Viper seemd like ratcheting but not

G

GetHighRacewear

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Jan 31, 2009
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I am helping a friend work on an 03 Viper with 2500 miles, everything is pretty stock, when I drive it even at a slow speed (10mph) I can feel a knocking sound kinda like if the track was slipping. I thought for sure that was it, as the track was really loose and he was letting his friends ride it like that. So I adjusted the track tension, seems okay now, but the noise is still there. I tried changing the belt, pulled the gear case cover and checked the gears and adjusted the chain tension. Checked the sprockets underneath the sled but they all have their teeth, track seemed okay also. But the noise is still there. Could something have got damaged from riding it with the track loose? Maybe a bearing or something I am overlooking? Please help.

Thanks, Gary
 
Did you check the chain? Probably too loose, but could be starting to break too. Sounds just like track skipping, trust me.
 
Chain adjusted, Its okay, i was gonna try pulling the skid out to see if the shaft with the sprocket wheels turns free or has play in it, right now I cant tell, and even with the track on the loose side it is hard to rotate.
 
check that drive shaft bearing, no one ever replaces it. It always gets over looked. It becomes harder to take off the longer you leave it. I bet you need heat and a hammer to get it off. Should change it every year. Really easy to change if its done every year. Its like a dollar to replace. Even if it not th eproblem change it anyways.

Just my 2 cents.
 
GetHighRacewear said:
Where is the bearing? Behind the clutch or behind the chain case gear? Or both?
Click to expand...

The SRX manual calls it a "front axle" not "drive shaft" sorry man. I know you are working on a Viper but it is the same.

On an SRX it is the bearing that sits on the end of the axle that the track is wrapped around. The speedo for the SRX also attaches here.

On the pic from the 2000 - 2001 SRX manual the bearing I'm talking about is number 5

driveshaftbearing.jpg
 
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Found it, pretty sure its bad, got the rear suspension out, secondary clutch off and cover off of chain case. Do I have to remove chain and gears? And the chain housing? To get the bearing out of the speedo side?
 
any time I have ever changed the drive shaft bearing I have only removed the speedo gear which is bolted to the tunnel, once you remove the speedo the bearing should be visible. Simple matter of getting the bearing out after that. The drive axle should move a bit exposing the bearing. The problem usually come in when the bearing wil not come off the shaft.

It sounds like you ripped apart the entire sled though.

You should not have to remove the chain and gears or the chain housing.

I only used the picture to show you the bearing I was referring to.
 
Actually the bearing was visible from the get go, my speedo set up is like a little pick-up at the end of the shaft, I thought I had to get the shaft to move to the drivers(left) side so I can pull the bearing, and thought by taking the gear case off, that it would let the shaft move to the left. So your saying I can loosen the set screws, and try to pull the bearing off without doing anything else?
 
ey sir. I should have mentioned the set screws too.

The bearing is not always easy to come off though.

Didn't mean to make you rip apart the whole sled, sorry bout that.
 
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ounds goofy, but check your sliders too, I had a similar sound, did everything mentioned above, and it ends up part of the slider was worn off.... Cheap easy fix too...
 
Sleigher said:
ey sir. I should have mentioned the set screws too.

The bearing is not always easy to come off though.

Didn't mean to make you rip apart the whole sled, sorry bout that.
Click to expand...

But like it is right now there really isn't enough sticking out to grab hold of it. That's why I thought all the other stuff had to come off, so it would slide over a little bit, giving me more of the bearing to get a puller on it.
 
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