loose heat exchanger and steering

roudyroy1

roudyroy1

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Joined
Jan 10, 2013
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ontario GTA
while looking over my fathers sled i noticed the steering was loose. upon further inspection, when i wiggle the steering the front heat exchanger moves as well, i can see the lower steering post mount flexing... looks like the rivits holding the rear bulkhead have popped, anyone ever heard of this happening? and how hard is it to fix? snows acommin so im trying to decide if i will do it myself or bring it in. 2000 sxr700
 
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I check over my tunnel & bulkhead every year. looking for loose rivets. You'll need to remove the loose rivets and replace them. When you do, try to clamp the metal together, to get the best strength. You might have to remove the side belly pans.
 
I have never heard of this part of the tunnel coming apart... Guess the engine has to be pulled to get at it too so I took it into the dealer for the first time in years.[emoji35]
 
It was just recently discovered that my SX also has a loose front exchanger. I never noticed it but its certainly loose and if it falls out i guess you lose steering completely! Can this problem be fixed without pulling everything apart?? Could I just have someone weld the exchanger right to the tunnel so it never moves? :dunno:
 
If all you want to do is replace the loose rivets, You don't need to pull the motor. But you may need to pull the side belly pans. The rivets you'll want to reach on the sides are two hard to replace while leaving the belly pans sides on. On the bottom those rivets are easy to get to, as long as you don't have a belly pan protector. I wouldn't recommend welding unless, you don't run studs. If you run studs and put hole in the front cooler it will be really hard to replace or repair.
 
I heard that everything needs to be taken off just to get at the rivets for that front exchanger. The motor, belly pans, track, suspension, and driveshaft.
 
I did mine a few years ago, I had the motor out at the time, but not sure why you would have to take the motor out. If you just do the sides & the bottom you won't need to take the track out.
 
my exchanger its self wasnt loose, but the bulkhead it was mounted to was. if i looked under the motor i could see that plate separated from the belly pan or what ever its called. when my sled was on the ground if the skis were held and i put pressure on the bars i could get it to move. scary stuff.
 
If my sled is just sittin there and you turn/wiggle the handle bars you can see the front exchanger slightly move with the steering... So does that mean the exchanger itself is loose or the bulkhead is as mentioned earlier??
 
its the bulkhead i think, look under the motor towards the back of the sled and see if you can see the bottom of the bulkhead pulling away from the belly pan. thats what mine was doing.
 
re rivet it and run'er!! given time i may have been able to fix it myself, but working in an unheated garage isn't my idea of fun. i wish there was an explanation for why this is happening.
 
roudyroy1 said:
re rivet it and run'er!! given time i may have been able to fix it myself, but working in an unheated garage isn't my idea of fun. i wish there was an explanation for why this is happening.
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If you could, please let me (and everyone) know what all the dealer had to take apart just to get to the problem with the exchanger/bulkhead. I'm very interested in how theyd go about it as I will have to do something with mine soon...
 
shaggyzr2 said:
Put in some new rivets and keep that beast alive!!! :rockon:
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I know it wouldnt be best but could I possibly run the sled with whatever being loose?

Because as of now on mine I STILL have to:
1. finish taking out left side heat exchanger to find a leak
2. fix the leak (if I find it)
3. re-rivet exchanger back onto tunnel
4. put 3 new head gaskets on and torque head back down to spec
5. bleed coolant system
6. NOT FIND 20 MORE BROKEN THINGS AFTERWARDS!! :o|
 
sloTJ said:
I know it wouldnt be best but could I possibly run the sled with whatever being loose?

Because as of now on mine I STILL have to:
1. finish taking out left side heat exchanger to find a leak
2. fix the leak (if I find it)
3. re-rivet exchanger back onto tunnel
4. put 3 new head gaskets on and torque head back down to spec
5. bleed coolant system
6. NOT FIND 20 MORE BROKEN THINGS AFTERWARDS!! :o|
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I'm sure you could but I wouldn't run too long. instead of messing around with that leaking exchanger just get a different one. I see there are some on ebay for $29.99. You'll get this sled fixed up and running good again, and when you do you won't regret all the work you put into it. I just dug my sx out of storage yesterday and took it for a spin, they sure are alot of fun!
 
When you pull the motor, on the heat exxchanger underneath the engine their are new wholes that you can drill, they are already pre drilled into the cooler. Drill them out and add rivets, then take the old ones out and add washers to those and it will be good to go. I ride my viper extremely hard with C&A skies and it did the same thing you are talking about, same with my brothers and same with my friends sled. Easy fix and nothing to worry about. I also used steel big rivets to fill in the egged out wholes
 
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