Snapped Countershaft - Under Warranty

U2Slow · Jun 6, 2005

:eep:

Would you beleive that I have somehow managed to encounter a snapped countershaft on my '04 FE650. The bike has done almost 4000km since Nov (Purchase) and has been serviced oil/air etc every ride. It is religiously checked over as per handbook requirements.

Riding has been brilliant (awsome power) until I suddenly noticed no drive !!! countshaft snapped at intenal Circlip groove and looks to my untrained eyes like a material failure. 3/4 clean break 1/4 twist off. :finger:

Very uncommon, or so I am told. And to top it off I am bikeless for the next 3-4 weeks waiting for bits. :angry: :finger2:

Don't Husaberg know that there is Air travel and Air Freight? Any ideas why my parts can't come from the manufacturer in Sweden/Austria (wherever they are !!) in under a week ? I bought some Doc Marten Shoes last month from UK which arrived in 4 days :supermad: :supermad:

Not sure what to do now. I ride every weekend without fail.

Might have to ask the factory to extend the warranty by the time the bike is out of service because they don't have the parts :violin:

madero · Jun 6, 2005

In Belgium we have the needed parts within a week tops.

U2Slow · Jun 6, 2005

madero said:
In Belgium we have the needed parts within a week tops.

My Point exactly. Three to four weeks is not acceptable, my dealer was even surprised !

Would be curious if it is the same countershaft as on the '05. ie current production. Maybe someone has an '05 650 parts manual and can check it for me ? :thumbup:

Taffy · Jun 6, 2005

i know that you don't want to hear this but perhaps you could volunteer to pay the extra for air freight. this will either shame them into volunteering to do it instead or-well-you get the bike done quicker with a little money out of your pocket!

regards

Taffy

U2Slow · Jun 7, 2005

Air Freight

Might be the go... 8O

Might stir them up enough to get some action I hope !!!

husabutt · Jun 7, 2005

Consider having the part cryogenically treated before installation for a little extra insurance.
Cryo Science website

U2Slow · Jun 7, 2005

Cry-Oh

husabutt said:
Consider having the part cryogenically treated before installation for a little extra insurance.
Cryo Science website

Cry-Oh - I did a bit of that when I found out that I'd be bench racing for the next month !!!! :idea: Can't do it as it would probably void the warranty.

Isn't that what was done to Walt Disney ???

:!:

BD · Jun 8, 2005

Countershaft failure

U2slow, your fracture description is typical for a fatigued part. Cyclical fatigue takes time. It takes time for a crack to start, and it takes time for the crack to progress. Considering the riding time on your bike, you probably had a very quick crack initiation, which would indicate either a surface defect of some type on the shaft, or a significant stress raiser. You mentioned failure at a clip groove or machining detail? That would constitute a stress raiser. The other significant observation was the 3/4 clean versus 1/4 rough fracture. The fatigue is the smooth portion, the final "rapid" failure is the rough surface area. This ratio would indicate significant but not excessive loading to the shaft. Think of it as 1/4 of the shaft area having the ability to carry the stresses just before final fracture. Perhaps the heat treatment was not right, or the groove bottom had sharp corners that were under tension even before the bike was ever ridden. None of these questions can be answered without a closer look, but shaft failures should be few and far between when proper maintenance is performed, as you have apparently done. I would push this issue with Husaberg since there is no evidence of neglect to account for the premature failure. In fact, the evidence of early fatigue initiation suggests a defect early on. Best of luck and hope you get it back together soon. BD

U2Slow · Jun 8, 2005

Countershaft failure - unique ?

BD said:
U2slow, your fracture description is typical for a fatigued part. Cyclical fatigue takes time. It takes time for a crack to start, and it takes time for the crack to progress. Considering the riding time on your bike, you probably had a very quick crack initiation, which would indicate either a surface defect of some type on the shaft, or a significant stress raiser. You mentioned failure at a clip groove or machining detail? That would constitute a stress raiser. The other significant observation was the 3/4 clean versus 1/4 rough fracture. The fatigue is the smooth portion, the final "rapid" failure is the rough surface area. This ratio would indicate significant but not excessive loading to the shaft. Think of it as 1/4 of the shaft area having the ability to carry the stresses just before final fracture. Perhaps the heat treatment was not right, or the groove bottom had sharp corners that were under tension even before the bike was ever ridden. None of these questions can be answered without a closer look, but shaft failures should be few and far between when proper maintenance is performed, as you have apparently done. I would push this issue with Husaberg since there is no evidence of neglect to account for the premature failure. In fact, the evidence of early fatigue initiation suggests a defect early on. Best of luck and hope you get it back together soon. BD

My Sentiments exactly BD. Definately looks like a fatigued part which is covered under the warranty. The 1/4 twisted is definately where the shaft attempted to hang on. I suspect that either a material quality or heat treating were substandard 8O and that this is a one off occurrence.

Maintenance is a religion for me. 8) Oil change every ride, filter every second. The rest of the engine is spotless, in fact the piston, bore and head all look new, ring gap is as original also, must be due to my soft :lol: riding style. Will get on the phone today to dealer (who has been fantastic

) and distributor

and see what the hold up is with the parts.

Thanks for the great post - if I can I will get some pics of the shaft. And post them.

I'd really like to know if anyone else has had this happen ?

2005FC550 · Jun 13, 2005

I was in a bad situation with my 2005 bike and waited over two months for parts. I blame the Dealer for not following up and the Distributor for misplacing paperwork. After a call to BMG (very nice people) they got everything straight and parts arrived UPS in 5 days. Stories I hear is the parts will sit in Customs for days or weeks before being passed thru. If it is flown in by UPS or FedEx they must go through Customs.

The swede's may be going through difficult times. The 2005 Volvo is own part by Ford Motors and their new V-8 engine and drive train is made by Yamaha. :cry:

U2Slow · Jun 13, 2005

2005FC550 said:
I was in a bad situation with my 2005 bike and waited over two months for parts. I blame the Dealer for not following up and the Distributor for misplacing paperwork. After a call to BMG (very nice people) they got everything straight and parts arrived UPS in 5 days. Stories I hear is the parts will sit in Customs for days or weeks before being passed thru. If it is flown in by UPS or FedEx they must go through Customs.

I hear ya buddy. I have an update though that is a little annoying if anything. The extra parts that I am paying for are here. The warranty claim stuff is still coming.

I used to beleive all of the customs and transport delays but I don't anymore it is all a load of rubbish. What you can have delivered to Europe or the US can get to Melbourne, Australia in 1 extra day (FACT).

I am suspicious that in and effort to save $5 either the factory or importer has sent the goods surface freight. If indeed they have been sent at all. :roll:

What is very disheartening is to hear from a freing with an '04 & '05 parts catalog that the '04 parts that I require are the same as '05 parts so there is just no good excuse for the delays in getting the parts to the dealer. :evil:

I have no choice but to continue to wait while my dealer spends a lot of time on the phone harassing the distributor and so on up the line....

U2Slow · Jun 16, 2005

U2Slow said:
I have no choice but to continue to wait while my dealer spends a lot of time on the phone harassing the distributor and so on up the line....

All appears nearly sorted. Some new bits have arrived still waiting on a bearing and a gear or something. This is what I call showing some commitment to service Good work Vally Force & ButMac.. Now about those remaining parts.......... :roll: :roll:

Oh and by the way....The part has to go back to the factory for inspection as apparently this has not happened before....

Knopey · Jun 16, 2005

Good stuff U2

U2Slow · Jun 16, 2005

Knopey said:
Good stuff U2

The same Knopey from DBW? Might see you at next AMTRA High country Ride eh ? Wineboy is a bad bad little boy and requires spanking. Please administer said punishment to said protagonist regularly !!!

Hay and the smilies are better here !! 8O :shock: :? 8)

:evil: :idea: :roll: :lol:

Knopey · Jun 16, 2005

Yep the same. I would administer said spanking except for the fact that I don't know where Wineboy's bum has been! 8O 8O And dread to think :evil:

It's about 14hrs drive to the AMTRA shindig... :cry:

U2Slow · Jun 23, 2005

YYYYEEEEHHAAAAA !!!!!

Knopey said:
Yep the same. I would administer said spanking except for the fact that I don't know where Wineboy's bum has been! 8O 8O And dread to think :evil:

It's about 14hrs drive to the AMTRA shindig... :cry:

You're right there wine boys *** is not a good topic he was pretty smashed at the HCR and he might have seen more action than the communal postie :lol:

Have finished vomiting now....

All is good on the berg front. Bits are all in now and Valley Force will have something for me to ride on Saturday. Even got a call from the spare parts importer to let me know all should be good !. Getting as bad case of the jitters being without the monster Berg. Need grunt, must have grunt and lots of it !!!

HCR is 4 hours for me - I have been to the property so many times that it feels like 2. It is worth it if you get the chance !!! See you next year :?:

bikebarnbeckman · Jun 23, 2005

KEEP IN MIND

I am a new member to this site and plan on staying....F650e on order...Keep the following in mind when it comes to Parts being delayed in shipping...

I have been in the importing business for 15 years (Bulldog Caster Co., producing and selling industrial and material handling casters and wheels)...dealing with China, customs and freight forwarders on a daily basis. 10 years ago from my customer's purchase order to delivery to their hands, the average time was about 6-8 weeks (3 weeks to mfr + 3-5 weeks shipping and customs clearence)...since 9-11, average delivery is now 12-15 weeks (still 3 weeks to manufacture)...no joke...and this will only get longer...customs will soon be running every single ocean going container through a nuclear material "sniffer" as well as the now standard under a microscope inspection process. Any foreign made products will have delivery delays...the factories and the factory reps (like BMG) are not lying when they are stating that there are customs delays...

Also, when your talking about a single part like a countershaft, etc...not only is there going to be production time (finding time to produce inside a standard production run) but also, the air freight actually runs in the hundreds of dollars for even small parts (if our factory in my business air freighted every part that we needed to replace (casters and wheels) all profit would disappear and we would be losing money left and right. However, when we can include the broken part inside a container that is already ready to ship (shipping less than a 20 ft or 40 ft full container causes a loss of money), we can save hundreds of dollars while still providing a part at no cost to the customer.

If I were a dealer and had a knowledge of a customer and knew the history of their maintenance and their bike care (actual oil change receipts, etc) I would offer up a demo ride a couple of times until their part came in. Keep the customer happy by giving him something to ride, while keeping the brand name in a positive light.

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Snapped Countershaft - Under Warranty

U2Slow

madero

U2Slow

Taffy

U2Slow

husabutt

U2Slow

BD

U2Slow

2005FC550

U2Slow

U2Slow

Knopey

U2Slow

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