
fiddlersgreen
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Replacing my front end bushings with oillites.
Do I have to take off the skid plate and belly pan to get at the rear bolts on the upper and lower a arms???
Thanks
Rg
Do I have to take off the skid plate and belly pan to get at the rear bolts on the upper and lower a arms???
Thanks
Rg
bholmlate
Expert
No On the upper a-arms the nut is welded on and the long bolt will come out the front side. I believe you do not have to remove the belly pan but depending on the style of your skid plate you may have to removed it first before you remove the lower a-arms, I have a mountaintech/roest skid pkate that doubles as a belly pan so i always romove it just to be able to get more light on the situation. The sub frame if it is anything but an 08 has a large gusset across the bottom anyway which limits any sort of access from under ths sled. Its a pretty simple job to get the arms off.
Off Trail Mike
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X2 bholmlate
Upper A-arms and lower fronts are bolted from the front, so you have to remove bumper and nose cone.
For the lower rear A-Arm mounts, remove the lower side panels. If you have a long handled 14mm open end/closed end wrench, you can easily get it on the rear nuts. They are flanged nuts so they are really easy to hold with a wrench. I have never removed the skid plate.
I normally go in from each side ahead of the engine mounts. You are better to lift the skis off the ground so you can move the steering and gain easier access to the nuts.
I normally use a long handled torque wrench on the bolt to remove it. Just seems to work really well because you have lots of leverage.
I've done the oilites on 3 sleds using the same procedure and no problems.
BTW, when installing oilites, use threaded rod to seat them in position. Super easy to put into position. I think I used 5/16" rod so not much force involved. Don't bang on them as they will crack.
OTM
Upper A-arms and lower fronts are bolted from the front, so you have to remove bumper and nose cone.
For the lower rear A-Arm mounts, remove the lower side panels. If you have a long handled 14mm open end/closed end wrench, you can easily get it on the rear nuts. They are flanged nuts so they are really easy to hold with a wrench. I have never removed the skid plate.
I normally go in from each side ahead of the engine mounts. You are better to lift the skis off the ground so you can move the steering and gain easier access to the nuts.
I normally use a long handled torque wrench on the bolt to remove it. Just seems to work really well because you have lots of leverage.
I've done the oilites on 3 sleds using the same procedure and no problems.
BTW, when installing oilites, use threaded rod to seat them in position. Super easy to put into position. I think I used 5/16" rod so not much force involved. Don't bang on them as they will crack.
OTM

fiddlersgreen
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Thanks guys great advise. Got it figured out now.
Got at it tonight and realized the dealer have the wrong olites.
I have the ones for 09 or later and mine is an 08.
I had the top arms off and realized there's no way for them to fit.
Did you find a big difference in the olites from the stock plastic?
Got it all apart except for the bottom arms...... My little 2 yr old came in the garage and wanted to go outside in the snow.....I couldn't refuse.
Rh
Got at it tonight and realized the dealer have the wrong olites.
I have the ones for 09 or later and mine is an 08.
I had the top arms off and realized there's no way for them to fit.
Did you find a big difference in the olites from the stock plastic?
Got it all apart except for the bottom arms...... My little 2 yr old came in the garage and wanted to go outside in the snow.....I couldn't refuse.
Rh
NS FX NYTRO
Expert
I have an '08 short track, and the oilites made the front end tight like it should be. I used a big c clamp to press them in. As for riding, I didn't notice a difference, and my stock plastic ones had 3600 miles and a lot of slop in them.
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