Project Double Take is a new name for Richard’s 2003 Yamaha 660 Grizzly that we’ve been building up over the last few years. In the past we referred to it as the Hot Rod on Dirt Trax, but we decided to change the name after the last trip. Because it seems like every time the machine goes out it breaks and we have to Double back and Take it back to the shop to fix. The Mike Holmes ride was no different…
Richard and I just finished up the latest rebuild the day before we left to go for the ride and were feeling pretty good about how the machine was going to perform. Here’s the story.
I had to build new stronger A-arms on both the front and rear suspension because the last ones bent, plus (just because we needed more crap to do) we custom fit a set of RydeFX Air 2.0 shocks off a snowmobile. Once this new stuff was done, in testing we found out pretty quickly that the front bumper had a wee bit of an interference problem with the front tires. Every time the machine cornered or landed off a small jump it would hit and this kept us from really pounding on the Grizz. But so far the suspension was holding, and we were happy about the performance out of the shocks. Doubling back to Take the machine back into the shop (you see the theme here) we proceeded to cut about 8 inches off either side of the bumper to clear the tires, and make some caster and camber adjustments to the front geometry. By now it was too late to head back out to see if our bumper mod was working. Plus I had to get some new 7/16 grade 8 bolts to anchor the suspension to the frame through the heim joints, as I only had some el-cheapo bolts in there and I was worried about breaking them. The next ride test would have to wait till the next day, our last day before we went to the Holmes Ride.
Early the next morning, I tripped it out to the fastener place and headed back to the shop to install the new bolts. Richard wasn’t around but I decided to take it out anyway. I couldn’t wait.
It was awesome! This thing could go around a corner wide open it’s was so stable, and the suspension rode real nice on the trail; something I was a little worried about because I was basically guessing how to set the front end up. I figured it was time to hit the small test track in the back yard.
Things started good, and I was working up to bigger and bigger air taking it easy on the suspension. Things stayed straight, and seemed to be fine… Until I broke the back wheel off!! Back to the shop I went (is Project Double Take making sense yet?).
Thankfully there was no damage to the machine, the wheel just broke at a weak spot and I was happy that the weak spot wasn’t one of my home-made suspension arms. We were still scheduled to bring the machine to the Holmes Ride, so a quick trip to the tire shop to mount the tires on a new set of wheels. With that done, all that was left was a wash and to load the quad in the trailer.
Now at the ride, things were going great. We had plenty of people comment on the Grizzley and for the first few miles the machine was working great. I could see Richard was happy with the performance… Until… the axle separated out of the CV joint! So we had to – well you know.
Right now the machine is back at the shop, waiting to be fixed AGAIN.
I had to build new stronger A-arms on both the front and rear suspension because the last ones bent, plus (just because we needed more crap to do) we custom fit a set of RydeFX Air 2.0 shocks off a snowmobile. Once this new stuff was done, in testing we found out pretty quickly that the front bumper had a wee bit of an interference problem with the front tires. Every time the machine cornered or landed off a small jump it would hit and this kept us from really pounding on the Grizz. But so far the suspension was holding, and we were happy about the performance out of the shocks. Doubling back to Take the machine back into the shop (you see the theme here) we proceeded to cut about 8 inches off either side of the bumper to clear the tires, and make some caster and camber adjustments to the front geometry. By now it was too late to head back out to see if our bumper mod was working. Plus I had to get some new 7/16 grade 8 bolts to anchor the suspension to the frame through the heim joints, as I only had some el-cheapo bolts in there and I was worried about breaking them. The next ride test would have to wait till the next day, our last day before we went to the Holmes Ride.
Early the next morning, I tripped it out to the fastener place and headed back to the shop to install the new bolts. Richard wasn’t around but I decided to take it out anyway. I couldn’t wait.
It was awesome! This thing could go around a corner wide open it’s was so stable, and the suspension rode real nice on the trail; something I was a little worried about because I was basically guessing how to set the front end up. I figured it was time to hit the small test track in the back yard.
Things started good, and I was working up to bigger and bigger air taking it easy on the suspension. Things stayed straight, and seemed to be fine… Until I broke the back wheel off!! Back to the shop I went (is Project Double Take making sense yet?).
Thankfully there was no damage to the machine, the wheel just broke at a weak spot and I was happy that the weak spot wasn’t one of my home-made suspension arms. We were still scheduled to bring the machine to the Holmes Ride, so a quick trip to the tire shop to mount the tires on a new set of wheels. With that done, all that was left was a wash and to load the quad in the trailer.
Now at the ride, things were going great. We had plenty of people comment on the Grizzley and for the first few miles the machine was working great. I could see Richard was happy with the performance… Until… the axle separated out of the CV joint! So we had to – well you know.
Right now the machine is back at the shop, waiting to be fixed AGAIN.
