AE Shift Actuator Bracket failure

For those that attended EOM or followed the EOM thread, you may have read that I had a problem with my AE that necessitated a tow back to the hotel and a rental vehicle to get the bike home. Here's what went wrong.

The shift actuator is located on the left side of the bike, under the side panel, just above the Hard/Soft lever for the rear shock:



The bracket that holds the shift actuator to the rear subframe broke, leaving the actuator loose and therefore unable to function. Here is what it should look like, the bracket welded to the back side of the subframe:



Here is the broken weld along the bottom of the bracket. Note how much play is in the mechanism, such that I can push this way inside the frame to show the bottom of the bracket:



When this broke, it left me stuck in 3rd and I couldn't shift up or down. The dash displayed SH__51 and the amber warning light came on. I was able to ride it ahead to a safe pull off and stop, where the engine stalled (normally, I could stop in 3rd and the clutch would do it's thing and it wouldn't stall out).

I contacted my local Yamaha dealer that day and the service person I spoke with confirmed that there was a recall on early model AE's (mine's '06, so that covers me) regarding a failure of the mounting ears of the shift actuator. Yamafitter/Bill had that happen to him earlier this year. That recall was supposedly done on my bike, but it involved the actuator itself, not the bracket it mounts to. It may not apply here, but she wants to take this to Mama Yama and try anyway.

If Yamaha won't cover it (and I'm not thinking they will), I will disassemble the tail of the bike and pull the subframe and take it to someone who can TIG the bracket back where it belongs. If by a miracle Yamaha covers the failure, I suspect it will be quite some time before a replacement subframe is available. I have been told that Yamaha will not authorize a weld repair to the original subframe and will insist on a replacement of the whole thing. Not sure if that's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I'm not the first on this forum to report this failure, but the thread I found on Saturday was from back in '08, and I'm not sure there have been any other failures just like this one. Seems sort of rare. I'll keep this thread updated as to my ultimate repair mode, for those that are interested.

It sure sux, Mike, plus all the other subsequent crap getting it home..... lemme know if Weaver's come through, and if not, I'll come down for a 'you N me' tech day.......

RaYzerman19 said:

It sure sux, Mike, plus all the other subsequent crap getting it home..... lemme know if Weaver's come through, and if not, I'll come down for a 'you N me' tech day.......

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Thanks Ray! I'll definitely take you up on that if that's the way it plays out. Maybe Mama Yama will surprise me, but since the original recall was for the actuator, not the bracket, I'd not be surprised if they shrugged it off and said I was on my own. Right now, bike is still on the trailer (which Uhaul is letting me keep until Friday) in case I need to run it up to Weaver's. Not sure they'll get an answer from Yamaha that fast though, so I may have to unload it and worry about getting up there another way when/if the time comes.

Well that just sucks.

Curious, as to how many miles are on your bike?

Not that it has anything to do with it breaking.

More of a reference for myself.

I'll keep checking back to see how mama yama has responded to your inquiry.

Hoping they do right and help you out.

So sorry to hear about this, Mike, especially that it ruined your fun at EOM. Too bad there was no way to gerry-rig the actuator into position to get the thing to work well enough and get you home and avoid the Uhaul-age.

Couple of quick questions for you that may be helpful to other AE owners down the road:

Was there any prior indication the bracket was bending or coming loose before the shift lockup in 3rd?

Do you have any inclination on why that bracket would have broken? Like, had you just run a particularly rough dirt (or paved) road, whacked a pot hole or something?

Do you think that chassis vibration even had anything to do with it, or was it just the repetitive stress of the shift actuator action and a defective weld joint to the subframe? Maybe owners can do an preventative inspection of those welds?

You may not know answers to these yet, but maybe as it gets disassembled further some of those things will become more clear.

Fred W said:

So sorry to hear about this, Mike, especially that it ruined your fun at EOM. Too bad there was no way to gerry-rig the actuator into position to get the thing to work well enough and get you home and avoid the Uhaul-age.
Couple of quick questions for you that may be helpful to other AE owners down the road:

Was there any prior indication the bracket was bending or coming loose before the shift lockup in 3rd?

Do you have any inclination on why that bracket would have broken? Like, had you just run a particularly rough dirt (or paved) road, whacked a pot hole or something?

Do you think that chassis vibration even had anything to do with it, or was it just the repetitive stress of the shift actuator action and a defective weld joint to the subframe? Maybe owners can do an preventative inspection of those welds?

You may not know answers to these yet, but maybe as it gets disassembled further some of those things will become more clear.

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I didn't notice any real difference in shifting until it broke. I was in third and had just crested a slight rise and was accelerating going downhill and when I attempted to upshift to 4th, it made a definite clunking sound and I could feel it in the chassis as well. Since the actuator is under the side cover, it wasn't visible and so I didn't see if it was out of normal position prior to the ride.

I hadn't been on any goat paths lately, so i don't think it was any one specific impact that did it, but rather a collective repetition of vibrations over the years. I haven't taken it apart yet, but from what I can see, it almost looks like the weld gave way and not the bracket itself. I won't know until I get it disassembled for sure. However, an earlier (2008) thread about the same failure stated that the bracket was held on by two tack welds and that they had broken free. If that's true in my case, then what I'm seeing as the ragged edge of a single broken weld may actually be the ragged edge of a stress crack in the bracket itself that finally let go.

I'll be contacting the service folks at the local Yammy dealer this morning and sending them the pics I posted here and they said they would take it to Yamaha and see if it might still be under the recall for the actuator mount ears that had a history of failure (as in Fitter's case). It's a different failure really, but maybe they'll cover it. If so, the bike stays on the trailer and I take it up for them to deal with. If not, Ray has offered to come down and we'll strip the rear of the bike down and I'll have a better idea of the mode of failure, and the best course of action for a repair (re-weld, or search high and low for a used AE rear subframe).

If it was me I would not be looking to have the OEM bracket re-welded. The material is seemingly failing due to vibration (fatigue).

I would also be disinclined to re-weld a bracket to the sub frame.

I would have the damaged plate removed from the sub frame and then fabricate a bracket that would use the existing fasteners;

One down to the left that attaches the rear sub frame to the main frame (you may have to source a longer bolt and add a nut on the back).

You could also use one or both of the fasteners holding the 'soft/hard' mechanism in place.

There is an offset on the lower part of the bracket, and very little meat to be bolting it on...... it can be done with some engineering of a spacer perhaps. A new rear subframe is roughly $475..... have to see it apart to determine the weld failure and options going forward. Hoping for good news from the dealer.

RaYzerman19 said:

There is an offset on the lower part of the bracket, and very little meat to be bolting it on...... it can be done with some engineering of a spacer perhaps. A new rear subframe is roughly $475..... have to see it apart to determine the weld failure and options going forward. Hoping for good news from the dealer.

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That was my determination when looking at it also. I think Mama Yamaha will also want to see more should they consider warrantying the rear frame. Looking at the rear frame in the schematic it does not show the bracket & if you look at the electric shift it does not show a replaceable bracket.

I believe this has been breaking slowly over time and it finally let go.

Just going to throw it out there. If a re-weld is the best solution, I can probably get it taken care of. I'll be following along also.

Also wouldn't be against a "Ray-n-Mike-n-Jon" tech day.

Bracket does appear on the subframe in the second image of Tim's post, right below item number 61. As for engineering a bolt-on bracket, I'm certain there are folks with the skills for that, but I freely admit I ain't one of 'em! The actuator needs to be aligned correctly and I'm not certain I can get that right.

Of course, you never know until you try, right? Still trying to connect with Weaver Motorsports to get them the pics. Hell, the bike is still on the trailer, maybe I'll just drive it up there and let them see for themselves.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="LittleJon" data-cid="1339942" data-time="1474990150"><p>

Just going to throw it out there. If a re-weld is the best solution, I can probably get it taken care of. I'll be following along also.<br />

<br />

Also wouldn't be against a "Ray-n-Mike-n-Jon" tech day.</p></blockquote>

Jon, I forgot you deal with welding. I just may take you up on that if that's the way I end up going. And if Ray and I end up tearing into this ourselves, you're more than welcome to join us!

Mike, if you have the time, I'd think Weaver's seeing it in the flesh is the best idea......

So I took the bike to the dealer late this afternoon. They will look at it tomorrow (hopefully) and then determine if it needs to go up the chain to Mama Yama. I have the rental trailer until Friday, so my hope is that they will tell me yea or nay by then, so I can go back and pick it up if need be. Yeah, I know, thinking that I'll be getting an answer that quick is downright silly. Trying to be an optimist for a change.

Craigar said:

Well that just sucks. Curious, as to how many miles are on your bike? Not that it has anything to do with it breaking. More of a reference for myself. I'll keep checking back to see how mama yama has responded to your inquiry. Hoping they do right and help you out.

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Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner, but I thought of responding...does that count? I have about 36,500 miles on the bike right now. Should have been a bit more, but the return trip was on a trailer, so...

So an update on this. I got a call from the service person at Bob Weaver this afternoon. She spent the morning working with Yamaha and it looks like they want to re-do the actuator recall, and therefore will also take care of the bracket failure. Not sure if the dealer found something amiss with the actuator when they inspected closer or what, but she tells me it's about $2000 worth. I seem to recall the actuator being around $1400, so I guess that's close. She also said something about replacing the actuator as a way to get the bracket...but the bracket is part of the subframe, so, not sure what she meant by that. They supposedly have a part in California (again, not sure if that's the actuator or the subframe), so she said maybe 1-2 weeks before I get it back.

I was at work when she called and couldn't chat too long, so perhaps this warrants a call back to clarify. But if she's correct, that's good news.

VERY good news. Yay!

wnyfjr said:

So an update on this. I got a call from the service person at Bob Weaver this afternoon. She spent the morning working with Yamaha and it looks like they want to re-do the actuator recall, and therefore will also take care of the bracket failure. Not sure if the dealer found something amiss with the actuator when they inspected closer or what, but she tells me it's about $2000 worth. I seem to recall the actuator being around $1400, so I guess that's close. She also said something about replacing the actuator as a way to get the bracket...but the bracket is part of the subframe, so, not sure what she meant by that. They supposedly have a part in California (again, not sure if that's the actuator or the subframe), so she said maybe 1-2 weeks before I get it back.
I was at work when she called and couldn't chat too long, so perhaps this warrants a call back to clarify. But if she's correct, that's good news.

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Almost makes the hassle and expense incurred from the breakdown palatable. Bob weaver Motorsports once again pulls off a miracle. Hopefully all goes well and no surprise costs.

Great news Mike

That is fantastic news! From your situation, I was getting ready to expose that area on my bike to take a look see for any detectable cracking in progress. I have all the equipment in the world for that. Now, I can relax a little. Great news indeed. I'm happy for you. I was ready to catch the bike if I could while you were getting ready to roll it into the van. Very happy that there was NO Utube video of the "Watch This" moment. :yahoo: