repack it. I did check out the rear suspension and found all the bearings and the tri hub in excellent shape. I was extremely surprised that the hyfax had zero wear. I mean they looked brand new. I know my Doo hyfax wear very fast up under the front wheels at the bend but then stop wearing. These hyfax look like I never rode the sled. Having worked on sleds for over 45 years I will say that working on this Winder is very easy. It's much easier than working on my 1200 Doo especially now that I put those rivet nuts on the lower panel.

Great stuff.

You've done your research , all the good checks.
After putting 5300 miles on in 3 months with my winder the things you checked are the problem areas.
The brake rotor and clip becomes a problem with high miles but I think if it's taken off and cleaned every couple thousand mile there will be less problems. The splines on my sled where all caked in belt and brake dust and pen fluid was defiantly needed.

Hyfax where shot at 5300 miles. Now i got the DuPont ones.

 

[XP123]

Great stuff.

You've done your research , all the good checks.
After putting 5300 miles on in 3 months with my winder the things you checked are the problem areas.
The brake rotor and clip becomes a problem with high miles but I think if it's taken off and cleaned every couple thousand mile there will be less problems. The splines on my sled where all caked in belt and brake dust and pen fluid was defiantly needed.

Hyfax where shot at 5300 miles. Now i got the DuPont ones.

The way I look at it if I spend a couple days going through my sleds checking everything and repacking bearings and stuff like that I should have a trouble free riding season. I know things can and will happen but if you do proper maintenance you should be able to ride a full season without issue. I hate having to work on my sleds mid season when I should in fact be riding them. Preventative maintenance goes a long way especially when it comes to snowmobiles. The season is too short to lose riding time when your sled breaks down because you neglected to check stuff out before the snow flies.

 

[Nooch_1]

The way I look at it if I spend a couple days going through my sleds checking everything and repacking bearings and stuff like that I should have a trouble free riding season. I know things can and will happen but if you do proper maintenance you should be able to ride a full season without issue. I hate having to work on my sleds mid season when I should in fact be riding them. Preventative maintenance goes a long way especially when it comes to snowmobiles. The season is too short to lose riding time when your sled breaks down because you neglected to check stuff out before the snow flies.

This is a long shot but are you Sals brother? Im at Gowanda CC and I was supposed to go with Sal last year to Gaspe. Are you guys doing a trip this year?