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Hey everybody, just thought i would try to clear up some of the confusion on this deal. I work in the service department at a Kawasaki dealer.

The original spec on the collars in the service manual is 18 ft-lbs and 44 ft-lbs for the nuts. The nuts are still 44 ft-lb but the collars are now 11 ft-lb.

The procedure involves loosening the upper and lower engine mount nuts while not allowing the bolts to turn. The bolts are marked before the nuts are loosened so that if they turn while loosening the nuts you can put them back in the original position. Then you check how much torque it takes to loosen them.

This can be done with a beam or dial style torque wrench quite easily. It could also be done with the click type torque wrench by just starting at about 10 ft-lb and working your way up until it comes loose. If the torque is below 36.9 ft-lb, everything is fine retorque to the new specs and send it on it's way. There is no further inspection in the recall bulletin. If it is at or over 36.9ft-lb then Kawasaki wants the motor pulled to inspect for cracks in the welds (not crossmember or steering head as an earlier poster stated). If cracks are not found Kawasaki will send a bolt kit to you to reassemble the bike (they don't say anywhere what all is included in the bolt kit). If cracks are found then the frame is replaced. We are required to cut out the steering head of the frame to return to Kawasaki. You would get a new frame with the same serial number stamped in to it by the factory, the frame will also have all the decals on it and steering head bearings installed.

An earlier poster stated that dealers get 5 hours to inspect frame (includes engine removal) and 9 hours to replace it. Those are pretty close to the correct times on the bulletin. Someone else stated to not forget the financial aspect of it for the dealer, that we get paid by kawi to replace frames. That is a foolish statement, everytime I take in a warranty job i lose money on it. I deal with 9 different OEMs right now and not a single one of them pays us what it take to do the job under warranty. So we have no financial benefit to doing a frame that doesn't need it. Also, I can't speak for other dealers, but we are not willing to sacrifice quality just to try and meet the 9 hour deadline. In reality it will probably take 14-18 hours for the first one we do. By the end of this recall campaign i expect we will be pretty close to the 9 hours we get paid to do it.

Here's the fly in the ointment though we have checked 2 bikes so far, one was within the proper torque range and one was not. BOTH FRAMES ARE CRACKED!!!!! Both are on the right side lower mounting bolt. Even though the bulletin says if it passes the torque test to bolt it together and ship it. I had my tech look at the welds anyways (engine removal is not required to see the cracks if you know what to look for, only to get the pictures so kawi will send you a new frame) and sure enough plain as day there was a crack in the weld, hairline but easy to see with the naked eye and an LED pen light.

The one that was overtight, I called Kawi on and they said to turn the bolts back to the alignment marks we made and recheck the torque to loosen it then. We did and it only took about 10 ft-lb to loosen it. We thought it was good to go at that time, but inspected it anyway. I'll be damned if it wasn't cracked too.

Neither of these bikes are owned by people who ride them very hard, they both are a little older (still like to haul ass obviously) but the tires don't show very hard use. One bike is completely stock the other seems to be set up similar to blackbullet76's.

Moral of the story is even if your bike passes the torque inspection, look at the frame. It could very well have a cracked weld.

Also in this litigious society, I would never allow a customer in the shop while his bike is being worked on, to watch as it is being inspected or torn down. Our insurance company specifically prohibits non employees from being in the shop. Any questions you have, I will gladly go over with you, I will show you exactly what was done/looked at once your bike is back out in the parking lot. I would show you exactly where the cracks could form if your bike didn't need a frame, so you could watch for them to start forming later, BUT you are not coming into my shop. That's our policy and I'm sure most dealers have something similar in place.

Hope this helps and have a good night.

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My apologies if this does not work out… it’s my first time!

Below or possibly above should be the link or possibly the actual picture of the dealer recall bulletin explaining exactly what the dealership is to do during this recall.

If it doesn’t work if someone “more switched on” wants to send me there e-mail I will send you the scanned in copy.

Cheers,


[URL=http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/07zx14blk/CCF06122008_00001.jpg][/URL]
[URL=http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/07zx14blk/CCF06122008_00002.jpg][/URL]
[URL=http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/07zx14blk/CCF06122008_00003.jpg][/URL]
[URL=http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/07zx14blk/CCF06122008_00004.jpg][/URL]

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[Thanks a TON SuzukiGuy My only question now is how do you torque the collars back down to spec. You have to turn the motor mount bolt counterclockwise (loosening) to back the collar out against the frame for the torque setting. From my understanding torque wrenches only work for tightening. Is there a special reverse torque wrench you use or some other method?

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SLATES your right as far as I'm concerned they should pull the damn thing off and check it regardless!! Maybe that will happen if enough properly torqued frames show up cracked. I hope SUZUKIGUY reported that the properly torqued one was also cracked.

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SLATES your right as far as I'm concerned they should pull the damn thing off and check it regardless!! Maybe that will happen if enough properly torqued frames show up cracked. I hope SUZUKIGUY reported that the properly torqued one was also cracked.

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Actually we didn't even have to pull the motor to see the cracked weld. It's easier to see if the mufflers are off (if you still have stock exhaust on), but if you know what to look for, you could see it without even taking anything apart.
There may be some cracks that require the removal of the engine to see, but these two were plain as day without any disassembly.

And yes I reported it to Kawi immediately because I think they should have included an inspection even if the collars meet the torque spec.

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[

Suzukiguy,

Was the torque on the 14 with the "correct" torque specifications right at the correct level or under? I'm wondering if it's a situation like Sticks & Stones was describing where it was over torqued or correctly torqued and the crack released some of that ft/lbs of pressure.

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It seems to me that the torque on the collars is still pretty low. Even at 25 lbs. of torque, how much force is placed on the welds? I mean, the weld travels the full circumference of the crossmember. I would think it would be stronger than it appears to be.

So, is it excessive force on the collar..or bad welds...or both?

Can anyone shine some more light on this?

Shane

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Its a good idea to check for cracks at the dealership but outside of the working area, but can you see the area to be inspected without using a lift? Also, my question is when your bike falls below the suspected torque where it needs no motor removal and find the crack after the dealer punches the VIN plate marking it had been inspected, are you then responsible? How long does this recall last?

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