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Ride without center shock?

C
Jan 13, 2017
3
0
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Is it a bad idea to ride without my center shock?

On my last ride, reverse quit working near the end of the ride. I heard a grinding noise one time, then the next times just didn't go (burning belt). I diagnosed it today and found that the lower mount on my rear shock (shaft with two wheels) is missing.

A storm is coming tonight and I REALLY want to ride the next couple days. I've called all the dealers within a couple hours and nobody has the parts in stock. Can I ride or am I going to be bumming hard the next few days until I can have parts shipped?
 
C
Jan 13, 2017
3
0
1
For reference, here is a picture of my sled (2014 RMK Pro 155) missing the lower mount and a buddies (2015 RMK Pro 155) so you can see the missing parts. I have tied up my shock and verified that reverse is good to go now.
 

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SRXSRULE

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If it was me, and no one had the parts and I really wanted to ride... I would fab / rig up a shaft to go in there. It could be steel or aluminum, and not having the idler wheels wont hurt anything if your riding in a bunch of fresh powder.
 

diamonddave

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Is the shaft completely gone? So that you can compare and fab up something? Did the lower mounting holes in the rail get obglonged out? I heard about another Pro doing this a few days ago.

Surprising because those lower shock bolts are filled with some good Loctite from the factory. Maybe they were removed at one time and not Loctite'd and torqued to spec.


I would not ride without that shock.
 

SRXSRULE

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I forgot to mention... for some reason this exact failure has happened many times over the years. Not sure what happens first, if the bolt comes loose or a hard impact the one of those wheels break the shaft or bolts.
I personally had one of those axle bolts come loose on my 14, and when I tried to tighten it, the threads were messed up in the axle, like it was screwed up from the factory.
 

Scott

Scott Stiegler
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I was on a deep backcountry ride last spring. A full 25 miles from the end of a road (deep in the backcountry) with dozens of ridges in between me and the road.
On the way out, I saw a cross shaft laying in the road about five miles from the truck. Who is the doofus who lost a shaft? Sucks to be him.

When I loaded up that night, I realized mine was missing.
That means I rode about 50 miles (about 40 of them off-road) that day with no front shaft and the shock just rattled around in there all day long.
Thinking back, I realized I did hear some odd noises at some point and it handled just a bit heavier in the nose.

I can't believe that I was able to unknowingly pull that off.
 

Dble07

New member
Premium Member
Mar 11, 2018
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North Dakota
For reference, here is a picture of my sled (2014 RMK Pro 155) missing the lower mount and a buddies (2015 RMK Pro 155) so you can see the missing parts. I have tied up my shock and verified that reverse is good to go now.
Looks like the front track shock. I was in the Snowies last weekend and mine came loose/broke at some point during the weekend. All 4 shocks were rebuilt/revalved and installed right before we left. Didn't notice it until I was strapping it down on the trailer to head home so who knows when it let go but I did notice it wasn't handling well.
I was figuring I just in a hurry and forgot to go back and tighten the bolts a second time after getting both sides snugged up but seeing this it makes me wonder if they just broke. Fortunately some of the pieces were still there. Ronnie's mail order had the parts I needed in stock and are supposed to ship on Monday.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 
P
Nov 20, 2016
77
13
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44
foleyet. ontario
This is so hilarious.. my friend with his 16 sks calls me and says this exact same thing has happened to him.. shaft gone, bent shock. We just had his skid out and had a rail welded up and when we put everything back together we were missing one of the wavy washers.. anyway we were sure it would not effect anything. Worst thing is that he checked all the skid bolts before leaving and this happened within 5 miles.. so why do we think this happens. We did put some blue on the bolts.. Is the shaft breaking or just coming loose and falling off? So weird..
 
C
Jan 13, 2017
3
0
1
If it was me, and no one had the parts and I really wanted to ride... I would fab / rig up a shaft to go in there. It could be steel or aluminum, and not having the idler wheels wont hurt anything if your riding in a bunch of fresh powder.
Wish I had a lathe to make a proper replacement, but I guess I could fab up something for temporary use.

Is the shaft completely gone? So that you can compare and fab up something? Did the lower mounting holes in the rail get obglonged out? I heard about another Pro doing this a few days ago.

Surprising because those lower shock bolts are filled with some good Loctite from the factory. Maybe they were removed at one time and not Loctite'd and torqued to spec.


I would not ride without that shock.
Completely gone. Mounting holes don't look oblonged, and I don't think those bolts have ever been touched since factory.

This is so hilarious.. my friend with his 16 sks calls me and says this exact same thing has happened to him.. shaft gone, bent shock. We just had his skid out and had a rail welded up and when we put everything back together we were missing one of the wavy washers.. anyway we were sure it would not effect anything. Worst thing is that he checked all the skid bolts before leaving and this happened within 5 miles.. so why do we think this happens. We did put some blue on the bolts.. Is the shaft breaking or just coming loose and falling off? So weird..
Luckily no bent shock for me. I doubt the wavy washer was your issue.

For the record he only noticed when he put it in reverse...shock jammed up in track...
Exactly what happened to me. If it didn't jam reverse, I probably wouldn't have noticed for a while longer!

Just ordered all the replacement parts from Partzilla. Stole my wife sled to ride on Sunday!
 
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