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Mtn. Top Snowbikes

Well, the bright side, for the skid issue, is that it was assembly and not design so it can be remedied by the owner and also quickly remedied for future assembly. Hope they take care of your friend's kit. Bummer they (and whoever had to help him out) lost a day riding. And probably now has some temporary confidence in the kit, but hopefully once fixed, no more issues and confidence will return. Only way for confidence to return is more and more days with no issues.

Having reliability issues in the back of your mind is no fun while riding. I have that feeling anytime I do major mods, big fixes, or major maintenance. On my 2020 Yeti 129, I just installed a tunnel cooler, new plumbing, replaced chain, removed pulleys to replace cracked belt housing, and did a radiator delete. While I had the entire kit off the bike anyway, I pulled out the entire skid, disassembled and greased everything. Did a couple heat cycles to test plumbing and also an around the yard spin, then back in the shop to check everything over again and will finish buttoning it back up now. As boring as it is, I'll do a 8 to 10 mile shakeout ride on the trail and not venture more than 1/2 miles from the parking lot/trailer, so back and forth. It will break in the new chain (which always loosen up a lot on the first ride) and also let me leisurely stop often and go over everything to look for issues on the trail. Once back in the shop, I will go over everything again before going on a big ride far from the truck. Very boring. Ha. But I do that with all my new kits, snowmobiles, or any big maintenance/upgrade work to build my trust in them. I'm funny like that. Another primary reason is because it's often just my wife and I out riding and 30 miles from the truck and 5 miles from nearest trail isn't where I want issues when it's only her and I. I'm less concerned when riding with buddies because a tow out or rescue will be easier to manage. But I also do it to build my confidence that everything is good to go so I don't have to think about it.

Any more insight into spindle recall?
 
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JimBridger said:
Ok guys. The bogey wheel axle is not loc-tited from the factory. This was a brand new 0 hr kit. This individual rode down 2 miles of trail and as soon as he jumped off the trail and got on it, the axle came partially out and turned sideways. This derailed the track and bent the skid and tunnel.

If you have a mnt top, go loc-tite everything immediately, especially the rear axle. I understand the spindle already has a recall as well.
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So your saying the horsepower of the bike caused all the bent parts when the track derailed? That's hard for me to believe they usually just lock up and stall, but I guess anything is possibly if the forces are just right in the wrong direction!
 
Forgot to tighten my bolt on my MH once. It waited all day to come apart a couple miles from the truck. I scavenged a few things and made it work to get back. Got lucky.
 
M5- said:
I don't care what brand of kit you buy, when you pay close to $10k for it you shouldn't have to go through it and make sure the bolts are tight and Loctited, just sayin.
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I 100% agree that it should not happen nor be necessary. I can, however, see how there can be growing pains for a brand new kit and new assembly process, particularly the first run. At least this is something that, with feedback, they can quickly implement in the assembly process and is also something owners or dealerships can easily check.

Even without loctite, a properly torqued nut would not come off within 2 miles on the first ride, so there is more to this than only missing loctite. It is likely the nut was not torqued to spec, which is something easy to catch with a quick torque wrench once-over when you are first putting the kit on your bike.
 
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I just want to let everyone know that does not already that we are pretty good guys here at MTN.TOP. We are not afraid to admit to a problem like a loose bolt and will 100% take care of the problem. We want our customers to be happy with our products. We have a "Good Guy Warranty" witch means we will help you out even if its not our fault. But we need to have the customer that owns the product call us. I guaranty he will be absolutely satisfied in how we hand the situation.

I want to personally make sure that every MTN.TOP customer knows that we are here for them. I would openly invite anyone with a question, concern, or issue to contact us directly, and hope that everyone who's ever done business with us understands that we resolve our issues and stand behind our products.

Thanks Allen
 
That would never happen on a new sled from any of the manufacturers. The snowbike industry really hasn't changed since 2010. Its always the same story, get it out there fast. The original TS had all kinds of problems, then the Yeti, problems on problems from cracking arms to tunnels, then Mototrax the track derailer, then Camso the side panel cracker etc etc. I mean C'mon the industry needs to get better and more professional. I've been snow biking for a decade and have introduced lots of guys to the sport but there are still so many guys I won't recommend getting into biking because they can't wrench worth a dam. It's the small stuff that does you in from cooling to overheating to you name it add to it that manufacturers are using us as guinea pigs and well......

Good on Mtn Top for stepping up right away here, but still a giant PITA for the guy who has to drag the bike out and deal with it.

M5
 
M5- said:
That would never happen on a new sled from any of the manufacturers. The snowbike industry really hasn't changed since 2010. Its always the same story, get it out there fast. The original TS had all kinds of problems, then the Yeti, problems on problems from cracking arms to tunnels, then Mototrax the track derailer, then Camso the side panel cracker etc etc. I mean C'mon the industry needs to get better and more professional. I've been snow biking for a decade and have introduced lots of guys to the sport but there are still so many guys I won't recommend getting into biking because they can't wrench worth a dam. It's the small stuff that does you in from cooling to overheating to you name it add to it that manufacturers are using us as guinea pigs and well......

Good on Mtn Top for stepping up right away here, but still a giant PITA for the guy who has to drag the bike out and deal with it.

M5
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I’ve seen some 2018 arctic cats lose the anti stab wheel bolt and stab the track in the first ride………

A bunch of polaris 850’s blew up first ride from excessive sealant……..

First ride failures are not entirely unheard of…..
 
I just got a 2023 Aro S Pro, and a buddy got the exact same kit.

I took off the belt cover to inspect it and noticed that the bolt holding on the lower pulley had a gap between the pulley and the washer. It looked loose... I grabbed my sockets and discovered it was indeed loose. I backed it out and put on some red loctite, then torqued it.

I called my buddy to warn him of the problem and he "checked" his by looking at it and said he was good. First ride out he rode for a few hours and then the lower pulley slipped off the shaft (loose bolt!!). He roached his shaft and pulley. Timbersled sent him all the parts and took care of him.

Last year I bought a brand new GasGas bike and didnt bother to check the suspension settings. Turns out the rebound was set 27 clicks out from factory.

Moral of the story is that its ridiculous that we spend this much money to get a product that needs a "once over" before it can be ridden, but that is where we are. Unless you want to end up stranded in the woods you need to check things over before you ride them.
 
OK first off my comments are not directed specifically at MTN Top but at all the snow bike kit manufacturers but apparently they apply to MTN Top as well. If you are marketing a premium product at a premium price in my mind there's NO excuse for stuff like that to happen. Full stop. A design flaw may crop up down the road, fine deal with it then but sloppy assembly, no bueno. We all know how hard it is to find good help these days. If I'm your boss Rule # 1, put down your fawkin phone and concentrate on your job. Rule # 2, no bitchin about rule 1.

All that said, sure you can always find a story about a sled failure here and there but you need to also consider the sheer sales volume difference between snow bike kits and sleds. I'll bet its 20:1 or more. Polaris/TS is not a company I would draw to as a role model for quality control. Look at the dirt bikes themselves, pretty solid out of the box KTM, Yamaha, Honda more so when you consider how many are dirt only, like most of them sold and the abuse they take. So my point is the snow bike industry is still pretty hillbilly redneck compared the the modern sleds, it needs to get WAY better before a guy who can't wrench should buy one. You just can't have that stuff happening in the backcountry.

M5
 
M5- said:
OK first off my comments are not directed specifically at MTN Top but at all the snow bike kit manufacturers but apparently they apply to MTN Top as well. If you are marketing a premium product at a premium price in my mind there's NO excuse for stuff like that to happen. Full stop. A design flaw may crop up down the road, fine deal with it then but sloppy assembly, no bueno. We all know how hard it is to find good help these days. If I'm your boss Rule # 1, put down your fawkin phone and concentrate on your job. Rule # 2, no bitchin about rule 1.

All that said, sure you can always find a story about a sled failure here and there but you need to also consider the sheer sales volume difference between snow bike kits and sleds. I'll bet its 20:1 or more. Polaris/TS is not a company I would draw to as a role model for quality control. Look at the dirt bikes themselves, pretty solid out of the box KTM, Yamaha, Honda more so when you consider how many are dirt only, like most of them sold and the abuse they take. So my point is the snow bike industry is still pretty hillbilly redneck compared the the modern sleds, it needs to get WAY better before a guy who can't wrench should buy one. You just can't have that stuff happening in the backcountry.

M5
Click to expand...

Especially when we are paying so much for just a skid. It really bothers me how freaking expensive these things are for some metal and a track. The least they could do is make sure it is properly assembled!
 
M5- said:
OK first off my comments are not directed specifically at MTN Top but at all the snow bike kit manufacturers but apparently they apply to MTN Top as well. If you are marketing a premium product at a premium price in my mind there's NO excuse for stuff like that to happen. Full stop. A design flaw may crop up down the road, fine deal with it then but sloppy assembly, no bueno. We all know how hard it is to find good help these days. If I'm your boss Rule # 1, put down your fawkin phone and concentrate on your job. Rule # 2, no bitchin about rule 1.

All that said, sure you can always find a story about a sled failure here and there but you need to also consider the sheer sales volume difference between snow bike kits and sleds. I'll bet its 20:1 or more. Polaris/TS is not a company I would draw to as a role model for quality control. Look at the dirt bikes themselves, pretty solid out of the box KTM, Yamaha, Honda more so when you consider how many are dirt only, like most of them sold and the abuse they take. So my point is the snow bike industry is still pretty hillbilly redneck compared the the modern sleds, it needs to get WAY better before a guy who can't wrench should buy one. You just can't have that stuff happening in the backcountry.

M5
Click to expand...
100%. They are basic enough I'll probably start building my own kits if the prices stay where they are. My buddy runs his own fab shop with cnc, lathe, and water jet (among a ton of other badass tools) I know cad well enough that I'm constantly designing my own parts and letting him cnc them for me anyway. I can build a kit for a fraction of what these guys are making off of us dummies. Ha.
 
JimBridger said:
100%. They are basic enough I'll probably start building my own kits if the prices stay where they are. My buddy runs his own fab shop with cnc, lathe, and water jet (among a ton of other badass tools) I know cad well enough that I'm constantly designing my own parts and letting him cnc them for me anyway. I can build a kit for a fraction of what these guys are making off of us dummies. Ha.
Click to expand...
Wow! Thats awesome. Youre a CAD wizard, and your buddy has a shop. Great! Building kits should be easy.
Please whip something together for us, and keep us updated. Thanks!
 
One of my first mechanic jobs was lot boy at a Ford dealership in the mid 60's.I washed a few and had to go over the new cars as they rolled down off the car carrier. Lots of funny stuff, almost a comedy of errors, any body that has worked at dealerships sending out new stock knows the story. Getting a kit in a crate, you better go over it with a fine tooth comb if you are going to venture further from the truck in 10 minutes than you can walk back through that much snow in a day.
 
ravenous said:
Wow! Thats awesome. Youre a CAD wizard, and your buddy has a shop. Great! Building kits should be easy.
Please whip something together for us, and keep us updated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
? Ok bud. I said build my "own" kits, and not just build "kits". Cad wizard... that's funny chit.
 
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Just curious, is there any point in hot rodding and old one. Like putting a Ls in a 36 ford? Be easier than “building “ one? What did these beautiful kits end up costing? You guys that bought them feel like they where worth it?
 
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