Anchor's away

[ALdad]

So I'm going down the hill to work approaching the bottom ready to make my turn at the intersection. I apply the brakes and pop no back brake. After making the turn at a little faster than normal speed Wheeee! I pull over. The lifeless severed brake line lay stretched out trailing the green goose oozing its last few drops of vital fluid. After recovering from the shock of this gruesome site I inspected for collateral damage. I found that the anchor pin for the brake assembly, the one that screws through the left swing arm and inserts into that little block that is the pain in the ass when you remove and replace the wheel. This had backed out and, see ya.. The brake assembly spun around like one of the Ayatollah

[dlaing]

So are there any other frequently ejected appendages others may suggest to be inspected?

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't need to remove the bolt to get the rear wheel off, so go ahead and put some mild thread locking compound on it.

 

As for other potential tragedies, be sure to remember to keep the brake line up on the clips and not hanging on the crossover after a rear tire change.

 

A few of us had the security bolts back out of the ignition lock. (could be ugly if you lost control because of that)

 

I have lost bolts at the alternator cover.

I had the engine temperature sensor unscrew, and I cracked it when tightening it gently.

 

Oil filters are known to come loose, with nasty consequences.

 

A new bike should have every bolt torqued a initially, after a few hundred miles and again after a few thousand, and after that, they should be fine.

 

Not ejected appendages, but worthy of mention:

 

There have been a few rear lockups due to bad bearings caused by too short of a bearing spacer.

 

Rear Brake problems due to sticking pistons have been a problem on a few bikes.

 

Some things that should be in the manual:

 

Lube the socket bushings at the shock absorber's eyes, especially important for the aluminum end of the Sachs, that has been known to crack.

 

Clean and lube throttle linkage.

 

Clean and lube shifter linkage.

 

Anybody got anymore?

 

Oh, I can't forget, the most dangerous thing is a loose nut in the saddle or behind the bars.

[ALdad]

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't need to remove the bolt to get the rear wheel off, so go ahead and put some mild thread locking compound on it.

 

As for other potential tragedies, be sure to remember to keep the brake line up on the clips and not hanging on the crossover after a rear tire change.

 

A few of us had the security bolts back out of the ignition lock. (could be ugly if you lost control because of that)

 

I have lost bolts at the alternator cover.

I had the engine temperature sensor unscrew, and I cracked it when tightening it gently.

 

Oil filters are known to come loose, with nasty consequences.

 

A new bike should have every bolt torqued a initially, after a few hundred miles and again after a few thousand, and after that, they should be fine.

 

Not ejected appendages, but worthy of mention:

 

There have been a few rear lockups due to bad bearings caused by too short of a bearing spacer.

 

Rear Brake problems due to sticking pistons have been a problem on a few bikes.

 

Some things that should be in the manual:

 

Lube the socket bushings at the shock absorber's eyes, especially important for the aluminum end of the Sachs, that has been known to crack.

 

Clean and lube throttle linkage.

 

Clean and lube shifter linkage.

 

Anybody got anymore?

 

Oh, I can't forget, the most dangerous thing is a loose nut in the saddle or behind the bars.

 

thanx! I have never toutched the pin when removing the tire .thats why Iam suprised I figure rust if nothing else would be holding in place.

[Guest ratchethack]

. . .So are there any other frequently ejected appendages others may suggest to be inspected?

Sorry to hear about the mishap, Al.

 

You might want to pre-empt what several (myself included) have expreienced and first preliminarily mis-diagnosed as a potential transmission problem. The short shift arm on the transmission underneath the starter motor at the front of the linkage has a bolt that can back out very gradually over time. The symptoms manifest themselves in progressively sloppier shifting. In my case, it was so gradual that I thought it was ME for months. . . The fix is removal of the bolt, clean-up of the threads, and re-installation with threadlocker. The pinch-bolt on the shift arm can benefit from the same treatment IMHO, just for extra insurance. The starter motor has to come off. I highly recommend disconnecting the battery first, or you WILL have fireworks (don't ask. . . ). Same exact scenario happened with a Pal's '04 LM. He hadn't the faintest clue why he'd been missing more and more shifts until we discovered the identical scenario.

 

IMHO it's always, always, ALWAYS a good idea to take an afternoon to carefully go over the entire bike (preferrably with tank off, when you first bring it home, as has been my routine on every bike I've owned) to look for anything already loose, remove and threadlock, and where applicable, torque everything critical you can get to. I pay particular attention to the frame bolts, careful to threadlock and torque any large chassis bolts that go into the aluminum block. This has the added benefit of greatly reducing the probability of seizure due to galvanic response (dissimilar metal electrolysis) long-term. An ounce o' prevention, y'unnerstan'. . . after a dozen bikes and decades of doing this, I generally prefer threadlocker to anti-seize or grease here, but that's just me, (some seem to be laboring under the misconception that even a correct application of the right threadlocker actually causes bolts to seize ) and you picks y'er own poison. . . There's the usual list of stuff that comes DRY from Mandello that're critical (IMHO) to get lubed, which are a good idea to take care of at the same time -- but that's not wot you asked about, and could be a topic for another time. . .

 

Have fun.

[felix42o]

I had the exact same thing happen, though I wasn't lucky enough to find either piece. Darn near $200 in parts later, and I learned my lesson. I removed that bolt, forgetting that it need not be removed for a tire change. I then got distracted/hurried during re-assembly and forgot to torque it down. Can't win them all. Glad your's wasn't worse!

[raz]

Here's a similar story from 2003 with pictures. His brake line didn't break, but was ripped out of the banjo bolt. You're lucky nothing worse happened.

[richard100t]

Same thing happened to me. I was doing something to the bike, I cant remember right now. Anyway it was extremely hot that day & quit the project until the next day. Then I put the bike back together, rear tire & whatever else I was fooling with & got distracted with something else & forgot about the bike. Next morning I fire up the bike to go to work & halfway down my street POP! You know the deal, its frightening, but a good lesson in paying attention to what you're doing. After all theres no law that says really f'd up things wont happen in traffic at a high rate of speed.

[nose2wind]

Happened to me also.

 

The newer bikes have a longer bolt that will accept a cotter pin. So it won't fall out if loosened.

 

Some of the newer bikes require this bolt be removed for tire change.

 

Another one to add to the list is wear on the oil lines that run beside the alternator cover. Some will rub against the cover and wear through the braiding. I used a small piece of hose split and wrapped around the line to space it away from the cover.

 

Check your rear wheel bearing at every tire change.

 

Carry spare fuses and relay.

[ALdad]

I'm still learning to navagate this site. So I hope this end up where it's supposed to. Any way thanks guys for the support . What a great web site! I have xmas week off and will be doing a complete 12k service. This will be my first attempt at valve adj, tsp etc. I will also look over all the sugested items. Cheer!!! Alan