| Author | Message | ||
     Bigblock |
WTF? I just broke my second front isolator bracket in less than a year. The first one popped with about 28,000 mi. on it, and I think it was cracked for a while, from the looks of the break. I replaced it with a brand new one, and all new bolts hardware and new isolator bushing. And I did it by the book, and torqued everything properly and used loctite where needed. That was 11 months and 6,000 miles ago. Also, the rear isolator bushings were replaced at 20,000 miles with the new style, and they still look real good, no visible tears or cracks, and no discernable sagging. All the other hardware, tie rods and such, appear ship shape. The new iso bracket broke clean thru, and looks like it broke all at once, a clean break, no funky looking metal to indicate any previous cracking. And the bolt on the left side broke, so the motor was pitched forward against the frame. The bolt break looked clean, too. And I inspect that bolt and bracket regularly. When it broke, I was riding along and noticed a slight increase in vibration, so I slowed way down, and about 1/4 mi. later, it started shaking like crazy, so I pulled right over and saw the motor pitched forward and the broken bracket and bolt. I suspect the initial light vibe was either the bolt or bracket snapping, and the big vibe a 1/4 mi. later the other side letting go and allowing the motor to pitch forward against the frame. So, the question is, is anyone else having a similar problem with bracket breakage? Is this supposed new isolator bushing too soft and causing problems for tubers? Is there something I am overlooking here that may be causing this problem? Less than 6,000 miles out of all new parts seems ridiculously short lived to me. I must say, too, that the metal at the break looked like real porous pot metal, I mean this bracket looks like crap. It looks like you took a piece of styrofoam and snapped it, a real porous casting, did I just get a bad part this one time, or is this a problem now? Anyone with any ideas or knowledge on this subject, please let me know. Court? Do you know anything about this? Thanks, Ray | ||
| Bad_karma |
Ray, Haven't had this problem. Just a broken mount bolt. Joe | ||
| Bigblock |
Yes, I break the bolt and the bracket. I have been paying much more attention to it since I replaced it last year, before that I hardly ever looked, probably just when I washed the bike, which isn't too regularly. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Are you talking about the cast aluminum motor mount that the engine hangs from, or the plate that the bushing is attached to behind the steering head? That mount is reported to be very porous, I tried to clean it up when I cut off the air intake support portion but it only gets so pretty... The motor mount bolts have broken on a few, some people have had it happen after servicing the rear engine iso's due to following the manual procedure which has a tendency to stress the hardware going into the front of the engine. Seems like a few folks have talked about their motor mounts. Many have replaced them with stronger billet parts... | ||
| Sleez |
check here for much discussion; http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/476 23/261832.html?1172810217 i am sending my unbroken bolt to the bolt manufacturer to test, and am looking at making a spreader bar or welding a brace between the two arms to help spread the load. | ||
| Sleez |
so far the failure mode seems to be; the left side bolt breaks first (i have not heard of any situation where the bracket was broken but not that bolt), then all the load is carried on the right side bolt and it either breaks, usually taking the boss in the head with it or the bracket itself breaks. my theory is that the short vertical arm carries/transfers more load to the one bolt than is carried to the other, therefore causing some load spikes that the bolt can't handle in the shear plane. therefore the answer seems to be triangulating the bracket to share the load as evenly as possible. i have only found one instance of a triangulated bracket (96 S1 style) breaking or having bolts break, and i am sure these were pre-recall bolts. most people just spend the 300.00 and get a billet bracket and call it good. i think that is a little expensive and may spend much more timewise to come up with a better solution. i did talk with the bolt manufacture and they have some concern about the coating on the bolts which is not factory. these bolts are heat treated to around 750 deg, and my concern is they might be getting heat cycled close to that temp and becoming weakened, though i have no evidence to support that theory yet. all indications are that the head temps are only around 450 deg near the bosses in question. | ||
| Bigblock |
Thanks for the response, guys. Yes, it is the al bracket that is breaking, that and the bolt. I suspect the bolt broke first, but I have no proof of this. Both the bracket and bolt have very clean breaks, it does NOT look like they were cracked part way through, or that either the bracket or bolt were broken for any length of time at all. I suspect one broke and then the other all within a 1/4 mile or so. And, this is the second one in a year. This is the latest bracket and bolts available as of last May. The original parts went 6 years and 28,000 miles, so I don't know what Buell did since then, but it doesn't seem to be an improvement! Now, I was reading the thread you pointed to, and Court was talking a lot about analysis, but he didn't any answer any questions, as to what they actually found when they analysed these parts, and what we are supposed to do to prevent such failures from repeating in the future. Court? Anyone? I have purchaseed the X1 bracket in the hopes that this will help, plus, I am sick of looking at that ugly extension sticking out for my non-existent bread box. I am also wondering if this supposedly updated iso bushing is at fault. New and improved doesn't always equate to better! If this ahppens again, I will probably either go with billet, or triangulate a bracket. And punch the bolt hole bigger in the head, and heliarc some more material on it so that doesn't break, too. Not treally what I want to do, as the stock part should really do the darn job! Thanks again, Sleez, Karma, L.B. | ||
| Ebutch |
55,000 on my S3 no prhttp://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/ebutch/P10 10160.jpg poblemsfront engine hanger or isolater! Butch (Message edited by ebutch on April 04, 2007) | ||
| Bigblock |
Got the busted bolt out, removed old isolator bushing, and grabbed the new one for install... Dam! they sold me the wrong part! GREAT! And the one I just pulled, which is less than a year old, looks WAY WORSE than the 6 yr old one I pulled last year! I guess I will try ordering one from Jireh Cycles, as Jimidan posted in the knowledge vault. "New and Improved" parts lasting only a fraction of the time the originals lasted, makes me wonder if HD-Buell don't want their old bikes on the road no more... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The real one is made by Barry controls here in Massachusetts. Perhaps you can get them directly? I met an engineer there and she set me up with two updated new ones but unfortuately, she was in a relationship. Wait, what was the question again? | ||
| Bigblock |
REAL ONE? the wrong one they sold me is made in CHINA! Says so right on the bushing. I don't know where they're making L0501.2, but it don't work too good. I ordered a 5-101 from Jireh Cycles, which is supposed to be the old 16207-79B , so we'll see if that works any better than the crap I put on the bike last year. (L0501.2) | ||
| Ebutch |
Harley parts- man told me that is a muffler isolator on some 1340 mods.Butch | ||
| Bigblock |
L0501.2 is the "new" front iso bushing for the tubers. 16207-79B is the old part # like what they came with from the assembly line. 16207-79C is apparently the new bigtwin engine mount replacing 79B on bigtwins only, not on Buells. Go figure. I dont know nuthin 'bout no muffler bearing, or a lot of other stuff, either!  | ||
| Mwellm |
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Billet-front-Isolat er-engine-mount-fits-Buell-M2-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItem QQcategoryZ35572QQihZ010QQitemZ200039262747 Has anyone tried these, (when,if) mine breaks I would move to a billet piece of some kind. | ||
| Sleez |
Mwellm, without the two arms tied together, (i don't belive) it won't give any advantage, because what will break is likely one bolt first then all the weight is on one arm, cast or billet can't handle that load! it might give you some more time before the bracket breaks, but if one bolt breaks....party over!! what i think is happening is the load isn't balanced between the two bolts, since one arm is almost vertical and the other is near 45 deg, this transfers more load to one bolt until it fails then either the arm or other bolt breaks. |
