What a weekend. Smashed a few parts?????

[montanasledder]

Anyways we went out last wedensday for a 5 day snowmobile trip. .5 miles from the lodge i blew a belt and spent an hour getting that all cleaned out. 3 miles from there me and a bud were climbing a hill and didnt realize the other side had a 10 foot drop.
Anyways i came down hard on my left side suspension and bent both a arms, Shock looks good. spindle good. steering shaft bent. My question is when i clse my hood it doesnt line up at all. The left side of the hood site over where its supposed to about an inch and the right side of the hood site about 1/2 to far to the right. I looked over the bulkhead and cant see anyplace were it bent and tweaked. the hood doesnt seem like it moved either. Not sure if the pressure on the steering shaft tweaked something around the console?

anyone have this trouble? The sled as an 09 m8 limited. Any suggestions on why the belt blew and should i be worried about the crank. Who makes a good aftermarkets steering shaft?

thanks everyone

 

[cat rider]

I've heard good things about the new bd-x adjustable steering post. You might want to check that out. I also busted up my a arms this weekend. One bolt was sheered in two and all welds in both the upper and lower arms were cracked!

 

[fasta76]

PM wildchild he makes posts!

 

[WyoBoy1000]

You may want to have an experienced dealer look at it for structural bends.

 

[White Rad]

Anyways we went out last wedensday for a 5 day snowmobile trip. .5 miles from the lodge i blew a belt and spent an hour getting that all cleaned out. 3 miles from there me and a bud were climbing a hill and didnt realize the other side had a 10 foot drop.
Anyways i came down hard on my left side suspension and bent both a arms, Shock looks good. spindle good. steering shaft bent. My question is when i clse my hood it doesnt line up at all. The left side of the hood site over where its supposed to about an inch and the right side of the hood site about 1/2 to far to the right. I looked over the bulkhead and cant see anyplace were it bent and tweaked. the hood doesnt seem like it moved either. Not sure if the pressure on the steering shaft tweaked something around the console?

anyone have this trouble? The sled as an 09 m8 limited. Any suggestions on why the belt blew and should i be worried about the crank. Who makes a good aftermarkets steering shaft?

thanks everyone

wow reading that was deja vu from my trip to sicamous minus the belt and i think the blind drop at the top of the hill i exploded on was only 6-8ft. I bounced over/off the sled and it hit pretty hard. Thought maybe there was a little more play in the steering post afterwards but after a quick inspection of bulkhaed and a arms i though i got off with just a few bruises. then then the next day i noticed the left side of my hood was sitting to the left and not aligning with the console, but not as much as ^^. can't remeber if it ligned up before or not, guess its time to take a laser eye to it and see if anything else looks bent...

 

[montanasledder]

I got friday off work and ill get the shop heated up and let all the snow and ice melt off the machine and try and get an idea on what could have happened to make the hood sit so crooked. I think i got lucky and dint destroy my shock so all i need to order as of now is both a arms and hardware plus the steering shaft.

thanks for all the suggestions

 

[White Rad]

if the bulk head were to crack or bend where is the usuall failure place??

 

[AaronBND]

Probably just the steering hoop if you hit the bars hard. I doubt it's the bulkhead or frame.

Aaron

 

[montanasledder]

thats what i was thinking Aaron. I looked over the bulkhead as good as i could with the sled all together and it done look like nothing is tweaked as far as i can tell. Ill keep everyone informed on what i find

thanks

 

[AZ800]

There's a brace, that covers the "cutout" in the bulkhead (ie: right behind the clutch). Think it's the same on the mag side too.
It is just bolted on.
I cased the far side of a step up last year and bent the PTO side. It pushed the ski alignment back and hood didn't line up. Bent it enough that it was rubbing on the backside of the clutch.
I replaced that part (about $60) and it put everything back in line. Had to do some strategic prying to get teh bolts back in, but it worked. Check those out.

 

[White Rad]

There's a brace, that covers the "cutout" in the bulkhead (ie: right behind the clutch). Think it's the same on the mag side too.
It is just bolted on.
I cased the far side of a step up last year and bent the PTO side. It pushed the ski alignment back and hood didn't line up. Bent it enough that it was rubbing on the backside of the clutch.
I replaced that part (about $60) and it put everything back in line. Had to do some strategic prying to get teh bolts back in, but it worked. Check those out.

well AZ800 nailed it, brace behind my clutch is a little bent and after snapping some lines on the floor to check alignment appears left ski is pushed back a hare hence left side of hood won't align.....
any idea what the part # is for that piece??

 

[Klimbing Kitty]

Exact same bent brace on my 1200. About an inch bow in it. Scared to take it out as I don't think I can get the engine mount back in??? Still rides great and clutches are still aligned.

 

[montanasledder]

thanks for the tips guys. Ill have to check out that piece and see if mines bent.

 

[jasen]

I bent that same brace behind the clutch good. So good that upon further inspection that i noticed the mag side motor mount was also bent with crack and its welded to bulk head. Yep pulled the engine. welded tweaked and realigned. Its hard to tell if that cross member brace is bent because it has natural curve stock. Check your clutch alignment for sure. STUPID TREE ! Good luck to you!!!

 

[AZ800]

Exact same bent brace on my 1200. About an inch bow in it. Scared to take it out as I don't think I can get the engine mount back in??? Still rides great and clutches are still aligned.

Like jasen said, there's a good bow in that part even before you crash!
I think the PTO side brace clears the back of the clutch by 3/8-1/2". If it's not bent bad enough to see the skis out of line, you're either seeing the bend that's supposed to be in it, or it isn't too bad.
Either way, mine was bent enough that the L ski was noitcably pushed back (at least an inch, didn't measure) and the new part went in. Wasn't easy.
IIRC, got a couple bolts in in the back, then jacked up the sled under the bulkhead to create a pivot point and then stood/bounced on the front of the sled to get just enough flex to get a big screwdriver into one of the front holes to pry it into aligning good enough to get teh front bolts in. It's still tweaked a little bit, as the holes barely lined up, had to use ALL the slop in the holes to get the bolts, but good enough that it's not blowing belts or anything.
If you still an't get it to line up, take the opposite brace loose. May let the chassis flex a little more.

 

[montanasledder]

does that bracket look bent?

 

[montanasledder]

The steering shaft bent and also twisted. no way of fixing it

 

[Klimbing Kitty]

In the bottom pic it looks like it is bowed out. Mine is worse i think.

here is mine on the 1200 it is bowed

and this is what it should be like on my M8

it should be tight along the cylinder

 

[montanasledder]

Thanks Kitty. Looks like mine is farther out than the one of your m8 but not as bad as your 1200. I beat it a little straighter and managed to get it bolted back up. hope it worked

 

[Klimbing Kitty]

No worries. the 1200 still rides great and the clutch is still aligned. true test is how long will the belt last???