broken frame

[oldgoat]

not sure if this is where to post this?

 

my friends friend bought a nice 1983 Yamaha venture about 2 weeks ago

has 28000 miles on it one owner bike he did a lot of carb work and cleaned the tank and changed the fluids and all has her running like a champ

 

well today I was behind him and we went over them speed ridges that just before some stop signs. when his bikes rear end just dropped?

 

almost looked like the rear tire was up in the fender.

 

we called a tow truck flat bed and he took it home

 

from what we could see it looks like the frame broke by the swing arm?

or the swing arm broke sorry no pictures at this time. is this a known thing for a 1983 I know about the second gear issues but this bike looks like new for it,s age. and miles.

he did get it cheap at $900 bucks with some extra goodies.

but if it,s a frame can it be fixed? or should he just find a parts bike and get a better frame either way looks like a lot of work

hate to see him junk the bike . thanks

Oldgoat

[Venturous Randy]

Yes, the broken frame is an 83 problem and it can be fixed and be much stronger than before. This is what I did and could probably be easier than I did, but this worked for me.

Randy

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?1521-83-Broken-frame

[oldgoat]

thanks randy so he can do this with out pulling the motor?

 

he is a welder. so we just need to turn this big baby over get it aligned ?

 

and he can weld it up and make it stronger?

should he drain the oil from the engine if it is going to be upside down?

from what you said this is what happened to this bike. just a bump in the road and she dropped.

I don't think his bike has the air adjust ride. it is not a royale. nice blke

[cowpuc]

Sorry to read this Goat, having something like that happen is NEVER fun.. I have heard of this malady on several occasions but Randy's and now this one are the only two confirmed incidents (knock on wood) that I know of.. Might wanna take a really close look under there and confirm that it is in fact a broken frame. The reason I say that is that, to my knowledge - Yamaha never made a Venture that did not have air adjust on the rear shock - if its not a Royale with the compressor control panel up on the right side under the bars - it should still have a shrader valve to get air into the rear shock and dampening adjust down on the left side - you might just be dealing with a broken shock if someone happened to have stuck something in there for a shock instead of oem.

Randy, is there an area we should be looking at on our MK1's that we would see evidence that she's gonna be a problem (gonna go back and reread your article, if this ? is answered there dont bother doing a bunch of typing here as I will find it:checkeredflag:)?

[oldgoat]

I am not sure cowpuc as the frame shows no rust? frame looks clean dirty but not rusty.

 

yes no control on the dash for air. but the shocks do adjust with a air pump the guy gave him?

 

we are thinking maybe just maybe the mono shock went out?

 

as there is some kind of oily crap on the swing arm area.

but it acted up just like randy,s did just kind of went boom and we did not want to try and ride it back home.

he is a heavy guy at 300 plus pounds but he is 6 ft 3 inches tall.

he said he thought he saw a split where the swing arm connects to the frame? looked like it might have a twist but he is not sure.

we need to pull some of the bags and stuff off to get a better look?

if we grab it and try to lift the rear by our arms it seems like it wants to go back to its height/ if that makes sense?

like I said if I was to rate the bike before this happened I would give it a solid 7 out of ten. just a cracked mirror glass. and a yellow windshield.

seat could use a little work no rips or splits but looks a little dry. don't know what you would call the paint? kind of maroon /purple. with gold pin stripes?

[oldgoat]

I am not sure cowpuc as the frame shows no rust? frame looks clean dirty but not rusty.

 

yes no control on the dash for air. but the shocks do adjust with a air pump the guy gave him?

 

we are thinking maybe just maybe the mono shock went out?

 

as there is some kind of oily crap on the swing arm area.

but it acted up just like randy,s did just kind of went boom and we did not want to try and ride it back home.

he is a heavy guy at 300 plus pounds but he is 6 ft 3 inches tall.

he said he thought he saw a split where the swing arm connects to the frame? looked like it might have a twist but he is not sure.

we need to pull some of the bags and stuff off to get a better look?

if we grab it and try to lift the rear by our arms it seems like it wants to go back to its height/ if that makes sense?

like I said if I was to rate the bike before this happened I would give it a solid 7 out of ten. just a cracked mirror glass. and a yellow windshield.

seat could use a little work no rips or splits but looks a little dry. don't know what you would call the paint? kind of maroon /purple. with gold pin stripes?

[Freebird]

They actually rust from the inside out. I've seen it on a couple of other '83s. You typically won't see it until it's too late.

[oldgoat]

thanks Don. I hope he can get it fixed.

 

he owns a welding shop. just needs to find a wright up on the best way to do this.

not sure if the man who owned it before was a member here or not?

 

name is dave yeager. out of east Peoria IL

 

he is sorry this happened.

it was in a heated garage most of it,s life but sat for 7 or so years.

but my friends friend went through it and has it running like a dream till this happened.

if the sad part of it becomes a parts bike he can still make out okay.

[bongobobny]

Yup!! Unfortunately common issue with the '83's, the area was reinforced starting with the '84...

[Flyinfool]

I did send a note to Freebird that Randys thread on how he fixed his broken frame may a good candidate to get its pictures restored.

[saddlebum]

I did send a note to Freebird that Randys thread on how he fixed his broken frame may a good candidate to get its pictures restored.

This really suck because I was sitting on one for two years. Finally got rid of it in the fall:doh:. He could of had it for nothing.

[Venturous Randy]

I did send a note to Freebird that Randys thread on how he fixed his broken frame may a good candidate to get its pictures restored.

Thanks, when I pulled it up I did not realize the pic were not there. Yep, this one really needs the pictures.

Mine did not have any rust either from the inside or outside. My suspicion is there were just poor welds.

I originally posted this on the venturers site before I left there and you can pull it up without being a member(I just did). This still has the pictures if Don can not restore my original post pictures here. There should not be any proprietary issues here as it was MY post from the beginning but, if we can restore the pictures, we can delete the noted reference.

Randy

 

http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/index.php?action=article&cat_id=001004&id=301

[Yammer Dan]

Got one sitting here that did the same thing. Rode it home that day with fender kissing the tire every tiny bump in the road.

[bongobobny]

Problem with your link Randy, you have to be a member of the "OTHER" site to view...

 

Oops, scratch that, you CAN view the tech library for free. They must have changed that, used to be a few years ago you couldn't...

[Freebird]

Got them all restored. Not sure about the order. They are in the order of the file names but I don't know if that is how they originally were.

[oldgoat]

this is why I love this club. the pictures are just what he needs to tackle this problem

 

yep it broke in the same place .as Randys did. not much of a twist to it. he said he likes the way that welder did yours Randy

 

he has most of the plastic removed. and to night will tear it down some more, and work on it this week end.

I told him to sign up here and post pictures if he has time.

once again thank you all

[frankd]

When this happened to my 83, I was lucky.....I was about 50' from my driveway. Mine had no rust inside or out, but showed a lot of metal fatigue so I wouldn't have been happy with repairing this area. I ended up replacing the frame with one from an 84, and the 84 was a lot stronger in that area. It seems that Yamaha had noticed this problem real quick and beefed up this area on the 84's and later. It's a lot of work to replace a frame because the last piece you take off the old frame is the first one you put back on the new frame. On the first ride, my wife commented how much better the bike felt to her. I didn't notice much difference though.

[utadventure]

I have a frame from an '86 in my yard.....he's welcome to it (with salvage title).

[frankd]

I'm not sure that a 86 frame will be exactly like an 84 or 85. It does have a different part number, but as to the what is different???? i think I'd try to find an 84 or 85 frame. As I remember when I installed the 84 frame on my 83, I had to enlarge a couple of holes to get the bolts into the front sub-frame.

 

Frank

[theportunionkid]

My 83 frame cracked had it welded with motor in. Removed swing arm drained fluids and hung it like a big fish to get to under side. only held short while. bought used frame had all welds beefed up then did the swap.When pulled motor from orig frame cracks were around back side motor mounts. Put progressives front and rear all good now.

[oldgoat]

well he got it welded up.

he is trying to send me pictures. but I cant load them on my computer?

he said he did a good beef up job on it then went after welds on the frame not that they where broke but just to make sure?

 

he has a good lead on a 1984 parts bike no plastics on it but all the rest is there with clean title.

he wants to know if he goes that way will all the 83 stuff fit the 84?

he will just j put the bike together and have a 84 with low miles. I think the engine is a bolt in.?

right now he is happy that he can put it back together and knows it will hold so he can ride this season then he will do the 84 swap if it can be done this winter

[bongobobny]

Yes, pretty much all the stuff will fit!! The only issue is the difference in the TCI, and where the TCI gets it's vacuum advance information from. Regardless of the year there is a difference in the wiring harness between the Venture Standard and the Venture Royale. The dash is different which makes the wiring harness different between the '83 and the '84. The engine covers attach differently but can be made to work. There might be another minor difference or two but can't think of any at the moment..