Rear Mono Wheels and Upper Wheels...

[x2thez]

Ok last night I pulled the suspension and starting to go through everything, making sure there were no cracks and all the welds looked good. Everything looks good on that end, some rust, but I may clean that up. But I wanted to ask about the rear most wheels and the upper wheels.
First the rear most wheels, I do not see any way to remove the bearing, I know that the front wheels do not have a removable bearing, but at least they are serviceable. THese from my inspection are not even serviceable. And to top it off, on portyamaha they show them for 78 each!!
Secondly the upper wheels that are probably the largest and just plain black, I do see that the bearing is removeable, but I cant get the wheel off, I sprayed a bunch of penetrating oil on them to maybe loosen then, but am I missing something? Thanks!!!

 

[Metallicat]

On previous sleds with pressed-on bearings (like your upper wheels) I removed the clip that holds the wheel to the bearing then slid (hammered) the wheel off the bearing (the bearing was still attached to cross shaft). I then used a flywheel puller to remove the bearing (after a few seasons those bearings are really frozen on the cross shaft). With new bearings, I use Loctite anti-sieze compound to help prevent the bearing from corroding onto the shaft again. If you don't have a puller, you can take the rear arm or even the complete suspension to your dealer and they should have the puller to get the bearing off (in fact if they have the correct puller you don't have to do the above process at all). When I did mine, I had to separate the wheel from the bearing since my flywheel puller would not grab the wheel properly, it only worked on the bearing. The price of replacement Yammi parts is one of the reasons why I loved my Cats - replacement parts are 1/3 of the cost on a Cat compared to Yamaha. When it comes time to replace my rear idlers, I will be looking for an aftermarket solution I think.

 

[Port-Parts]

No need to look aftermarket on those wheels. You can get accessory replacements right from Yamaha that will work. The part number is SMA-8EK38-02-SL for silver graphic ones (which came stock on the majority of sleds). They retail for around $30 and as a bonus this style has replaceable bearings unlike the stock ones. The stock ones carry such a high price as they are sourced directly from Yamaha Japan and due to the lack of a replaceable bearing in them they are very rarely chosen as a replacement. The accessory wheels are manufactured in Canada by PPD and have the replaceable bearing which makes it a much more desirable replacement wheel and the price is right to boot. Here is a link to them on our website.

http://www.portyamaha.com/eshopprod_cat ... _Axle_.htm