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09 m sleds cracking in front of steering post on the bulkhead ,whf? sled has less than 500 miles never been wrecked or rolled better check yours I wonder what cat will do about this one?
09 bulkheads not holding up
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i think all years have this problem. As my 07 and my bros 06 did the same. Had a few more miles on ours before it happened though.
It is unlikely that an 06 or 05 would have this problem without SERIOUS impact, but 07 & newer are the same. (I've cracked 4 of them now) The 09 I think is just increased somehow with the slop in the bars, mine cracked in 600 miles with no crashes, never even left my hands once. (I jump a lot though, but it should handle that) Cat would not take care of it despite my flawless hood & post/bars shoing it had never recieved a real hit.
We have seen a number of the new sleds with this crack, it seems to be a serious weak point.
MPMINC on here has a good fix for it if you're near Denver, mine took a nasty roll down a hill last weekend, beat the piss out if the hood (tears!), the post is done & it didn't mess up his fix.
The 09 posts are garbage too, there are 3 or 4 at the shop right now, all snapped in the same place.
Btw, if you look the 05-06's the post is mounted right behind the cooler so it's a strong support, after the bigger motors came out in 07 they moved the post back which gave it more chance to flex, poor design.
We have seen a number of the new sleds with this crack, it seems to be a serious weak point.
MPMINC on here has a good fix for it if you're near Denver, mine took a nasty roll down a hill last weekend, beat the piss out if the hood (tears!), the post is done & it didn't mess up his fix.
The 09 posts are garbage too, there are 3 or 4 at the shop right now, all snapped in the same place.
Btw, if you look the 05-06's the post is mounted right behind the cooler so it's a strong support, after the bigger motors came out in 07 they moved the post back which gave it more chance to flex, poor design.
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Im in ut could you explain the fix to me ?
K
Klimbing Kitty
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A pic won't show sh*t with the pipe on & the top end on.
It's the spot where the bulkhead laps over the tunnel, right in front of where the post mounts to it.
The fix for my sled was a 1/4" piece of plate alum tigged to the bulkhead & riveted to the tunnel, it has held up great so far.
If you look close (a light helps) you will find that MANY sleds have this crack to some extent, mine was completely disconnected, much worse than most.
Even my wife's sled is cracked there, small crack, but sucks all the same. I went back to my 07 bulkhead sitting in the yard for scrap,that I thought was fine, it was cracked, looked at another customers sled....
crappy deal.
It's the spot where the bulkhead laps over the tunnel, right in front of where the post mounts to it.
The fix for my sled was a 1/4" piece of plate alum tigged to the bulkhead & riveted to the tunnel, it has held up great so far.
If you look close (a light helps) you will find that MANY sleds have this crack to some extent, mine was completely disconnected, much worse than most.
Even my wife's sled is cracked there, small crack, but sucks all the same. I went back to my 07 bulkhead sitting in the yard for scrap,that I thought was fine, it was cracked, looked at another customers sled....
crappy deal.
Never had any problems on the 05 and I went trew a handfull of steering post. Just checked the 09 and so far so good.
do a search there are some pic I think, just take some parts off, pipe, gas tank, ect.and have a fab shop weld it and plate it to make it stronger.
did 07+ change up on post to an 05 M7 because the top of cooler cracked twice under post causing a coolant leak. I had to really take a look when one of my mechanics told the coolant leak the customer brought sled in for was the steering column. removed motor, column and welded crack and it lasted 200 miles and was leaking again. Moved steering post back to 07 (with new 07 post of course) position (BTW you need 07+ tank to clear post turning right) and also welded a piece of angle 3/16 aluminum to bulkhead edge to give better support for new post than the 07+ ups have. Gave the 05 bars a good rise equivalent to a 5 inch riser. Guy really likes the position. I will have to really look at my 08 M1200 which I have bent post on in past and I recently had tank off and didn't notice a crack but will check closer.
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top of machine
This is a post of mine from a different thread but I had the same issue earlier in the season and fixed it myself. If you fix it this way it will never break again.
As mentioned above I had the same problem earlier in the year. I ended up fixing it myself instead of replacing the bulk head and tunnel. I bet it looks something like this
I ended up buying some aluminum that was the same thickness as the bulkhead material that broke cutt it to the shape I needed and took it down and had it welded. I lapped this piece over the tunnel a lot more then AC did like 5 inches more. I am hard on chit so I realy beefed it up, I then ground the weld down flush and layed another sheet of aluminum on top of the one that was welded to the bulkhead and made one end flush with the front of the bulkhead and the other end flush with the other end of the plate below. Since my tunnel was cracked as well just like your buddies I proceded to take another sheet of aluminum same thickness and put it on the bottom side of the tunnel. Its hell for stought now and I can imagine it ever breaking again.
This was not a super hard project but takes some time. You have to stip the tank, steering post, and electrical crap that is bolted to the top of the tunnel. You then have to take out all of the rivets that will interfer with putting the plates in. Once you get the first sheet welded in you will have to drill from the bottom up to make all of your holes and then proceed to do this for the next plate on top and drill down for the last plate on the bottom. I bought new bolts for the electronics and used rivets in other areas like the corner of the plates where I felt I needed them. the bolt on the steering post will be long enought to do this. The brass looking piece with that the steering post bolts through that has the stops on it I used rouned fillup bolts that ened up sticking up a little to high so I had to grind the down a bit so the steering post would not rub on them.
I wish I had more pics but I don't think I took a lot, I will check. If your buddy has any questions I would be more then happy to help him out.
As mentioned above I had the same problem earlier in the year. I ended up fixing it myself instead of replacing the bulk head and tunnel. I bet it looks something like this
I ended up buying some aluminum that was the same thickness as the bulkhead material that broke cutt it to the shape I needed and took it down and had it welded. I lapped this piece over the tunnel a lot more then AC did like 5 inches more. I am hard on chit so I realy beefed it up, I then ground the weld down flush and layed another sheet of aluminum on top of the one that was welded to the bulkhead and made one end flush with the front of the bulkhead and the other end flush with the other end of the plate below. Since my tunnel was cracked as well just like your buddies I proceded to take another sheet of aluminum same thickness and put it on the bottom side of the tunnel. Its hell for stought now and I can imagine it ever breaking again.
This was not a super hard project but takes some time. You have to stip the tank, steering post, and electrical crap that is bolted to the top of the tunnel. You then have to take out all of the rivets that will interfer with putting the plates in. Once you get the first sheet welded in you will have to drill from the bottom up to make all of your holes and then proceed to do this for the next plate on top and drill down for the last plate on the bottom. I bought new bolts for the electronics and used rivets in other areas like the corner of the plates where I felt I needed them. the bolt on the steering post will be long enought to do this. The brass looking piece with that the steering post bolts through that has the stops on it I used rouned fillup bolts that ened up sticking up a little to high so I had to grind the down a bit so the steering post would not rub on them.
I wish I had more pics but I don't think I took a lot, I will check. If your buddy has any questions I would be more then happy to help him out.
If I remember right the plates I used were 6" X13" at what ever thickness the bulkhead is and I used three of them.
This is a post of mine from a different thread but I had the same issue earlier in the season and fixed it myself. If you fix it this way it will never break again.
QUOTE]
ok, sorry, it seemed like mine was harder to see. Mine looked like that but with the tunnel completely cut where the bulkhead was cracked.
My tunnel had cracked about 3"-4" right where the bolt comes through along the same line as the bulkhead.
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Thanks every one fix under way.
