Not such a good day

NYsledneck

NYsledneck

New member
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
284
Age
49
Location
wayne county , NY
Well the day started off great with some of the best snow we`ve had all year. 7 of us took off riding for the day and had put on about 70 miles when it went bad. I was following my girlfriend and all of a sudden i see her sled pitch sideways and then snow everywhere. Then i see her sled barrel rolling down the trail ! We were on a old railbed thats 10-12 ft in the air and she was thrown down over the bank at around 60 mph through the brush. Luckily she was ok although pretty banged up but her sled was pretty well shot. Come to find out the track had jumped off to one side and locked up causing the sled to shoot sideways on her. No idea how it did that as i know the track was not loose.
It was still rideable to get home so i put her on my srx and rode her sled (a cat...ughhh) home. Well earlier in the day i rolled my sled and as she was riding that home she hit a good size bump and the handlebars snapped off. So i turn around to see whats up and she is all upset thinking she broke it...lol. The steering stem snapped right above the mounting bracket. My own fault for the abuse i have given it through the years.

So what kind of a chore is it to replace the steering stem? How much needs to be torn out of the sled to do it? Not sure i want to try and repair it like some guys have told me to do. Think i`d rather take the time and fix it right. Here we finally have snow and have 2 sleds down for the count!
 
Sorry to hear all the trouble men, but glad they are all safe.....Regarding the steering post I broke mine last year and since you have to pull the motor out to replace it I bought a 12 inch solid pipe that fitted right in there and weld it back again.....You should be fine that way you can be sure that the new/used you are putting wont snap on you that easy....

Nick
 
The only thing that scares me about that theory is when you happen to play superman and go over the bars and your legs hit the bars you actually would rather have the stem break rather than your legs. I have seen this happen on numerous occasions , and did it once on a sled i had a few years back. But on another note it is a scary thing to have your handlebars fall in your lap! Luckily she was in an open field and not going fast when it happened. Had it happened earlier when i was riding at a high rate of speed it could have been disastrous.
 
True nysled, My brother one time hit a pile of railroad rails stacked up at roughly 75 mph and if that steering was solid he probably wouldn't be around today. For the life of me I don't know or why he survived that because I saw the whole thing and thought I was checking to see if my brother was dead. he was knocked out and when he finally came around alittle sore but okay! But then again I wouldn't want to loose my steering at that speed either??? Who knows but it is a tuff choice.
 
I have a stem out of a 97 700 sx. if it will work for you, you pay shipping and it is yours. Paul
 
I have 2 SRX complete steering shafts in my garage (one perfect one slightly hacked up). I was going to use them on my SXR but decided not to when I saw how thin the metal was. If you need them let me know.
 
NY_SXR700 said:
I have 2 SRX complete steering shafts in my garage (one perfect one slightly hacked up). I was going to use them on my SXR but decided not to when I saw how thin the metal was. If you need them let me know.
Click to expand...

Cool your not far from me. I`ll definately let you know whats going on here soon. I guess i`m gonna fix it for now seeing that i have to pull the motor to replace it. Then this summer i`ll pull the motor and replace it.
 
Are these steering stems noted to break alot? I never broke one on my 97 sx and rode that sled just as hard as i do my srx. I did put a 3 inch riser on so obviously that puts more leverage on the stem. Just wondering if i do need to strengthen it up.
 
Yes they tend to brake and more when you have risers in them....Like I said I will have it professionally welded and reinforce it inside with some solid piping.......Better to have it reinforced and welded that have a nother stock one that you know is gonna break....Just my 2 cents

Nick
 
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