Ténéré Suspension link failure…

[GregMember]

Hi Old Bulls…

Thing I love about finding out problems with with your bike, especially the cost of repairs, is putting it in perspective… its the only way to get through it. I have had to apply a liberal amount of perspective this week as the big girl had a problem…

I am sending my bike to Brisbane next week for the Team Moto ride then, 5 weeks later, am taking her all the way across to WA. Time is short with work and all, so I put my bike in for a service and ticked all the boxes, given the remoteness of where we are heading – and there is only us 2 bikes, no 4WD backups.

All was going swimmingly until a hurdle was found – the shock mount in the relay arm was out of round. You can clearly see the ovalness in the photo:

[attachment=3443]Rocker.JPG[/attachment]

Anyway, second hand parts for Ténéré’s are non existent so OEM was procured ($560 thanks Yamaha…) – bike is just out of warranty too…

So, new relay arm, bearings and bushes and she is as good as new. I may add that upon “investigation”, Yamaha acknowledged that it was not an isolated case, however could shed no light on how it came to be (excessive bottom out, mfr fault, stretching over time???). The bearing and bush were seized and the likely outcome would have been a fatigue failure somewhere where it would be very inappropriate to lose all suspension.

I have never bottomed her out, I run Ohlins rear end, at least for the last 3,000km and do not do jumps… I cannot see that this is from a riding event by itself. There was no excessive wear evident, rather it looked like the hole was stretched – but it is heavily gusseted, so I remain at a loss.

This returns us to perspective… In fact, finding it now has been a blessing in disguise as, failure in the middle of no where would have reined not only my trip, but my mates. It would have cost me a fortune to recover it and I would likely never again attempt my dream continent crossing. So, I am glad it has been found now as I would pay 10 times the cost if I found a problem in the middle of the gibson.

I would like to mention a special thanks to Simon and John from the Bikesmith… It was their eagle eye that caught the fault and they did everything and more I could ask for in repairing it. I now have full confidence in my bike again, which is very important.

I do, however, encourage all you Ténéré riders to have your rear end checked – even if you are under 40…

EDIT – I should note that this is for a 2009 XT660 Ténéré with 17,650km.

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

Bugger! As you said, at least you found it when you did and not midway across the Simpson or somewhere similar. I have an older (95) model but will check it anyway.

[AlexMember]

Hmm not good. For $5/600 odd dollars I would have (time permitting) investigated an engineered solution to an obvious design fault. Perhaps a solid billet replacement with bigger proportions where required. Maybe even a steal replacement. An engineer can work off your existing part – not rocket science.
Good luck on your trip!

[GregMember]

Mine has done 40k, I have just had mine out and apart and besides needing grease badly and some rust all was good. I ride mine for all I can, loaded jump it and generally abuse it for all its worth. I have destroyed the top shock absorber mount bush. It hasn’t really been bottomed as such and I now have a Ohlin’s / Sachs Frankinshock. Mine was fine, not out of round all good. I would bet that the seized bearing and bush had the bearing outa spinning in the alloy relay arm thus causing it to go out of shape. I will show Nick at Teknik’s the pictures and get his opinion but would bet my left nut that’s what happened as I have seen it happen on a RM I think it was. You could have had and engineer shop built that up and rebore it cheaper than a genuine one. I was shocked (no pun meant :laugh: ) at the cost of the bushes, bearings and seals to rebuild mine :ohmy: I must say Brian at Team Moto Blacktown has worked miracles, thanks Brian

Don’t expect any after sales service from Yamaha head office, they don’t understand support

Good luck with your trip

TB

[GregMember]

Thanks guys, good advice all round.

My main issue is time – I am having a god awful time at work at the moment and my whole family is heading to france for my great grand fathers memorial (he was one of the missing soldiers of Fromelles who has been found), so with the bike trip only 7 short weeks away and a trip to Europe in between (yeah yeah, I know… poor me… 👿 ) I had to go with a quick fix.

Simon suggested I may try Yamaha, but I reckon it will be fruitless and just one more thing I have to cop on the chin.

If anyone with connections to an engineering shop, your welcome to my worn one as a pattern.

[AlexMember]

On a high load part like that I personally wouldn’t. I’m no materials engineer but that sort of heat is bound to weaken a cast alloy part. If were to choose between that and a genuine part I would pay the money. Rear wheel slamming into rear guard at 100km fully laden – no thanks. Only an opinion….

[GregMember]

axel wrote:

On a high load part like that I personally wouldn’t. I’m no materials engineer but that sort of heat is bound to weaken a cast alloy part. If were to choose between that and a genuine part I would pay the money. Rear wheel slamming into rear guard at 100km fully laden – no thanks. Only an opinion….

I know what you are saying Axel although I still reckon done by a professional properly it wouldnt be a problem. We have all sorts of stuff under more heat and pressure than that repaired all the time. Could also have a steel sleeve put in, but I reckon that wouldnt be as strong :blink:

Like you say piece of mind with the new one on the outback ride maybe worth while

I will have the old one SJ and get it fixed if youre giving it away

TB

[GregMember]

I was going to plead my case to Yamaha in the hope of getting some $$$ back, but I reckon I would have success p&%$ing in the proverbial wind… PM me your address and its yours, else if you intend to be in the Cronulla area, you can pick it up – last resort, I will probably pay Steve Smith a last visit before our trip, I can leave it with him.

cheers,

Greg

[Geoff ForshawMember]

Jeffro wrote:

Bugger! As you said, at least you found it when you did and not midway across the Simpson or somewhere similar. I have an older (95) model but will check it anyway.

I will check it for you Jeffro while the engine is out.
Cheers,
Lefty

[GregMember]

With Steve is fine SJ I will get it rebuilt and it will be there for anyone to use. Reckon if you don’t seize a bearing and sleeve you won’t need one again but. Mine would have failed by now if they were a problem given how it’s ridden, loaded and my fat arse on it. Same for yours Jeffro

TB

[GregMember]

Good to know TB… I am not a light weight by any stretch… I often joke I am likely to be the largest Motensa rider in this big brown land – but after a chat with Sutto’s and waiting on the new trail zone mag, I may soon be trading the red honda powered lightweight for a KTM free ride – but I digress… good to know they can take the abuse, I love riding the tenere and can’t wait to be camping beside it under a billion stars sharing a campfire with my mate… wow – I sort of sound like a weirdo… promise I am not!

Happy to send you the part for yours or anyone else’s use in the future – hopefully not mine :S

[DeanMember]

On my old 98 RMX and some previous Huskies (92/96/98 360’s) the linkages came with grease nipples. Why dont manufucturers fit them as standard anymore ? and by adding your own grease nipples would this weaken the linkage at all ?

Just putting the question out there.

Ollie

[AlexMember]

I agree Ollie grease nipples are a good thing. Weaken it, I don’t think so but if one was worried about that – or worried about the nipple being smashed – drill and tap the linkage bolts, drill a cross the bolt to let grease through to the bearing.. I have done this on my WR200. I remove the nipples and replace with a small bolt to they don’t get damaged.
Luckily, on my Kato without a linkage… you know the rest.

[DeanMember]

Hmmm I might just do this Axel. I think I would also do the swing arm bushes as well as they seem to always be the worst condition on the Gasgas at least.

Ollie

[Jeffrey SmithMember]

DRZs come with grease nipples

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