ws6transam
New member
1980 Excel V developed a howl from the drivetrain. Repair notes enclosed!
Hi everyone,
We just finished 120 Km of trail riding around Cadillac: My first ride with the Yamaha Excel, actually. The engine seems to be running smoothly, but a bad drivetrain vibration has developed which got worse throughout the day. It doesn't dorrelate to engine speed, but seems to correlate to driveline speed. It vibrates and howls audibly, sometimes sounding like an old biplane. I think it's a bearing, but I dont know where to look. I quit riding and put them on the trailer for the rest of the weekend, because I didn't want to risk seizing up the track, somewhere in the heart of the forest.
In your opinion, can a track freeze up due to a bad bearing? This is the Excel V that was totalled by a mouse in 1998, but I brought it back to life this fall. When I first started it and hit the throttle, the track shot pinecones all over my garage, so it appears the previous owner had it parked outside for quite a while. It wouldn't surprise me of the bearings have some corrosion.
Am I looking at the right places?
-Dan
Hi everyone,
We just finished 120 Km of trail riding around Cadillac: My first ride with the Yamaha Excel, actually. The engine seems to be running smoothly, but a bad drivetrain vibration has developed which got worse throughout the day. It doesn't dorrelate to engine speed, but seems to correlate to driveline speed. It vibrates and howls audibly, sometimes sounding like an old biplane. I think it's a bearing, but I dont know where to look. I quit riding and put them on the trailer for the rest of the weekend, because I didn't want to risk seizing up the track, somewhere in the heart of the forest.
In your opinion, can a track freeze up due to a bad bearing? This is the Excel V that was totalled by a mouse in 1998, but I brought it back to life this fall. When I first started it and hit the throttle, the track shot pinecones all over my garage, so it appears the previous owner had it parked outside for quite a while. It wouldn't surprise me of the bearings have some corrosion.
Am I looking at the right places?
-Dan
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Stroketech
New member
Howl
Sorry about your luck. I personally would put the back end up on a stand and run the throttle until you found the speed at which it makes the noise. A cheap technicians stethascope would work great for tracing it down. Just remember, any rotational part is suspect. Make sure that the track is aligned first off. Look for any signs of rubbing.
Jon
Sorry about your luck. I personally would put the back end up on a stand and run the throttle until you found the speed at which it makes the noise. A cheap technicians stethascope would work great for tracing it down. Just remember, any rotational part is suspect. Make sure that the track is aligned first off. Look for any signs of rubbing.
Jon
Check drive shaft bearings
ws6transam
New member
A little update:
I got the Excel up into the air tonight, and discovered that the right-hand side of the track has about 66& of the raised metal tabs broken off the bottom of the track. The plastic runner on the bottom of the suspension has worn through to metal on the forward edge. The left-hand side is better in that all of the tabs are still present , but the plastic runner is very thin on the front edge.
I could use some suggestions on what to do next!! Can I just ignore the loss of those tabs and save the track, or is this a real-deal track replacement issue? I don't know if this snowmobile is worth $400 worth of new track parts... It runs good, yeah, but it sure isn't going to win any show points, if you know what I mean...
--
I checked with FIX powersports today and it looks as if the plastic slides are no longer available. Same thing with the clips for the track, though he said that I might be able to match them up with something at the local Yamaha shop. I really don't want to run this machine until I've fixed the track problems! Should I really disassemble the machine, take the track and slides off to the local shop, or do something different?
I got the Excel up into the air tonight, and discovered that the right-hand side of the track has about 66& of the raised metal tabs broken off the bottom of the track. The plastic runner on the bottom of the suspension has worn through to metal on the forward edge. The left-hand side is better in that all of the tabs are still present , but the plastic runner is very thin on the front edge.
I could use some suggestions on what to do next!! Can I just ignore the loss of those tabs and save the track, or is this a real-deal track replacement issue? I don't know if this snowmobile is worth $400 worth of new track parts... It runs good, yeah, but it sure isn't going to win any show points, if you know what I mean...
--
I checked with FIX powersports today and it looks as if the plastic slides are no longer available. Same thing with the clips for the track, though he said that I might be able to match them up with something at the local Yamaha shop. I really don't want to run this machine until I've fixed the track problems! Should I really disassemble the machine, take the track and slides off to the local shop, or do something different?
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ws6transam
New member
Okay, I pulled the suspension out from under the snowmobile tonight. Pretty much all of the bogie wheels turn with resistance, and the bearings (A Koyo 6004 RS) all have rough, gritty feeling when turned. As for the slides, they are toast. The right-hand one was worn clean through and the aluminum of the slider was lightly worn. The left-hand slide was paper-thin and didn't quite make it through. The steel clips on the track are all rusty, and the right-hand clips were very, very rough. 75% of the right-hand clips had the tangs broken off. There's 38 on each side, and if I can replace the 76 clips somehow, find a suitable plastic slide, and replace those eleven bogie wheel bearings, I think that'll be just what the doctor ordered for getting this machine back into the snow where it belongs.
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I'm guessing that the howling I heard was the busted clips running over the exposed aluminum slider.
--
Edit: I just found the bearings on Ebay: A lot of twelve 6004-2RS sealed bearings for $22, including shipping. Let's hope the slides and clips are just as reasonable!
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I'm guessing that the howling I heard was the busted clips running over the exposed aluminum slider.
--
Edit: I just found the bearings on Ebay: A lot of twelve 6004-2RS sealed bearings for $22, including shipping. Let's hope the slides and clips are just as reasonable!
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ws6transam
New member
Well, this afternoon I found the slides at the local Yamaha shop for $9 apiece. Wa-hoo!
Not only that, but I needed 76 track clips, and they ordered them in for me. They wanted $1.36 apiece for them, but I countered at $.85 each, and we settled at an even buck apiece for them.
Also, we made a deal that if I brought them my track with the old clips removed, they would use their track clip crimper to put them on for $65. I figured it was a deal, but then I tried to get the damn track out from under the sled and realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I wanted.
The drive cogs are rusted onto the shaft: The set pins are seized. So I needed to take the whole drive cog assembly out as-is. It turned out that the easiest thing to do was hand-dremel the tunnel out a little bit from around the RH side of the driveshaft in order to let the shaft slide another 10mm to the right... It worked like a charm and the driveshaft fell out with a plunk.
Then there was the clips. I wrestled a few of the rusty bits of steel off the track, but then figured quickly that Mr. Ingersoll-Rand is your friend! I hooked up the die grinder, switched over to the 2 1/2 inch cutoff wheel, and made a nice little incision on each clip. Then it was a matter of two seconds with the pliers, and Viola! A nice, clean track post, ready for the new link. All in all, it was exactly 59 minutes from the time I got the track out until it was loaded into the back of the Jeep.
I should get everything back by Monday for reassembly.
Not only that, but I needed 76 track clips, and they ordered them in for me. They wanted $1.36 apiece for them, but I countered at $.85 each, and we settled at an even buck apiece for them.
Also, we made a deal that if I brought them my track with the old clips removed, they would use their track clip crimper to put them on for $65. I figured it was a deal, but then I tried to get the damn track out from under the sled and realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I wanted.
The drive cogs are rusted onto the shaft: The set pins are seized. So I needed to take the whole drive cog assembly out as-is. It turned out that the easiest thing to do was hand-dremel the tunnel out a little bit from around the RH side of the driveshaft in order to let the shaft slide another 10mm to the right... It worked like a charm and the driveshaft fell out with a plunk.
Then there was the clips. I wrestled a few of the rusty bits of steel off the track, but then figured quickly that Mr. Ingersoll-Rand is your friend! I hooked up the die grinder, switched over to the 2 1/2 inch cutoff wheel, and made a nice little incision on each clip. Then it was a matter of two seconds with the pliers, and Viola! A nice, clean track post, ready for the new link. All in all, it was exactly 59 minutes from the time I got the track out until it was loaded into the back of the Jeep.
I should get everything back by Monday for reassembly.