| Author | Message | ||
     Lynrd |
Veronica, my 1998 S3, is a great RIDING bike - she is the steed of choice if the ride is >500 miles. However, when I bought her, I considered her "Cosmetically challenged". She lived in San Francisco and had spent quite a few nights out of doors. Every Aluminum surface has light corrosion, and the frame had rust gaining a foothold everywhere - the factory powder coat just didn't stand up to San Francisco weather. At the same time, I have a spare S3 frame - the better 2000 model with the extra brace for the front mount. That frame came from the Frog - a S3T I pulled down as a donor for a couple of other projects. I keep the frame around for a reference point for my frame table - but she's legal, with legal tags and everything. The Frog came with a stack of service records detailing all sorts of problems, big and small. One of them was from the Dealership in Carson City, NV, in June of 2004, when the bike had ~23000 miles. The bike called Santa Cruz home, and it is the only service detailed from there so I could guess that it happened on a tour. The WO has no info on why, but all isolators were changed at that point. I got the bike at 44000 miles on the the clock and the left isolator was clearly torn and rotated, so it was up on another set...20000 miles for life span of the isolators seems low As I said, Veronica is a great ride, and I hate to pull down a running bike, so I conceived a clever plan- I would refinish the newer frame, and swap Veronica's power train into her. Then I could refinish her original frame, and move everything back (yeah, I do shyt like that). Yesterday was the day to mate the newly powder coated 2000 frame to the Veronica's power plant. I had acquired a set of the latest Isolators (I actually try to keep a set or two in stock) and referred to the installation instructions from the B-16B tech update ref: http://www.ukbeg.com/downloads/files/techbulletins /Isolators96-00.pdf Now - that service bulletin is dated November 2000, the service in Carson City happened in 2004, and was performed as warranty repair. The service bulletin is very clear when it talks about checking the length of the isolating pin - it should be no more than .120" long, and may need to be filed down if longer. The left pin extended .182", the right was .177", so both were way out of the tolerance listed in the Service Bulletin. About 10 minutes with a file had them within tolerance, but it actually really offended me that the former owner had this warranty work done and the instructions were not followed, which I think was a root cause of the second failure, if not both of them. My hope is now it will be better. I own the tool listed in that service bulletin, which works pretty well. Once the left side isolator and front isolators are in, You tap it in to place on the right side. It has a small ledge machined in it to locate it in place. Getting the damn tool in is actually the hardest part as things need to be pretty closely aligned for it to fit in the right spot. Once it's in, you back off the integrated nut and the right side isolator is compressed, giving you just enough room to slip the left isolator in place. Once in, back off the tool, give the swing arm a bit of a tug to line up the isolator bolt holes, and install and torque the bolts. Then re-assemble the bike. | ||
| Phelan |
Reading stuff like this just makes me love and appreciate the S2 more. Removable side plates FTW  . | ||
| Dannybuell |
@Lynrd - I have a 96S1, I can't remember the design exactly, it has been a few years. I do remember thinking about using the pin hole as the basis for a larger pin or tapping it for a bolt? How far off is my memory and is this possible? | ||
| Lynrd |
@Phelan - No doubt about it! Give me the wonky kickstand angle any day  @Dannybuell. I don't see how going to a bigger hole or threaded hole would make it any betterer. When they twist, it's always because they have torn around that pin. A bigger pin would mean that there is less material to resist a tear. I think that's why part of the Field bulletin was about filing the pin down, so it would not protrude so far into the isolator and weaken it. |
