uhg!! front end broke

[zdgz]

Good day folks,

Well yesterday I went out on my '03 LT for a nice ride in the AM, maybe 75 miles across nice country rodes. I got home and decided to wash the bike so I did just that in the driveway. The big uhg came when I went to take the bike off the center stand and put it back into the garage. Well the front end broke!!!! The front of the bike is right on top of the front fender so much so that I can't even use the kickstand or center stand (bike is way to low). It looks like there is a piece between the 2 forks where an arm attaches (appears to be screwed in). The arm ripped right out of where it should have been screwed in.
Does anyone have any experiences such as this?
I can't wait to talk to my dealer about this one...

[DaveDragon]

Certainly glad you weren't ridding!

[CharlieVT]

Whoa....
first I've heard of this one!
Makes me wonder about the history of the bike.
Take a pic and post if you can.
Yeah, really glad you were riding.

[Motomadman]

One other time I have seen something like this here on the board. As I recall the Ball Joint pulled out or broke away from the Fork Bridge. Sure glade it happened where it did.....

[Chipper]

Sounds as if the big nut backed off that connects to the bracket that connnects to the bottom of the front shock...

You should play the lottery, if that would have collapsed while riding, you would have done a real neat head stand...

Keep us updated

[jzeiler]

This did happen a year or two ago and it was the entire ball joint that ripped out out of the fork bridge. Inspection showed that it had been cross threaded and not fully engaged (only a turn or so). Kind of strange to see that since it requires 230Nm to seat it.

[ArthurKnowles]

Makes me wonder about the history of the bike.


Remember that post about doing a wheelir on an LT? Maybe we just found out who bought it. :)

Seriously though, glad it didn't happen on the road.

[RealWing]

Sounds like a safety issue and should be reported to the NHTSA?

[zdgz]

It is the ball joint that has been detached from the fork bridge. Have a towing company bringing to the dealer tomorrow. The dealer indicated he had only seen this once before and it was caused by an accident. However I did not have any accident and had a great ride just hours before with no signs of front-end trouble and I did not hit any potholes (many of those here in new england at this time of year).
I'll let you know how it all turns out.

[ustasub]

You should play the lottery, if that would have collapsed while riding, you would have done a real neat head stand...

Keep us updated


Nah I broke mine at 80 mph striking an object on the freeway, blew the front tire, dented the rim such that it was hitting the front calipers every rotation, besides a bit of handle bar shake, which I thought was due to the blown tire, the bike was still stable and I got across five lanes of traffic to the breakdown lane. Cost $9K to rebuild the bike.

[zdgz]

I can't imagine you broke the same component(s). The bike is completely un-drivable and there is no way someone would stay upright. The front end bottoms out and the wheel will go right or left immediately.

[ustasub]

I can't imagine you broke the same component(s). The bike is completely un-drivable and there is no way someone would stay upright. The front end bottoms out and the wheel will go right or left immediately.
The bridge (lower triple tree equivelant?) that the ball joint bolts into broke away on the rear portion causing the forks to move away from the bike. The underside of the fairing was resting on the front fender which I believe helped stabilize the bike, along with the speed. The bike was sitting so low that I had to lean to the right to get the side stand down and it wouldnt lean back to the left. I dropped both mirrors on the freeway and even got some "air" when I struck the object. I agree it's undrivable from a dead start but I had a bit of momentum...

[zdgz]

Well have the bike back from the shop. Fork bridge and trailing arm replaced @ a total cost of $1700 with labor. Still can't figure how this happened taking it off the center stand.

[mjordans2000]

Well have the bike back from the shop. Fork bridge and trailing arm replaced @ a total cost of $1700 with labor. Still can't figure how this happened taking it off the center stand.

Coming of the stand wouldn't do it, the damage was already there. A while back one of our local riders hit a pothole that bent his rim and knocked his mirrors off. The bike was repaired at his dealer and he had been happily riding along for a long time before another dealer pointed out his front end had been also been damaged by the pothole and could well have come apart at any time.