Hey, my son was riding a couple of miles from our cabin and his rear brake on his 06 wolvy 450 started on fire. A buddy saw the flame and got him to stop and then I put it out with my boot. Yamaha wants pix of it before they will fix it. Has anyone seen this type of occurrence before? What causes it and how can you avoid it.

 

damn i dont know what would cause it to catch fire other than if you wore the pads down to metal and there was some debris and the worn out pad and rotor made some sparks. I just replaced all my pads at 450 miles and they were all worn out. FYI i went with EBC slintered severe duty pads F&R

 

well if he was dragging the brake to try and ge rid of the stupid squeak that plagues the wolverine that could have overheated the pad and caused some debris to catch on fire and burn. but there is not much that should have caused it.

 

He was within 2 miles from the house and that is where he started. Said he didn't notice anything wrong while riding. It was the break line that supplies fluid to the brake that started on fire. The line seperated at the connector on the brake and the fluid and line were on fire. Other rider said he heard it go "poof" and it started flaming. Flames weren't huge, but it was definately on fire.

 

sounds like the brake was dragging for whatever reason(possibly master cylinder stuck putting pressure on system) and overheated causing the fluid to expand(boil in the line) and then it popped the hose showering the rotor and caliper which caused the fire.

(not sure if 2 miles would be enough to cause it to be that hot but possibly

 

You want a hot one??? When I picked up the machine, the dealer had a two page release they wanted me to sign from Yamaha releasing them from any future claim that might occur because of the situation with the flaming brake in exchange for them covering it under warranty. I almost fell over when I saw it. The dealer told me he wasn't supposed to release the machine to me until I signed the document. I laughed at him and told him if that was the case he would be speaking with my attorney and the local police in pretty short order. What possible reason would I have to sign a release like that??? I told him that I wouldn't sign anything from Yamaha without first having my attorney review it. He made me a copy of it so now I have two pages of garbage I can wipe my butt with if I ever run out of toilet paper. Have you guys ever heard of something that absurd?

 

thats nuts I did not have anything like that handed to me when I bought mine last october.

 

That is crazy, I wouldnt put my name on a damn thing.


My rear brakes seem to drag quite a bit on my wolvy, but I have never got down there to feel how hot they are. They squeek like bitch for a while when I first start riding, but normally it quits after a few minutes. Lately they have been a lot worse, but I think thats just from the sand I was in a few weeks back. I blasted the rear brakes @ about 2700psi with my powerwasher yesterday trying to get them all cleaned out, hopefully that helps.

 

next time it happens look at the resovoir and see if it is boiling

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Mud Hog

You want a hot one??? When I picked up the machine, the dealer had a two page release they wanted me to sign from Yamaha releasing them from any future claim that might occur because of the situation with the flaming brake in exchange for them covering it under warranty. I almost fell over when I saw it. The dealer told me he wasn't supposed to release the machine to me until I signed the document. I laughed at him and told him if that was the case he would be speaking with my attorney and the local police in pretty short order. What possible reason would I have to sign a release like that??? I told him that I wouldn't sign anything from Yamaha without first having my attorney review it. He made me a copy of it so now I have two pages of garbage I can wipe my butt with if I ever run out of toilet paper. Have you guys ever heard of something that absurd?</end quote></div>

Don't think I would have signed it either.

Maybe suggest having them sign their name on a check for a replacement machine. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

So did you get the wolvy back?