Rear suspension and track

T

Taphee

New member
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
102
Age
56
Location
Chicago
I took out the rear suspension to grease and replace the slides. After re-installing and checking track deflection I noticed the track sits on the shock bracket. This is above the rear axle between the two 7" wheels. This does not look right as it may cause wear on the inner track. Is this correct or did I install something incorrectly?
 

Attachments

  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    15.4 KB · Views: 14
  • 4.jpg
    4.jpg
    20.2 KB · Views: 10
  • 6.jpg
    6.jpg
    19.2 KB · Views: 8
Last edited:
Thanks! Not to be picky, but are you able to take a picture of the larger area so we can see the other components as well? That may help reveal an anomoly that may be causing it. It looks like when the track spins it is going to hit that bracket. If you need to attach a couple pics for good measure, go right ahead. ;-)

...also, what sled is this on???
 
??/

This is on a sx700R. The pictures show it all. The track is sitting on that bracket when it spins.
 
I have a 99 SX and will check to see how much clearance I have tonight let report back. Hopefully some of the suspension wizards will chime in in the meantime.

Is the only thing you did was replace they hyfax and grease it with a grease gun? No disassembly of the suspension itself?
 
?

I did grease up all the plastic bushings. I did this one piece at a time and put it back together. I replaced a bearing on one of the small wheels, and added the blue wheels on the bottom. Nothin out of the norm. Everything bolted up real easy.
 
I know they somtimes run close. Track tight? did you losen your rear transfer rods? Is the track sitting flat nothing goofy underneath? does your suspension move free? just my 2 cents, I am at work still or I would check my Viper for you. Good luck
 
Set

The track is set accorcing to my Yamaha book at 22 lbs gap should be 1". I have it set at 1.5". Ground is level. Suspension moves very nice now that it is greased up. I did take the transfer rods off one bolt at a time to grease the bushings. I did not change anything on the settings.
 
MY XT the shocks will drag when the tension is low and the track sags. However once the tension is set it is usualy just above the shock.

You may want to pull down on the track to remove most of the tension and see if it lifts off the shock. Also if those are rebuildable make sure the valve is not pointed up somone put my shock in upside down and it wore out the shrader valve (never leaked though).
 
I checked mine and it looks uber close as well. It wasn't touching but I'd say clearance was around 3/16". I did notice a couple places where it looked like the had been nicked removing enough rubber to see the threads. This is with the sled sitting on the ground and not on a stand. It is how I have been riding it for several years. Looking at your picture again, it looks like you may have more clearance than mine. In the center on my OEM track there were no driver lugs either...maybe it is the camera angle in your pics but it looks like you have some that are in closer proximity to the shock. After looking at mine and knowing how I rode it, and with no marks or scratches on my track, and based off of your description, I'd say you're fine in my opinion. I hope this helps...
 
Have someone sit on the sled, and then recheck it. You might be surprised what happens. Are you control rods tightened back up, or did you not have to loosen them.

UPDATE: Upon further review . . . That track does not look like it is aligned right on the wheels (those top wheels are called carrier wheels). Is the outside gap on the track the same on both sides? Check the alignment on the drivers as well.
 
Last edited:
?

I had someone sit on the sled and there was no change. Track still sits on the shock. All the lugs line up on the track and driver. The carrier wheels are equally 3/8" from the lugs and the track lugs are 3"8 from the rails. I spun the track a few times and the alignment is good.
 
Okay I broke down and called Port Yamaha. What a bunch of great people. I explained the situation of the track sitting on the top of the shock as pictured. This is completly normal. I didnt believe it until John explained why and makes sense. The track stays tight on the top so when you let off at full throttle it does not go flapping into the tunnel.

:o|
 
Taphee said:
Okay I broke down and called Port Yamaha. What a bunch of great people. I explained the situation of the track sitting on the top of the shock as pictured. This is completly normal. I didnt believe it until John explained why and makes sense. The track stays tight on the top so when you let off at full throttle it does not go flapping into the tunnel.

:o|
Click to expand...
I don't know what the guy above is talking about, the track stays tight all around, on every wheel the same and its not so when you let off the throttle. I think an i dont know would have been a more accurate statement form him.

they run close to start with yes, touch, no. There are two things going on here, maybe three, and four.

1 bushings in upper arm are wore allowing the shaft to set lower in the sissor arm tube.

2 shaft is worn(usually sx/viper/rx are aluminum) allowing the shaft to set lower in the sissor tube.

3 the wheels are worn a little allowing the track to set closer to the sissor arm

4 when the track is tightened over two wheels at the outter ends, it wants to bow down where there is no wheels.

If a couple of these things are going on let alone all of them, you will have trouble.

Not huge trouble but it will wear a line in the track, sometimes bad gouges over time.

It will look worse when you sit on it and may not be noticable when you lift the sled in the air if it is the bushings or shaft.

I fall back to my standard comment that is, even if your skid has low miles you should tear it down and tighten it up.
 
Last edited:
Skid

Well, looks like I am going to drop the rear suspension and pull the axle and bushing again. I thought it looked good. I did measure the wheels and they are 7" . I compared them to the new ones I put on the bottom. I'll post the results early next week

Thanks
Dave
 
I just went out and looked at my 00 sxr, and I can barely get a pinky finger between shock mt and track, but it does NOT touch, either on a stand or on the ground. Touching makes no sense to me.
 
Agee

I think Viper hit it on the head. The axle shaft is worn or the bushings are worn causing the carrier wheels to sit lower... Hopefully I'll know this week...
 
Suspension

Okay, I pulled the suspension again today and the Carrier wheels are at 7 1/8" and the axle shaft looks good as do the bushings. Now the interesting part is this I started lifting the front of the sled up with a hoist and as the hoist went up the clearance on the shock increased. So, I measured the front end all the way down at it was at 15 1/2" to the center of the bar. I raised the front end up until the clearance was at 3/16" at the track bringing the front end height to 19 1/2". What should the height be? I measured the spring pre-load and that is at 9". Any thoughts?
 
Man those pics still look to me like the track is not aligned properly in relationship to the shock bracket. The bracket should fall directly in the middle of the innermost involute drive nubs on the track. It sure looks to me like the bracket is up against one of the sets of nubs.

Are you sure that all of the washers and spacers are installed correctly on the carrier shaft. Are the mounts in the tunnel correct and undamaged?

If you run your track loose it will rub a bit on that bracket. I ran mine very loose, and it polished the top of the bracket clean, took the paint off completely. It did not hurt track at all, 9000 miles before the outer portion tore up from stud pull throughs. Scares the crap out of you when the track goes.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top