Wide front End kit failure

[Chris Velardi]

I am not sure who else has a wide front end kit, but if you do use caution as mine just failed. I was riding with my wife and noticed some horrible handling and looked down after taking a corner and found that part of the lower left hand shock mount had bronken off. I called up Pioneer Performance who I purchased the kit from and they told me they would not warrenty the kits and to call the manufacturer Mountain Performance to see if they would warrenty the kit. I got intouch with a very nice person named Darren, and asked if I would send photos of the failure, (which I did) and after reviewing the photos if I would ship the broken kit out to him to review. I shipped the kit out 3 day air by UPS at $60 from Vermont to Utah to try to expedite the situation and asked them if they could help in any way so that I could get my sled back out on the trail. I just got a call back from Mountain Performance today and that they no longer have the kits in stock and could not fix the kit, so they told me to call back Pioneer Performance to see what they could do for me. I already know what Pioneer will tell me, and that's that they could do nothing and to call the manufacturer, which I already did. I am not sure if any other manufacturer produces front end kits, but if you have purchased one from Pioneer or Mountain Performance for your RX1 or Warrior, check the bolts that come with the kit that hold the A arms to the outside steering knuckles. If you can't get a socket on both sides of the nut and bolt, yours are also bent. On both sides of my sled, the side that failed and the side that did not, the bolts that were supplied with the kit had worn theads and were bent. The kit should have been supplied with collared bolts like the ones that attach the A arms (stock) bolts to the body of the sled. Whether this would have prevented the shock mounts from failing I don't know, but removing these bolts was a nightmare and obviously fatigued due to a bad design. Just so it's known, I have never crashed, abused, jumped or hit anything with my sled. I really enjoyed the performance of the front end kit, up until it failed, and have just over 2000 miles on my sled and just under 500 on my wide front end kit. Although I enjoyed the handeling it provided me, it's disturbing to find out when something like this fails, that companies won't stand behind products that they sell or manufactures that don't warrenty their products. I really did not want to go back to the stock front end, but there does not seem to be any other alternative now.

 

[crazy canuck]

Could you get the broken part welded? The wide front end is a real bonus in the handling department...

 

[yamahamaniac]

I agree try to weld and improve the structure of the bracket on both sides by adding reinforcements and what not.

 

[Chris Velardi]

Mountain Performance said they could not repair them. Really bad design.

 

[SMOKNZ]

I agree try to weld and improve the structure of the bracket on both sides by adding reinforcements and what not.

x2! Weld it up! Should be as strong as it was or stronger if you add some more support, maybe it was just a bad weld from the beginning. Throw some paint on there for the rest of this season and then have it re-coated in spring. Does 2" wider stance really make that big of a difference?

 

[Chris Velardi]

The welds are all fine , the failure was in the design

 

[DAGE]

post some pics

 

[Chris Velardi]

I have been trying for some reason I cant get them to uplaod

 

[STAIN]

The 2" makes a BIG diff. Best mod I did to my 05 RX

 

[DAGE]

 

[LazyBastard]

Easy to fix.
Really. VERY easy. Just get yourself some steel and cut out triangles the same size as those pieces that broke off. Weld them back on and drill. Don't make it flimsy by cutting out big holes -- make the triangle pieces solid.

As for the crack on the arm... hard to tell from the picture -- is it a crack in the metal? Or is it just the paint that's flaked off? If the metal looks weakened, then weld it and repaint. If the metal is intact, just clean and paint AND MONITOR.

 

[DAGE]

when I first seen the pics I thought the same thing, weld a couple pieces on and it'll be better then now

 

[yamahamaniac]

I completely agree with LazyBastard up there. Just cut out some triangles and keep them solid, grind off everything that's left from their crappy barckets and weld your own there. Extremely easy fix. If you still worried come up with ways to reinforce it all, like put some flatbar on the sides and stuff.

 

[shannonrxwarrior]

i had same problem last year and broke my shock i did what lb said and it worked fine you also want to keep an eye on the lower a-arm bolts the loosen up and fall out wich really sucks cuz then you get to ride your sled home with one ski flopping around this is a very crappy design for a sled that is gonna last a long time and i think both companies should have done some serious thought about there manufacturing process and design these sleds arent ninty mile an hour machines and none of us by them to go ninty we buy them to push the limits these arms are no were near oem specs as per strength i am still running mine but modified the lower control arm to spindle by having bushings made simiair to the old cats design

 

[BURMAD69]

First of all I'd say that's a real piss poor design to start with, built way to light, Weld it up, improve the design and show mountain performance how it's supposed to be done. I'm so sick of companies make crap and not standing behind it. I guess that shows a real lack of customer care. Real good advertisement for a sponsor of this site.