ASSAULT Track Gremlin?

[Hawkster]

I've found the problem, now, I want to know if anyone else has ? I haven't heard one person talk about it. The dealorship has it and they know of the problem and their waiting to hear back from Poo. Anyone noticed that the 146 is discontinued? back to a 144 They need to ask Ski-Doo how they addressed the problem.

 

[MORSNO]

So what is the problem????

 

[G_dub]

Care to enlighten us? I would like to know before I bring one home.

G

 

[tdblakes]

go on...?

 

[mountainhorse]

I'm interested as well as to what your "Gremlin" is?

They did not discontinue the track .... they discontinued the 146 track length... The track itself is still alive and well in the 155 Assault.... same track, just longer.

The reason?.. Polaris needed to be competitive with the other mid 150" length Hill Climb sleds out there and for Homologation rules... it need to be offered as a consumer available product.

The 144" Assault is not an RMK... But a Switchback with shorter lug track and a different suspension. The RMK has a coil spring (coilover-shock) completely re-designed, mountain specific suspension. The Switcback still features the torsion spring suspension from previous years just beefed up a bit.

The only issue I know of with the Assault track is when owners operate the sled in speeds in excess of what Polaris specifies on the large handlebar tag that is on the sled when you buy it. I believe it says do not exceed 70 mph with this track. Some people that have had paddles de-laminate from the track belting.. this happens when, INTERNALLY, the lug root overheats (and not from lack of scratchers or too high of coolant temp). When the lug root overheats, the rubber physically changes and de-laminates from the track belting. Now, the lug may not come loose for a while after the damage happens but the damage has been done and lug problems caused by operating outside of the tracks intended design limits can pop up later.

This is, 99% of the time, caused by ignoring the warning provided by Polaris on their tall-lug tracks.

If your sled did not have this tag on the bars when you bought it, the dealer took it off; which they are not supposed to do... But the info is also in your owners manual.

All tall lug, tracks, especially stiff ones like the the Polaris Comp track and the CE extreme, cannot be run at high speed on hardpack backcountry situations or trails and be expected to last.

 

[Hawkster]

LMAO you guys are hillarious! I'll try my best,and of course you know I could be way out in left field. What I found is that the drivers partially walk the track constantly. It's really easy to find once your looking for it.turn the track either direction and when it starts resisting look at the drivers only a couple walk while the others are still in place and watch what happens to the extrovert it does this constantly and since this 800 has some torque not horse power it's not really noticeable unless your rolling down a steep descent or pulling it off a trailor. This sled lives in the mountains so the lugs will last but the extrovert will break it. If I'm right about this can I get a job with Polaris? The 2011 snow check 144 Assault is coming with the 2 inch lug from what I've been told. I still think it's a great track.

 

[AndrettiDog]

LMAO you guys are hillarious!

Why? Cuz everyone wants to know what the hell you are talking about? When a guy comes on with one post and makes a claim with no information, people have a tendency to ask what gives.

 

[MNSLEDNECK56308]

One heck of a sentence here......Still not 100% what you are saying.
turn the track either direction and when it starts resisting look at the drivers only a couple walk while the others are still in place and watch what happens to the extrovert it does this constantly and since this 800 has some torque not horse power it's not really noticeable unless your rolling down a steep descent or pulling it off a trailor.

I have an 09 with 2.5 camo ext and haven't noticed any of said issues. Other than an iced up center driver one time!

 

[theshadowrider]

One heck of a sentence here......Still not 100% what you are saying.
turn the track either direction and when it starts resisting look at the drivers only a couple walk while the others are still in place and watch what happens to the extrovert it does this constantly and since this 800 has some torque not horse power it's not really noticeable unless your rolling down a steep descent or pulling it off a trailor.

I have an 09 with 2.5 camo ext and haven't noticed any of said issues. Other than an iced up center driver one time!

What do you have done to your 09 in order to run your 2.5 camo ext? Do you like the track? Sorry I know this is off topic, I think?

 

[Hawkster]

Sorry about the confusion Sledneck, the dealor thought I was an idiot till I showed him on mine and one other that just happened to be sitting there, now they've had it for a month and Polaris is trying to figure out how to fix it. lift the sled up and turn the track by hand the track will free wheel easily and then it will all of a sudden get a lot harder to turn by hand ( notice also the track gets real tight) now look at the drivers, only a couple will walk the lugs while the rest are still in place it does not ratchet the track completely when this happens the extrovert goes inside the track against the fiberglass poles in the track that's how Assaults are breaking tracks it does that to the Assault Comp track that they come with. if you have at least a 1000 miles you will also notice that the top of the lugs are glazed from the drivers constantly running partially over them. I'm just trying to find out if anyone has noticed this but it seems most have nuked the track one way or another so they never found the real problem I guess?

 

[tdblakes]

so what i'm getting out of this is that you think that a 2.86 pitch driver in combo with a 146" track makes the track walk to one or the other side of the tunnel? I noticed this happening when I switched from my comp track to the 2.4" series 5.1 track. And when I put the comp track back in, it stopped doing it. On a closer look, my tunnel was a little twisted and the rails were slightly bent. I would guess you have something bent on your sled if its doing this. I haven't seen this brought up by anyone else yet, but you never know. thanks for pointing it out and I'm sure people will be looking for it now. maybe its true, but I bet your sled is tweaked somewhere. I read on here somewhere that tunnels off the assembly line were tweaked... maybe thats the issue?

 

[Hawkster]

She's strait as an arrow tdblakes. Both of the outside drivers walk at the same time evenly . The driver pitch on the Assaults are wrong for that track. when it partially walks the lugs the extrovert goes inside the track against the fiberglass poles and press hard against the center of the track very hard.until the outside drivers correct themselves then the extrovert pops back out. So what I'm also saying is that the extrovert is doing abosutely nothing it does not stop the track from partially ratching and then it goes back into place. This is my wifes sled, her last one retired after chasing the Hawk for 10,000 miles and counting. Thank you for being considerate.

 

[mountainhorse]

So are you saying that the drivers are moving on the shaft?

 

[mountainhorse]

Post up some pics.

 

[Hawkster]

That drive shaft is about the same size as a aluminum bat I can't imagine anything moving on that. I will transfer the pictures to the computer from my phone. The dealorship has the machine, kind of complicates it for me .

 

[retiredpop]

The pitch of 2.86 is correct for that track. Actually it should be 2.862745 and it probably is if you could measure it accurately.

Are you sure this problem occurs when the track is on the ground and the suspension is not hanging?

Are you turning the track with the driven clutch or pulling on the track to turn it by hand?

Are the drivers located properly on the drive shaft? Are the extroverts going exactly into the center of the window or are they off to one side or the other?

 

[tdblakes]

Did that drive shaft bearing blow out (on the speedo side) making your driveshaft lean one way making your drivers walk onto your track? just tossing out ideas...

 

[retiredpop]

I don't see how the track can go slowly 'out of sync ' if you want to call it that until the drivers climb up onto a track drive cog. At any given time there should be 4 lugs of the driver between the drive nubs on the track which should keep it running where it should. Even if the pitch was very slightly out of spec it should be self correcting. Are you sure they put the right track and or drivers on the sled? I am thinking 2.54 drivers vs 2.86 drivers.

 

[mountainhorse]

I checked out 2 assault 146's yesterday (neighbors)...one '09 one '10... no walking issue there.... 2 riding buddies here also have Assaults... one Turbo and one NA.. both ridden harder than 99% of sledders have the ability to ride. No problems.

I do NOT doubt that you are having problems.... So don't read this the wrong way... We are trying to help you out.

If your drivers are walking up on the involute drive nubs inside the track and causing center extrovert driver to ride up on the rubber between the windows in the center of track.... and/or the involute drivers (the 2 outboard drivers on the shaft) are riding up on the involute drive nubs.... Consider these things.

1) Your track may not be at the proper tension (10 lbs of weight placed between the rails 14-16" fwd of the rear axle with 3/8" - 1/2" of space showing between the track and the rail)

2) The drive sprockets may not be indexed on the drive shaft spline correctly... That is, the sprocket teeth are not in-line with each other...this would be a mfg problem where the sprockets were not pressed on the shaft in the correct relationship to each other.

3) The sprockets may not be positioned correctly on the drive shaft with the 2 outboard drivers positioned directly in the center of the 2 involute nub rows and the center extrovert driver positioned squarely in the center of the middle driver window.... all with the track centered in the tunnel when installed.

4) Your drive shaft may be bent (you would not be able to check this with the shaft in the sled)

The driver/drive shaft assembly on the 2009 Assault is the same part as used on the 2008 Dragons RMK's and Assaults... all 2.86" pitch Pt # 1590491 (supercedes from 1590451) All the 2010's (and 2009 Dragon RMK's) ran a different part number Drive shaft...PN 1590470 .... The 470 is about $120 more... Not sure what the difference is though.

Not much chance that the wrong pitch drivers were installed on your drive shaft. Before being installed in the sled, the shaft is trued in a lathe on the outer drivers so it goes thru more than on QC check in 2 different locations... It COULD, however, have the sprockets improperly indexed or spaced on the shaft.

 

[mountainhorse]

The stock Polaris/PPD 2.54" drivers are Black plastic

The Stock Polaris/PPD 2.86" pitch outer drivers are Milk colored plastic.

There is only one size of center Extrovert driver from Polaris... that is a 2.86" pitch.

I'm not a fan of the center driver at all... I've cut it out of all the builds I've helped with.

IMO... the center driver is more of a hindrance than a help.