twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
SumpBuster said:
LOL! I ride with a Firecat and a Pro X with Walker Evans reservoir shocks. The shocks on both sleds fade and go dead in the rough stuff after awhile where I have no issues with the Ohlins.
The point where it bent is not a main stress point, but Yamaha made a big mistake by cutting the releif for the exhanger pipe pass through right at the radiused corner of the tunnel/ running board. The area loses all of it's support with the corner bend cut out like that. If it's gonna bend, that is the weakest area.
SumpBuster
TY 4 Stroke God
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2003
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- Carlisle, NY .
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- Snowmobile
- 18 sidewinder; 06 Apex RTX
All things considered, that's not too bad an issue..it certainly shouldn't slow you down..just looks bad..lol.
Gotta love the mileage when pounding them...on good trails, I have a hard time getting less than 19 mpg, as long as the kittydoo clan can keep up...thier slow pace makes me burn more fuel idling, looking back...
Gotta love the mileage when pounding them...on good trails, I have a hard time getting less than 19 mpg, as long as the kittydoo clan can keep up...thier slow pace makes me burn more fuel idling, looking back...
dusty
Veteran
I'm officially going to burst the bubble here. I have an '06 Vector GT which has the factory braces. They did not solve the bending issue, just pushed the bend point further forward. I now have a nasty wrinkle just behind the mounting plate for the upper rear idler axle. Shows up really well with the gloss black finish. Spent about two hours trying to get it all smoothed out but couldn't get rid of all of it. Guess you can't expect them to look new forever. I just add an aluminum brace from the rear most bumper mounting bolt to the unused hole in the back flange of the idler axle brace. We'll see if that keeps the damage from getting worse.
Dusty
Dusty
twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
That's probably why the 07 Apex GT has 4 braces total going up to the suspension bracket.
SumpBuster
TY 4 Stroke God
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2003
- Messages
- 2,353
- Location
- Carlisle, NY .
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 18 sidewinder; 06 Apex RTX
No bubble popped here, I ride as hard as I'm able, and no problems yet...in fact, both my RX's (03's) have perfect tunnels, and the one I sold to a guy beats the snot out of it...yeah, we break the normal stuff like the w arms, and an idler once in a while, but no buckled tunnels. Then again, I made shims (aka NASCAR style wedges) for the progressive springs to prevent bottoming..the other one has an Ohlins in with a stiff spring...only bottoms hard on a big g out.
06vectorgt
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
low slung said:
You got it low slung!
I have witnessed this when sitting on machine while backing it off a tilt bed, the flap is run over by the track and REALLY yanks the machine's tunnel down hard. I don't see it as a result of hard riding, its bent in the wrong direction for that. My .02
twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
06vectorgt said:
You're forgetting the fact that some of us with bent tunnels have short flaps making it impossible to run them over in reverse. I ditched that long flap back in 2005 for the same reason.
Reverse
Extreme
You didn't happen to trailer your machine with the back tied down and hit any major dips or bumps???? I've seen 3 guys, one with a Vector and 2 Doos who told me this is what causedt their issues...
twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
Reverse said:
It was trailered. It always is as I am not near trails. It was tied down but not very tight and no bumps out of the ordinary were noticed. While I was fastening it down I thought of garserio's post where he thought that may have caused his damage so I just barely took the slack out of the strap.
That was the biggest bump I have ever hit at the highest speed on that sledding trip. Kinda scary for a few seconds. Another thought... before loading it onto the trailer after the ride, the skid was quite filled with ice and snow so I picked the back up by the bumper and banged it down a few times to knock some of it out. Could have happened then too.
My 05 RX1 with the big boy spring has a wrinkle on one side of the tunnel. I have backed over the flap before, but I checked each time it happened and no crinkle. I came off a lake after a day of lake riding in Canada at the end of the season last year and noticed the wrinkle as I was loading the sled.... I know I didn't back over my flap.
Yamaha told me that this was caused by backing over the flap, but said they would cover straightening the tunnel and adding their support bracket. As I am happy they are fixing it, I didn't challenge the cause. I am sure in my case it was not due to backing over the flap. I was aware of the issue an kept a good watch on it.
Yamaha told me that this was caused by backing over the flap, but said they would cover straightening the tunnel and adding their support bracket. As I am happy they are fixing it, I didn't challenge the cause. I am sure in my case it was not due to backing over the flap. I was aware of the issue an kept a good watch on it.
twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
I'm pretty certain that my damage happened while riding also. Definitely wasn't the flap thing...
Vmax540
Expert
Could it happen turning around on a trail and backing against a high snow bank even with the shorter flap ? ! ?
twomorestrokes
TY 4 Stroke God
Vmax540 said:
I don't see how as the flap could not end up underneath the track.
Vmax540
Expert
twomorestrokes said:
The flap would still pinch between the track and snow bank with the track rotating pulling down on rear of tunnel ?
Tfin
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Vmax540 said:
I actually had this happen to mine...but luckily it didnt bend the tunnel. I've cut my stock flap short but the studs still grabbed it and tore a couple holes in it when I backed it off my truck and into a snowbank
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