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broke the piece where my steering post bolts to the top of tunnel 2010 m8

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TheBreeze

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2008
1,970
518
113
41
Sussex, Wisconsin
Here is my fix, thanks to some fab help from TurboMatt. Hope she holds up! It is 1/8 inch 6061 plate.

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A

AKboondocker

Well-known member
Feb 4, 2006
742
137
43
Wasilla, Alaska
Got my second repair finished with the help of a couple forum members..thanks alot Jason and Chip! Here are some pics of the new plate. Its much stronger than the previous repair, and has eliminated ALL slop from the steering in all directions. Its tighter than it ever was, cant wait to ride it. You can see in one of the pics the old plate from the first repair and how small it is compared to this new one. Sorry for the crappy pics, took them with my cell.

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stocksucks!!

Well-known member
Lifetime Membership
Dec 6, 2008
371
126
43
40
fort st john b.c
www.powderking.com
cracked bulkhead

i am another lucky guy that the cat care warenty helped out. they replaced my bulkhead march this year.. it was easy i gave my cat dealer in grande prairie alberta, 50 bucks and 3 weeks later i had a new chasis.. i am glad i got it in there when i did because i still had a few months of riding to test out there work.. Of course they did an awesome job.. if my warenty would'nt cover it i was going to buil 2 stainless pieces to sandwich that weak spot.. get it fixed on warenty thats what its there for.. and ps try a few dealers because the dealer in fort st john told me no way cat is going to cover that so i took pics and sent them to grande prairie. they said not a problem bring us your sled and we will fix her up..done deal cant say enough good stuff about that dealer..
2009 m8 1500miles
 

backcountryislife

Well-known member
Lifetime Membership
Nov 26, 2007
10,893
7,413
113
Dumont/Breckenridge, CO

No.

from 2007 to 2011 the bulkhead is the same. Some of us feel that the adj. post makes this more likely to be a problem.

Check out the threads about the BDX support & the couple supports from Brandt motorsports & wildchild, everything you can do to stabilize this areas will go a long way toward avoiding these problems. Just yanking on the sled after putting the BDX unit on there it is a very notable difference in how much it pulls/pushes on the bulkhead.
 
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Johnmaster

Well-known member
Feb 21, 2009
381
109
43
Mukwonago, Wi
www.johnmaster.net
Photos of our latest fix last night. This is our third one, an 08 M8 153 that has seen it's share of upside down-ness. We made a plate larger than the original flange and welded it flush to the exchanger and tunnel pan. Then to make it stronger than original, the top plate goes all the way to the front of the exchanger and all the way around over the base plate. The cut out is for the base bracket and to keep the post from ending up too high after the repair.

My friend Peter is a certified welder and will do the job for anyone who needs it (he is in SE Wisconsin). He said it would be a few hundred dollars for the welding and fab and a few hundred for the disassembly and reassembly, which seemed reasonable to me considering what the dealer would charge you for a new (and still weak) bulkhead. He has a micro Tig head that can get in the area without taking off the head of the motor, pretty sweet.

Bulkhead Welding.jpg Bulkhead Welding (1).jpg Bulkhead Welding (2).jpg Bulkhead Welding (3).jpg Bulkhead Welding (4).jpg Bulkhead Welding (5).jpg Bulkhead Welding (6).jpg Bulkhead Welding (7).jpg
 
J

jpstrr

Member
Mar 14, 2009
105
8
18
Midwest
FYI, Be careful where you ground the welder, the high frequency of a tig welder can kill computers, might not be a bad idea to remove it.
 
A
Dec 4, 2010
153
47
28
Anchorage, AK
I just posted a thread about a repair kit that I designed for this problem, it has been working awesome, started doing them last season. Look under Arctic Cat M-Series or use key words crack or bulkhead.

Here are the pics.

IMAG0170.jpg IMAG0169.jpg
 
A
Dec 4, 2010
153
47
28
Anchorage, AK
My kit install in about 1 hour, look for it in the new thread or the bottom of this one.

All this damage is only from down pressure on the post. There is a collar on the post, just under were it bolt to the tank, that carries all the up pull and transfers it to the A-frame piece. There is nothing but some thin ALU supporting the down force. This Kit is very easy to install, I will get some detailed installation pics and instruction to send with the kits.
 
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S
Feb 4, 2008
274
32
28
Seattle wa
I just posted a thread about a repair kit that I designed for this problem, it has been working awesome, started doing them last season. Look under Arctic Cat M-Series or use key words crack or bulkhead.

Here are the pics.

I like your Idea. My thought was use a cut off wheel and trim the cooler so the post support doesnt rest on the cooler. Then use stainless or chromolly plate and go across the whole width of the tunnel thick enough to compensate for the thickness of the cooler and the steering stop. the only difference is mine would take a while longer to do but no matter what happens you could not possibly crack the cooler.
 
A
Dec 4, 2010
153
47
28
Anchorage, AK
There is no way your crack the cooler with my kit. It is 6.25" across and almost 2" front to back and is 2 steel plates 1/8" thick, one on top with steering stops welded on it and the new one that will be ready to ship out Monday will have the bolts tack welded to the plate, and a bottom plate that over laps towards the tank a 1/4" to spread the load even more. I'll post pics of the new plates as soon as they are finished. I am only making 10 more for now, so if you want one of this batch, PM me. I'll include the shipping on all orders next week.
 
X
Jan 10, 2011
14
2
3
Does anyone have any pics of the bulkhead damaged before repairs? I'm picturing true AL rips/cracks. Just wanted to verify my assumptions.
 
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