Broken Spring Steel Reeds

[Tewstroke]

We found three broken corner pieces missing from our spring steel reed petals after one, fifty mile ride on a TM1200. The pieces were small ( about 7mm x 4 mm) and we haven't found any engine or turbo damage.

Glenn Hall has recalled those he sold.

Pro's Choice will be figuring out why they have broken.
One explanation given was the direction of the metal grain being perpendicular to the length of the petal instead of along the length as was done on the other petals (ie. for the Yamaha applications). The engineers are going to check them out.

We're glad that Glenn was proactive in recommending the removal of the reeds. Probably saved us some major damage.


Will post photos when available.

 

[KAWGRN]

Yep!! of all the things I have heard this problem sounds the scarriest to ME!!!!!!!

 

[Tewstroke]

We found three corners missing like this:

 

[Quadzillaracer]

I definately would like to address the issue we've began to see with a couple sets of our "Arctic Cat" brand specific reed petals.

I spent much time this past weekend with our machinist and engineer of our particular grade of spring steel to find the problem. I have seen the photos and tested further on the Cat petals we had in stock and the issue has occured only in a few of the Arctic Cat sets that were sold.

We couldn't figure out why our standard Polaris sized reeds and much larger Dragon/ CFI reeds have worked flawless with no failures reported back to us. Plus, as I've said before, we have been operating our Turbo Vmax-4 spring steel reeds since early fall and have been problem free with over 36 psi of boost on the same set.

When we laid all sets side by side to inspect, the problem we found was pretty clear. As Tewstroke reported, the "grain" structure of our Arctic Cat reeds flowed across the width of the petal instead of flowing from mounting base to petal tip. This creates a weakness on the tips and center of the Arctic Cat reeds as evident by his photos. The tips will pre-maturely wear away because of the grain flow direction is weaker.

I think its an issue that has affected a few customers now and yet we have customers with almost 1000 miles on the same set of our Arctic Cat reeds running up to 20 psi of boost. Regardless, the issue has been addressed now and appropriate actions taken to cure the issue. All future orders and current orders will receive their reeds with the new layout design. To also clear any confusion for our Polaris and Yamaha customers, your reeds have the correct layout and strength, this was just an isolated problem with the "Arctic Cat" reeds only.

For those of you riders that purchased "Arctic Cat" reeds from Pro's Choice Power & Performance directly and were originally willing to test and give me feedback, you will be receiving a new complimentary set of our updated Arctic Cat reeds to prevent any possible issues even though they are still operating satisfactory.

I would like to close this by saying I apologize for any issues this may have caused and I'm very thankful no engine damage occured or was reported. It was an issue that just recently began to rear its ugly head and with many of our customers racking up lots of miles on the same set it was hard to determine the real problem, thankfully it was just something as simple, yet important as the layout.

Anybody with questions may contact me directly at 715-271-5487

Thank you,

Justin Durand
Pro's Choice Power & Performance

 

[hatchers]

good lord you type a lot and make simple things seem complicated...

"the metal grain is side to side when it should be up and down"

 

[Quadzillaracer]

Wow, sorry there Hatcher, just wanted to make sure things were clear and detailed. Didn't think my description was to hard to comprehend. Plus, for guys that are running our Cat reeds I think they'd rather have a detailed report rather than bits and pieces of the story.

 

[Tewstroke]

Thanks for the follow-up, Justin.

 

[Catman 42]

Well done

I would just like to say thanks to Glenn for acting quickly with what I consider resposible action. I for one pulled the reeds out when he took action instead of waiting to see how many sledders would end up with engine damage. Turns out my friend Tewstroke did have some breakage and hopefully no engine damage. I realize that some risk had to be taken by sledders but as soon as some trouble was encountered Glenn got the word out. I could go on and on but I will stop now before Hatchers blows a gasket.

 

[Jeff K]

Justin, e-mail sent. Thanks for the update!

 

[Tewstroke]

The three missing corners went through my engine.

 

[RACINSTATION]

Justin and Glen: Good job on taking care of this problem swiftly and effectively. I am sure if there were any engine damage issues thus far you would have heard about them loud and clear.a

 

[Tewstroke]

No engine damage seen on top end. Not motivated to tear apart the bottom end just to inspect. It's our hope that the pieces went on through and didn't get to the crank or other vital places. We'll keep riding and see what happens!

 

[spoon]

Was Turbo inspected for damage to exhaust wheel?

 

[Tewstroke]

No exhaust wheel damage seen with a scope.

 

[Quadzillaracer]

Just wanted to give a quick update on the new replacement reed sets. I will be sending out our all new updated "Arctic Cat" replacement reed petals on Thursday the 18th. I will be sending the new sets to all who placed an order thru me. You can probley expect to see your new replacement sets around early to mid next week thru UPS.

The evidence is pretty clear after recieving some returns and photos. The wrong layout of the grain played a huge part in many premature reed failures. This change should make things hold up much better. Also for the Arctic Cat Turbo guys who have new orders in now and waiting for the updated kits, they will also shipout tomorrow as well.

A couple other issues I would like to address after seeing some returns come in... Please use your "Stock" Arctic Cat reed cages, not aftermarket cages. I received one set back that had the fastening holes re-drilled (crooked) to fit an aftermarket cage and further more they must have slipped after being fastened as we could see that the reed stops wore into the blueing but crooked again... Finally, I'd suggest using your stock full reed stops, we had another set returned where the customer machined off the reed stops and left enough material just to clamp the reed to cage. Just a couple of issues I wanted to address.

Thanks again,

Justin

 

[KMOD]

Broke Reeds

Here are mine after 11 gal of fuel at 14lbs boost.
Not to pretty but better looking than my piston!!!!!
I will pull the engine and take it apart to inspect the bottom end.
Don't run these reeds until they are proven on Cats.
Kevin

 

[little_orange_cat]

Here are mine after 11 gal of fuel at 14lbs boost.
Not to pretty but better looking than my piston!!!!!
I will pull the engine and take it apart to inspect the bottom end.
Don't run these reeds until they are proven on Cats.
Kevin

i caught mine right before a one of the pettals was about to break of how dose your turbo look?

 

[Tewstroke]

Looked down the power valve holes yesterday and only saw very small indentations on the exhaust edge of the pistons above the top ring and a couple of small marks on the top of the piston. Looks like the small chunks of spring steel bounced around. My pieces were pretty small, so I hope there is only minor damage. It's running well, so I'm just gonna' run it!

 

[KMOD]

i caught mine right before a one of the pettals was about to break of how dose your turbo look?

Garrett 3071 and the turbine wheel looks ok, no noticeable damage.

Tewstroke look at the ring lands in the piston that's were i seen little chunks of metal embedded in the piston and ring.
The top of the piston looks like you described but I will bet the head could need a little clean up also.
And I here IP is pretty good riding right now.
Kevin

 

[hughesfoundation]

OK, it's been a while can anyone give an update on the new design of the reeds for the Cat?