While I don't know him or his exact meaning of "gone through it 3 times"....He might mean that he has gone through the engine 3 times as a precautionary measure. Not because something was broken.

Even on fourstrokes, if you ride your machine hard and push the engine to it's limits often, it is best to catch a problem before it starts rather than wait for it to spread to other areas of the engine.

But,..I'm like you guys...if that's not the case,..that's an awful lot of teardowns in such a short period of time.

KNOWSALOT

 

Good post Pat - nice to see someone stand up in the face of adversity.

Liability is probably the driving force behind Yamaha's reluctance to fix the problem, recalls and free repairs admit culpability. If accidents involving bodily harm have occurred then Yamaha is probably being advised to "do nothing" by their attornies for the present.

As with most manufacturers the problem will not get fixed until the cost of NOT fixing it becomes greater than the cost of fixing it. Dealers who sold these bikes may even be directed not to warranty transmission failures for fear of admitting duplicity, or may simply be refused reimbursement by the manufacturer. Once a sucessfull lawsuit has been prosecuted where injury or death (God Forbid)has been proven to be caused by this defect (if it is proven to be flawed), then Yamaha could be held criminally liable for negligence if they do not correct the problem. At this point the cost of NOT fixing the problem becomes greater than fixing it.

 

This guy is right ya'll. We should let yamaha make all the mistakes they want. We should just swallow repairs ourselves and leave yamaha alone. It could hurt the sport if we complain or sue. Man are you smokin crack. If you order a steak and get served dogshit, do you eat it anyway. Other guys were right about hurting your dealership, I would not buy from you just on prinipal after that statement. Sorry for being so "simple minded".

 

Ha, Ha, Ha.......Hey Yamaha, if you dont have a clear understanding of the situtiation, direct your attention and do your homework on the Ford/Firestone case. In this situation, both companies new of contributing factors and where responsible, and refused to act, which resulted in death and injury.....If you guys havent figured me out yet, I HATE GREEDY SELFISH CORPORATE AMERICA.

 

I don't own stock in Yamaha but as a holder of stocks in many companies I say go greedy corporate America. Corporate America is working for its stock holders and one of them stockholders is me.
Chet

 

I can't beleive what I have just read..... I knew this was the attitude of most Yamaha dealers but nobody had the nuts to write it. Does it make me feel any better ? H@ll NO !!!!! How arrogant could one possibly be !!
We have read tales of dealers blaming the weak gears on the owners "abuse". B f*&king S !!! Anyway My raptor is now gone (before the tranny blew). People should boycott these dealers. I would like to see the sport machines evolve but yamaha should back there $6500.00 lemon !!!
Just my $0.02

 

30 years ago I worked as a boy mechanic in a Dirt Bike shop in Tucson AZ, Fred's Desert Cycle. The attitude of the manager/owner and everyone in the shop, and in every shop in Tucson was that the public, all of them, were just plain stupid. This arrogant attitude was just standard operating procedure. Okay, we knew more about the motorcycles we sold than our customers, but why did we make the jump to calling them stupid (not to their face of course). We had customers from all walks of life, even doctors and lawyers etc. So why were we so arrogant that we thought we were smarter than they?
......I see that same attitude today in a lot of dealerships, thinly veiled, but obvious if you've been there. Maybe it is a trickle down from the manufacturers. Yamaha's attitude on this whole Raptor tranny issue is all too familiar.
......If my boy's Raptor tranny goes, and he is hurt because of it, I will go postal and/or sue the bastards. At the first sign of missing shifts etc, I will put the '02 tranny in myself. $400 is cheap insurance.
......I have to take our old 425 EXP Polaris, which I sold to a friend, down to the dealership to get the tranny rebuilt. There is a pin which could come out, causing the tranny to lock up etc. It has only happenned to a few, but that was enough for Polaris to issue a recall.
.......So what the hell is wrong with Yamaha anyway? I bet when this is over some heads will roll in Yamaha management. They are just getting themselves in deeper each day they do nothing. Blaming the riders is so lame, they should be able to admit they made a mistake, make it right, and keep their customers.

 

1st ride, coolant hose popped off in middle of night ride, head warped. Milled the head, inspected the top end, gave it a valve job, put it together. 2nd ride, tranny locked up because of a washer that melted. Complete engine disassembly and inspection, everything appeared to be okay. 3rd ride, rod bearing took a crap, loud knock. Complete disassembly, new crank and new gaskets. So far so good, still breaking it in. Love the bike, though.

 

Oh, yeah, we sold, rode and raced Maicos.(+CZ,PentonKTM,Sachs/DKW,Hodaka,Montesa) Every single one of those blew at least one tranny. Nobody cared. They were cheap and easy to fix and outhandled anything. They were race bikes and there was no warranty. I think the best time for overhauling a tranny was 3 hours. We never did it at the track but could have. The tranny was very small, designed for the original 175cc motor. The dogs would just round off and stop engaging. They shifted great untill they just wouldn't stay in gear. Nothing ever came apart. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

Johnnybrava1234- thanks for clearing up what industrial means- going thru the motor 3 times before fully broke in. lol