# YS928J Long Term Review



## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

After owning a Yamaha YS928J for about 8 years now, I thought I’d share a couple of things that fellow owners might want to watch out for:

•	The metal housing onto which the skids attach is a bit on the flimsy side. Mine had deteriorated so badly, that I had to get a local weld shop to attach something more substantial onto which the skids would attach. 

•	The exposed electrical wires that control the chute direction need to be encased in a more protective casing. The wires that control the left/right direction of my chute had frayed and eventually severed, just beneath the control console where it attaches. Needless to say, I was pissed about this, as I lost the ability to turn the chute. A replacement cable cost about $250 (Canadian). Not the sort of part you want to wait on at the beginning of winter.

For machines that command such a hefty price, these types parts should be engineered a little better than that. Otherwise, I am pleased with the machine.

Cheers


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## JnC (Feb 21, 2014)

Yikes, whats with the surface rust on these machines? I came across this one while looking for a used YS1028, this one is ONLY 2 years old yet it looks like it fell off the back of a truck and got run over by the salt truck. May be the paint is the issue? or could it be the salt that we use here in North America?



BTW any idea what gauge sheet your 928 has? 



https://www.kijiji.ca/v-souffleuse-...ha/1404480678?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

JnC said:


> Yikes, whats with the surface rust on these machines? I came across this one while looking for a used YS1028, this one is ONLY 2 years old yet it looks like it fell off the back of a truck and got run over by the salt truck. May be the paint is the issue? or could it be the salt that we use here in North America?
> 
> BTW any idea what gauge sheet your 928 has?


:smiley-confused013: I don't have a clue what "gauge sheet" is ... Can you elaborate?

They tend to bath the streets in a salt marinade from December - April in my neck of the woods. On that note, I plan to sand the the rusted areas back to the metal this summer, then prime and re-paint it. I'll give it a good coating of rust-proofing when I'm done. 

A friend of mine rigged-up his outdoor water faucet up to his hot-water line... So whenever he's finished snow-blowing, he gives his machine a quick spray with hot water to wash the salt off of it. His machine looks pristine and it's the same age as mine :surprise:. I think I'll do the same next winter.


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

That harness does not need to be replaced. Automotive parts stores have new pins/blades that can replace the ones in the plastic body of the wire harness connector. Some wire, crimp, solder, tape, and you're good to go. $5-$10 tops. And minimal down time.


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

gibbs296 said:


> That harness does not need to be replaced. Automotive parts stores have new pins/blades that can replace the ones in the plastic body of the wire harness connector. Some wire, crimp, solder, tape, and you're good to go. $5-$10 tops. And minimal down time.



Thanks for the tip, I'll look into that.


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## JnC (Feb 21, 2014)

Snoopy said:


> :smiley-confused013: I don't have a clue what "gauge sheet" is ... Can you elaborate?
> 
> .



Sorry, meant to say sheet metal.


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

JnC said:


> Sorry, meant to say sheet metal.


Sorry, I don't know.


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

gibbs296 said:


> That harness does not need to be replaced. Automotive parts stores have new pins/blades that can replace the ones in the plastic body of the wire harness connector. Some wire, crimp, solder, tape, and you're good to go. $5-$10 tops. And minimal down time.


What do you call those white plastic things that the wires feed into? Nice to know, should I go shopping for it, or search YouTube for a video that demonstrates that sort of repair.


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## toms (Nov 17, 2017)

The sheet metal looks like your typical Japanese car sheet metal from the 80s and 90s


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## Cold1 (Dec 20, 2017)

Snoopy said:


> What do you call those white plastic things that the wires feed into? Nice to know, should I go shopping for it, or search YouTube for a video that demonstrates that sort of repair.


It's usually referred to as connector, or sometimes connector block. As gibbs296 said, that's not a difficult repair once you find out what terminal you need. Any good auto parts store should have a selection, or another source would be a truck dealership parts dept. - there are a gazillion terminals in trucks these days, and with the mileage they run in every type of weather, harness repair is quite common. I'm parts manager at a truck dealership - if you remove a terminal from the connector and post some pics, I'll have a look through our terminals and give you the part number if I can find anything.


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

Cold1 said:


> It's usually referred to as connector, or sometimes connector block. As gibbs296 said, that's not a difficult repair once you find out what terminal you need. Any good auto parts store should have a selection, or another source would be a truck dealership parts dept. - there are a gazillion terminals in trucks these days, and with the mileage they run in every type of weather, harness repair is quite common. I'm parts manager at a truck dealership - if you remove a terminal from the connector and post some pics, I'll have a look through our terminals and give you the part number if I can find anything.


Thank you.. stay tuned.


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

Just a heads up. The wire end blade or whatever choice of word used is locked into the connector block by a tab. You will have to gently bend the tab out of the way to pull the wire out of the back side of the block. It may also have an additional lock plate shoved in as well. Look it over before trying to just yank the wire out. A small pick or pocket screwdriver may work. Look at all the wires. Now is the time to fix any that look iffy. If doing more than 2 a little diagram for location is not a bad thing.


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## Cold1 (Dec 20, 2017)

gibbs296 said:


> Just a heads up. The wire end blade or whatever choice of word used is locked into the connector block by a tab. You will have to gently bend the tab out of the way to pull the wire out of the back side of the block. It may also have an additional lock plate shoved in as well. Look it over before trying to just yank the wire out. A small pick or pocket screwdriver may work. Look at all the wires. Now is the time to fix any that look iffy. If doing more than 2 a little diagram for location is not a bad thing.


Good point, gibbs296. I forgot to mention that the terminals will be held in the connector by a locking tab that must be bent out of the way in order to remove the terminal - see the attached pic for an example - Yours may well be different, there are lots of styles of locking tabs, but that pic shows the general idea. Once the tab is out of the way, the terminal pulls out easily, but won't budge until the tab is moved. If necessary, there are terminal removal tools available from auto parts stores, Princess Auto etc.


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## GregNL (Jan 9, 2017)

Hey Snoopy, hello from Paradise!

I'd forget using the rear skid feet, especially where Yamaha mounted them on a weak point that's bound to rust and flex as the bolts scrape the paint off the predrilled holes over time. A poor design for sure. Consider bolting up some universal poly skids or a rollerblade wheel on the sides of the bucket.

As for the overall rust, like a car if you want it to last it needs to be properly protected, especially here in Newfoundland. I liberally spray my old YS624 with Teflon after 1-2 uses and spray all nuts and bolts with LPS-3 or Lloyds AD3000. No doubt my machine was in hard shape prior to the rebuild but it's holding up remarkably well over the past 3 winters with only a few minor scratches.


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## Snoopy (Dec 12, 2018)

GregNL said:


> Hey Snoopy, hello from Paradise!
> 
> ...Consider bolting up some universal poly skids or a rollerblade wheel on the sides of the bucket.
> 
> As for the overall rust, like a car if you want it to last it needs to be properly protected, especially here in Newfoundland. I liberally spray my old YS624 with Teflon after 1-2 uses and spray all nuts and bolts with LPS-3 or Lloyds AD3000. No doubt my machine was in hard shape prior to the rebuild but it's holding up remarkably well over the past 3 winters with only a few minor scratches.


Good idea with regards to roller blade wheel... As for the rust, I've sprayed it with Krown recently... When the summer comes , I'll sand the rusted areas and re-paint. :smile2:


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