Yamaha Recall

[sr12345]

Re: A Arm Bolt Repair

Can someone please elaborate on what we need to actually remove to get to this upper A-arm bolt? I've seen descriptions calling for removing the entire bumper and nose cone, and others which elude to only having to remove a few trim screws on the nosecone, and then being able to pull it back far enough to get a wrench on the bolt. Thanks.

I figured at least part of it out. If all you want to do is check the torque on the bolts:
- Remove the hood panel (white or blue) (held in place with the Dzus fasteners)
- Remove the two black lower side shrouds. (also held in place with Dzus)
- Almost directly above the leading edge of both upper A-arms is a philips head screw, with the head facing downward. Remove both of these.
- The head of the upper A-arm bolt faces the front of the sled (it's roughly underneath the frame crossbar the tool bag snaps to).
- Pull the nosecone out a little, and put a 14mm socket on the bolt. A regular socket might not let the wrench handle clear the sled's frame members, and it can be difficult to get a deep socket on straight. So, probably the ideal tool would be either a mid-length socket, or a short socket and a universal.

To do the actual removal of the bolt and application of Loctite (as the recall calls for), you'll have to remove the front bumper and nose cone, which hopefully someone will describe in detail.

 

[welterja]

Can someone please elaborate on what we need to actually remove to get to this upper A-arm bolt? I've seen descriptions calling for removing the entire bumper and nose cone, and others which elude to only having to remove a few trim screws on the nosecone, and then being able to pull it back far enough to get a wrench on the bolt. Thanks.

I figured at least part of it out. If all you want to do is check the torque on the bolts:
- Remove the hood panel (white or blue) (held in place with the Dzus fasteners)
- Remove the two black lower side shrouds. (also held in place with Dzus)
- Almost directly above the leading edge of both upper A-arms is a philips head screw, with the head facing downward. Remove both of these.
- The head of the upper A-arm bolt faces the front of the sled (it's roughly underneath the frame crossbar the tool bag snaps to).
- Pull the nosecone out a little, and put a 14mm socket on the bolt. A regular socket might not let the wrench handle clear the sled's frame members, and it can be difficult to get a deep socket on straight. So, probably the ideal tool would be either a mid-length socket, or a short socket and a universal.

To do the actual removal of the bolt and application of Loctite (as the recall calls for), you'll have to remove the front bumper and nose cone, which hopefully someone will describe in detail.

I just looked at mine to make sure it is tight so I can ride to the dealer since I don't have a trailer. It's real simple to get at it though. Here are the tools and how to get at it.

1. Take off the windshield cowling and the side panels as described in last post.

2. Using a #3 phillips screw driver, remove the 3 screws that hold your nose cone on (can't remove the cone until you remove the top bumper bolts but can't get to the bolts until the cone is loose). These are really tight and are almost a 2 person job. Be careful not to strip them. If you lucky enough to have a #3 bit socket, that is really the tool you need. If you don't have this, try to put a pair of vice grips on the screw driver and you hold it in the screw while another person using the vice grips to turn it.

3. Reach around the nose plastic and using a 12mm socket, short extension and 1/2 inch ratchet to remove the top 2 bumper bolts. When you put these back in, manual says 17 ft lb of torque but I put 25 because that didn't seem like much and when I took them out, there was at least 40 ft lb to break them lose. Then loosen the lower bumper bolts and swing the bumber down and remove the nose plastic.

4. Jack up your sled just enough to remove the pressure on the suspension and have the skis just off the ground.

5. You can now access the upper A arm bolts. They take a 14mm socket and should have 32 ft lb of torque on them. You will need a breaker bar or long ratchet to get them out though because Yamaha obviously over torques everything from the factory. The nut for the bolt is welded to the frame on the other side of the a arm so you only need access to the head of the bolt.

6. I didn't finish the job because I want my dealer to do it in case anything goes wrong in the future, I don't want them to say I didn't do it right but from here it seems all you have to do is loosen the the A arm bolt, take it out, put blue loctite on the threads and tighten it back in with 32 ft lbs of torque.

Loctite needs 24 hours to cure at room temp. Not sure how long in cold but I have a call into Permatex just because I'm curious.

Has anyone used loctite in freezing temps? Will it cure and hold or freeze before curing properly?

 

[racingronnie]

At the dealer as we speak. Thanks for the posts!

 

[BALDY]

guys yamaha is havin alot of troubles with there from a arm bolts and ball joints but goin by yamaha theres no such troubles . i kno all to good about this i had a bolt/ball joint troubles and my xtx rolled and got recked wit 1800 kms on it so everyone beware of this troubles

 

[ms737]

Went out yesterday on a river in Saskatchewan. Hit an ice heave and got bucked off. The sled remained upright so I was lucky. Anyway, got home and was inspecting everything, and found the right A-Arm bolt had loosened off. Count myself as pretty lucky. Bought the sled two weeks ago. It was a demo unit that the dealership was using, but had been sold as new. They sold me the sled after the recall came out so I will be calling them tomorrow to see why they sold me the sled with a known defect. It's a 2009 xtx.

 

[mytro]

I had quick look at my machine last night, I didn't see one nylon locking nut?? Has it come to this? Risking lives over $2.00 worth of locking nuts on a $14,000.00 machine?????

 

[RowdyRoddy]

Never did get a notice from Yamaha on the recall. If it wasn't for this site, I would have never known!

Another reason to love this site!


RR

 

[farmac]

Does anyone know if this is a problem on the 2010 XTX?

 

[billymx815]

Does anyone know if this is a problem on the 2010 XTX?

for sure but my dealer says 2010's are exempt from problem. I never got a notice for my 2010.

 

[LJ 452]

I had quick look at my machine last night, I didn't see one nylon locking nut?? Has it come to this? Risking lives over $2.00 worth of locking nuts on a $14,000.00 machine?????

They use locking nuts nearly everywhere. Instead of nyloc, it's two metal tabs. These can be used a few times, where nyloc nuts are supposed to be replaced every time as the nylon becomes permenantly distorted.

 

[87gtNOS]

This is not a STICKY????

The recall says DEATH can result!!

 

[mytro]

I had quick look at my machine last night, I didn't see one nylon locking nut?? Has it come to this? Risking lives over $2.00 worth of locking nuts on a $14,000.00 machine?????

They use locking nuts nearly everywhere. Instead of nyloc, it's two metal tabs. These can be used a few times, where nyloc nuts are supposed to be replaced every time as the nylon becomes permenantly distorted.

Thanks for that info, I just had a quick look, so what is on the A Arm bolts that is coming loose????