Tunnel ice build up

[snowriderjoe]

I know this has been discussed before, but I have never experienced this bad of ice build up. I was riding in LOTS of powder this weekend and breaking lots of trail and this is what I discovered this morning. There must have been 20 lbs of ice under my tunnel. So what is the best option to eliminate this?
Also, has anyone come up with a way to keep the tail light clear of ice and snow. There was also so much on top of my tunnels that you couldn't even see where the light was.

 

[tapex_07]

Wow thats a tons of ice!! Is your exhaust in any way warming the tunnel and making it easier to stick to? I have never had this much icing on mine, but I have a tunnel dump..

 

[alsops]

Tunnel Ice

I am chipping out 25-30lb ice after every decent trail ride w/25% ditches!
I agree the tail light gets totally covered and my buddies don't like following because of this..also one remarked the other day a huge chunk of ice the size of a shoebox flew out scaring the heck out of him.
My whole tunnel is full after a day...I now carry a pick and small rubber mallet which is a pain!
BTW..I have been weighing the ice!
my wife is in the garage now doing me a big favour chipping it out..the rear is easy..its the stuff way down the side and front which is hard to get out...god knows what it is doing for performance and the track!
I've sprayed it with pam, wd40, Cfoam and it doesn't help one bit!
Something I've lived with for two years as I am not removing the protectors as they are there for that reason and rigidity..my neigbor is an engineer and told me don't listen to those telling you to remove it as they are crazy as they carry a structural rigidity load..he took a good look.
He said the whole problem is the exhaust so close
Jeff

 

[loudelectronics]

I pulled my Tunnel Protectors out. Made a huge difference. Hardly any ice build up any more.

As for the comment on having them in there for a rdgidity and strength... well the MTX's do not have them so why do ours need them unless you are running studs. I do not believe they do much for load as when you take them out, you will see why.

 

[sly23]

You know how you can spray truck bedliners with a black tough coating? well what if I had they guys who do my truck to do the tunnel protectors? it will not be affected by temperature the same as steel or aluminum correct?

 

[Yammerhead]

Re: Tunnel Ice

I am chipping out 25-30lb ice after every decent trail ride w/25% ditches!
I agree the tail light gets totally covered and my buddies don't like following because of this..also one remarked the other day a huge chunk of ice the size of a shoebox flew out scaring the heck out of him.
My whole tunnel is full after a day...I now carry a pick and small rubber mallet which is a pain!
BTW..I have been weighing the ice!
my wife is in the garage now doing me a big favour chipping it out..the rear is easy..its the stuff way down the side and front which is hard to get out...god knows what it is doing for performance and the track!
I've sprayed it with pam, wd40, Cfoam and it doesn't help one bit!
Something I've lived with for two years as I am not removing the protectors as they are there for that reason and rigidity..my neigbor is an engineer and told me don't listen to those telling you to remove it as they are crazy as they carry a structural rigidity load..he took a good look.
He said the whole problem is the exhaust so close
Jeff

WOW! She's a keeper!

 

[bradb]

I have seen almost as much ice myself, I removed the tunnel protectors and closed off the tunnel under the silencer about half, I now get only about a fourth of the ice buildup I use to. I think its really harder on the sled to be riding it with that much ice and makes the sled handle like a block of ice but its your sled do what want.

 

[vector06]

I have had this much ice buildup a few times. Ugly stuff for sure. I put in a Schmidt block off and it helped a lot...

 

[brendan.9]

put on full excell exhaust and have barley and ice now! had lots before i put that on!

 

[moab11]

I too have lots of ice build up after riding in powder for a while. I definitely did not enjoy spending 15min with a hammer and screwdriver chipping out what I could.

I might have to look into removing the tunnel protectors if that helps prevent it.

 

[canuk77]

I have removed my tunnel protectors and the ice build up is minimal now compared to before.I left mine on at the heat exchanger and removed the rest...

 

[sleddingfarmer]

I believe the problem is the snow hits the very hot exhaust and vaporizes, then hits the cold aluminum and turns to ice.

So the only way to fix this is remove the tunnel protectors to give the ice less to grab onto, or stop the snow from hitting the exhaust.

A partial block off plate to keep the snow from hitting the muffler, and ceramic coating the header pipe would probably be the best bet if you need the tunnel protectors.

But if you are not running studs and don't plan to...removing the tunnel protectors seems to almost always yield positive results.

Do some searching on this site, more than one person has posted pictures/directions on how to make block off plates.

 

[thetruck454]

I removed my tunnel protectors and it did remove a good chunk of the ice. Now I mostly get it just ahead of the rear flap.

 

[snowriderjoe]

Thanks for all of the comments. I might have to try removing the tunnel protectors and possibly the block off plate. Don't you really think Yamaha should come up for a fix for this? The XTX is made to ride in powder so it shouldn't be doing this. It's also a safety hazard having my tail light covered with snow.
As far as the structural aspect of removing the tunnel protectors, I agree that having 30-30 lbs of ice haning on the back end of your tunnel is much worse than removing the tunnel protectors.

 

[Nytroglycerin]

schmidt bros block off panel and remove the tunnel protectors. cut buildup by 85%.