Separated A-arm

[WSS]

Hit a large rock off the side of the ski, nothing like a direct hit, two weekends ago. Anyways, the aluminum casting on the end of the a-arm came apart from the tube mounting to the bulkhead which resulted in failure of the a-arm in multiple locations, bent shock shaft, bent tie rod, and a frustrating ride out of the woods. Pictures are below.

Went ahead and ordered the parts and found a shock myself as well as submitted a claim through the dealer. Polaris denies the claim stating the a-arms are designed to do this to protect the bulkhead.

Here are the problems I see:
- what happened to that demo of the strength of the glue where they were pulling on an a-arm and the steel came apart before the glued joint? Anybody have a file or link to a video of this?
- I have hit rocks significantly harder with my '09 RMK and either suffered no damage or a slightly bent a-arm, nothing like this in pure damage or cost. Truly, this was a glancing hit not a direct hit by any means.


Anybody else had this happen to them or have similar pictures? Any further suggestions on how to pursue this?

My dealer has been great but I feel Polaris needs to stand behind their product. When my driveshaft came apart my dealer pulled a shaft out of a sled still in the crate to get me going and I picked up an aftermarket collar. I don't think my replacement shaft or factory collar has even arrived yet. Whats up with that?

 

[jwentzer]

Glancing hit?

Not trying to be a dick or anything, but that must have been a hell of a glancing hit in order for you to bend the shock itself?

I'd say you are lucky the glue didn't hold, or you might be looking at a lot more damage.

Best of luck.

EDIT: After further review of the photos, maybe the glue not holding which caused the a-arm to pop out of its "socket"....put the strain on the shock causing it to bend.

 

[Murph]

I feel your pain after destroying another stock front bumper and denting another stock pipe.

BUT-- we have to pay to play. If Polaris "warranteed" every time we hit something they would be bankrupt. We (myself included) never think we hit anything THAT hard....

But I have been pleasantly surprised other times when I'm sure I damaged something and everything was ok.

I just bought two aftermarket front bumpers so I don't make my mistake a third time. Be smarter than me, buy aftermarket a arms now and sell your stockers.

Chalk it up to the cost of riding sleds and enjoy the rest of your season.

This sport isn't for the faint of wallet...

 

[AZ800]

Like Murph said, I've tagged stuff that I thought totalled the sled (not really, but was sure I'd find carnage) and found everything in order after picking my @ss up out of the snow many feet away from the sled! Also hit things that didn't even buck me and found damage after the fact. Sucks but it is what it is.
Looks like the "glancing" blow put that arm/connection in direct tension in a big way. Maybe a QC problem with the bonding process, but bottom line you got the scar on the bottom of your ski to prove you smacked something.

FIrst ride out on my Pro last weekend I hung it in a tree. Thought for sure there would be damage to the sled. Got a huge bruise on my leg to show for it. It only tweaked the front bumper slightly. Got lucky that time, next time maybe not!
A Arm and tie rod, not that expensive. Could you get the shock rebuilt? I've fubarred many Fox shocks. ROds, shock body, bent lower cap, etc and every time it was cheaper to rebuild it and repalce a couple extra parts in it than buy a new one.

 

[cateye5312]

Gotta agree on the last 2 posts - you hit harder than you think and you gotta pay to play. I'm on my third A arm this winter already. One of the strikes I hardly even noticed but it still resulted in a severely bent lower A arm. I've hit rocks quite a bit harder than that since and didn't bend one. It all depends on where the force of the hit is dispersed.

It sucks but it happens. On the second one I hit a concrete foundation of all things! Way out in the middle of BFE! Some old mine or something. Anyway, it flipped me over the bars and slid the sled sideways but just barely bent the A arm. I'm hoping this one is salvagable.

 

[suitcase]

Went ahead and ordered the parts and found a shock myself as well as submitted a claim through the dealer. Polaris denies the claim stating the a-arms are designed to do this to protect the bulkhead.


?

I seen one first hand today, Alot similar thing happend. But the A-Arm did not seperate, and bent the tunnel !! But the bulkhead seems to be fine!!


IMO I like The 12 A-Arms just fine...

 

[backcountry yardsale]

Looks familiar.... Had the exact same thing happen .

 

[ksright]

I have a friend that did the exact same thing to his. Picture is attached. At the end of the day last saturday, I looked down at my a-arm and noticed that the glue on mine had failed and I was probably lucky not to have done the same thing you experienced. Dealer told me that Polaris will never warranty an A-Arm and any damage that is possibly done was due to an impact. So yeah, you can take that how you want.

I did run into a tree and broke the top a arm, but I have been riding on it for the last 2 weekends without noticing any issues and that includes getting right into it to replace the top a arm so who knows what is really at fault, but I would rather see something else fail instead of the glue failing.

 

[WSS]

I think the top couple replies have missed the point.

• I do understand you got to pay to play. I wouldn't have bought a brand new sled if I didn't understand this.
• I am not denying that I hit something. The proof is in the pictures.

The problem is the glue is failing not only rendering the a-arm useless but taking out other parts in the process. I'm just saying it is a little disappointing that this "super glue" has led to more than one failure on my sled.

I may be looking into some take off '12 arms and shocks. Its a lot easier to get out of the woods on a bent a-arm, or even finish the day out, than a broken a-arm and bent shock.

 

[Boston Racing]

We still have 36 inch Zbroz left for a deal

They do hold up better than the stockers and are only a little more. We have 1 Evol R and Zbroz 36" combo left for 1325 shipped to the lower 48 if you need a set of shocks.

 

[JMCX]

I also had the same thing happen last weekend. I glanced off a tree and the tube pulled out of the socket resulting in a bent shock as well. It was not a direct hit and didn't even slow me down. There is not a mark in my ski or spindle.

I wasn't impressed with the fit of the replacement arm. To get the holes at the bulkhead to align I had to pull the ends toward each other and one was slightly twisted. This, to me, puts unnecessary preload on the glued joints.

 

[sledcrazzy]

They are sending out lower a arms , not sure if it a recall or what but 2 friends got new ones this week

 

[cateye5312]

I think the top couple replies have missed the point.

• I do understand you got to pay to play. I wouldn't have bought a brand new sled if I didn't understand this.
• I am not denying that I hit something. The proof is in the pictures.

The problem is the glue is failing not only rendering the a-arm useless but taking out other parts in the process. I'm just saying it is a little disappointing that this "super glue" has led to more than one failure on my sled.

I may be looking into some take off '12 arms and shocks. Its a lot easier to get out of the woods on a bent a-arm, or even finish the day out, than a broken a-arm and bent shock.

If that arm had been welded instead of glued and you ripped the weld (which I have done) you wouldn't have even started this post. You would have just bought a bunch of new parts and moved on.

 

[ZixX]

Not trying to be a dick or anything, but that must have been a hell of a glancing hit in order for you to bend the shock itself?

I'd say you are lucky the glue didn't hold, or you might be looking at a lot more damage.

Best of luck.

EDIT: After further review of the photos, maybe the glue not holding which caused the a-arm to pop out of its "socket"....put the strain on the shock causing it to bend.

This.

The Shock shaft bends when the A-Arm tube disconnects.

This happened to me too, except i didnt hit anything, the glue just disconnected and the sled "dove" a little, looked down, and saw that the front A Arm tube had been disconnected.

 

[WSS]

They are sending out lower a arms , not sure if it a recall or what but 2 friends got new ones this week

Any information on any paperwork or anything they had to sign? Was this straight from Polaris or the dealer taking care of them?

 

[mrquick68]

yep, their's a recall on some of the 13 A-arms for bad glue bonding. Call your dealer to see if yours applies.

 

[Reg2view]

I drilled a stump on my 11 last year, dead stop, superman over the bars. Lower a-arm was twisted and bent, and that's it. No shock damage - they were fox evols, and took the twisting hit well. No chassis twist or break. On my doos, the entire S module (XP) or flying nun (Rev) would have been toasted, shock bent, been there, too. I was impressed how well it took the shot. Every shot is different, but many others have done this to the 11-12's with little to no other damage beyond the steel a-arm. Poo makes a lower a-arm kit, dropped it on, perfect fit.

New tech can be great, but it does seem like poo has had more than its share of failures on new 13 tech - driveshaft, belt drive, carbon overstructure, lower a-arm. That's either poor design testing and tolerance benchmarking, or poor execution of design. Sounds too familar to the CFI 800. No hijack intended. Hope you at least get the option to replace the a-arm under service bulletin. Me - I'd take this chance to swap out the entire front end, ZBros, Alternative Impact, Holz, etc. Sell the stock parts that are still good on craigs or ebag to recover some cost. JMHO.

 

[geo]

Drill a 3/16' hole through the tube where the glue hole is. Install a steel small head rivet. If the rivet loosen you know your glue has failed.

Of course Poo will deny warranty but in my opinion the glue should not fail without bending the back bar and cracking the aluminum.
Then you can blame yourself.

 

[Deucer]

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328248

D