Tore apart my 02 Viper rear skid while waiting for my crank to come back from Bruce @ CB Performance. WOW!! Glad I did. Every bushing, every bearing, and every wheel was shot! Also had a broken W-arm. Just got done today re-assembling the skid. I bet I have over 12 hours just going thru that skid. I replaced the bushings with a kit I got from Pioneer. Used Yamaha wheels out of the Accessory Catalog. Cheaper than the stock wheels. I also noticed the bearings have more grease in them than the stock new bearings do. Hope they last a little longer. Also replaced the Hifax. The only bearings that were still OK are the ones on the large shock ends and the control rod ends. These were nice needle bearings. Just re-lubed them and guess I'm good to go. I have a 07 Apex RTX that I just rebuilt the rear skid on and found the same issues. Also had to replace everything including welding up the front torque arm. Is it just me or do these skids just wear out after 4000 miles?
yamaviper700
New member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2004
- Messages
- 58
when you welded up the front w arm ,did you put gussets in??????
daman
New member
yup thats why every few seasons it should be pulled out for inspection.
and keep all bearing greased,i use a needle greaser and hit all roller bearings.
and keep all bearing greased,i use a needle greaser and hit all roller bearings.
rx1jim
New member
I got tired of replacing the cheap plastic bushings used in the rear skid. I built my own set of bushings using either an oil-lite material or a phosporus bronze material. I replaced every plastic bushing in the fron and rear suspension of my 03 RX-1, now I am working through my 2000 SRX, then onto the other two sleds. Where the bushings ride on the aluminum shafts, I turned down the shafts and pressed on a stainless steel sleeve. I added another 4 grease fittings to the rear skid. No matter how often you grease the suspension parts which have the plastic bushings, they wear out quickly. I wish I had the time, I'd make a bushing retrofit kit and sell them at cost.