PROBLEMS BEING ADDRESSED BY YAMAHA

[john_the_fisherman]

Let's put it this way, I am as intimately close to a Nytro RTX as you can be without having your name on the title. This is what I've dealt with so far:
1. Replaced three sets of a-arms
2. Replaced one clip and the other clip is most likely tweaked but you cannot tell until you remove it, then it springs and cannot be put back on. Therefore, you're better off leaving it on until you know for sure.
3. Snapped two spindles
4. Had to fabricate a guard to keep the lower oil line from being pinched by ice in the engine compartment
5. Put about a gallon of black RTV on the body panels to keep ice and snow out of the hood/belly pan
6. The clip is basically a dynamic moving part at this point. You cannot even accurately calibrate the spring rate and damping on the front shocks because the minute you think you have it the clip starts to flex and everything goes out the window again.
7. The rear suspension calibration is spotty and frustrating at best, which is amazing considering it is pretty much an exact copy of last years Ski-Doo skid

This doesn't even take into account some of the ergo/comfort issues like lame plastic skis, bad hand warmers, overheating, too weak sway bar, etc , etc.

Maybe I exaggerated, this thing mainly has problems from front bumper to footwells, but that's plenty!

I read this in one of the posts: "IF one thinks ANY a-arm type sled can take a punch from a ski hitting something with enough interia without sustaining damage those people may want to review the laws of physics...." If that's what you think, you're lowering your standards because I personally know of one dude that's racing an '06 Vector with about 5000 miles and he's never so much as bent an a-arm. Those Apexs and Vectors are virtually indestructable and the Nytro should be living up to those standards.

When Yamaha felt it prudent to still built Exciters in Phazers in the early '90s I, reluctantly, rode Polaris for a few years. I used to joke that when you Snow-Checked a new sled you received a free jacket and the the jacket should have had "R&D" embroidered on it because anytime you bought a new Polaris back then, thats pretty much what you were doing is R&Ding the sled for them. Unfortunately, sleds cost $10,000 now and it's not a joke anymore and the customer R&D program applies to all the brands which really sucks!

 

[08NitroRTX]

OK let me give a personal example of what I mean taking a punch with the front end:

05 Rev MXZx converted to a sno-x sled raced for 2 years and put 5000 recreational miles on it NEVER bent an nun... Bent or broke and replaced rear suspension, steering, 3 chain cases and gears all damaged on this sled in that time.
Last ride of the season last year (late April) I take my daughters 06 MXZx with less than 500 miles on it. Driven by my daughter that DID baby the thing! (my sled needed another chain case) While riding her sled I hit one thing hidden under the rotten snow 20 miles into a planned 120 mile day. DONE sled totaled!! (took it home fixed it myself over the summer) I was going 30 miles an hour! IS THAT the sleds fault? NO! They are designed to go down the trail and NOT hit things! Be it Ski-doo, Yamaha, Arctic Cat, or Polaris They all do as they are designed NONE OF THEM WILL SURVIVE what some consider a small impact with an unmoveable object, plan and simple!
Sorry that you don't feel your FX nytro isn't holding up to your standards or riding styles BUT some people CAN break anything! (and I am one of those people) Yes I have seen damage to these FX nytros too BUT mainly because each one of them took a hit or was pushed to hard! It's great that you feel the Vectors and Apexs are indistructable BUT they can NOT go down the rough trail like a FX Nytro! One physically can't NOT ride either of those sleds as hard as a FX Nytro can be pushed down the rough trail! If this statement were not true why are all the x/c guys racing FX Nytro this year? We have memebers on this board that have raced either the Vector or the 07 Nytro that will be racing the FX Nytro and ask any of them which can be pushed hard/fast though the rough stuff..... Does this mean it can't be broke NOPE! Again some of us CAN break anything!

 

[Yamahnator]

Let's put it this way, I am as intimately close to a Nytro RTX as you can be without having your name on the title. This is what I've dealt with so far:
1. Replaced three sets of a-arms
2. Replaced one clip and the other clip is most likely tweaked but you cannot tell until you remove it, then it springs and cannot be put back on. Therefore, you're better off leaving it on until you know for sure.
3. Snapped two spindles
4. Had to fabricate a guard to keep the lower oil line from being pinched by ice in the engine compartment
5. Put about a gallon of black RTV on the body panels to keep ice and snow out of the hood/belly pan
6. The clip is basically a dynamic moving part at this point. You cannot even accurately calibrate the spring rate and damping on the front shocks because the minute you think you have it the clip starts to flex and everything goes out the window again.
7. The rear suspension calibration is spotty and frustrating at best, which is amazing considering it is pretty much an exact copy of last years Ski-Doo skid

This doesn't even take into account some of the ergo/comfort issues like lame plastic skis, bad hand warmers, overheating, too weak sway bar, etc , etc.

Maybe I exaggerated, this thing mainly has problems from front bumper to footwells, but that's plenty!

I read this in one of the posts: "IF one thinks ANY a-arm type sled can take a punch from a ski hitting something with enough interia without sustaining damage those people may want to review the laws of physics...." If that's what you think, you're lowering your standards because I personally know of one dude that's racing an '06 Vector with about 5000 miles and he's never so much as bent an a-arm. Those Apexs and Vectors are virtually indestructable and the Nytro should be living up to those standards.

When Yamaha felt it prudent to still built Exciters in Phazers in the early '90s I, reluctantly, rode Polaris for a few years. I used to joke that when you Snow-Checked a new sled you received a free jacket and the the jacket should have had "R&D" embroidered on it because anytime you bought a new Polaris back then, thats pretty much what you were doing is R&Ding the sled for them. Unfortunately, sleds cost $10,000 now and it's not a joke anymore and the customer R&D program applies to all the brands which really sucks!

You apparently got a lemon. Only issues I have are the left boot, and I hate the stock ski's. Just bought new boots and I always change out ski's. I don't exactly see how you've replaced the A-arms 3 times... But hey who knows.

 

[Superman]

Boy I would sure like to know how and where some of you guys ride. By the way John where are you from? Here's an Idea lets get some pics going on this broken stuff. If its really a problem We all need to see it. Seriously. Sure I'm skeptical looking at a computer screen but if its really happening let's share the info.

 

[john_the_fisherman]

The x/c guys are racing Nytros because that's what the x/c guys were supported with this year AND as a result check out the finishes in the races. The highest pro/open class finish for a Yamaha Nytro is a 9th and the highest in semi pro is a 4th and Yamaha is supporting about 14 guys! BTW, it sure as hell isn't the riders, as Yamaha has probably one of the most diverse groups of talent in x/c riding Nytros right now. There's a couple of guys racing Nytros that wish they had their Apex chassis back and that's fact, not fiction. As far as pushing the sled goes, I will line up my '05 Vector anyday of the week with any Nytro with the minor improvements (shocks and setup) that I've made and hang with one on the roughest trail. I know, I do it every weekend, much to the chagrin of my riding partners who went out and dropped big cake on what Yamaha is billing as a "Rough Trail" sled.

Cross country racing is "rough trail", not the groomed super highway that aparently exists around Minocqua, WI where these things are being tested and I can tell you right now, NONE of these Nytros are holding up to the test and that's not some "lemon" syndrome. It seems to me Yamaha should have given a pilot sled to these guys last year to run in pro open class and then finalize the '08 Nytro based on what happened, not a** backwards like they're doing it right now. Developing a sled on a closed-course snocross track is not the answer, developing one on an open, unpredictable x/c course is because that's what riders face on a Sunday afternoon every weekend, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

I am not going get into a pissin' contest over facts with certain people that wish this site were called "shilling for Yamaha.com" And I'll probably always ride a Yamaha and I've been doing so for a long, long time. All I'm trying to say is that in a lot of ways Yamaha dropped the ball and it's us who ultimately pay the price, the problem is, the price ain't four figures anymore!

 

[gormleyflyer2002]

come on you guys, get real, both or all of these sled manufacturers are sending their products out to soon and have come to expect us die hards to put serious time and money into an already expensive vehicle, would this be acceptable in the auto world? NOOO! I'm lucky I bought a nytro, now I know what a good sled the rev is.

RSD...how many of those posts your gonna drop before we I can start to post all of BRP's dirty laundry.........its a pretty nice list for 08 XP's.

cheers, Brian

 

[unchained]

Let's put it this way, I am as intimately close to a Nytro RTX as you can be without having your name on the title. This is what I've dealt with so far:
1. Replaced three sets of a-arms
2. Replaced one clip and the other clip is most likely tweaked but you cannot tell until you remove it, then it springs and cannot be put back on. Therefore, you're better off leaving it on until you know for sure.
3. Snapped two spindles
4. Had to fabricate a guard to keep the lower oil line from being pinched by ice in the engine compartment
5. Put about a gallon of black RTV on the body panels to keep ice and snow out of the hood/belly pan
6. The clip is basically a dynamic moving part at this point. You cannot even accurately calibrate the spring rate and damping on the front shocks because the minute you think you have it the clip starts to flex and everything goes out the window again.
7. The rear suspension calibration is spotty and frustrating at best, which is amazing considering it is pretty much an exact copy of last years Ski-Doo skid

This doesn't even take into account some of the ergo/comfort issues like lame plastic skis, bad hand warmers, overheating, too weak sway bar, etc , etc.

Maybe I exaggerated, this thing mainly has problems from front bumper to footwells, but that's plenty!

I read this in one of the posts: "IF one thinks ANY a-arm type sled can take a punch from a ski hitting something with enough interia without sustaining damage those people may want to review the laws of physics...." If that's what you think, you're lowering your standards because I personally know of one dude that's racing an '06 Vector with about 5000 miles and he's never so much as bent an a-arm. Those Apexs and Vectors are virtually indestructable and the Nytro should be living up to those standards.

When Yamaha felt it prudent to still built Exciters in Phazers in the early '90s I, reluctantly, rode Polaris for a few years. I used to joke that when you Snow-Checked a new sled you received a free jacket and the the jacket should have had "R&D" embroidered on it because anytime you bought a new Polaris back then, thats pretty much what you were doing is R&Ding the sled for them. Unfortunately, sleds cost $10,000 now and it's not a joke anymore and the customer R&D program applies to all the brands which really sucks!

You apparently got a lemon. Only issues I have are the left boot, and I hate the stock ski's. Just bought new boots and I always change out ski's. I don't exactly see how you've replaced the A-arms 3 times... But hey who knows.

"a lemon" First of all, I wasnt planning on dragging my sled and trailer home 200 miles every Sunday so I could spend several hundred hours out in my barn and on the internet just trying to make it rideable either. Every spare and not so spare moment of my life since Dec 1 2007 has been revolved around this sled. Im past all of that and am now ballz deep into a 128x 1/10 tooth extrovert driver conversion. I have all my boyz coming over to help me put it back together tomorrow morning (Sunday) since Im in a cast wih 3 severely torn ligaments that happened last week when I picked my daughter up from school to go pick up my extroverts from the Doo dealer. I found Vicodin and Valium to make me almost not so angry and sometimes Im actually feelin good about the entire situation
My other good friend who is an electrical engineer said he will be more than happy to assist in making my handwarmers actually make heat. Thank god for drugs and friends if nothing else.

 

[unchained]

I guarantee you will never see Yamaha do anything about he front clip. It will just cost them too much money. I agree that they do want to help with a few things. However if its going to cost them any serious cash I doubt you will see them fix it the problem. My two cents.

Can u say 1982 SRX 500?

 

[Yamahnator]

The x/c guys are racing Nytros because that's what the x/c guys were supported with this year AND as a result check out the finishes in the races. The highest pro/open class finish for a Yamaha Nytro is a 9th and the highest in semi pro is a 4th and Yamaha is supporting about 14 guys! BTW, it sure as hell isn't the riders, as Yamaha has probably one of the most diverse groups of talent in x/c riding Nytros right now. There's a couple of guys racing Nytros that wish they had their Apex chassis back and that's fact, not fiction. As far as pushing the sled goes, I will line up my '05 Vector anyday of the week with any Nytro with the minor improvements (shocks and setup) that I've made and hang with one on the roughest trail. I know, I do it every weekend, much to the chagrin of my riding partners who went out and dropped big cake on what Yamaha is billing as a "Rough Trail" sled.

Cross country racing is "rough trail", not the groomed super highway that aparently exists around Minocqua, WI where these things are being tested and I can tell you right now, NONE of these Nytros are holding up to the test and that's not some "lemon" syndrome. It seems to me Yamaha should have given a pilot sled to these guys last year to run in pro open class and then finalize the '08 Nytro based on what happened, not a** backwards like they're doing it right now. Developing a sled on a closed-course snocross track is not the answer, developing one on an open, unpredictable x/c course is because that's what riders face on a Sunday afternoon every weekend, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

I am not going get into a pissin' contest over facts with certain people that wish this site were called "shilling for Yamaha.com" And I'll probably always ride a Yamaha and I've been doing so for a long, long time. All I'm trying to say is that in a lot of ways Yamaha dropped the ball and it's us who ultimately pay the price, the problem is, the price ain't four figures anymore!

You must have forgotten that many of us have ridden the Vector/RX-1 chassis in previous years... It's an awesome trail cruising chassis but it's beaten me up too many times on Tug Hill for me to even give you the benefit of the doubt. Especially riding my RTX this year in some gnarly whooped out trails.

I'm sorry that you're having trouble with your sled (despite none of us seeing any pics of this), but don't just blindly assume that everyone else is and then call them what amounts to yamaha lackeys for saying they don't have problems. You may very well have a lemon. My wifes Phazer last year had a problem with the gear reduction. I've never heard of anyone having a problem with that on this forum, yet crap happens. Take care of it on your end with the company, as all of us would encourage you to do. Just don't assume that everyone should agree with your opinion.

Good luck.

 

[lucky_7]

Can you really call 3 broken spindles a lemon? If this is true, it is more than the parts on the production sled that is shady. I don't have any mechanical issues or broken parts, so I not in the same situation.

Fisherman....you are either riding trails that are straight out of a video game; suck at riding the trails the rest of the world rides, or have horrible luck with parts. Good luck.

 

[TechMaples]

Look, not trying to start anything, just trying to keep some guys posted on what is going on, since I talk to the rta's pretty regular.

On another note, I know that there are some widespread legit issues -( seen them myself). I also know that if you spend close to 10 grand on something you expect alot. But there are some guys on here that expect more than perfection it seems. I know that in my experience yamaha almost always has better quality than competitive models. Doesnt mean they are flawless, but put a cat next to a yammie and just look at them both and tell me what is better engineered and higher quality?

All I ask is that if you are having issues, talk to your dealer, and give them and yamaha a chance to get it resolved.

Sometimes it might feel like nothing is being done, but if your dealer is anything like mine, trust me, we do all that we can.

I know sometimes you need a place to vent, Ive got no problem with that, I do it too. But please do not insult us that try very hard to make sure you have a good experience by thinking that "some issues are completely disregarded " because that has never been the case at my dealership or anything I have been involved with yamaha. Just my 2 cents.

thanks
jon

 

[RSD]

come on you guys, get real, both or all of these sled manufacturers are sending their products out to soon and have come to expect us die hards to put serious time and money into an already expensive vehicle, would this be acceptable in the auto world? NOOO! I'm lucky I bought a nytro, now I know what a good sled the rev is.

RSD...how many of those posts your gonna drop before we I can start to post all of BRP's dirty laundry.........its a pretty nice list for 08 XP's.

cheers, Brian

I'm not defending the xp, it's worse than the nytro but the rev is IMO a much superior consumer sled, unless you want to jump over buildings, and it was on this site where I was told that it was very similar to the rev, it's not even close. But if you guys are happy, that's great winter is too short if your not having fun on your ride.

 

[john_the_fisherman]

Well put, KatahdinLodge. I'm not trying to start anything either, just stating what I'm seeing and the frustrations of another dozen or so Nytro guys that I know personally. I think someone on another post summed it up pretty well "lighter does not necessarily mean stronger" (sic). Well said. I think we're seeing this with the current crop of go-fast iron (XP, Nytro, etc). Unfortunately, there's no turning back now and until these companies start throwing more 4130 Moly, titanium, and control cast aluminum at these things we're all going to have to resign ourselves to a certain level of mediocrity with regard to durablity. And if we do see more exotic metals, we can all tack another $2K onto the pricetag. Since they are the clear leaders now, I hope Yamaha and Ski-Doo can prove me wrong in '09, but we'll have to see.

 

[Snowman07]

For you folks that claim the Nytro RTX isn't made for mogul mashing, your wrong. My last ride out (seems like a distant memory now) I rode down a trail for 25 miles that averaged 2-3 foot moguls. I wanted to see how this sled reacted in such situations. I'm telling ya, the Nytro handled just as good as my F7 sno pro did. It held a line without getting off course. You wanna talk about the quality of the sled. In the first 500 miles of my F7 sno pro llife, it was back to the dealer twice. As of 700 miles, haven't even seen my dealer except to order studs. Why would someone like me thats owned nothing but Arctic Cats defend this Nytro to the hilt. My sled is paid for and doesn't owe me a thing. If I had the slightest bit of concern about it or just couldn't get along with it, the sled would be gone. But truth to the matter, the sled is great. Enough said!

 

[Crewchief47]

just stating what I'm seeing and the frustrations of another dozen or so Nytro guys that I know personally.

If your gonna sling it, ya better bring it, and I mean PICTURES! Save your keyboard and throw up some shots. We'd all like to see. Or you can email one of us the pics and we can post them.

PS Please take the time to fill out your location in your profile, site rules.

Thanks!