Yup, Frames cracking by the welds near the foot pegs. Just performed an inspection from grips to treads and found SEVERAL stress cracks in the welds where the rear frame meets the bottom section. right by the lower chain roller. Missing paint chips over most of the welds ( as sure sign of stress) and found two actual hairline cracks. Can't say i'm impressed with the design of the Raptor frame. No MAJOR wipe outs. Most of the stress ( i'm assuming ) was from jumping. The rear skid is banged up...but not destroyed. it still has some life left in it ( never had to straighten it out or remove dents with a hammer ). I'm convinced all the ELKA shocks in the world can't save this poorly designed frame.

Anyway, Does anyone know if the Frame would be covered by Warranty?

I'm real close to buying a YZ426 and start making my own quad.

 

Wow, yet another weakness to worry about. What types of jumping are you doing? Do you race on a regurlar basis? I'd just like to know so I can hopefully avoid the problem. Oh, and I bet you'd have a really hard time convincing Yamaha to replace your frame. They still refuse to admit that the original axle was a piece of crap, and yet somehow that part was redesigned this year.

 

I ride MX every weekend and ocassionaly on week days. Flat tops,doubles cliff jumps, step ups etc... Lonestar axle, +3 A-arms and Elka triple rates dead not slow down my worst fear. Bad Frame Design.

Enough complaining. i need suuggestions. Beef up the welds? Aftermarket Frame? where do i go from here? I need to be racing next year. this season was for adapting to the new ride and getting it up to racing specs. Please respond.

By the By...a YZ426 is gonna run me $5800 (just for a engine) and another season of tweaking (not a option). Talk to me folks...

AK

 

Time to start doing some research for frame builders around your area. Get a list together and start callin, determine who is worth paying a visit to and show them your frame. Hopefully you can find a company out there that can do some repairs for you, then beef up the frame in some of those stressful areas.

That's what I would do, unless you can find another frame some where. If you can find another frame, I would still take it to a frame builder and have them beef it up a bit.

Have you checked on ebay lately? There was a Raptor frame for sale, I think he was asking $500 clams.

Good luck!

 

I would contact Yamaha right away. The only problem is if they warranty it you are going to get the same frame just without the stress fractures. If your serious about racing go with aftermarket.

 

Just two quick questions neither of which is going to help you but maybe the rest of us.

1) Do you have nerf bars connected to your foot pegs? If so, any hard hits on the nerf bars?


2) Did you perform the rear shock linkage flip?


Thanks,

NotuRaptor

 

The answer to both unfortunatly is yes.

IT IS very possible that the linkage played a roll in this...recently i was having problems clearing a lengthy table top. 3rd gear all out was putting me on the Knuckle (violantly). Tapping 4th gear solved that but i'm afraid it cost me a frame.

i have Graydon nerfs (mounted to stock footpeg)and have taken hits on the nerfs...but no dents. the cracks seem to be on upper part of the weld (i'm assuming from the downward force on landing) i can't see a rock (i have hit my fair share of them) causing this type of problem.

Does any one know of aftermarket companies macking frames for raptors? im not interested in keeping the stock frame. the rear end of the frame just doesn't look like a good design for jumping. all the force is channeled to the welds by the pegs. Seems to me they need extra support coming from the mid section of the rear end of the frame (if that makes sense) that would relieve some of the force on the bottom welds.

Keep the feed back coming...i don't mind investing $$$ to overcome this. i just need assurances from the think tank (you folks) that the decision are sound.
AK

 

as of right now no one is making a Raptor frame. I went thru the same thing with mine. Lonestar and laeger both have frames inthe works but they are not available yet. As for the warranty no yamaha wont. well they wouldnt warranty mine. I got a new one and had it reinforced in the front and rear and also on the shock mounts. It did seem to cure the problem but i only had it for a month after taking care of the frame so i cant guarantee it will cure it. Also check your sub frame mounts. I had mine crack there also. Hope i helped some.

 

What kind of riding were you doing...where were your cracks? what did the frame cost? is this why you sold? what do you ride now? and yes my sub frame is also cracked near the mounts...

AK

 

Thanks for the answers to both questions. Again, I would warn anyone who has done the rear shock linkage flip that it does have its down side. I experienced the same problem of nailing the frame into the ground (SMACK!) when not quite clearing a jump and sometimes even when I did. I think I got it switched back before any real damage was done but now I am going to check mine over real close. I do know that the frame skid plate is bent, bent, bent around the back of the frame. In fact, the only reason it isn't bent any more is that it is now resting in the middle of the rear frame.

The reason for the question about the nerf bars is that we also have a 400ex. My girlfriend was riding up a fairly steep hill. The front end lifted and the bike turned sideways on her. She jumped off (on the wrong side and tried to stop the bike from rolling down the hill until I yelled get the he!! out of the way) and the bike rolled over about four times until it rolled into a tree. The nerf bar was bent upward about 4". Now, the frame is missing the paint at the weld. I heated the nerf bar and bent it back and put a new footpeg on it. It seems to be okay but I again realized how you try to fix one problem and often cause something worse. You want you handlebars, nerf bars, and front bumper to be somewhat strong but not so strong as to bend the frame in an accident. At some point these things need to give. I am sure a lengthened swingarm puts quite a bit more stress on the frame too - leverage is a powerful tool.

Thanks again and otterbob, take my warning that you might be next due to the rear shock linkage flip. If I remember correctly, you are big guy too. Buy a new rear shock to lower your center of gravity. It will be cheaper in the long run.