| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
We had a thread going on the Quick Board about this which has died (http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/4062/203825.html), and I had another issue with my isolator, so I thought I'd start a new thread here in the KV. My 2000 S3 now has ~20,000 miles on it. At ~15,000 miles, I replaced the front isolator with a new one as a preventative maintenance measure. Within 6 months and a couple of thousand miles, it failed completely while I was away from home on a trip with my wife. See photos in the original thread at: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=4062&post=670784#POST 670784 Note that there was the possibly related issue that I had removed the "4th" engine-frame link during the time the isolator failed. This link goes from the frame just under/behind the steering head to the forward engine mount. It was not present on early S3's and was never used on M2's. Removing it appears to reduce the engine vibration to the handlebars while having a negligible effect on handling. I then reinstalled the original, old but undamaged isolator, reinstalled the 4th link and continued riding the bike. After riding the bike this way for a few weeks, based on the discussion in our earlier thread, I decided I'd try leaving out the 4th link again since it didn't appear that that would have caused the isolator failure. OK, fast forward a couple more months to last week. My family and I went to Fontana Village, NC on vacation (~10 miles away from Deal's Gap). I rode the bike ~300 miles there and spent some time every day riding the nearby twisties. At the end of our third day there (after ~3 runs through the Dragon plus a couple of hundred miles on other twisty roads) I was checking the bike over and felt a small tear on the bottom forward side of the front isolator. I'd say it was ~1/2" long and oriented horizontally just under the extension of the metal flange that bolts to the frame. I hadn't noted any increase in vibration at this point. Based on what others have said, I'd probably have been OK to ride the bike in that condition for a few hundred more miles, BUT I did have a new isolator on hand plus the tools I needed to change it. Furthermore my wife was itching to go for a ride on the Dragon and I did NOT like the idea of having that isolator possibly fail 1/2 way through 318 curves (or worse yet at the end of 318 curves knowing I'd have to come BACK through all of them to get back to our cabin). It took me about an hour to change it. I'm getting much better at doing the job after 3 tries; I'd have been quicker but I didn't have a centerstand this time. I just used the small scissors jack out of my Volvo to hold up the front of the engine. This time, I used one of the J & P Cycle mounts mentioned by S2Pengy in the earlier thread. The price is $19.99 (~half the price of the factory part) and the part number is 4300140. It looks virtually identical to the factory part. The metal sleeve inside the rubber portion may protrude slightly higher on top than the sleeve on the factory part. It appears the D-shaped washer that sits on top of the isolator actually was slightly clear of the rubber portion when everything was bolted together. This washer appears to be flush or slightly compressing the rubber when the factory part is installed. If I'd had more time (and if I'd been in my carport instead of in the very unlevel driveway of a cabin in the mountains) I'd have compared the two parts more carefully and taken some measurements. Maybe next time. I made at least two more round trips through the Dragon after that, one with my wife on the back, I did at least another 100 miles in the local twisties and I rode ~300 plus miles home with no problems. I reinstalled the 4th link when I installed the new isolator just to take that out of the equation for the time being. I seemed to notice less vibration than with the factory isolator on my return trip home, but I did make an effort to keep the RPM's always above ~3200 when cruising (this means keeping the bike in 4th gear when cruising at less than 70 MPH). Keeping the RPM above 3200 seems to be the critical RPM for keeping vibes out of the handlebars. I'll keep you posted as to how this part holds up. | ||
| Henrik |
Please do keep us posted. I'll be replacing the isolator on my S2 shortly. Small tear in the front section. Granted, it's the original isolator, so I'm not overly concerned - yet. I'll be replacing with an OEM isolator, on order from DaveS. I'll hopefully be doing 2-3000 miles in september and will report back. Henrik |
