slide troubles

G

gonesleddin

New member
Joined
Feb 20, 2005
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14
Age
54
Location
Toronto, Ontario
ok i have read alot of posts to educate myself on the troubles i am experiencing...myself with a '02 srx and a buddy with a '99 sx both have the same set up and both have the same problem...we have excessive slider wear, especially on the right side (i can only figure that exhaust heat has something to do with it) we both have our limiter straps shortened,fairly loose tracks, not sure if the centre shock is set to "0",and run graphite, both sleds were set up by a local yami expert last fall, and never had slider wear this bad till now...in a recent 1800km trip we both went through 3 sets of slides each (worn right through twice), temps were just below freezing, so it was fairly warm... but there was lots of lube (loose snow) all the dealers blamed it on conditions....i didnt see a lineup of yamis at thier door replacing slides, except us 2...thinking we will go to the polaris wheels... but i wonder how much that will help...any help on why, this is happening or other corrective measures would be appreciated
almost forgot....can the limiter straps be tightened too much and cause premature slider wear???
 

It makes no sense that the right side wears more. The exhaust has nothing to do with it. Make sure your limiters are even and that the track has about 3/4 to a 1 inch of sag. I can get 2000 miles out of a set with my 00' SRX with a extra wheel kit. The black hyfax that is the colored ones are junk.
 
It dosen't take much to run the slides down if you ride a road or trail that does not have signifacant snow. Are u sure u did
nt go somewhere under marginal conditions? It sounds like you did.Around home i dont get very far until i have to replace mine but upnorth I can go for a 1000 miles w/o..replacing
 
i dont know if you have riden in northern Ontario, but we replaced the slides in Cochrine, rode to Hearst, than back down to Kapiskasing i think a total of 500kms no road runs just wide open trails with lots of loose snow....the trails are fast and most of the time you run wide open for miles....but i have done these trails for 6 yrs now, first time with slide promlems....my suspension was adjusted this year, which leads me to think that that is the cause...the other thing is the weather, usually when i do that trip it is -40 C out but this year -1 or -2 C but once again i cant see how that would have an effect on wear...oh well i think we will just have to play with them a bit and figure it out....hate to tinker, when you can ride
 
you guys sure dont get many miles out of your slides, some of these numbers are pretty sad. :o|
 
Loose snow or loose ice pellets? Ice pellets do nothing for slider lube. We just came back from the Martin River area and had two sleds burn the sliders off on icy trails. One run down an old Railbed at 120 KPH roasted them. The conditions in New liskard weren't much better lube wise. Could be the source of your problem IMHO
 
Everyday I was up there, I was praying for a least a dusting of snow for lube. The rain the North Bay/Martin River area got, iced all the trails up. Don't know how far up the rain went though. It's the same as getting out on a groomed trail that had all night to setup, and its -30 out. Might as well be riding on cement, can smell them sliders pretty quick.
 
i've done that kind of trip -42 leaving Timmins for Hearst last year....you are right, just like the 407...still...those sliders ran me a full season 3000km....
 
Graphite sliders from Royal or the Dealer? The one sled we did last week (SX600r) had brand new graphite from Royal, lasted maybe 500K. Had bad heat cracks in the curve area. I'm wondering if Royal changed thier supplier and the sliders are crap. We've used the graphite from Royal in years past with great results. I know you said you went through three sets last trip, I just can't picture a mechanical cause for the failures you've seen. You haven't put new wheels on recently or anything? All the track clips are in good shape, no sharp edges? How loose is "fairly loose tracks"? You should post the suspension set-up, including strap lengths (mounting bracket to end of theads), shock pre-loads etc.
 
the last set that are on with "0" miles will tell me if the cause is crap slides.....i bought them begining of last season yamaha graphites....goin riding friday....my bud with the sx and i are going to do the once over thurs. night.....settings etc......see if we cant figure this out, i watched the yamaha suspension tuning video if anything it helped me understand more about the interaction of the centre shock and limiter straps (my wife thought it was useless...lol..) you have a great idea of logging my set up at least i can compare with others...all stock suspension bt th way and in good shape
 
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When I rode my new 02srx for the first time, it smoked the slides in 130 miles, right thru to the aluminum. I shortened up the straps and loosened the track like most folks recommended, and this helped them last about 500 miles. At least I could then finish a long weekend of riding with no worries. However, the shortened straps killed my holeshot, couldn't even out hole shot my 500xcsp.

What I did next permanently solved my slide problem. I changed to the 9830 camo track (every third window clipped), and invested in the high priced super slippery slides, marketed by Bender, and sold by others, like MCB in Capac MI. I also added the polaris wheels up front (I did not add extra wheels like some suggested).

What I found was that I was seeing no wear what so ever, even on glare ice. I gradually let the straps out a little at time, and watched the slides closely, until the straps were all the way out against the shock's internal stop. Those slides are still in place with over 2500 miles on them. And best of all, the long straps and high preload on the front shock creates huge weight transfer and protects the w-arm from failure (bottoming). Best thing I ever did. I was out on White Lake (MI) on Saturday, with no snow to speak of, and the slides are still fine. Hit about 125 on the speedo all day long. I will say however, that the long straps do hurt top end when there is a fair amount of snow on the trail, as it makes for a bad track approach angle. 2-3 inches of snow will pull the top end down to 110 or so.
 
Man you guys are getting pretty poor milage out of a set of hyfax. Ice pellets snow what ever I can still get 1000 or more miles riding on trails that are like concrete and they are just the yamaha black. Setup is everything!
 
Breaking Them In Is Critical! Get Them Hot As Soon As You Put Them On, And Then Cool Them Down Quickly!!! They Will Last A Lot Longer!!!
 
ok went riding yeserday.....new slides on the sled (graphites from yamaha from last year) these slides seem to wear better than the royal ones from this year....took the suggestion of heating them up fast and cooling them off fast they look hard and smooth which is better than i have seen this year...checked the set up of my suspension 2" of thread showing on the straps "0" preload, and 2" of track sag with 16 lbs of tension, the wear is just in front of the first idler wheel, which looks like the prefect location for wear especially to go to the larger wheels looks like my best option....as for my bud, with the sx, his set up is as identical to mine well as close as we can get it, his slider wear is at the same spot as mine but wears deeper we measured his wheels (he does have 15000 kms on the sled and original wheels) now all we had was a tape measure but it was enough to see a 1/8" difference from the srx wheels which equates to a huge deal on the slider wear...going to royal and buying the poo wheels (polaris has to good for something lol) thanks for all the suggestions
 
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