Broken chaincase, 2018 M6000ES

[MI1M600EFI]

Well, we just got back from 3 days of riding in the Snowies. My wife is LOVING her new M6000, and was doing a lot more playing than usual, at least until she bashed the chaincase on a hidden rock!
I noticed the plastic guard hanging down soon after and when we rolled it up to see why, there was a big chunk missing from the inner case half, and the outer was cracked at the cover bolts. I was looking right at the chain all covered in snowy oil! She was able to ride it out with no issues, but the chain was dry and pretty warm by the time we got back to the cabin...

Thankfully my buddy always brings a spare sled, so she got to spend the last two days on his 850 Renegade.

I ordered the case halves and plastic guard the same day, and I'll tear it apart later today to see if we also need a chain and tensioner arm. (I think the tensioner arm has a plastic pad that may have melted a little...)

I thought about ordering it the protector kit from BD-Extreme, or the guards from TKI, but honestly, we don't usually ride rocky areas early in the season... I'm hoping she just caught an unlucky strike. We couldn't even find the rock when we went looking, so it's waiting for the next victim... If you ride the Snowies, be careful just east of the Rollercoaster near the top... I knew it would be sketch, since I could see a few rocks poking out, but evidently she didn't notice them...

Watch those dropped chaincases on the 2018+ sleds!!

 

[tmills124]

You need to buy a skid plate too. They're spendy but a life saver when you hit things

 

[kiliki]

save all the time to change the inner case half and put a belt drive on it at this point. same money just a 10 hour less work and no oil to worry about in the future.

 

[MI1M600EFI]

save all the time to change the inner case half and put a belt drive on it at this point. same money just a 10 hour less work and no oil to worry about in the future.

Same money? Going to a belt drive was the first thing I checked, and the price was ~$900. I got both case halves and the plastic guard for $320. I hope it's not really 10 hours of work to install the new case halves... Ouch.

I did see that Cat offers a full skidplate. I'll probably pick one up. It's $150, but should assure I never have to do this again. I wonder if I can ditch the (deformed) stock thin aluminum belly pan if I install the poly skid plate...

<EDIT> I just ordered the Cat skidplate from Leaders. $154 delivered... Hopefully enough to prevent any recurrence of this issue.

 

[tmills124]

On my 16, 17 and now my alpha ive ran a skid plate and never had any damage. Theyre pretty thick plastic and seem to take a hit well

 

[MI1M600EFI]

Spent an hour working on it tonight. All that's left is to unbolt the inner case half and pull it out. Chain seems fine. Tensioner was in the middle of it's range, though it pushes on the chain off center, and was worn crooked. I'll turn it around when I re-assemble and it'll be like new again. Don't think it'll take more than another hour to get the inner case half out, and a couple hours to re-assemble when the parts get here next week. It's not so bad... (Famous last words of a fool perhaps...)

And Leaders cancelled my order saying they don't have any more black skidplates... Have to get it from somewhere else, or get a green one perhaps...

 

[yz250_]

speedwerx makes a nice aluminum cover also instead of running the cat full plate

 

[MI1M600EFI]

Well... I'm back on this project. I have pulled so much stuff apart, and there's more to go. All the bolts are out of the case, and I though it would just slide ouboard off the drive and jack shafts but no, it's sandwiched in a double thick tunnel section. It can only come out if you lift it about 2.5" out from between the tunnel... That means I have to pull the jack shaft and drive shaft. That means pulling the PTO side motor mount plate, which means pulling the drive clutch. That's as far as I got, as the clutch puller I have should fit, but it doesn't seem to want to screw in... I'm thinking I probably have the non-metric puller for sleds earlier than ~2008, and not the metric puller that the 2009+ sleds need... Odd, as it worked on my M8, but it's possible I just ran it home and the threads are close enough that it worked... ??? I just ordered a fresh metric one off Amazon, since mine has seen better days anyway.

Anybody know if I am going to have to pull the fuel tank, or if once both shafts are out, will I be able to wiggle the case out of the tunnel??

That $150 skidplate is sounding like a solid investment at this point... I never want to do this again...

 

[Jesser04]

save all the time to change the inner case half and put a belt drive on it at this point. same money just a 10 hour less work and no oil to worry about in the future.

At this point would you go this route if you could do it over?

 

[MI1M600EFI]

Tough question... It is turning out to be a real PITA to change the inner case half, whereas it does appear that converting to belt drive would have allowed me to just run with it broken. I think if the belt drive had been $5-600, and I had known it was this much work to get the inner case half swapped out, I probably would have gone with the belt drive. At $900, it would possibly be worth it if I was paying a shop labor to do the swap, but I'm doing it, so it just keeps me busy after work. My wife is unlikely to notice any difference with the belt drive, so I went the cheap way, and I'll invest my time to get it swapped. It'll be back up and running again by Friday, as we're heading to Steamboat Saturday.

My biggest regret at this point is that I didn't search ebay for parts, as there are several chaincase setups for sale there from belt drive takeouts and part-outs. I could have saved about $200 over buying parts new, since I just bought a take out chain too, thinking the one that came out has too much sag.

I can tell you that I will be ordering a factory skidplate asap, which I think is a necessity on the dropped and rolled chaincase sleds if you even MIGHT get into a few rocks...

It is nothing short of impressive that she found a rock that was below the lower A-arm and skidplate, but sticking up enough to totally destroy the plastic cover and blow the bottom out of the chaincase... What luck...

 

[bgraff1]

for under 600$ you could of done the belt drive, saved many hours of work and never had to worry about this again. the inner case is not a small job

 

[MI1M600EFI]

for under 600$ you could of done the belt drive, saved many hours of work and never had to worry about this again. the inner case is not a small job

I searched around, and belt drive kits seem to all be $900...

What belt drive are you guys using that's only $600?? Too late for me, but if someone else smokes a chaincase, they'd probably like to know...
Thanks!

 

[bgraff1]

I searched around, and belt drive kits seem to all be $900...

What belt drive are you guys using that's only $600?? Too late for me, but if someone else smokes a chaincase, they'd probably like to know...
Thanks!

you spent 320 on case halves and plastic. 900-320=580 on a belt drive as you dont need to put the money into those parts

 

[kiliki]

The inner case half is not worth the time for the cost of the belt drive IMO

 

[MI1M600EFI]

Ok, I see what you guys are saying... The belt drive would have only cost $600 more than replacing the case halves. Actually, I have $400 in parts with the ebay chain. Plus a $170 skid plate that I proably wouldn't worry about with a belt drive...
Yeah, I'd say if anyone else grenades a case on an 18+ sled, do look into converting to a belt drive, and skip the cat skidplate.

Too late for me. About to head to the shop and start re-assembling.

 

[ak]

Tki belt drive will cost you $800 if you order at twin pine motor sports and talking to Michelle.

also you can still puncture the case with the skid plate on, that’s what happend to me and I ended up with a belt drive. A aluminum guard is the best prevention method.