Rage, RX1, now an Apex....

[NLP_SLED_GUY]

A few years ago I picked up a 05 Rage. Completely rebuilt everything but the engine. Loved it but wanted a 4 cyl. Sold it and made a few bucks. Then bought a 03 Rx1 dirt cheap because it wouldn't start. Got it started about 5 minutes after getting it home. I did the same. Pretty much everything but the engine was addressed. It's a keeper now. But I wanted another project and since I have gotten to know these sleds pretty well I figured an Apex would be cool only to get away from the regular carb cleanings.

Found a 2006 Apex GT that looked great on the web. It was. I have the sled completely apart now just to go thru everything. The only noticeable issues were that the ski pivot bolt bushings are done, one side chassis side control arm bushings as sloppy. The outter control arm bushing are already Oilites. Which is always one of the upgrades I do. I ordered more to do the entire sled.

Sloppy steering. This turned out to be more slop in the steering mounts and the dual pitman-transfer rod assembly. Easy fix.

Donuts have already been replaced. But was done pretty sloppy and several were leaking due to poor fit. One bellows was leaking at the cylinder head and one bellows was cracked. The rest of the system is in good condition and I'll be able to clean it up fine.

Plugs and compression are all great. Clutches need nothing. Not even buttons. Track is fine, shocks visibly look good as in no nicks in the rods or obvious leaks. I'll have them checked. I live near Schmidt Bros. I'll have Chris check out the shocks and get his clutch work and kit. Even the carbides are sharp. Clutches were stock and have minimal wear. Ramps and everything else look great. The owner said it was ridden by a little old lady from Pasadena. Actually his daughters have been riding it for the past 8 years and he did try to keep up on maintenance. All of the fluids look brand new. Engine is quiet and starts like it should

A couple of the rear wheel bearings do need to be replaced.

The extra things I normally do are, tank saver, digital temp gauge, larger sway bar, oilite bushings all thru the front. Steering tightening kits. Full clutch kits, helmet defrost power, speedo driver bearing, secondary jackshaft bearing. Normally they all need the chain cases rebuilt. This doesn't seem to need anything.

Question: When I bought my RX1 it has a lot of aftermarket parts attempting to convert it to a mountain sled. But one thing I found was that one of the teeth on the speedo gear was removed. I figured out that it was to bring the speedo back into a better calibration. I actually have spare gears. Would this work on the Apex as well?

The rest of the repair parts and upgrades are in the mail from Barn-o-parts. Travis's knowledge of these machines is pretty amazing.

Cooling system pressurizes and has no leaks. All of the chassis rivets visible appear to be tight.

So I think I got a good one. It's got just some of the usual Yamaha things wrong with it. No big surprises. Are there any specific Apex issues I should look for?

One area of concerns are the skis. I hated the darty skis on the 05 Rage. I have Simmons on the RX1 and it has no issues. Is there a recommended set of skis if I end up hating these as well?

Thanks,

 

[maim]

did you try the ski shim mod from the tec pages? usually makes the skis good enough for a shorter sled (121-136) with good carbides. the inly sled i did not wear out the stock skis on is the 16 xtx as the tuners handled like crap on that sled in my normal conditions and i swapped it out to 09 mtx skis after my 1st ride on it.

 

[NLP_SLED_GUY]

I'm aware of these mods and have done them on my Doo 137. But I honestly can't recall if I did them on the Rage or not. I even ran my Pilots on the sled for a while. It was only marginally better.

It's definitely worth a shot. I'll look it up.

Thanks,

 

[kinger]

You can also pull a tooth off the Apex speedometer, but I don’t really care so I’ve left mine alone. Some must do mods that I really liked before. I went all crazy train with my compound boost Apex, I like the stiffer mountain seat. I am 6‘1“ and that helped a lot, I also added a bar riser…the mountain riser at a minimum sometimes higher. I also really liked having a performance rear suspension, something like a skidoo XRS today. It completely changes the sled for the better. So, if your rear skid is needing some money, I would scrap it and go right to the skidoo.

 

[NLP_SLED_GUY]

Thanks for the response.

Cool with the speedo. I’m not always the one riding these sleds. And most people tend to believe them when the shouldn’t. I put GPSs on all of them but nobody ever looks at them.

How high is the stock riser? Because this one is maybe already 5-6 inches. I’ll measure it. I’m 6’1” also and about 230-240 depending on the time of year. I smoke a lot of BBQ in the warmer months.

The Skid…. The sled I ride the most is a 2019 Doo 137 with the rear air shock. And that’s the main reason it’s my main ride. I’ve considered an R-Motion swap for the RX1. If one of the Yamahas becomes my main sled it will become required. But these are back ups and rides for the younger family members. did have to drop the skid to finish the exhaust repairs yesterday. Found a few marginal bearings on the smaller wheels. But it had a lot of fresh grease everywhere and otherwise looked great. I might give it a season see how it feels before doing a swap.

Was the suspension in the 06 Apex GT a real improvement over the old one in the 03 RX1?

Thanks again!

 

[RobX-1]

It doesn't take much like the Mono suspension to be an improvement over the NoAction ProAction that came with the RX-1. I ended up putting an AD Boivin Expert-X skid in my RX-1 and then extended it to a 136". I have the Mono in the my 08 but it has Ohlins all around and have been happy with it where I didn't feel the need to swap out skids.

 

[NLP_SLED_GUY]

I live near the Schmidt Bothers Motorsports. I'm gonna have Chris go thru the shocks.

Thanks,