Have skid out, what should I be looking for?

dnale

dnale

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South Lyon, Michigan
OK, so I have the skid out of my 96 Vmax xt. The shocks are at Maxx Performance being reworked. As far as I know there isn't anything "non" stock on the skid from the previous owner. I have decent hyfax on there and I know I am going to replace a couple bearings on some bogie wheels and one wheel itself. Should I be looking at anything else? Anything else I should tear apart, clean, inspect?
 
Slide the aluminum rods out of the suspension, check them over and see for currosion. Make sure it greased well before putting them back in.

Check for cracks if it go jumped alot. If there are any cracks weld them up.

If it needs hyfax within a couple hundred miles, sure would be much easier to replace right now if you have the extra cash!
 
I would check all of your wheel bearings. Spin them by hand and feel for any dirt or sand inside them. Either replace or clean and re-pack them if they do not roll smoothly. Also check the plastic bushings, especially the W-arm/front shock.
 
Check the rails near the bends for cracks. It would be a great time to cut the rear spacer and install a 4th wheel on the rear axle.
Adjustable Transfer rods (if you don't already have them) Make a HUGE difference. Hauck was the last place that had them for the 96XT.
Reinforcing the frt arm is cheap insurance.
 
PS, if you spin a boggie wheel and it keeps spinning and spinning for a long time, then it`s time to re-pack, even it it doesn`t have any slack in it. If a bearing turns very freely it`s often dry.
 
Kimoaj, How did you make out with the crank seals on the 600 sx? I replaced the ones in my wifes 600,come to find out the outer bearing race on the clutch side worked its way out towards the clutch and pushed the seal out. I had to drive it back towards the mag side to get the new seal in. Hopefully it stays. Maybe it was caused by the motor being overheated so bad. Just wondering if yours was the same way? Someone on here said to check for that ,sure enough that is what happened.
 
that's alot to check on. I'll get to that after I finish working on the other projects around the house (until the new shocks come.) How "long" should a bogie wheel idealy spin for? I can pull the shaft and check them. I'm not sure I understand the whole transfer rod thing. I've read about them, but not real sure where they are and what I need to replace. The bushings at the front shock were wasted. I'll check the w-arm closer (it looked fine.)

Caravanman....what do you mean cut a spacer? Add the fourth wheel for to the rear axle or along the length of the skid?
 
dnale, when you spin the wheel listen to the sound of it, if it`s dry it will sound more then a nice and greasy bearing, kind of hard to explain:).I`m sure you`ll figure it out.

Here in Norway I pay about 16$ per bearing, I bet it`s much cheaper in US, 5$ a bearing or something?. I`d probably replace the bearings, but I don`t have the skid off as often as many of the guys here have.

:)
 
The adjustable transfer rods would replace the stock rods that run from the rear upper wheel shaft to the skid just in frt of the rear axle.
What they do is allow you to adjust how much the rear suspensions "couples" Less coupling allows the suspension to compress on accel and helps a great deal with traction and gets the weight off the ski's. It makes it a hell of alot more fun to ride!
Cutting the spacer on the rear axle shaft is so another wheel can be added to it (the rear axle)to help with rolling resistance and keep the track running straight esp if studded. There are spec's in the tech section or do a search and i'm sure you can find the spec's. When i did mine it was 10 years ago and i had to come up with my own spec and measured twice(10 times) and cut once.
 

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caravanman said:
The adjustable transfer rods would replace the stock rods that run from the rear upper wheel shaft to the skid just in frt of the rear axle.
What they do is allow you to adjust how much the rear suspensions "couples" Less coupling allows the suspension to compress on accel and helps a great deal with traction and gets the weight off the ski's. It makes it a hell of alot more fun to ride!
Cutting the spacer on the rear axle shaft is so another wheel can be added to it (the rear axle)to help with rolling resistance and keep the track running straight esp if studded. There are spec's in the tech section or do a search and i'm sure you can find the spec's. When i did mine it was 10 years ago and i had to come up with my own spec and measured twice(10 times) and cut once.
Click to expand...

I've seen your posts and photos before and I would never believe that you could do what you've shown on that sled (my sled!)

I swapped to plastic skis last year and that was a huge improvement and now it's time to upgrade the rear. I'm not studded, but I do have a deeper paddle track off a ski-doo. Now I need to find the transfer rods. I don't weld so making my own is off the table. Will ones that say for 97+ work?
 
dnale said:
I've seen your posts and photos before and I would never believe that you could do what you've shown on that sled (my sled!)

I swapped to plastic skis last year and that was a huge improvement and now it's time to upgrade the rear. I'm not studded, but I do have a deeper paddle track off a ski-doo. Now I need to find the transfer rods. I don't weld so making my own is off the table. Will ones that say for 97+ work?
Click to expand...

The 96XT transfer rods are different size than all the rest.
Mine are Benders from back in the day LOL.
Try Haucks.
http://www.hauckpowersportsinc.com
They had the 96xt rods listed two weeks ago on their site,but the listing is gone now. You can also call Bender to see if they still have any.
I am only running 120 studs on the stock track. The traction is night and day with the adjustable rods.
Do you have any engine mod's done or clutch work done? Mine was a dog when stock. My wife could outrun me on her studded but otherwise stock 95 vmax 600 LE.Very disappointing (and embarrassing) since i bought both machines new. Alittle engine and clutch work and WOW what a difference.She doesn't even try to line up next to me anymore. 6500+ trouble free miles on my set up to date.
 
caravanman said:
The 96XT transfer rods are different size than all the rest.
Mine are Benders from back in the day LOL.
Try Haucks.
http://www.hauckpowersportsinc.com
They had the 96xt rods listed two weeks ago on their site,but the listing is gone now. You can also call Bender to see if they still have any.
I am only running 120 studs on the stock track. The traction is night and day with the adjustable rods.
Do you have any engine mod's done or clutch work done? Mine was a dog when stock. My wife could outrun me on her studded but otherwise stock 95 vmax 600 LE.Very disappointing (and embarrassing) since i bought both machines new. Alittle engine and clutch work and WOW what a difference.She doesn't even try to line up next to me anymore. 6500+ trouble free miles on my set up to date.
Click to expand...

Of course they'd have to be different....

I have psi pipes (and associated clutching and jetting), thin hg, plastic ski's, etc. The sled has about 6500 miles on it as well. Feed it gas and oil....Once it starts, you're good to go, but if it's say for a couple months....make sure you have the gloves on cause you'll be pulling for a couple minutes, but when you know it, you understand it. I wanted a better ride so at everyone's suggestion I sent the rear shocks out for re-working. Now I'll have to look into those transfer rods.... Do you pretty much set them and forget them? I want hook-up but with comfort....
 
I run mine at the least amount of transfer most of the time which is still much better than stock. But it i want some wheelie action it only takes a min to adjust them down.
Too bad Haucks stock is gone. I do have a set of the orginal Bender "HOT RODS". Not adjustable and only a small amount of improvement. If you can't find a sets of the adjustables, let me know and we can come up with a price.
 
Thanks. Do the other bender's ts3's work? I've heard they can be a pain to adjust, etc, but I won't be doing much of that on the trail anyhow.

Gary at Maxx Performance told me how to "modify" the stock ones but that is something beyond my capacities.
 
I have never adjusted a set of TS3's, Mine are very easy to adjust. And they have never frozen up. I don't know if the TS3's will fit? The TS3's just replace the lower section where as mine are the upper portion. Give Bender a call.
 
I'll probably take a look at the W-arm next week. I'm going up north this weekend but not to sled.

Anybody have a count of how many of each type of bearings I'll need?

On a related note, I had a call from Maxx Performance and they were finishing up my shocks yesterday. The rear one was in bad shape (worn inside, busted schrader,etc) so I went with a used one they had there for not much more than fixing the schrader and the bearings. They are revalving the rear and they put a new spring on the middle (front) shock.

Can't wait to put it all back together, get snow, and then ride.... (but that will be a while...)
 
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dnale said:
Gary at Maxx Performance told me how to "modify" the stock ones but that is something beyond my capacities.
Click to expand...

Hey dnale, I'm doing a big sled-maintenance session this weekend. I may be loking at both my skids, depending on how far things go.

Could you provide a brief run-down of this transfer rod mod?

Anyone else have experience doing this?

Thx!
 
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