I learned something new today, thank you. 40 plus years of experience riding every terrain on earth and over 35 years spent turning wrenches or teaching students how, and I did not know running on smooth obstacle free sand dunes is more likely to break steering componets than running over boulders & logs in the woods. Wow. Thanks again for that tasty bit of knowledge.

 

Pro. I have to concur with you,a skidder trail is not nearly as bad as a sand dune....loaded with a deer and other heavy objects able to jump stumps and logs along the side of a hill with holes and muddy water,I guess a dune is tougher on the components.Of all the dunes that I have ever ridden on,the worse thing I ran into was sand getting into spindles and grinding up the bearingsWE have a lot of sand stone and river bottoms,that will turn the best ATV into a useless piece of equipment.

 

 

What kind of wheels are you running, if your running after-market wide offset wheels it puts more stress on all steering componants and can cause the tie rods to break or in your case much worse.

 

I get it. You are so proud to be a country hick. I am so glad I don't live in the south. If you have ever been to Glamis you would know what I was talking about. Obviously I ride harder than you, I broke something. Sand dunes are alot different than sand in a stream or driving over a log. If anybody here west of the rockies can help me, please do so. Please no more rednecks.

 

Thank you yellowrider250ex for simply offering advice and not turning this into a stupid war of words.

 

I am truly sorry if I offended you.I did not call you any names,and I wish you wouldn't call me any. I live on the coast, and we have some very high sand dunes on the outer banks.And I don't ever remember them being tough on any vehicles that I have owned. The guy may be right about your tire size. I do invite you to come to my hunting camp and try out our cut overs. I think you would see the light. Sand is soft and forgiving,where a forest has been cut,looks like a bomb went off!Terrain thats mean to an ATV of any kind. BTW I am real tough on my equipment also.Sorry!

 

Personnaly I haven't heard of the Rack & Pinion breaking. I can relate to your post as I ride (hard) in the sand too: Glamis, Pismo & Oregon. From my experience you'd had to have been beating/launching your Rhino quite a bit, many times to inflict the damage you have, or... have had one serious crash... I damaged the front end of my Rhino by launching it @ Pismo. I was out in the dunes beating the Hey-seus out of it (launching it various dunes) and on my last launch headed for camp I came up short. I caught about 4 feet of air & came down about 20 feet out onto a table top. Sounds okay except I didn't see that someone had cut a donut at the top. I of course came down nose "heavy" right into the (hard) face of the donut. I hit so hard I was seriously dizzy for quie a while. Anyway I got out, looked it over and noticed that both front tires were really toed out. I limped it back to camp and loaded it up. Once at home I started working on it. Nobody could tell me how to check/determine what components were bent. So It was hit and miss. I replaced the Rack & Pinion, no change, returned it. A friend had some factory a-arms, so I put them on, it helped, but only about 15%. I also found some cracks in the frame @ the front area near the lower skid plate area (near the factory welds), so I had them welded. The last thing I did was order and install new spindles. Wa-La! back to normal. "My case" was due to self abuse (trashing the unit). You play, ya gotta pay... Anytime your using/abusing something beyond the way it was designed, issues may arrise ..

Rude Dog

 

Rude,tell it like it is! You know what happened like I do!.Anything can be broken...over and out!!

 

I agree. If you are too hard on anything it will break. However, I was really not that hard on it and a Rhino costs 10k! Obviously Yamaha agree's with the defect ( They warranteed everything! ). I have done my research and this is a common problem for people who ride in the sand dunes. Yes, SAND DUNES. If you have a rhino and the wheels are forced into a forward to backwards motion verses an up and down you will break or bend something. DRIVING through the woods and mud really does not apply. Sorry Alabama it's just a different environment.