Well I went out on a ride today and about 50kms into it I decided to take pics

Well :dazed: something was not right

my Left ski was canted

trailing arm weld gave way :bash:

This must be a defect as I just got the trailing arm last March and have maybe 800kms on the trailing,500kms this year

Never hit a thing so I don't know what possibly could have made the weld to give way other then poor welding job

here are some pics before the ride home

Now here is were the weld came apart

Note how poor the weld is

:( and now my baby is in the garage looking like this :wink:

Ithink it knows all the bills are paid for the month and decided to :undercover: some $$$ from my account

That sucks, are those oem trailing arms?.

Looks like the actual metal tore, not the weld.

I can't really tell from the pics, but could be a corrosion issue, or defect in the metal.

I have seen the same exact thing happen with aftermarket trailing arms. The sheet metal they use is just not strong enough. Stock arms are made out of chrome moly.

they are aftermarket

The original ones were NOT chromoly

The 95 FZ had chromoly ,I bought ($50ca)and still have one FZ trailing arm,but it would not fit the STX as the FZ has an adjustable swaybar and the bolts do not line up,so I had to go aftermarket

have less then 1000 kms of ride with them

I am beginning to think I overtorqued the bolts which might have put extra pressure on the holes because the bolts would not move that freely :unsure:

Do you think that would be the cause???

aka was not allowing free movement :confused: when rding and going through the up and down cycle which put stress to the metal

I am suppose to see a guy today to get it welded

I don't think you over tightened them, it's more of the case that you get what you pay for. I would put the fz arms on and leave the sway bars off. IMO

The bolts/shocks do not lined up STX vs FZ

I tried for a day last march till I figured out that the STX and FZ have diferent mounts

Sorry, I thought you meant that the sway bar was the issue. Maybe you could have the brackets that broke remade with a little heavier steel then rewelded?.

Are the trailing arms available for that STX from Ski-doo? Rather than try to fix a questionable, I'd start new.

Feeeze had the same problem its the welding,If you look at a new OEM they are welded alot more on the joints etc,IMO slide down to Royal grab one and then run it over to your chum and have it welded. Keep those trail reports happening hoping to make it up next weekend.Sammy

i've seen a few with extra metal welded to them but i can't say if those were OEM or not.

Brought it to a welding shop this afternoon :)

Going to pic it up tomorow :thumbsup:

I talk to the welder and we discussed what to do,to enforce the structure to prevent further damage

Looks like he is going to weld a brace in the middle between the radius arms bolt holes and ad more welds to the rest,sorta like Paul said :thumbsup:

he also noted the poor weld on the arm as soon as he seen it :slick:

it seems the bottom part only had a 1/4inch tack weld :dazed: which gave way and put the stress onto the rest on the plate thus the rip :bash:

It should be beefed up when I pick it up

Kris I called alll over town today for a STX trailing arm (MX/GT also fit)that would fit but none to be had

As for a new one they are over $150 I think as I called last year

Got the used 95 FZ trailing arm for $50last year,but it was a no go

that is why I got the aftermarket trailing arm

Sagebrush the sway bar was also an issue as well as the other bolts

going to be back on trail by Friday afternoon :thumbsup:

need to inspect the damage caused by the rain on the trails

inspect some of the trail today,went out for a walk with dog,trails appear in decent shape

got it welded and reinforced :thumbsup:

here are the pics

More pics

Sorry but I love my camera :D