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rear suspension problem opinion?

Ruckus

TY 4 Stroke Master
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
1,379
Location
Corner Brook, NL
So I went to where my sled is stored and started her up for a few minutes just to get the juices going (mine and the phazer's). I saddled up and rocked her back and forth a bit and noticed a weird knocking in the running boards area. I got off and noticed it was sagged a bit so I lifted up the rear and it rose about 4"-6" without any resistance and would immediately drop back down again. The rest of the reavel downwards and back up are fine, just the top 4-6 inches of travel. Now I was by myself so I couldn't get a good look at the linkage whilst lying on my back, head turned to the right and trying to move the sled's suspension with my left foot. I had the update done on the suspension (its an 07) last year and it was very similar to this after it had broken. You could just cycle the suspension up and down with no resistance. The strange thing is that the last time I started it up, which was about a month ago, there was no problem that I can recall. I know without a doubt that there was no problem when I put it in storage. So how is it possible the suspension can fail while the machine sits in a garage? I visited the local Yamaha dudes and they said they would have to look at it (of course) but you know what it is like trying to move a sled around this time of year. I still have warranty until January so its no big deal but its bugging the crap out of me for sure. Any ideas? Blown seals maybe? The new linkage seems to be intact but the left side of the dogbone is a bit chewed up.
 

If your shocks have a lot of miles on them, they have probably lost some of their gas charge. Might need to pull them and have them rebuilt. Just a quick idea this morning LOL.
 
Yank the skid and clean and re-lube all the cross shafts. Sounds like they've gone dry, if I had to guess.....

As a general rule I usually pull and tear down a rear suspension every other season just for this reason. Clean, inspect and replace anything questionable.
 
I had a Arctic cat ZR that if i had the skis on the dollies and the track on the ground the rear suspension would bottom out like it had no dampening
 
All these guys are right.Any one of these can cause that.Also there is a shaft the linkage pivots on that can be bent.
 
So I lubed up everything I could find and cycled the suspension 50 or 60 times all to no effect. If I push it down it stays there and the top 4-6 inches is has no resistance. I have the rear suspended from the ceiling to see if it makes any change. Seems to me like the rear shock is shot. Thank you 3 year warranty!
 
When my suspension was doing the same thing the plastic bushings in the skid were worn so bad they were basically gone. If it were me, I'd pull the skid, inspect all the bushings, and grease everything by hand... including the shock pivots and anything else that moves but does not have a zerk fitting. After replacing the worn bushings and greasing everything by hand, my sagging issues went away. FYI, I don't think there was much grease from the factory... my first set of bushings was shot at like 1000 miles.

By the way, is this a base model or an FX? I do know that I still had about 3 inches of sag with the base model shocks. After getting the updated billet link and replacing with the FX shock, I now have no sag... and that is with the original/same torsion springs. Finally, you cannot check the sag unless the machine is on flat ground... no dollies... nothing... if the machine is not on flat ground the sag is impossible to determine!
 
blown shock - i've seen some of the clickers at the dealership blown.
 
Got an appointment to have it looked at. I hate moving my sled around this time of year. I guess I'll put on the old yamaha skis and let the techs drive it across the lot.
 
Well it turns out I cracked the updated rear suspension as well. Its broken right next to the grease nipple above the new dogbone. Thank you 3 year warranty!
 
The key to making even the updated suspension last is good shocks and everything must be 100%.If even one thing is bent broke or not up to par something else will break.I think when Yamaha did the updates they should have also did the shocks on all that broke.Can you take a pic of this crack?Might be something new to look for.
 


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