2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

RickM · May 15, 2009

I was doing the end of season maintenance today. I decided to drain the oil on the diamond drive. Pulled the plug and had a catch can under the belly pan to catch the oil. Oil came out pretty dark looking. I decided to pull the cover and clean out the inside of any residue left.After pulling off the cover I noticed some metal pieces in the rear corner where it had been laying out of the way of the gears. A not good feeling now is going thru my head, something is wrong.

Upon further inspection, I found that the gear transfer (#12 on parts manual ) had a bad bearing (#11) which goes into the planetary assy(#5). This is a sealed bearing and one side of the bearing seal had came loose from the bearing. This let all the grease out of the bearing. The cage had just begun to come apart, and the small peices were laying in the corner of the case. This bearing is a common bearing which can be purchase at local parts store. the part number on the bearing is a 6203. You can purchase at NAPA.

I have just over 1000 miles on the M8 SP. I would advise any one if you see any discoloration/contaminated oil to pull the cover and take a look. Only cost less than 20.00 with oil to fix. 09 diamond drives also holds about 14 ounces of oil, not 3 oz. like earlier diamond drives. just wanted to pass on to maybe save someone a headache while riding. I was lucky.

76FOMOCO · May 15, 2009

RickM said:
I was doing the end of season maintenance today. I decided to drain the oil on the diamond drive. Pulled the plug and had a catch can under the belly pan to catch the oil. Oil came out pretty dark looking. I decided to pull the cover and clean out the inside of any residue left.After pulling off the cover I noticed some metal pieces in the rear corner where it had been laying out of the way of the gears. A not good feeling now is going thru my head, something is wrong.

Upon further inspection, I found that the gear transfer (#12 on parts manual ) had a bad bearing (#11) which goes into the planetary assy(#5). This is a sealed bearing and one side of the bearing seal had came loose from the bearing. This let all the grease out of the bearing. The cage had just begun to come apart, and the small peices were laying in the corner of the case. This bearing is a common bearing which can be purchase at local parts store. the part number on the bearing is a 6203. You can purchase at NAPA.

I have just over 1000 miles on the M8 SP. I would advise any one if you see any discoloration/contaminated oil to pull the cover and take a look. Only cost less than 20.00 with oil to fix. 09 diamond drives also holds about 14 ounces of oil, not 3 oz. like earlier diamond drives. just wanted to pass on to maybe save someone a headache while riding. I was lucky.

this is real good info, but should be warranted by the dealer

RickM · May 16, 2009

Thanks for the reply, I know it should be warranty work, but I had it down for serveice and for the price of the bearing i just fixed it, if the gears or any thing else would have been bad i would have taken it to the dealer which is 130 miles away. Time is money and i just didnt want to have to go leave it and then go pick it up later. I will make them aware of it, just in case of any future issues.

diggerdown · May 16, 2009

I think it would be wise to flush the case and change the oil within the first 500 miles on a new sled. The gears will be "broke in" by then and it is important to get the fine particles out. That may not have been the cause of your failure, but I think it would be a good PM item.

krom · May 16, 2009

FYI:
All gearcases on sleds with engine reverse hold 15 oz of fluid, cat has 15 oz bottles much cheaper than buying a 12 and a 3..

rcr1978 · May 16, 2009

The question I have is why is there sealed bearings inside a gear case? I remember cleaning mine out and was wondering why there was some sealed ones in there, thought about it for a while and figured maybe to keep metal contaminents from the gears out or reduced drag from oil?

snowmobiler · May 16, 2009

check the brake side too.cheap gumball machine sealed bearings.

RickM · May 16, 2009

The one side of the bearing seal just seperated from the bearing, it was still on the inside on the shaft so it could not fall off. With the seal gone it let the bearing run on limited amount of oil. The cage started to fall apart from the bearings starting to sieze and swisting the bearing cage. I pulled the planetary out and cleaned the entire case. no worries now of foreigh material in DD. I am concerned and only hope this was a fluke on the bearing mfg. I went back with a SKF sealed bearing. Just change oil often and look at the drained oil for contaminates to be on the safe side.

diggerdown · May 17, 2009

It might be a good thing to get a rare-earth magnet and glue it to the bottom of the case.

BD-Xtreme · May 17, 2009

All 2009 M and Xfire drive units came with 6203 sealed bearings. The 6203 bearing is failing because of excessive loads on the bearing due to the 1" further spacing that it has compared to the earlier forward only units. We have the 5203 bearing that is a double row bearing that will handle the excessive loads. These bearings are sealed because of the centrifical forces will not allow outside oil to get to the pocket bearing when at high speed operation. You can get this bearing individually or in the bearing kit. All 2009 M owners should replace this bearing to avoid future problems. Call us for info. 507-824-9966.

Ray

RickM · May 17, 2009

BD-Xtreme, thanks for the information on the bearing, I will be calling you monday.

sledtahoe · May 17, 2009

Discoloration

Have a 05 m7 and change about every 5-600 miles and is always dark compared to out of bottle.Have 4000 miles on it now no problems so far, maybe time to crack it open....

type_a_positive · May 18, 2009

Does the BDX DD-lite also need a bearing update?

BD-Xtreme · May 18, 2009

All of our BDX Diamond Lite drives come with the 5203 double row bearings and coming this fall will have our exclusive HT (high torque) planetary and ring gear for the 300 plus HP sleds. We will have more info on this in 2 months.
Thanks, Ray

Kid Rock · May 18, 2009

Warranty?

Is cat going to cover this under warranty?

snowblind · May 18, 2009

racers found this problem out early in the season on the HCRs. By afton many had failed. oddly enough a wider replacement bearing also failed in one weekend.
cat should send out an update service bulletin, but won't if we keep fixing it ourselves.
chris

moyiesledhead · May 20, 2009

sledtahoe said:
Have a 05 m7 and change about every 5-600 miles and is always dark compared to out of bottle.Have 4000 miles on it now no problems so far, maybe time to crack it open....

I "always" open my case when I do an oil change. I've found 2 failing bearings before they did any damage. It's worth the little bit of time it takes to pull it apart.

RickM · May 22, 2009

5203 Wide Bearing

Got the #5203 wide bearing from Ray at BD-Xtreme yesterday. Got it installed and all ready to go again, I would sure advise the 09 owners to check the bearing that i mentioned in my original post. May save you a headache next season. Rickm

JHG · May 22, 2009

What's BDX's price on the 5203 bearing?

RickM · May 22, 2009

Ray at BD-Xtreme charged me $15.95 plus shipping. I beleive that is a better price than purchasing locally. He mentioned that they had a lot of miles using this bearing. They shipped the same day as I ordered. He was
very informative with me. Hope this helps you out.

2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

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