[brentp]

I picked up a very good used 2004 SaberCat 500LX this past spring. I didn’t do too much research in advance of the purchase. However, I've done some digging on this site over the last few weeks, . . . only to find that the 2004 SaberCats appear to have a potential issue with the front shock experiencing a catastrophic failure (lower spring retainer breaking apart as I understand it). I also found out there is a service bulletin related to the front shocks for the SaberCats (2005-1-05). Questions I now have are, . . .

1) Does the Service Bulleting I referenced fix the failure issue, . . . or was it to address some other issue with the front shocks? It was hard for me to determine from reading the service bulletin, but it added a shock sleeve and changed out the sway bar.

2) If the answer above is NO, . . . should I concern myself with this potential issue and upgrade my shocks, . . . or wait for a failure on the trail? I did get a 1 year warranty from the dealer I purchased this from. If I really need to get some work done, I would like to do it now in advance of the winter. I should note, I do not drive my sleds 'hard' all the time, but do still like to get some occasional air. :banana:

For those with the ’04 SaberCats, your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[C-notesnopro]

FWIW,,,,,,the bulletin referred to here replaces the arms at outer ends of sway bar preventing a somewhat common ''popping down past centerline of actual swaybar'' allowing the shorter arms to come dangerously close to the ground as they would then hang lower than the mount pads on the wishbones, the new ''longer'' arms won't allow this :div20:

the ''sleeves'' referred to are to combat the original sleeves issue of too loose of a fit and sliding down too low on shock body ang letting the springs rub through the bodies of shocks, one other thing that goes along with this issue is to make sure the larger diameter(fatter end) of spring is positioned towards the top of shocks(04's came with the springs installed upside down, they need to be reversed upon installation) and spun just enough to get the max clearance between the spring and upper wishbone, this allows the body to enter the larger dia end and not have the smaller dia inner coils rubbing the shock bodies,,,,,,,,

the spring collar replaces the original with another new one at last update, get it done anyways as you have the wty, more that do this will call more attention to this calamity to ac's attention for perm fix sooner!!

 

[snowman1]

I had the lower collar on my 2004 S-CAt blow apart on a high spped lake run.
I replaced with the 2005 F-7 style and had to pay for the other one. Dealer warranteed the broken one.

 

[browndogg]

Had update done on 04 600 lx along with oil sending unit and red skis-no problems.. :luxhello:

 

[brentp]

Originally posted by C-NOTEPLUSf503@Sep 19 2005, 12:57 PM
the spring collar replaces the original with another new one at last update, get it done anyways as you have the wty, more that do this will call more attention to this calamity to ac's attention for perm fix sooner!!
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[/quote]

C-NOTEPLUSf503 - Does this mean there is a new spring collar design, . . . or simply replacing a failing part with a new one of the same design (which would also be subject to failure)?

I should point out, my shocks/springs are currently fine, . . . I am just concerned about a catastrophic failure in the field and I am trying to decide if I should be pro-active and replace the front shocks on this sled given some of the problems that some have reported

 

[C-notesnopro]

Originally posted by brentp@Sep 20 2005, 08:27 AM
C-NOTEPLUSf503 - Does this mean there is a new spring collar design, . . . or simply replacing a failing part with a new one of the same design (which would also be subject to failure)? 


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[/quote]
no new part number last i was aware of,,,,,,,




same part again subject to failure= very uncommon, but does happen occasionally,,,

 

[Sabre7]

My front shock failed when the adjuster broke on my 04 LX. They gave me a new shock - but I bought the rechargable 05 shocks.
I have a brand newshock in the box to sell if you want a spare.