Rapid hyfax wear

[nickw]

So finally got the chance to get the Invader out around the lake and it wasted a brand new pair of slides on the skid.  It was a 20 mile haul, half of which was packed snow/ice and the other had some decent drifted snow.  Didn't get above 40mph and the slide are pretty well melted all the way.

Could the track be too tight?  I know there wasn't much snow but my newer ski doo formula was out in similar conditions and the slides are fine.

[gixxer6]

The Invaders, especially the earlier ones, don't handle ice very well.  They don't have many idler wheels and rely heavily on the slides.  I have stuck the slides to the track on my 79 before just by running on the hard pack for a shore time.  My 99' MXZ has more idler wheels and handles the ice much better.  Even my 81' Invader with Vari-Ride does a lot better than my 79 did.  I suspect the 10 miles ridden on the ice did them in.  To be safe, check your track clips for cracks, this will cause premature wear. 

[kawhead]

if it had the replacement track[all 78/79]it should have gotten the wheel kit,it came with the track. i see a lot of 80 models[weren't recalled]with the rubber track and no xtra wheels,not good on hyfax or track clips.

[rminier]

Wow, cool site. Just found it a couple weeks ago. I bought a '79 Invader in the fall of 1981 and have owned it ever since. I'm now 60 years old but still lovin' the fact we finally got some snow in central Indiana this year. I was going to post something on here and see if anyone else had this experience. My Invader experienced rapid hyfax wear also. I was aware early on that Kawasaki had recalled the tracks with the metal bars embedded in the track and replaced them with fiberglass. Apparently a few injuries occured when the metal bars separated from the track. Anyway, I discovered that the rear suspension rails were too narrow for the track clips. The rails were not centered on the track clips like they should be. I measured the distance between track clips, and this was identical to other sleds I checked. I looked at the possibility of altering the rear suspension to widen the spacing between rails, but never did. Long story short, a few years later I had the opportunity to get 2 sleds that had been sitting in a barn running so the owner could sell them. One was a nice '81 Intruder. I measured the suspension, and lo & behold the rail spacing was perfect, so guess what...I put the ''81 Intruder rear suspension in my '79 Invader and the hyfax wear has been as GOOD AS ANY OTHER SLED I OWN..Yamaha, Ski-doo, etc. The track on the Invader has the identical distance (width) between track clips that my '83 V-max and '97 MXZ have. The '81 Intruder suspension was identical in every way to the one that was in the Invader, except the rails were now about 3/4 inch further apart and now were perfectly centered on the track clips. It's been a lot of years, but wondered if anyone else had encountered this. By the way, the Invader is still running perfectly and is a blast...also have a 1975 SnoJet Astro SS. Just gettin' started checkin' out this site..seein' lots of great info and pictures.

[Interceptor398]

Welcome to the site!!

[rminier]

Wow, cool site. Just found it a couple weeks ago. I bought a '79 Invader in the fall of 1981 and have owned it ever since. I'm now 60 years old but still lovin' the fact we finally got some snow in central Indiana this year. I was going to post something on here and see if anyone else had this experience. My Invader experienced rapid hyfax wear also. I was aware early on that Kawasaki had recalled the tracks with the metal bars embedded in the track and replaced them with fiberglass. Apparently a few injuries occured when the metal bars separated from the track. Anyway, I discovered that the rear suspension rails were too narrow for the track clips. The rails were not centered on the track clips like they should be. I measured the distance between track clips, and this was identical to other sleds I checked. I looked at the possibility of altering the rear suspension to widen the spacing between rails, but never did. Long story short, a few years later I had the opportunity to get 2 sleds that had been sitting in a barn running so the owner could sell them. One was a nice '81 Intruder. I measured the suspension, and lo & behold the rail spacing was perfect, so guess what...I put the ''81 Intruder rear suspension in my '79 Invader and the hyfax wear has been as GOOD AS ANY OTHER SLED I OWN..Yamaha, Ski-doo, etc. The track on the Invader has the identical distance (width) between track clips that my '83 V-max and '97 MXZ have. The '81 Intruder suspension was identical in every way to the one that was in the Invader, except the rails were now about 3/4 inch further apart and now were perfectly centered on the track clips. It's been a lot of years, but wondered if anyone else had encountered this. By the way, the Invader is still running perfectly and is a blast...also have a 1975 SnoJet Astro SS. Just gettin' started checkin' out this site..seein' lots of great info and pictures.

Check this out regarding wiscintruderguys post

[Interceptor398]

My 78 Invader does not like hard pack.  I have a new track kit for it but there are other projects in front of that job.