Shock problem?

[ChuckN]

I've never experienced a bad shock on a snowmobile, but I think my sled has an issue. The suspension collapsed over the weekend and I do not know what happened. For days it flattened out.

I brought the sled home and after a few hours of thawing the ice/snow out of it it works fine now. I should have left it out in the cold again overnight to make sure, but I didn't think of that.

These are Ryde FX shocks BTW, '97 Cat ZL all original. Any advice would be appreciated!! I will probably order a new one anyways...

[Knotwood]

I clobbered a big rock once on mine (Indy), bent the rod, looked ok from what I could see, lifted the front up, seemed to work until I went over another big bump, would hang up, real tuff to steer, wound up with new ones.

[superbee]

I have a ZR 500, it did the same thing. Take it inside a warm shop and it worked great, then go for a ride and it sunk to the bottom and stayed there until I'd warm it up in the shop again. i replaced the shock with a new one and it works great now.

[ChuckN]

Thank you!! My order will be going out.

[hanson]

Chuck-

You figure this one out???

My 02 ZR is going the same thing. I had it up on Horseshoe with Corey Bechtold and the sled completely bottomed out on me. Snowflap dragging flat on the snow.

I left it outside on the trailer for a couple days in the warm weather and she popped right back up after the snow & ice melted out from under it.

Well... I go and sit on it again and it is now sort of stuck halfway down. It has a little movement both ways but doesn't want to kick back up.

My buddy said to shoot up all the zerks with grease. I haven't tried this yet but will be on the shoreline of Burntside tomorrow witht the greasegun and hoping for the best. If it isn't binding, is it a bad shock or spring?? I assume its the front shock that would be bad.

[ChuckN]

I have the new shock, but I've been so darn busy with the engine problems I gave up hope that I will replace the shock this season.

Believe it or not, my shock problems went away!!! LOL Darn sleds... I thawed the machine out in the shop, put it outside, drove it to LOW in -40 temps and it was perfectly fine!?!?! (until the blow down of course)

Thaw it out somehow?

[jigeye]

It could be moisture getting into the joints of the moving parts in your suspension and then freezing up. Make sure you squirt low temp grease into all the zerts and force any water out.

Just a thought

[hanson]

Fresh back from the snow & slush capital of the world, Burntside Lake.

I pumped grease into every Zerk I could find in the rear skid. It took a little bit of riding but I think the grease worked its way in. The first hour or so, it would still kind of stick but after awhile it was good to go. Day 3 up there and I had no problems.

With the amount of snow, slush, and freezing water that rear suspension saw this weekend, I think it did pretty good.

[jigeye]

You may have to keep pumping grease in each day to those joints to make sure they are packed good. Glad to hear it was helping.

[fisherman69]

SEEMS TO BE A VERY COMMON PROBLEM ON THESE ZR'S WITH STOCK SHOCKS. I AM A SALES SUPERVISOR HERE AT DENNIS KIRK AND WE ARE SELLING SHOCKS FOR THESE SLEDS LIKE HOTCAKES AND WE ALSO HAVE REBUILD KITS FOR THEM. A FELLOW CO-WORKER HAS TO HAVE HIS REBUILT EVERY YEAR BECAUSE OF THIS. SOMETHING TO DO WITH BAD SEALS HE SAYS. GIVE US A CALL DONT OVERPAY THE DEALERS FOR THIS STUFF. WE HAVE THE NEW RYDE FX SHOCKS AND SUPPOSEDELY THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED.SORRY I CANT GET YA MY DISCOUNT THOUGH!