First Ride - Carnage...

[Steve800]

Yesterday, we finally bit the bullet and trailered 600 kms (round trip) to put 160 kms on our sleds. We went to southern Quebec (basically at the Quebec/Vermont border). Solid 2 ft+ of base in that region, much less closer to Montreal, almost none around here.

Anyway - the problem was with all of the warm temperatures there were tons of sink holes on the trails. All 3 of us hit one at one time or other during the day/evening. Even though we were trying to take it easy (compared to normal), I guess we were going a little too fast for the conditions (the holes are hard to see, often just on the other side of a rise or out of the blue on a nicely groomed straight away).

My '97 Storm seemed to survive fine at first, except at the very end of the end of the day, cruising on a bumpy field at very low speeds, the bolt that holds the left trailing arm to the chassis sheared off. I didn't notice it until we got back (probably rode between 1-5 miles with it disconnected).

Questions:

- When these let go, is there something else (shock, upper/lower "control arm" link, etc.) that always gets damaged? The only damage I can clearly see is as the trailing arm moved backwards, the shock spring was pushed against the shock by the upper link, causing the fox shock sticker to get scuffed and torn a little.
- Do the shock shafts tend to survive this normally or do they bend?
- Any tips/hints for getting the remainder of the bolt out?

I guess I got off lucky, when one of the other guys in our group hit a similar sink hole his ski didn't climb the other side too well. The sled rode up the other side still going probably 10-15 mph, with the left ski now turned almost 45 degrees to the right. On the other side of the hole, the sled veered to the right, flipping him off and then it flipped and rolled a couple of times, stopping about 10 feet past the sink hole. Luckily he wasn't hurt too badly and the sled stopped short of the trees on the fairly narrow trail. It's pretty clear what's damaged on his sled (trailing arm, shock, upper/lower links, tie rod end, ski, windshield and a small crack on the side of the hood) - not to mention his aches and pains.

It figures - now that our sleds are broken, they're calling for snow here...

Steve

[michahicks]

Steve, we had the same thing happen last winter to an XCR7 that runs with us, only we were about 25 miles from home. We rode it back, obviously being carefull. No other resulting damage to ours. EZ-out and a little heat worked on ours.

[tifa_5_2000]

maybe upgrade to a grade 8 bolt? mike

[Dirk Wiggler]

They regularly break if you have high miles and ride hard. I do alot of off trail riding so we're contantly pounding through drifts and ditches when they pull the culverts from the logging roads.

If you watch the action of the t-arm you'll see as it goes through the motion it moves in and out laterally. Over time that action weakens the bolt and it breaks. Overall the suspension is designed to shear that bolt in a hard hit to save the rest of the chassis, though this is rarely the case.

Get a washer, a nut, and a welder. Weld the washer onto what's left of the bolt, weld the nut to the washer and while it's still hot back it out. Use a wrench but if you have a good person running the welder an impact should do it, if you have weak welds try the wrench first.

This serves two purposes, something to bite the bolt stud, and it heats up the factory loctite that's on the bolt.

I did one with drill bits and easy outs and broke 'em all, ended up changing the whole footwell (it's one piece on a 95 XLT). The last two I've done have been as described, the bolt comes out everytime we get a good weld on the washer.

As for breaking on the trail, me experience has been at low speed so all my parts survived. I even rode back 40 miles with straps holding the thing in place in an attempt to save the rest of the stuff (it worked). As you described the paint on the shock body gets the worst of it.

Matt

[Bauer]

Originally posted by michahicks@Jan 4 2004, 04:12 PM
We rode it back, obviously being carefull. No other resulting damage to ours. EZ-out and a little heat worked on ours.

I used an easy out and a little bit of heat and it worked. I now change the bolts every season! :undercover:

[Steve800]

Thanks for the advice.

I haven't tried to get it out yet. I'll look in to the welding option.

Steve

[Steve800]

Dirk Wiggler,

Tonight I tried to work what's left of the bolt a little. Instead of drilling and using an easy out I decided to make use of the way the bolt sheared off. It is angled in such a way that I was able to take a punch and try to spin it out. I pounded away for quite a while and it didn't budge. I figured at that point the bolt was going to be difficult to remove and I should use your technique.

Then I thought - "let's see what the other side is like - I should replace it anyway". I put a wrench on it and gave it a little torque (very little - used a short 3/8" ratchet and very lightly started to push on it). It turned about 1/4 turn with ease and then "snap" broke off too. It was obviously just about to go.

So. I don't want to screw around with an easy out and a drill and mess up both sides....

Can you give me more info on your technique? What size washer? Do you fill the interior of the washer? Any other suggestions?

If I screw this up it looks like it will be a major, major pain to replace the threaded bosses that the arms attach to.

Thanks,

Steve

[michahicks]

Steve, heat is going to be the key for your repair. You'll need it to release the red loctite... Without it, you're going to make yourself crazy.

[Steve800]

michahicks,

How do you heat it without melting the plastic though? The "boss" on the Agressive chassis is inside the engine compartment, just infront of the foot rest. The "boss" or shaft goes through the side of the plastic body and there's no more than 1/16" of clearance around it. I looked at removing the side of the sled, but it's riveted on with lots of rivets plus I'd have to remove the bumper. Major job.

I figure anything I have (propane torch, etc.) would melt the body. I'm hoping the washer technique will heat the bolt very quickly without melting the body. Suggestions?

Steve

[XCR440SP]

Originally posted by Bauer@Jan 5 2004, 11:07 AM
I used an easy out and a little bit of heat and it worked. I now change the bolts every season! :undercover:

i took a look at your photo album, must be nice to have all of that snow there. Getting suck on the side of a hill (That is me moaning about having no sno)


:whatever: Me thinking about sno