secondary shaft replacement what do you think?

[rx1 man 04]

thinking of changing the secondary shaft over the summer, sled has 15,000 kms on it, still original secondary shaft. pretty expensive for the shaft around 300 dollars, I can install it myself , no problem, also anyone have any tricks for popping the grease seal out on the lower driveshaft and upper secondary bearing. real pain changing these bearings. I tried to pop the seal once before but ended up wrecking the seal. I would like to try greasing them instead of changing them.

 

[RTX]

Im confused
Not sure why you would want to change the secondary shaft.
I have never heard anyone having an issue with that,

Im thinking you might be confusing your secondary shaft with the drive shaft, people have had issues with the drive shaft breaking.
Myself, i dont believe the driveshaft is an item i would replace.
I have 13000+ hard hard miles on mine with no issues, but thats just me.
I have read a few horror stories on here of it happening to guys but my opinion of it is its more of a fluke than a regulary occuring issue.
Theres thousands of high mileage apex's out there and just few dozen guys that have had this happen. But again thats just my opinion.

As far as greasing the bearings, find a small pick designed for this kind of job and insert it inbetweem the lip of the seal and the race of the bearing. (I normally pry from the inner race)
Working slowly and gentely work the seal off of the bearing. Clean and regrease the bearing and reinstall the seal.

Check youtube for a tutorial type in the search tab. grease a sealed bearing

 

[rx1 man 04]

its the shaft the secondary clutch is mounted on. solid one piece goes into the chain case. I have already changed the drive shaft that spins the track, found a second hand one with low miles on it.

 

[RTX]

Yes secondary shaft.
Again, i have never ever heard anyone having the secondary shaft fail/break.

 

[maim]

me either. have seen broken nut on chain case side but never a broken shaft.

 

[APEX 06]

If you have the cash I would replace, in my years I have had the secondary snap off after 10,000 miles. More of a issue with blower sleds.

 

[Teamblue4]

I remove the seals from the outside edge of the bearing and seal, with a sharp pointed pick, dont like getting close to the lip of seal.

 

[shagman]

Dental pics work great for this. check with your dentist they usually give them up for free as they wear out they pitch them.

 

[Sasquatch]

Im confused
Not sure why you would want to change the secondary shaft.
I have never heard anyone having an issue with that,

Im thinking you might be confusing your secondary shaft with the drive shaft, people have had issues with the drive shaft breaking.
Myself, i dont believe the driveshaft is an item i would replace.
I have 13000+ hard hard miles on mine with no issues, but thats just me.
I have read a few horror stories on here of it happening to guys but my opinion of it is its more of a fluke than a regulary occuring issue.
Theres thousands of high mileage apex's out there and just few dozen guys that have had this happen. But again thats just my opinion.

As far as greasing the bearings, find a small pick designed for this kind of job and insert it inbetween the lip of the seal and the race of the bearing. (I normally pry from the inner race)
Working slowly and gentely work the seal off of the bearing. Clean and regrease the bearing and reinstall the seal.

Check youtube for a tutorial type in the search tab. grease a sealed bearing

Secondary shaft failure is almost unheard of but driveshaft failure is common! Most fail in the 6,000 to 10,000 miles range or last forever. Some are lucky some are not but far from a fluke, there where whole threads years ago with long lists of those who lost driveshafts and multiple theory's as to why! Mine twisted off at 9,000 miles. Crack started right below the set screw on the collar beside the first drive sprocket. You could see the rust line where it started. Almost all break in that spot, I'm just glad I was on a slight uphill at 20 to 30 mph. Breaking one at high speed just before a tight corner would be catastrophic! New sleds have a stronger driveshaft so maybe they will last now.

A jewelers screwdriver works works best for picking the seal out. Be gentle and slowly work it out. Don't warp the seal or it will never go back in and stay. I go from the outside and gently work my way around. Find an old worn out bearing and practice. Brake cleaner and compressed air to clean the bearing but don't blow the seal out the other side just enough air to get the dissolved grease out and dry the bearing before adding fresh grease with a needle attachment for the grease gun. If you do that every season the bearings last really well.

 

[hibshman25]

thinking of changing the secondary shaft over the summer, sled has 15,000 kms on it, still original secondary shaft. pretty expensive for the shaft around 300 dollars, I can install it myself , no problem, also anyone have any tricks for popping the grease seal out on the lower driveshaft and upper secondary bearing. real pain changing these bearings. I tried to pop the seal once before but ended up wrecking the seal. I would like to try greasing them instead of changing them.

I have some low mileage jack shafts in stock for $75