Remember to check you're nuts and bolts!

[yamahas]

Hey guys,

Remember to check your nuts and bolts. This past week end I noticed mv a arm moved a little funny. Gor home and the nut had backed out 3-5mm. Out of cuiosity I checked the other side and found the same thing.

Both my upper arms were loose.

Raise the front of your sled up so the skis are free and give the arms a good shake to see if it moved in the wrong direction.

Loctite and torque! I will have to see about fixing this this summer...

 

[Jeffz]

I had the upper mount bolt on my rear shock back itself out once. Almost ruined a brand new Freeride 1.5".

 

[nswsparky]

When I bought mine last year I took the skid out and every shock and pivot related bolt was just finger tight and one of the shock bolts was replaced with a coarse thread carriage bolt and no bushing. It was in super rough shape.

 

[marpolsdofer]

Had that happen with my lower a-arm in the back bolt. It came loose and oval the mount and broke the arm. Welded washer on after that to make a perfect O again gave it more strength to. I dont think they was self locking nuts.

 

[dwh039]

So I read this post and then went out to the shop to check my sled. To my amazement I found one of the upper balljoints on the spindle about to fall off. My next ride would have been a disaster. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[yamahas]

It is good at catch it before it breaks something.

 

[cannondale27]

I recommend Torquing and PROPER Loctiting job at least once on every bolt you can get at.This means cleaning both bolt and nut or threaded hole,Loctite primer and Fresh and Proper Loctite.If done correctly and part is correct the bolts and nuts will not come loose on their own EVER.If done properly I do NOT recommend touching them other than visually.EVER.Since checking and re torquing upsets your proper Loctite job.A punch mark on both parts or a good paint pen marked on both allows proper visual inspection.The alternative to the above procedure is checking fasteners every ride.I had lots of loose bolts in first year or two.Many were not accessible some like upper balljoint bolt and engine mounts were covered under the various bulletins and the recall.

 

[Jeffz]

My ride last night was ended a little short. Probably not due to an improperly tightened bolt. I think I may have hit a rock or frozen dirt clod or something. I was lucky that this is the only damage to the sled.

 

[cannondale27]

Wow!You didnt get hurt I hope?

 

[Jeffz]

Nope, I was only going about 30mph or so. It slowed me down pretty quick, didn't dig in and catch anything under the snow. I had just come through the ditch and into a field which was all on the trial, but I decided to go a little wider since I was just meeting the groomer. He stopped and we looked everything over with the lights on the groomer. Then we limped it up to the road and waited for a truck and trailer. Now that its up on the stand, I noticed that the NCI ball-joint rings I have are pretty worn. I might just try to get by with them for the rest of the season. I also have two extra sets of spindles, so i'm not missing out on any riding.

 

[cannondale27]

Glad your okay.Could have been bad.I will be looking mine over for sure before riding tomorrow.My NCI joints wore faster than stock.Switching back to stock soon.

 

[yamahas]

Glad your okay.Could have been bad.I will be looking mine over for sure before riding tomorrow.My NCI joints wore faster than stock.Switching back to stock soon.

x2

 

[Jeffz]

So I broke the other spindle this morning. We had a good 8" over the past couple days, so I worked half a day and went this morning. About 30 miles into the trip, I was breaking trail through a field. The trail turned and I hit a frozen dirt clod. It threw me off the sled this time but the spindle was only bent. Tried to ride to the next road and went a half mile before it broke off. How do you get it the next half mile with no ski? You set the lower control arm on your buddies Nytros running board and drive 10mph right next to each other. Can't believe we forgot to take a picture, but it worked great! Trailered back and had it fixed in an hour. Went out and put another 60 miles on. Noticed the upper control arm is tweaked too. Easy fix this summer.

 

[cannondale27]

Dang!Must have a good buddy.Most of mine would cry about scratching up their running board.

 

[BombaPolaYama]

That's bad luck - 2 spindles in 2 days. Would there be some reason for the spindles to be weakened and causing the breaks?