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[ST] Crank story continues...



OK not much more.

I went to see the bike on Saturday.  When I arrived the bike was outside
with the left hand fairing off.  It was fairly obvious that the bold I
had seen was NOT the cam chain tensioner bolt (I kind of knew this on
Friday when I looked in the Haynes manual - the bolt I saw was different
to that bolt as illustrated in the manual) - it had not been removed
for some time (if ever since it was put together originally) - it still
had a light crut of crud all over it. 

What I did see (and I have photos which I can post if anyone really
wants to see them) is a big freakin' hole in the little inset cover on
the big clutch cover - on mine (and the new 2005 Sprint I noticed as
well) there is a little cover with a big hex piece in the middle to
allow you to remove this and get to the end of the crank without having
to take the whole cover off.  It "seems" that the bolt that holds the
camchain sprocket (usual caveats regarding my mechanical knowledge apply
here) worked it's way lose and drilled a hole through the sub-cover and
eventually fell out (the bolt I saw I think).  This caused the camchain
socket to move and/or fall off with the subsequent mechanical
shenanigans in the engine.  I am quite relieved actually that this did
not occur on the highway as I was tooling along.  How long this is was
going on God only knows and it is definitely weird that it eventually
detonated while I was attempting to start it.

So this appears to have been the issue.  Now I am not sure the dealer
would have disturbed this bolt while doing the 12K - I am going to
investigate further (if anybody has an official Triumph ST manual can
they see if that is indeed the case) BUT if this bolt falling out has
such dire consequences, it needs to at least be checked during each
major service (and maybe it is.and they didn't do it).  

So be warned - this bolt does indeed fall out so check yours - or get it
checked at the next service.  I think engines prior to mine (mine's a
2002) don't have this little sub-cover so it may be a lot more
difficult.

I spoke with the dealer again on Sat and he said that if Triumph agree
to cover the damage, it "may" be ready by this weekend.  They told him
that they had heard of a couple other similar incidents (not sure if
this is in the US or world-wide).  Not sure that will happen - rather it
be fixed right than fast.

It made me feel slightly better but not much.

Cheers.

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