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Re: Troubling thoughts



Dennis:  THANK YOU!!!  I hope this issue has been put to rest.
- -----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Tackett <dennis.tacket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 'ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx' <ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, May 20, 1999 5:17 PM
Subject: RE: Troubling thoughts


>Guys,
>I called 2 people here in Dallas about this. One has over 40 years
expeience
>building old Triumph motors for speed records at Bonneville. He also is
>helping build the new motor that will set the new record this August with a
>projected speed of 236. The other has 20+ years experience with all
marques.
>Here is their take on this:
>
>1. The journals are not pinned in the new motors but this is not a problem
>as there are 8 other bolts besides the ones replaced in the recall that
hold
>this section of the motor together.
>
>2. The new Triumph motors are absolutely bulletproof to the point of almost
>being paranoid about it. When John Bloor decided to go back into business
>the last thing he wanted was reliability questions.
>
>3. The first new Triumph to be raced at Daytona had 45 pounds of material
>shaved out of the cases and various areas of the motor. This was done in
>addition to removing the balance shaft. They never had a problem and won
Pro
>Thunder at Daytona. They ran that same motor all season with no problems.
>
>4. A messenger in England put over 100,000 miles on one of the first
>generation bikes. Triumph heard about it and bought the bike back from him.
>When they tore it down they found that the engine tolerances would have
>still passed factory specs.
>
>5. I personally talked to a guy that had his Trophy serviced in Denver and
>then rode home to Dallas. He noticed funny noises and a reduction in
>performance about 50 miles from home and limped in. They forgot to put oil
>back in the motor when they changed it in Denver. Of course it was trashed
>but it went over 600 miles on a teacup of oil before it started to seize.
>
>Bottom line guys is don't sweat it.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Retherford, Martin [mailto:MRetherford@xxxxxxxxxxx]
>Sent: Thursday, May 20, 1999 1:12 PM
>To: 'ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
>Subject: RE: Troubling thoughts
>
>
>All,
>A couple of thoughts.
>I have built many motors and disassembled many others from VWs to rotarys.
>Looking at the triple in the service manual it is a very different motor
>style to my experience and I am pulling from what I remember of the design
>when I did my last look at it.  If the main bearing journals are pinned for
>position all this talk is a mute point.  A thing of note is that I said the
>journals not the bearings themselves.  Many motors pin bearing but not
>journals and a loose bolt(s) would have done irreparable damage to the
>bearings themselves if there are no pins in the journals.
>That being said a motor rebuild would take care of any damage that was done
>by loose bolts.  Running it like hell in a vain attempt to cause it to
break
>within warranty is not likely to be done.  The total life is shortened for
>the motor, assuming the journals are not pinned.  You would have to put say
>150,000 miles on in less than two years to test the warranty theory.
>Current state law hear in California pertaining to "lemons", poorly working
>vehicles, says that the vehicle has to be in for repair 4 times for the
same
>problem or out of service for longer that 30 days for the vehicle to be
>classified as a lemon.  I don't know if this applies to motorcycles and "30
>days out of service" means that it is at the dealer not sitting in your
>garage.
>Now trying to get the dealer to eat some sort of repair cost or triumph for
>that matter on rebuilding a motor, the only way that it might happen is if
>you took them to court.  That I can pretty much guarantee.  I hope you took
>pictures when they were doing the bolt replacement and have the ability to
>get signed statements from the service tech about the service and have
>ridiculous amounts of money and time to throw away on an attorney and
court.
>So what are you left with?
>Well you are left with a motor that has to re-break in the bearings
>(providing the journals are not pinned) and they will have at worst case a
>little loose tolerance on the bearings effected by the loose bolts.  In
>other words we are all hosed to some extent.
>
>Martin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hoppler, Harl [mailto:Harl.Hoppler@xxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, May 20, 1999 10:41 AM
> To: 'Sprint List'
> Subject: Troubling thoughts
>
> I was discussing the current crankcase bolt situation with a
>friend who
> has considerable experience with building motorcycle motors.
>His
> immediate reaction was "if the bolts were loose in your
>motor, get
> your money back." His thinking was that the bearings and
>case
> mating surfaces would all have moved around, potentially
>damaging
> them, the crank, and anything that requires the close
>tolerances
> in that part of the motor. Removing and replacing the bolts,
>with
> even a slight misalignment to the case could have a very
>negative
> impact on the longevity of the motor. And what about
>transmission
> shafts and the like?
>
> Any comments from experienced motor builders?
>
> Should anyone owning a bike under recall just run the
>bejesus out
> of it and hope it craters during warranty?
>
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