2009-2011 Diamond Drive Bearing Failure

[1M800]

My buddy came over and we did both of our sleds.. About 700 miles on each of the them...bearings were both still good. Changed them over to the double row bearing. I would say it took about 2 beers to do the job and 2 more to talk about how easy it was!

 

[ripsass]

My buddy came over and we did both of our sleds.. About 700 miles on each of the them...bearings were both still good. Changed them over to the double row bearing. I would say it took about 2 beers to do the job and 2 more to talk about how easy it was!

The man IS watching.

 

[pushcat]

Can you provide us with a picture showing exactly where you are removing the .050'' from. I know my cover was close but not right, i just equally snugged up the bolts. I plan on taking out the DD unit when it gets back from the dealer. (new voltage regulator)

I also send you a PM

could use a pic where this .050 shim is located on the trackshaft. Thanks

 

[summ8rmk]

could use a pic where this .050 shim is located on the trackshaft. Thanks

i believe you machine .050 off the end of the shaft.

 

[pushcat]

Nothing like taking apart a brand new sled to change a bearing that should never been put in the gear case to begin with! As soon as I took the last nut holding the diamond drive on I noticed the gear case was no longer flush to its mounting surface. That can not be good at all. Once i get the diamond drive out I notice the shaft that goes into the trackshaft has more play in it then it should. It has 1.5 mm of play in back n forth. I have rebuilt my share of gearboxes over the years and I know just by the way that the shaft moves it won't last long. Called BD up and asked about this free play which they said will be taken care of replacing the bearing with the 5203. Damn little guy on my shoulder telling me you better check this out before you go out west

 

[1080paul]

Changing to the wide bearing isn't going to help with the play between the ring gear and the drive shaft if that's the play your talking about at least it didn't on my sled.

 

[pushcat]

The ring gear is the one moving the input gear holds stationary. If it still moves after the 5203 I'll fix that cause that play is what causes some headaches.

 

[Ricks 32]

Thanks for the heads up guys. Received my bearing yesterday and I made the switch. Such an easy job and the pics really made it that much easier. I had 670 miles on my sled and my stock bearing looked great. But better safe than sorry.

Good luck and thanks again!

 

[Sergeant HCR]

I went to my local bearing store and asked for the 5203. He gave me a 3203 and said it was the same thing. Either way, I was expecting one somewhat larger. Can anyone confirm this?

As an FYI, here's 2 bearing charts showing the 3203 and 5202 are the same dimensions,
3203 - http://www.cnbearing.com/mulu/file/b200506290954351974559.jpg
5203 - http://www.cnbearing.com/mulu/file/b200506290955151354559.jpg

 

[Good Ole Boy]

yeah I got the 3203 from SKF. Same size as the 5203. Your good to go

 

[notboosted]

ttt

ttt

 

[bgreen776]

The correct way would be to take off approximately .050" from either end of the trackshaft.

The correct way would be to measure the amount the gear-case springs away from the tunnel when you unbolt it, then take half the amount off the gear-case end of the shaft, and the other half from the shoulder that the brake side bearings ride against. Wouldn't it? That may be splitting hairs, but that seems like it would keep the shaft and drivers centered between the sides of the tunnel best.

I measured mine at .061" then cut that from the gear-case side of the shaft, then I started thinking about whats going on there. I think I'll do the above next time unless someone tells me I'm quite full of it.

Has anyone else measured (accurately) their trackshaft? I measured the one from my 08 and the one from my 10 today. They were close, but there was a .010" difference between the two.

A dealer that I spoke with today said Cat is aware of this thread, and that there isn't enough people having a problem to justify a recall. Cat offered to replace the bearing with like in kind (6203 2RS) and send a .020" thinner spacer. No thanks.

Oh, just a reminder, if you decide to pull your trackshaft, make sure you do something to remove the stake on the brake rotor nut! If you don't, you might end up VERY sorry!

 

[bgreen776]

I found my stock bearing/spacer out of my 2009 M1000 and the spacer is thicker than the 2010 stock spacer thus allowing more space thus allowing the double row to fit in the 2009 models. So they had to have changed something up in the DD in 2010. I'm by no means a DD expert so if someone else with a 2010 wants to take a look and see where I'm coming from that would be great....

My 2010 M8 Diamond Drive cover wont close with the wider bearing either. Near as I can tell I need to machine the back side of the shaft to lower the bearing aproximately .056". I'll double check it again tomorrow, but I am pretty confident this is the case.

 

[sledstormed]

My 2010 M8 Diamond Drive cover wont close with the wider bearing either. Near as I can tell I need to machine the back side of the shaft to lower the bearing aproximately .056". I'll double check it again tomorrow, but I am pretty confident this is the case.

Yes, I've done four 2010's so far. Since I don't have a machine shop I just marked the shaft approx 1/8" down with tape and ground it down with a dremel tool. I took the DD apart at 230 miles and everything looked good....

 

[1727]

2008 m1000 bearing failure

2008 bearing failure at 700 miles with reverse!!!!

 

[bgreen776]

Yes, I've done four 2010's so far. Since I don't have a machine shop I just marked the shaft approx 1/8" down with tape and ground it down with a dremel tool. I took the DD apart at 230 miles and everything looked good....

Why would you take so much off, thats more than double what you should have to remove? (we are talking about the same thing right?)

Your moving the shoulder back on this assembly, in the picture below, to allow for the ~.056" wider 5203 Bearing fit.

 

[bgreen776]

To test fit before pressing on the new, wider, 5203 bearing, I re-installed my old 6203 to a height representative of what it would be with the wider 5203 bearing installed, installed the gear back into the planetary and tried to put the cover back on. No go.

To restore proper fit (2010 M8), I had to machine .056" from the shoulder, and my shim was .140". (to get the cover to close)

To restore proper fit on a friends gearcase (2009 M8), my old man machined .018" from the shoulder, I don't know the dimensions on his shim yet, but I will find out soon and post here.

The guy above talks about cutting 1/8" off.

Whats going on here? Anyone have a set of 2010 gears and a set of 2009 gears that they can measure? I ended up making my 2010 gear .744" from the shoulder to the end of the shaft.

The picture shows my 2010 gear with the new 5203 bearing and the gear out of my 2008 that is still stock for the 6203 bearing. You can see the difference in length previously mentioned in this thread.

Do all the 2009 cases use a gasket? If so, what is the thickness of this gasket?
Do all the 2010 cases use a gasket? If so, is it the same as mine at .030"?
My 2008 case did not have a gasket, did yours?

 

[White Rad]

The 07'-08' cases did not come with a gasket. i found what i thought was a gaskit kit especially for the 07'-08' case w/ gasket and two spacers that go in the bearing cups to make up for the increased thickness of the gasket. however, the guy that posted picts in this thread of where to machine down the shaft on the 07-08' that knows a lot more about them then i do was saying that modifying the internal spacing was bad and not to use the gasket. so i would just use RTV...

 

[GlennRMK]

Did my 09 tonight.

Didn't take too long.

Was pretty easy. Far easier then changing the helix on these sleds.

I used a pitman arm puller and a socket and pulled the bearing off real easy.

Then I just used a socket and a hammer and pounded the bearing on easily. Not too much of a press fit at all.

I got my bearing from BDX.

My old bearing was in perfect shape with a little over 1000 miles on it. It was Taiwan bearing with an orange seal.

I feel better about the new bearing in there and a fresh batch of fluid. Changed it at 500 miles as well and the fluid has been clean both times.

 

[bgreen776]

Did your cover go on properly, just kissing the gasket? The two 09's the old man did the other day both needed aproximately .018" machined off the shaft to provide the proper cover fit.