Steering movement

line8 · Oct 4, 2017

How tight should these 2 nuts be?

I’m going through the steering and found some of the usual issues relating to the play or slop. These 2 nuts were not tight so I sinched them up. Now it squeaks and the steering is quite tight. The play is gone though.

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boondocker97 · Oct 4, 2017

Treat them like the primary clutch weight bolts: just enough to take the slop out. They are self-locking so they shouldn't back off. Opening it up and putting a dab of grease in there wouldn't hurt.

line8 · Oct 4, 2017

I took it apart, put a little grease on it, tightened back up. Squeak is gone. Still have too much play for me. Looks like bushing Time. In looking at the base of the steering post, things don’t look right there. Either.
I’ve googled these bushings and see a few options. Canada sled parts seems to come up most. What’s everyone’s experience/opinions.

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summ8rmk · Oct 4, 2017

line8 said:
I took it apart, put a little grease on it, tightened back up. Squeak is gone. Still have too much play for me. Looks like bushing Time. In looking at the base of the steering post, things don’t look right there. Either.
I’ve googled these bushings and see a few options. Canada sled parts seems to come up most. What’s everyone’s experience/opinions.

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I think i put sled parts bushing in mine.
Huge improvement. Grease should be applied once per year.
If the bottoms is sloppy, may be a broken plate? What yr is the sled? 2015 and newer have a steel plate riveted to the aluminum plate and a flat washer before the nut.

Mountain Cat

line8 · Oct 4, 2017

‘14
I didn’t look at the lower side yet. I will to see what’s going on in there, but the majority of the movement is on the upper side. I’d like to get a look at the point where it disappears, just below the grooves for the adjustable post. I’m not sure if that ring or bushing there is supposed to be 1 piece or 2. I might have a crack right there.

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summ8rmk · Oct 4, 2017

2 piece. That is part of the bushing kit.
That upper bushing will remove most of the slop.
Attached pic of the upper bushing with the clip u must remove to pull bushing out the top. New bushing for the stub/intermediate shaft. And the bottom plate that WILL crack eventually.
Pull ur boot back on the A-arm and look up inside the big hole to see the bottom of the steering.

Mountain Cat

boondocker97 · Oct 4, 2017

I did the lower plate reinforcement to my 2014 before it broke, but had the nut on the bottom come loose once after the fact. Things get real interesting when that happens: handlebars can move 1" before it does anything to the ski movement (or the snow can jerk your skis around that far before you can correct it).

Also, check the status of the cross tube that the bottom of the vertical post goes through that doubles as the coil mount. Mine was cracked in three places when I tore the sled down to replace the tunnel/bulkhead. Not something anyone else on here has mentioned, but I can't see mine being the only one.

line8 · Oct 4, 2017

Wow...thanks for all of this info. I’m going to dig into this tomorrow.

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summ8rmk · Oct 4, 2017

Finally, i found the pic of the upper bushing.
Left is stock. That will take care of most of the slop in the post. Even better than new.

Mountain Cat

sno*jet · Oct 4, 2017

jack up front when youre tightening those down, make sure bars move freely.
i did th canadasled parts handlebar bushing also, after 700 miles. better material, i want to say the directions said no grease but i could be wrong. i think it was after lubing the stock bushings i noticed it getting sloppy faster. my issue now appears to be the bellcrank. little 10mm bolt is hard to get much torque on.

Old & slow · Oct 5, 2017

bell crank

sno*jet said:
jack up front when youre tightening those down, make sure bars move freely.
i did th canadasled parts handlebar bushing also, after 700 miles. better material, i want to say the directions said no grease but i could be wrong. i think it was after lubing the stock bushings i noticed it getting sloppy faster. my issue now appears to be the bellcrank. little 10mm bolt is hard to get much torque on.

It is a bit of a bugger to get at the bell crank bolt but tightening it most likely wont help. You will need to shim the bell crank to the chassis to remove the play. I found the play was from up and down movement. Yours maybe different but this was my experience.

boondocker97 · Oct 5, 2017

FYI: if someone has the bellcrank out and does the lower steering support update at the same time, make sure you note which way the bolt runs down the center of the bellcrank (up through the bottom with the head down). My sled got a new "lightening" hole in the reinforcement plate so I could get the bolt back out. Everything will seem fine until you go to put the last piece of plastic and the bumper on the bottom of the sled. Nut and threads sticking out won't let things mount up. Very frustrating.

line8 · Oct 5, 2017

After further review. No cracks. All nuts n bolts are tight. The bottom of the steering is fine.
The play is in the adjustable mechanism itself, about 3/4” of movement. You can see the movement when the rubber boot for the post is pulled down. The silver post with the grooves stays in place but the adjustable part moves. So I’ll change out those bushings for sure regardless. Then decide if I want to live with the play or take it off for a fixed or maybe a Rox adjustable.

Thought i would edit my upon further review quote.
Upon further furthering my review, the lower steering bracket is cracked. It took doing all the upper bushings to reveal. After things got tight on the upper side, when the skiis were moved the plate would stay but sort of buckle exposing the crack, before there was too much upper slop to show that. Now to get in there and remove the thing. Quite the tight quarters to work in! I’d rather just ride the damn thing really.

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Valonmxz · Dec 22, 2020

boondocker97 · Dec 23, 2020

The grease on the outside needed for install? Don't really want that bushing rotating inside the aluminum later.

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