MonoRail strength?

ecyr123 · Jan 31, 2019

been seeing more and more mono rail breaks. I ride pretty damn hard and usually like to jump some decent distances but have not this year because I’ve heard that cats warranty on the mono rail is not working out so well. How many ppl jumping 40+ ft and rail holding up? I really hope ice age comes out with their own rail.

sno*jet · Jan 31, 2019

want to trade for a reliable ol twin rail skid?

Chewy22 · Jan 31, 2019

HC might be a better sled for you.

goridedoo · Jan 31, 2019

Chewy22 said:
HC might be a better sled for you.

Just saw some bent hardcore rails the other day :face-icon-small-sho

I’d send it. They all bend with the right abuse

madmax · Jan 31, 2019

Well, I thought I would get through the season without a mono rail crack. Have checked my rail after every ride. I ride pretty had, no jumping though. I’ve lightly hit a few things logs/stumps/rocks, no different than normal. Have 450 miles on my alpha now. Checked my rail last night, yea, it’s cracking. Haven’t seen a crack where mine is cracking though.

tmills124 · Jan 31, 2019

I bent mine at 190 miles riding a wheeley at about 30 mph and hit a broken in half tree under the snow but before that had hit many things riding regularly without a problem. Seems to me that most of the problems or broken or bent rails had to do more with low snow/people not paying attention in said conditions rather than a weakness in design or build. A close family friend rides regularly with Rob Kincaid and Dave McClure and he has yet to see them bend or crack a rail and I'd venture to say they ride harder than 99% of us on here.. Just my opinion on things though

slyrydr · Jan 31, 2019

it would be interesting to know what pressures people are running in the rear skid, also what position the compression damping is set at.....most of the pictures posted seem to indicate a complete compression of the rear suspension and subsequent flattening of the arc in the skid with resulting cracks developing, maybe more than one time before it's visible.....at the start of the year i went to 60 in fts (stock was 42) and ride with compression in #2 position, also ride with 135 in rts with compression in #2....190# rider, fairly aggressive, don't jump, but catch a little air on occasion....haven't caught a bad obstacle hit....yet...:face-icon-small-dis

Matte Murder · Jan 31, 2019

tmills124 said:
I bent mine at 190 miles riding a wheeley at about 30 mph and hit a broken in half tree under the snow but before that had hit many things riding regularly without a problem. Seems to me that most of the problems or broken or bent rails had to do more with low snow/people not paying attention in said conditions rather than a weakness in design or build. A close family friend rides regularly with Rob Kincaid and Dave McClure and he has yet to see them bend or crack a rail and I'd venture to say they ride harder than 99% of us on here.. Just my opinion on things though

Is it repaired? How long did it take to get back on the snow if yes?

Wheel House Motorsports · Jan 31, 2019

SHOCK SETUP IS KEY!!

This goes for any kind of skid but seems especially important since the monorail setup has as really cheesy bump stop.

If you are bottoming out of every whoop on the trail etc you are putting TONS of stress into the rail. You should bottom your suspension out maybe 4-5 times a day max otherwise your too soft and going to see greatly increased failures from the aggressive impacts of the skid arms and rails.

Run proper shock pressures and QS3 settings to keep the thing using the shocks and not the bump stops as your suspension.

High Country · Jan 31, 2019

has anyone seen a monorail failures after installing the TKI rail brace on their Alpha's ??

the image above has a stress fracture line off of the rivet hole.

I purchased the TKI rail Brace and have been reluctant to drill any additional holes into this rail for the above obvious reason.

as for dave and rob not seeing any bent monorails...
I call 100% bullsh!t.....that is why tom came up with the TKI rail brace....they were hucking an alpha off of a huge cornice last spring and bent a rail near the area where the new brace goes ...true story

tmills124 · Jan 31, 2019

Matte Murder said:
Is it repaired? How long did it take to get back on the snow if yes?

Yes it was $475 for the rail and ended up coming to $670 with labor. And it took about two weeks but I wasnt in much of a rush due to work.

And yes I know they bent a rail last spring.. Mcclure also broke his back by landing on the tunnel of an alpha as well so maybe theyre stronger than we thought :eyebrows:

john6719 · Jan 31, 2019

Was hitting some kickers this weekend. Easily 40’, probably some 60’+. Followed up by hammering down the horse trails with massive, hard whoops at way faster than I should. Not a nick in the rail. I never run the shocks in 1 except a few times in the powder when I was testing things out.

ecyr123 · Feb 1, 2019

Wheel House Motorsports said:
SHOCK SETUP IS KEY!!

This goes for any kind of skid but seems especially important since the monorail setup has as really cheesy bump stop.

If you are bottoming out of every whoop on the trail etc you are putting TONS of stress into the rail. You should bottom your suspension out maybe 4-5 times a day max otherwise your too soft and going to see greatly increased failures from the aggressive impacts of the skid arms and rails.

Run proper shock pressures and QS3 settings to keep the thing using the shocks and not the bump stops as your suspension.

My front is at 45, I will pumping it up to 60 and I always run it in position 2. 135 in the rear. I have not checked my rail in a while I’ll be inspecting mine tomorrow for my mcall trip next week. Hopefully most of these cracks are from bad shock set up like u say

High Country · Feb 2, 2019

tmills124 said:
Yes it was $475 for the rail and ended up coming to $670 with labor. And it took about two weeks but I wasnt in much of a rush due to work.

And yes I know they bent a rail last spring.. Mcclure also broke his back by landing on the tunnel of an alpha as well so maybe theyre stronger than we thought :eyebrows:

Ha ...I knew it ....I thought he broke his back on the Alpha ....however last September at Hay Days ....it was all hush hush ....secret Squirrel stuff ...when I asked !!.....truth comes out !
So I did see a pic of a rail that was folded ...hence TKI making a brace ....got me thinking that was the sled as well he broke his back on ....interesting

nw-sickboy · Feb 2, 2019

Is there a consensus that the mono rail is stronger than a twin rail set up or are those with cracks and/or breaks believing that a twin rail would have held up better?

jim · Feb 2, 2019

Well, I thought I would get through the season without a mono rail crack. Have checked my rail after every ride. I ride pretty had, no jumping though. I’ve lightly hit a few things logs/stumps/rocks, no different than normal. Have 450 miles on my alpha now. Checked my rail last night, yea, it’s cracking. Haven’t seen a crack where mine is cracking though.

You sure that's a crack? because the line goes right through the rivet head...which usually doesn't happen because they are isolated for stress. Is that a scratch?

john6719 · Feb 2, 2019

nw-sickboy said:
Is there a consensus that the mono rail is stronger than a twin rail set up or are those with cracks and/or breaks believing that a twin rail would have held up better?

So far my thought is it’s fairly similar. But I haven’t actually broken one yet, so not sure what it takes to do that.

madmax · Feb 3, 2019

Have had my rear shocks set up on 60 and 150 for most of the 500 miles on my alpha. Have also pretty much kept the adjustment on #2. I caulk it up to just one of the pay to play things. Although cat covered it parts and labor under warranty. Don't know many who have had their rail warrantied, but haven't seen another one that broke where mine is broke either.

blurredelevens · Feb 4, 2019

tmills124 said:
A close family friend rides regularly with Rob Kincaid and Dave McClure and he has yet to see them bend or crack a rail and I'd venture to say they ride harder than 99% of us on here.. Just my opinion on things though

tmills124 said:
And yes I know they bent a rail last spring.. Mcclure also broke his back by landing on the tunnel of an alpha as well so maybe theyre stronger than we thought :eyebrows:

So which is it? :noidea:

madmax · Feb 7, 2019

Interesting my dealer says cat is blaming "loose track tension" on some of the rail failures. Thats one of the things they wanted to know when they warrantied my rail, how many times I had adjusted my track. They say they recommend checking/adjusting track tension after every ride for the first 300 miles. Don't see how a loose track can break a rail, but that's what I was told.

MonoRail strength?

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