Stuck in gear?

[Locky]

I don't think I'd use JB weld . Its a easy job for a good skilled welder , and shouldn't cost too much .
Well done for finding the fault and for a great thread  

[Descolada]

OMG that's worse than road kill. Mate, that's nothing short of heroic.

[Jacko]

Excellent work all round, thanks for the write up, and the time taken to do it. Can't wait for the repairs and reassembly.

[Juvecu]

Great job and thanks for all the pics I'm amazed there isn't more damage with those two big bits having been in there loose by themselves.

Could you explain in more detail what that little bit is that broke off in the crankcase? What's it for?

[greywolf]

That piece of the crankcase that broke off looks like it is there to keep the cam chain from coming off the gear when loosening the chain to work on the cams.

[Jacko]

As I understand it's where the bottom of the cam chain tensioner seats.

[WeeStromer]

Well done on what you've done so far! I wouldn't of had the minerals to strip mine like that.

[Descolada]

With regards to where and what the debris is I am more concerned by what caused the damage. Without this information you have no garantee that this isn't going to happen again.

[mjc506]

As I understand it's where the bottom of the cam chain tensioner seats.

got it in one yup, I'm now looking for a welder (not that I'll find one in this sh*thole of a town)

The two bigger broken bits came from the driven(?) 4th gear dogs. These should slot in to an adjacent gear and provide drive, but one broke (and took another with it).

Here's some better photos:




Note the shiny smooth area on the left surrounding that hard nodule. That's where the failure started!


Further round the crack surface, you can see 'growth lines', indicating it wasn't a sudden failure. I count ~100 of these lines, so that's ~100 revolutions, or roughly a second @6000rpm... Also note the largish smooth (but dull) area on the far top-right. This was the final crack. You can also just about see the case hardening here.


Here's the second failed dog site. Nothing too exciting here - it's a simple sudden brittle fracture caused by being clouted by the first failed dog!


All those years studying bits of broken metal have paid off It is a bit worrying that it was a material defect that caused this, as there may be more out there. I'm incredibly lucky that the dogs stayed stuck in the driven gear - if they had fallen out and become jammed in the gearbox, my pillion and I would be smeared down the M1 and some truck's undercarriage, and it's unlikely anyone would have known what had happened

All the other gears have no impact marks (or any other strange marks) on them, so I should be OK. I will be replacing the surrounding gears anyway, and if I can find someone with an x-ray machine I'll get the others checked too. (might be worth just replacing the whole gearbox)

[iansoady]

What a super job, and well done for sharing the pictures with us.

I hope I never have to do something like this......

It is a bit worrying that dog failed - as you say it looks as though perhaps there was a stress raiser which caused the initial failure. Either poor machining or a material flaw.

[Juvecu]

Great pics of the failed gears

[mjc506]

heh, I'm half considering sending them to Suzuki (I want to keep the actual gear as a souvenir if I can haha) but I'm sure they'd want the real thing to do any real analysis on it.

That said, they probably wouldn't care - one failure out of how-many-thousands isn't bad going

[Juvecu]

That and it's a discontinued model. Usually manufacturers aren't too interested if this is the case.

[willbo]

great bit of mechanical jiggery pokery.   wish I had the knowledge and the training to do stuff like that. I can open tin cans that's about it

[MartinW]

Great job and good photo's.

I would have run out of talent just after the "coast to the side of the road" bit.

[Strommer]

...That said, they probably wouldn't care - one failure out of how-many-thousands isn't bad going

Seeing as Honda have just done a recall on 1995 cars, it suggests the recall landscape is changing.  No harm in emailing them.

[mjc506]

Can't hurt I guess.

Taking my crankcase to be welded tonight! I wasn't expecting to find someone that quickly!

[Big Al wi the Vee]

MASSIVE WELL DONE

Just read this post from start - finish, As mentioned, I wish I had the nads to attempt this.

If you were to email Suzuki with your concerns they will either thank you or send a hit man out to your place of residence to make sure no one ever finds out about this potential mass recall issue. make sure you give them a false address :violence-uzi:

[mjc506]

heh, 50/50 chance then

[Fatbelly]

A brilliant write up by a bold lad!

I doubt if it would be seen as a recall issue, possibly a small flaw in a casting? It might have been picked up by x-ray at manufacture but it's unlikely they do an x-ray inspection of the part.