Originally Posted by Kev

There is a a Kev mod already for this problem I did mine this past Monday after getting a puncture. You only get around 5000 miles out of a new set of rubbers they become compressed then start to break up, the excess movement allows the rubber to twist & this causes them to break up, the sprocket carrier then has lots of free play, which makes the bike surge & feel snatchy at low speeds. Once they have become compressed they don't really shrink much more, so the free play needs to be taken up.

My fix is very simple, I have never need to replace the dampening rubbers on any of my XT's even with my last XT doing over 20K miles.

If the rubbers are in tacked & not breaking up you can take up the free play using a inner tube rubber strips. By cutting 4 strips & laying them over the dampener rubbers then push the sprocket carrier into the wheel hub, this will fold the rubber strips in half & rap them around the sprocket holder & between the rubbers. You cut each rubber strips to size so they can rap over the sprocket carrier to size. You can use different thickness rubber tubes or double them up to take up the free play, go to a bike shop & get an old inner tube from them. You want the rubber strips tight, you need to apply alot of pressure to get the sprocket holder to into the wheel hub, using both hands push like hell on the sprocket from side to side & the rubbers will fold in half & slip between the rubbers & go together. Do not use any lube to get it together, the lube will damage the rubbers.

I would recommend one to do it around 3500 miles so the rubbers are still in good condition & you will never need to replace them & you will always have a tight sprocket Holder.