busted Crank!

[kipper]

Warp Your spot on about where the crank broke it was right where the square keyway is,at the front. When we looked at it we wondered whether the gear had cracked and split causin it to move on the shaft and put pressure on the square key .This all happened when shiftin down to 2. Lucky to have been takin it easy at the time. The front bolt was tight when checked. I stand corrected it's not a woodruf key. Cheers . Al

 

[warp9.9]

Warp Your spot on about where the crank broke it was right where the square keyway is,at the front. When we looked at it we wondered whether the gear had cracked and split causin it to move on the shaft and put pressure on the square key .This all happened when shiftin down to 2. Lucky to have been takin it easy at the time. The front bolt was tight when checked. I stand corrected it's not a woodruf key. Cheers . Al

Ya thats from the tensioner failing and your lucky when you don't bend the valves but not everyone is lucky.

 

[Rocketeer55]

Finally called the Dealer today for an update and received some news that I'm a little mixed on....first WARP9.9 the crank broke "Very Clean" behind the #1 cylinder. They have the Engine torn down and will be e-mailing me pictures which I will post as soon as they arrive. They Claim Triumph has no Rocket Three motors to send for replacement in the U.S. or the U.K.. sounds rather hard to believe. So they have to rebuild the Motor. Now this has me even more concerned. They claim everything will be new. The parts list is currently at 80 and climbing.

Obviously my first choice is to have a factory built motor. Dealer assures me that Triumph would much prefer a new motor as this solution is more expensive than an engine replacement. I asked about valve Damage they said they were all damaged. They said everything is being replaced heads casings sleeves pistons Everything is what he (Service Manager) repeated several times. Many of you have more experience than me on this. I'm not entirely comfortable with this solution. As usual advice is always welcome..

 

[warp9.9]

Finally called the Dealer today for an update and received some news that I'm a little mixed on....first WARP9.9 the crank broke "Very Clean" behind the #1 cylinder. They have the Engine torn down and will be e-mailing me pictures which I will post as soon as they arrive. They Claim Triumph has no Rocket Three motors to send for replacement in the U.S. or the U.K.. sounds rather hard to believe. So they have to rebuild the Motor. Now this has me even more concerned. They claim everything will be new. The parts list is currently at 80 and climbing.

Obviously my first choice is to have a factory built motor. Dealer assures me that Triumph would much prefer a new motor as this solution is more expensive than an engine replacement. I asked about valve Damage they said they were all damaged. They said everything is being replaced heads casings sleeves pistons Everything is what he (Service Manager) repeated several times. Many of you have more experience than me on this. I'm not entirely comfortable with this solution. As usual advice is always welcome..

Its hard to say whether they meant right on the rod journal or in the main. If its the main I would only wonder if the thrust face on the block is damaged if not replacing th ecrank and head along withthe cams will be like new. The reason Triumph would rather change the engien is they can save money on paying th shop labor its less time to just swap out the motor. Of course your not paying labor so its out of Triumphs pocket. Its a fairly easy job and straight forward as long as they know what their doing. If not your still covered so don't sweat it. I have seen this happen before. Bob Carpenter revived one into a 240 hp monster with a used crank and head and cams I sold the Captain. Yours will have new parts which is even better. Keep the faith

 

[64Herald]

Find out which will give you the better warrenty, Which will get you Rocket on the road the fastest And talk to the service manager if he can do some of the things you want as a bonus. Your giving him a big buck job. time is running out spring is a comin

 

[warp9.9]

Yes right where I expected it, ask them for a look at the front of the crank and the timing gear along with the chain to see if its broke or the front of the crank is damaged. If the tensioner let loose and the chain piled up at the bottom it could have stopped the crank while number two was firing. Can you send me larger pictures? So I can annylize the breakage area? It would help me decide if I can see the damage on top of the pistons. I need to look for more then normal colision marks. I am sorry to ask so many questions feel free to give Triumph my e-mail address and if they want they can send me a e-mail and I will respond with my phone number. You are now the third crankshaft that has broken in number one journal.







Names have been left out in case the Captain does not want me to say and he might not want to relive the nightmare, Let me look for the other crank pictures. You would not believe how many pictures I have stored on the Rocket.

Here is my email address

szczepaniak@grics.net

It could also be from detonation. Not pointing the finger or anything but did anyone have tune ecu or tune boy on the bike. Other dyno operators have found detonation even though its NA and not running NOS

At least it broke in the rod journal which means less chances of screwing up the engine block. If it was the tensioner that failed tell the dealer to let triumph know I have a fix for that if they are interested. It could save them money in the long run.

Here is some other crank pictures of the same crank above. This failure was from repeated detonations on the dyno. It did not fail on the dyno but while the Captain was riding it down the road. I can only imagine what it felt like. Luckly for him it was not at high speed. I have had my motor and transmition lock up at 80 mph can tell you it is no fun. Everything is in slow motion and you actually scan the side of the road looking for a nice yard to bail out in if things were to not work out well.

 

[Trirocket3]

That crank looks familiar

 

[warp9.9]

That crank looks familiar

Ok Les now that you outed yourself I feel better. I am trying to find Par's pictures becaus his intial failure was the clutch basket exploding not detonation. Thats where his first fracture came from. The second one was from low rpm detonation. I was weird as when I examined the fractures I could clearly see two different positions of the crank verses the fractures. The metallurgical engineers that examined his confirmed my findings.

Now the reason I brought up detonation is because Gorge Rider's dyno tech. confirmed his was detonating at lower rpms even though he had a stock motor. Wayne Tripp discussed the posibility of this happening with me in one of our techy conversations. He said the engine is so large it could be happening and no one noticing it or hearing it.

I must admit I am no techincian and claim no knowledge of these engines, but I have broke some things and learned in the process. When I worked doing prototype things for the military one of my jobs was to figure out why it happend and hopefully figure out a way to stop it. I do miss that the of work mainly because of the brain excersizing involved.

 

[Rocketeer55]

Busted Crank!!

The Bike has had an issue since day one which delayed me leaving the dealership with it from a "Blow Back" through the air filter under the seat. It was originally very severe and they worked on the tune for a few hours to eliminate it as best they could. However it has always done it. So the answer to question is yes, the bike has been re-mapped several times by the dealer trying to eliminate that on Day one.

I have only had one Rocket and don't know anyone else that has one so I don't know. This could be normal for a Rocket for all I know.

Hope this helps your analysis.

 

[warp9.9]

In my opinion blowback constant as you describe it would point me to an initial timing problem between the crank and gears. (Meaning not electrical) I suppose you could decrease the amount by electronically moving the time or distance from TDC that the fire occurs to give time for the intake valve to shut before popping up thru the throttle bodies and down the intake runners. Of course, as the chain stretches over time I can see this coming back which would be a shock to the timing chain and guide/tensioning components. In a nutshell firing the valves shut whilst the crank is rotating forward. This kick against the crankshaft and the tensioner cannot be good in fact, it could force the tensioner to pop free allowing more slack in the chain, which could further jump time causing catastrophic events to occur as well some type of event has with yours. Again I am just brain storming in which sometimes answers develop. I wish I had a good look at the motor. I am leaning toward the timing chain position was not correct coming from the factory. We must always remember human error causes many things. These errors could be when parts are manufactured, to when they are assembled and sometimes both. We are all human and not perfect. At least my wife points out my deficiencies all the time.

Now back to my thinking