BansheeBrad,
Have you had the transmission problem with either of your Raptors?
Chet

 

Yup this is the reason I ride a DS. I almost had a used Raptor but the tranny made some weird noises so I passed. Yes the resale value is being hurt by the fact of the word getting out. So you are being cheated in a way out of your money even more. Who is gonna buy a used Raptor without the upgrade? If Yamaha does not do this and people begin trading them in on 2002's the value will drop even more. Like the stock market you have to know when to get out and when to get back in.

 

I am laughing my a** off.......Here's my two cents.....Yes the Yamaha Raptor has design engineering flaws, and yes they need to be fixed by Yamaha.....Do the dealers or corporate yamaha care? Hell no, dont be foolish.....why havent they done a recall? Support a dealer? Ha, you must be on crack. Support yourself, no better yet, support me, I want to race a yamaha motor and promote the sport, so how about dude? Thats what I thought. Bottom line, Yamaha is ONLY interested in making money, they dont care about safety or injuries until it threatens their stock prices.

 

<< BansheeBrad,
Have you had the transmission problem with either of your Raptors?
Chet >>



Raptor #1 has popped out of second gear several times.. I took it in while it was still under warranty and had it documented, of course I kept getting the standard dealer answer #2, &quot;no problem found&quot;... well you have to ride it for it to happen... DUH..

Mind you this was one MONTH BEFORE my warranty expired, it has now sat in storage all winter so I'm 3 to 4 months pass warranty now.

I figure it's gonna grenade soon... when it does yamaha won't be talking with me, they'll be talking to my lawyer. I believe I can go after then under ohio's lemon law, it seems to cover any titled vehicle that moves under its own power, just not cars and trucks. The law is real tricky on this issue, but I think it can happen. If the lemon law won't work, I plan on taking all my documentation to my other lawyer and just flat out sueing yamaha and the dealer for the defective product, and not fixing it when I orginally brought it in. I might not win, but I will be a pain in the *** thats for sure. I have a $2000 retainer set away just for this purpose.

Of course I will also contact the CPSC..

My hope is before the 02 riding season really gears up, Yamaha recalls these and fixes them like they should.. hence the reason I started this big CPSC kick a couple weeks ago.

Beyond that I do seriously worry about getting hurt riding my 01.. if I get hurt, it's going to get really ugly as far as I'm concerned. I'm the type of person who has the $ to finance a lengthy lawsuit, as well as the time to sit back and wait for it to happen. Yamaha has been sufficiently notified about the problem by now, as every CPSC form is forwarded onto the offending company (with your personal name removed). So they know about this problem, any failure to fix the issue is pure negligence, and negligence is what juries reward big sums for..

Yamaha, are you reading this???

 

If I remember right back in maybe November Knowsalot said he would let us know on when they started to put the improvements in the 01 raptors. I know I read somewhere in the forums the later 01 Raptors got the fix. Mine is in the 15,000 range made in April 01.
Chet

 

Larry,
you apparently have stirred the proverbial &quot;pot&quot;. The lawsuit happy wimps are just about fit to be tied.

When the CPSC calls...don't forget to tell them that you have'nt had any Raptor trannys fail. Just an unusual increase of neglectful buyers which coincidentally, all purchased Raptors which you repaired &quot;free&quot; of charge because your a nice guy and your good like that.

Yup, like i said...no problems here. Say, those Lawsuit Happy Whimps didn't send you? did they? i've read about those complainers.

 

I went to the local dealer today to check out some raptors and banshees. I looked at the raptor and inspected it for quite a while. I talked to the owner of the store, and is also a bigtime mechanic. Anyhow, he kinda swayed both ways with the Raptor. He said he's gotten 17 in so far with the tranny problem, generally with the second gear ate up. He said that some of the guys were shifting under load, and with the torque and everything, was eating it up. Now from that knowledge, that tells you that there certainly is something wrong dont you think? of course, otherwise everyone elses machines would be needing the same thing anually. Then, he said the rest were just defects under normal riding, and believes yamaha will have a recall in the near future. I know they blew out 2001 raptors for 5500, just to get rid of them, so whats that tell you? He also said that the new ones have a closer gear ratio?? Wonder how that will effect the speed and power? From the other guys I talked too that had their raptors fixed, the best thing to do is just have the bike with you and demand it get fixed!! Otherwise they give you the runaround.

 

I know I'll sleep better knowing that banshee brad, red rocker and their team of lawyers are looking out for our safety. I hear big brother is getting back into the ATV scene. It sucks but everybody knows to stay away from first production year bikes, that's your bad. You should've bought a ds650, that engine is industrial strength, I've been through mine 3 times and each time I'm more impressed with its internals.

 

If I purchased a DS650 for this area of Indiana I would have to bring my support team of loggers with there chainsaws. The DS650 is a wide body. Since 1998 I have only seen one DS650 and it was yellow.
You are saying you have went through your engine 3 times?
Chet

 

Johnnybravo- 3 times in 2 or less years? I would expected you did not recieve the new improved extra strength industrial! Make that 1 year, i know you did not buy the 2000 model!