2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

[Makaialaska]

Baddd Bearing

Thanks to you guys on this forum I checked mine today, I found my bearing was toast. The spacer had pushed up into the bearing and was had the seal riding on it. No cage left in the bearing. My dealer had not heard of this and no word from AC, I am going to put a 5203 in but was trying to justify taking the whole dd out and cleaning it. Looking for any input. I also have a 600 m and was wondering does this apply to that too? Changing the oil does not find this, my dealer said to change it and if no metal good to go. I checked anyway and found the bad bearing. Pic attached, sorry if i am usually a lurker but this is a real problem so I thought I should post. 300 easy miles and this shouldnt happen. Don.

 

[RickM]

Makaialaska

You dont have to take the diamond drive out, Just remove the cover, You can clean it out by removing the big snap ring that holds the planitary gear set in. Once you remove the big planitary you can clean the back part of the housing. It not hard to do. I would recommend any one that replaces the bearing to fully clean and flush out the housing. I dont believe there was a bearing issue with diamond drives prior to 09, be sure and flush the planitary and look for any little pieces of trash in the small gears. On the 09 it takes 15 ounces of oil to refill the diamond drive. This is not a hard job to do,
hope this helps. RickM

 

[Makaialaska]

Thanks for the help

Thanks Rick, had a ton of yamahas, this is my first cat, I love the sled. Just what the doctor ordered, Im just a little bumbed that I have this kind of problem right out of the box. I will pull the dd apart and clean it. I did check around inside after I posted and a lot of little chunks of metal in the case. I guess the 08 m6 with reverse doesnt have the same problem. Wife is bringing the correct bearing down from Anchorage tommorrow so I will slap it all back together this week. thanks Don.

 

[shredjim]

Its so easy why not just take the DD out of the sled? Several pages back, this thread has some great tips by a lot of us on how to get it out easily. I agree with Rick, if your bearing was damaged, clean the whole DD thoroughlly. I think its much easier to do this with the DD out of the sled.

 

[777]

Impressive thread. Thanks to all who have added to it. Mine sleds next I guess.

 

[mrduramax]

Got the bearing from BDX and it is made in china is this right

 

[RickM]

Made in china

every thing is make out of the good old USA now days. so your china bearing will work as good as one made in japan! hi hi,

Putting in Rod Bearing in small block chevy today, Bought "JEGS" bearing inserts, Good stuff, On box its said made in "ISREAL" so how does that toast your nads. your china bearing will work fine. RickM

 

[Makaialaska]

Once again, thanks Rick

Took apart the planetary gear and that is where 90 percent of the metal was cleaned everything up with stoddard solvent and checked the bearings on the large bearings on the gears, one on the top gear was rough with a definite hesitation when it was spun. The other smooth as silk. Will replace with a new peer bearing. Downloaded the 2008 shop manual, couldnt find the 2009 and used that info to remove bearing. If your going to check the problem with the bearing do as Rick advised and pull the snap ring and check in the planetary!! I almost skipped that thinking I had all the metal out with the bearing, totally wrong. Check those 2009s guys AC (at least in Homer, AK) doesnt think there is a problem. Don.

 

[ArcticFX]

put in BDX bearing yesterday...my old bearing was fine...safe vs sorry I guess

 

[I_boondock]

Same Bearing?

This came out of my M8 in 07'.

 

[BacknBlack]

Ouch, that shrapnel pile looks similar to the pile I pulled of my 09 M8 DD!

 

[GettnUnstuck]

put in BDX bearing yesterday...my old bearing was fine...safe vs sorry I guess

Same with mine, 09 m8 1600 miles

 

[silverram323]

So with the way luck works for me, i new it was bad when the bottom left bolt stripped out. Well sure enough there is oil on the floor after 3 days. Whats the best way to fix a stripped out bolt hole?

 

[mr p-j]

So with the way luck works for me, i new it was bad when the bottom left bolt stripped out. Well sure enough there is oil on the floor after 3 days. Whats the best way to fix a stripped out bolt hole?

helicoil / v-coil the result is stronger treads then stock.

 

[ripsass]

^^^Yep^^^

 

[silverram323]

Well I got to work on the striped out bolt hole in the DD today. First I called BD-X and seen if they make or have a fix for striped out holes. He said NOPE but Ill sell ya a new case. I passed on that so I looked up helicoil options. Well there isn't much space for drilling out a bigger hole in the case so I looked to google. I found a guy claiming you can fill the hole with JB WELD and pour dawn dish soap on the bolt and install the bolt and let dry for 48 hrs and then take the screw out and then have new threads. Sounds good but I was leary. I decided to go to a little bigger screw. The torx bolt is a 6mm and I found that a 1/4x20 bolt is a smudge bigger so I started to screw it in the striped out hole and it grabs good. So I backed it out and tapped the hole. 1/4x20 tap. I screwed the new 1/4x20 bolt in the case and snugged it up and it held great (my guess is 15-20 ft lbs. So I was happy that I found a fix for the striped out bolt hole. Well I wanted to pull the cover off the DD unit just to take a quick look just one more time. Well as i pulled the torx bolts out i couldn't believe how much thread shavings were coming out as I was un-threading the bolts. Well I looked around and put the cover back on and started all bolts and started the torque at 8 ft lbs. Well 6 out of 13 bolts striped out at 8 ft lbs. I Decided to re-tap all threads using 1/4x20 3/4 long bolts. I used a Phillips head as that's what the local ace hardware had in stock. The heads were a little bigger then the case would allow so I had to grind them down on the grinding wheel. This is my opinion only. That torx bolt that BD-X uses is not intended to be taken out for the once a yr maintenance, its more like a one time use only (install). It is a self tapping bolt and rips the threads out when you pull the bolts out.

I would definitely recommend that you take the DD gear case out of the sled. It is way easier then one thinks (10 minutes tops, even for the beginner)

1. Loosen up the track.

2. Take out the 16 MM bolt inside of the brake rotor. You will need some extensions.

3. Take off the belt cover on the foot well. (4 t20 bolts)

4. Take off the 8 13mm nuts that hold on the DD unit. Don't touch the rubber mount to the left of the DD unit.

5. Grab the shaft for the secondary clutch and give it a wiggle, and it will separate from the track drivers.

6. Grab a roll of duct tape and set your DD unit on it as a holder.

Now its much easier to work on.

Here are my pictures that i took. As of now 5 hrs later no oil is leaking after my bolt modification.

DISCLAIMER I take no responsibility if you chose to steal my idea and some thing gos wrong. (not sure why it would but i had to say it)


Sorry for the long rant, I just hope it helps out the others that will strip out there holes. If you have any questions, post them.

Stock junk torx bolt.

 

[08nightfire]

Anyone seeing this problem with the 08s?

 

[silverram323]

look at the 4th pic from the bottom. 10/29/07 stamped date. My sled is a 2009 XF8... WTF...

 

[RickM]

ttt

 

[ripsass]

Wow, that sucks. I'm sure mine will go the same way next week when I get into it too.