Anybody else have their bulkhead crack with out having hit anything?

[600xc4me]

Well i just got my sled back today from having the steering hoop replaced by my dealer. And as im going over it for storage i notice my bulkhead is cracked. What the dog! Its cracked at the base of the shock tower on the pto side of the sled. Right under where your VES hose goes through to drain extra oil into your bulkhead. Crack is all the way across the shock tower under the hood, then runs out to the outside of the bulkhead behind the shock. Over all its about three inches long. The mag side is just starting as well. Has a hairline crack about two inches long starting on the out side of the bulkhead and working its way in along the base of the shock tower. Same as the other side. Only its just started. I thought there chassis were near bomb proof? I haven't hit a thing and after 2000 miles i have a cracked bulkhead? I cant post pics as i only have internet access through my phone right now. But my dealer has them too. Maybe he'll be a dear and post them for me. Anybody else seen this happen? Can this kind of thing be welded?

 

[Vertical]

Here are some pics

 

[Jkinzer]

that looks worse than mine and mine took a ton of abuse!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

 

[600xc4me]

Yeah believe it or not i thought of you instantly when i saw it. I wouldn't say mine is worse, for most part its still straight, but the crack is quite bad. I dont get how its possible that mine would do this.

 

[rmkboxer]

I might as well be the first to ask, why did you get the steering hoop replaced?

 

[600xc4me]

I figured that question was coming. good question. It was broken off just above the side chassis braces on both sides. Why i have no idea. I also snapped a steering post this winter. thought maybe my riser was to blame. Have only rolled the sled over to get unstuck, never rolled down the mountain, never endoed, never hit anything big enough to do that kind of damage. I have bent one a arm. But it was on the side that is better off right now. So i honestly dont know where this comes from. So since i doubt that polaris will do any thing about this, im wondering whats my best option? Can that be welded? Or am i up the creek? Is stock polaris the only way to go for replacement?

 

[skibreeze]

I have ridden the piss out of mine, endo'd it, rolled it. Pretty much you name it and I don't have cracks.

There are 2 things I'd look to blame there. One is, somehow the welding job was done improperly. Second, you have some kind of bad harmonics causing the fatigue.

 

[600xc4me]

Good thoughts there ski... I know of a guy also who endoed his when we had three inches of snow. Bent everything BUT the bulkhead. I have a tri city polaris bumper that mounts directly to the front of the bulkhead, but i dont get how that could cause it to crack here? Any thoughts from anybody on welding this?

 

[rmkboxer]

I have been beating the piss out of my sled everytime I rode it this yr. only crack I have is on my hood, how do you brake so much and not hit anything?

 

[skibreeze]

I also have a TCP on my 08, Skins on my 07, both are at @ 2,000 miles. I was just at a welding shop last week picking up my TCP bumper from having it rewelded after tagging a tree hard. He was saying that vibration actually "work hardens" alum and welding it anneals the metal, making it less brittle again. I don't know crap about this, just what he told me.

 

[C S Fever]

Shouldn't be a big issue to weld it! If you know someone that can TIG weld aluminium they could do a real nice job on those cracks. It can also be MIG welded with a spool gun or a short cable gun. The most important thing is cleaning up the area to be welded so there is no impurities in the welded area and making it easy enough to get at(pulling the plastics,suspension, motor, etc.) to do a good job. Sorry there isn't really an easy way to do this. I have Mig welded a couple of tunnels and a cooler that encountered a stump and they have held very well. The sled with the cooler welded has over 1000 trouble free miles. The nice thing about welding a bulkhead is there is a lot of meat there to weld to so it will take a bit more heat than a tunnel does. If you get some burn through you can use a piece of steel as a heatsink on the otherside of the weld to keep the weld from falling away. Good Luck with this, it sounds harder than it really is and a good welder can do this without too much trouble!

 

[600xc4me]

I have been beating the piss out of my sled everytime I rode it this yr. only crack I have is on my hood, how do you brake so much and not hit anything?

THAT, is what i want to know. my steering post snapped when i pulled on the bars to get into a wheelie, i noticed my steering hoop as i was unloading my sled after our last trip. i also beat my sled quite hard but never had a crash that would give reason for any of these failures.

I also have a TCP on my 08, Skins on my 07, both are at @ 2,000 miles. I was just at a welding shop last week picking up my TCP bumper from having it rewelded after tagging a tree hard. He was saying that vibration actually "work hardens" alum and welding it anneals the metal, making it less brittle again. I don't know crap about this, just what he told me.

interesting. so in other words he was saying welding can make it stronger? i also need to have my tcp welded, the mounting tabs are cracked like so many are.....

 

[theshadowrider]

I figured that question was coming. good question. It was broken off just above the side chassis braces on both sides. Why i have no idea. I also snapped a steering post this winter. thought maybe my riser was to blame. Have only rolled the sled over to get unstuck, never rolled down the mountain, never endoed, never hit anything big enough to do that kind of damage. I have bent one a arm. But it was on the side that is better off right now. So i honestly dont know where this comes from. So since i doubt that polaris will do any thing about this, im wondering whats my best option? Can that be welded? Or am i up the creek? Is stock polaris the only way to go for replacement?

Maybe your buddies are taking your sled out without you know? Crazy!

 

[600xc4me]

Shouldn't be a big issue to weld it! If you know someone that can TIG weld aluminium they could do a real nice job on those cracks. It can also be MIG welded with a spool gun or a short cable gun. The most important thing is cleaning up the area to be welded so there is no impurities in the welded area and making it easy enough to get at(pulling the plastics,suspension, motor, etc.) to do a good job. Sorry there isn't really an easy way to do this. I have Mig welded a couple of tunnels and a cooler that encountered a stump and they have held very well. The sled with the cooler welded has over 1000 trouble free miles. The nice thing about welding a bulkhead is there is a lot of meat there to weld to so it will take a bit more heat than a tunnel does. If you get some burn through you can use a piece of steel as a heatsink on the otherside of the weld to keep the weld from falling away. Good Luck with this, it sounds harder than it really is and a good welder can do this without too much trouble!

Thanks. Good to hear from a welder. I have an uncle who works in a fab shop, has a good twenty years there so he should be able to do a good job. My main concern was straigth. If thats not a problem then i'll start picking it apart.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

I figured that question was coming. good question. It was broken off just above the side chassis braces on both sides. Why i have no idea. I also snapped a steering post this winter. thought maybe my riser was to blame. Have only rolled the sled over to get unstuck, never rolled down the mountain, never endoed, never hit anything big enough to do that kind of damage. I have bent one a arm. But it was on the side that is better off right now. So i honestly dont know where this comes from. So since i doubt that polaris will do any thing about this, im wondering whats my best option? Can that be welded? Or am i up the creek? Is stock polaris the only way to go for replacement?

600, let me ask, do you run the stock shocks, and do you bottom them often? I noticed on my 08 with the soft shocks that it was bottoming hard enough to bend the lower a-arms ...put stiffer shocks on the next season and no more problems with bending arms, but mine started to get a gap just like yours did before I changed the shocks....mine hasnt cracked(although I will look closer now) but if it does bottom often enough and hard enough, I bet it will crack as yours is....
when you weld it, I would add a couple small gussets to restrenghten the area so it doesnt happen again as well...

 

[guidoxpress]

the bent steering issues could be caused by very tall risers..but the bulkhead cracks got me..

is it covered with warranty still?

hows the knee bud...send me a PM...just got my ACL done yesterday

 

[600xc4me]

600, let me ask, do you run the stock shocks, and do you bottom them often? I noticed on my 08 with the soft shocks that it was bottoming hard enough to bend the lower a-arms ...put stiffer shocks on the next season and no more problems with bending arms, but mine started to get a gap just like yours did before I changed the shocks....mine hasnt cracked(although I will look closer now) but if it does bottom often enough and hard enough, I bet it will crack as yours is....
when you weld it, I would add a couple small gussets to restrenghten the area so it doesnt happen again as well...

Good question. I have fox floats though. Original owner put them on when the sled had around 200 miles. I run it without a sway car. So i have them pretty stiff. Never bottomed the front shocks once in the 1400 miles i have had the sled. Im not sure if the original owner could have bottomed enough in 200 miles with stock shocks to cause this. But i guess its possible. But wouldn't it be worse by now? After 1400 miles since it would have happened? Thanks yes ill talk to him and see what he thinks he can do in there to make it stronger.

 

[C S Fever]

600, let me ask, do you run the stock shocks, and do you bottom them often? I noticed on my 08 with the soft shocks that it was bottoming hard enough to bend the lower a-arms ...put stiffer shocks on the next season and no more problems with bending arms, but mine started to get a gap just like yours did before I changed the shocks....mine hasnt cracked(although I will look closer now) but if it does bottom often enough and hard enough, I bet it will crack as yours is....
when you weld it, I would add a couple small gussets to restrenghten the area so it doesnt happen again as well...

AKSNOW is right if there is room put in some gussets do it, it would only make it stronger!

 

[600xc4me]

the bent steering issues could be caused by very tall risers..but the bulkhead cracks got me..

is it covered with warranty still?

hows the knee bud...send me a PM...just got my ACL done yesterday

Yes im thinking so as well... It is yeah. My dealer will see what polaris says. but he said if they warranty it, it will likely use up all the extended warranty i have left. Seeing as it is only good until they have as much into your sled in warranty as the sled is worth. Its good till the 13th of this month. Then comes surgery. O nice. Ill send ya a pm here in a bit.

 

[akula]

my 08 D8 163 is in the weld shop right know. found a three inch crack .starts right beside pto front mount. angles foreward to the rivets that attach the bolt backing plate. also cracking across the skip welds next to the mag front mount.