Broken Penske Clevis.

[Cav47]

Karl, Do you need some assistance or a garage to work on the bike. If you are still near Moonshine, I can run down and help you right after school. Let me know

 

[eflyguy]

Actually, I think they may have.

I stand corrected. I thought I had read (possibly in this thread) that the clevis was more "universal".. I have no direct knowledge to support that.

 

[airboss]

Thanks for the offer Josh, know I can count on you if needed.

I'm at my daughters home, and have an excellent shop nearby. Get the part tomorrow problem solved.

 

[Brodie]

Karl

Please take a side by side picture of the old and new design clevis before having it installed. I would love to see what Penske has done to strengthen their part.

Brodie

 

[airboss]

Karl
Please take a side by side picture of the old and new design clevis before having it installed. I would love to see what Penske has done to strengthen their part.

Brodie

I will do that.Eric is overnighting the original clevis to me here, the new one is not available yet.

Instructions are to call Eric when I get home and he will send the the redesigned clevis and Bolt to my home address.

 

[HelzBelz]

I guess I missed that fact.

so old design for 1700 mile trip home? If your shop can add some more collar. They can prevent pinching for the 1700 miles.

Sure wish Eric would reply to me.. but sounds encouraging. I guess I wonder if there really is a re-design already, or if they plan to have a re-design. And why they think its safe to use the old design.

 

[tcfjr]

Is it just me, or does the title of this thread sound like the name of an '80s New Wave band?

 

[airboss]

I guess I missed that fact. so old design for 1700 mile trip home? If your shop can add some more collar. They can prevent pinching for the 1700 miles. Sure wish Eric would reply to me.. but sounds encouraging. I guess I wonder if there really is a re-design already, or if they plan to have a re-design. And why they think its safe to use the old design.

I'm starting to think the issues with the clevis are a combination of design issues/install issues.

The history on my clevis.

Originally installed by GP suspensions on an 06 in 2007.

Transferred to an 08 in 2010 by local shop in Pekin, IL.

Removed and serviced/rebuilt 2012, by local shop Pekin, IL.

Removed and serviced/rebuilt 2015 by local shop Pekin,IL.

Removed service/rebuilt 2017 transferred to new 2015 FJR A. local shop Tucson, AZ.

The shock and clevis was removed and reinstall three times in about 75,000 miles, until I finally found a shop to break It by over torquing the clevis bolt.

I think maybe the design issue is not so much the clevis as a bolt that allows the clevis to be over torqued and pinched.

Perhaps than is why Penske is supplying their own bolt with the clevis.

BTW I'll be using the same shop that did the 3 successful remove and replace work.

 

[HelzBelz]

It is a correctly sized collar that prevents the pinching (coupled with not overtourquing of course, but the collar correctly sized collar of sufficient strength makes it VERY hard to pinch the clevis).

They failed to recognize that their Clevis didn't match the OEM shock's clevis specs, so their instruction to use the OEM bolt and collar, AND to use Yamaha Factory Service Manual's torque specs was BAD instructions. And the bolt is wee bit too short unless you pinch the clevis.

It is a great shock, and a great company (I think) besides this. I am still a little annoyed that they seem to only care about this now, when we started this discussion with them in October.

 

[HelzBelz]

I just spoke to Eric, they have re-designed the Clevis and are awaiting a shipment of R6 bolts. (proper suspension bolts). The new clevis will have 12mm holes on both sides, and use the r6 bolt. (I didnt ask about the collar/spacer....my bad)

I did explain how bothersome it was that we are not seeing replies to our emails. he explained that he doesn't sit in front of a computer all day (to which I said "do you look at your computer at least once in 3 weeks?") The conversation improved dramatically after I got that off my chest.

He is thinking they are 2 weeks away (at most) of releasing this fix. It was a bit murky on who would pay for the work necessary, but it is a fix that we could do ourselves. (remove shock, twist off clevis , twist on new clevis, with all the appropriate precautions and tools etc. Probably not any harder than removing and installing it in the first place. for those of us with limited qualified mechanics in our area, I have no problem messing with this myself. (I will not ever mess with the micro terminals on my Garmin battery again though...)

 

[Niehart]

Spend the big dollars $4.00 for a new Yamaha bolt [90109-10024-00 BOLT] and take it to a friend or machine shop and have it milled correctly and go on with your life. JSNS

 

[HelzBelz]

I know. you are right. but I have had a brand new bolt and collar in my possession for over a week now, and machine shop hours do not coincide with mine.

(And - there is nothing to say that previous pinching hasn't already compromised the clevis, and that I won't be the first to actually suffer catastrophic failure (that we know of) and leave my wife and kids to collect my life insurance.)

 

[John d]

If Penske is using an R6 bolt, which is basically a standard looking bolt without a raised shoulder near the bolt head end, then they are not floating the bolt head end as per the stock setup. The new setup would clamp both sides of the the bearing collar tight to the clevis, probably to much tighter tolerances to avoid bending the clevis legs too much.

That at least makes me feel good about the arbor shim method I used. That shim method takes almost all of the bending pressure off the clevis legs and clamps both sides together.

 

[HelzBelz]

(edited, you said what I said John)

 

[John d]

^^^ Yes, but there will still be a gap, maybe 0.001 to 0.003" to allow for production tolerances and ease of fitment. At least there won't be the scary gap we have now.

 

[TomInPA]

I don't give a shit. I'm waiting for Penske to send me the fix that appears to be a short time away. In 60000 miles I had to replace the damn clevis once. I can handle a couple more weeks for Clevis-2... hell I still ride a Gen I and have survived the lack of spider failures, cruise controls that only go 80 and LED lights that don't play nice with aftermarket stuff. It seems the replacement to this one will soon be replaced. Carry on.

 

[El Toro Joe]

I don't give a shit. I'm waiting for Penske to send me the fix that appears to be a short time away. In 60000 miles I had to replace the damn clevis once. I can handle a couple more weeks for Clevis-2... hell I still ride a Gen I and have survived the lack of spider failures, cruise controls that only go 80 and LED lights that don't play nice with aftermarket stuff. It seems the replacement to this one will soon be replaced. Carry on.
[img=[URL="https://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Cirquerider/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/8799361F-E525-41C1-9158-CA8C565D1FD5.jpg%5D"]https://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Cirquerider/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/8799361F-E525-41C1-9158-CA8C565D1FD5.jpg][/URL]

So, you planning on making it to the SEO Ramble?

 

[TomInPA]

I have not committed, and will probably wait until the forecast looks dry. Been there the past 4 years and I'm thinking this may be a trans-continental trip year. You going to Yosemite?

 

[El Toro Joe]

You going to Yosemite?

Yes I am...3 weeks after the Ramble. Woohooo!!!

 

[Fred W]

Spend the big dollars $4.00 for a new Yamaha bolt [90109-10024-00 BOLT] and take it to a friend or machine shop and have it milled correctly and go on with your life. JSNS

I like the cheap approach. The only downside of that solution is that the 12mm side of the clevis is only supported across about 1/2 of it's thickness. The stock bolt was sized for the steel clevis yoke, which is much thinner. Shaving the inner surface of the bolt head will alleviate two of the problems: It will stop pinching the clevis legs together, and will allow the shoulder to fully engage the 17mm side of the yoke. But the threaded diameter of the shoulder bolt is 10mm, and the unthreaded shank diameter is 12mm, so only the unthreaded part of the bolt that engages the yoke will support that side, and it will not extend fully through the 12mm hole of the alloy yoke. Being alloy, I would want as much support as possible or it will chew up the hole to some extent.

Here's my solution:

I bought a 12mm Grade 8 bolt and lock nut. I also bought an extra inner bearing race from the affected pivot. I actually have an spare relay arm on the shelf so I took the old worn race out of it and replaced it with a new one for the spare. I mounted the used bearing race up with a 10mm bolt, nut and washer, and carefully centered it on the bolt in tension. The hex head of my 10mm bolt was 17mm, which made centering easier.

I then chucked that up in my drill press, but you could do the same thing with a hand drill that was clamped securely to a bench. With the bearing race rotating on the drill press I cut the hardened bearing with a rotary dremel tool and reinforced cut-off wheel. Here's my jig for the bearing race after I finished making the cut.

And here's the cut pieces of hardened bearing race. The dremel did a great job, and I didn't even wear out one of the wheels.

The smaller piece, which will be the new spacer, is 0.4 inches, which will be more than enough to space the bolt away from the side of the clevis.

Here's the inner bearing race and spacer stacked up on the 12mm x 60mm bolt and nut. The three washers is to simulate the thickness of the 12mm side of the clevis.

I will actually install the bolt backwards in the orientation shown below, so that the 12mm hole in the clevis is supported on the shank of the bolt near the bolt head, and the hardened steel bearing and spacer are what rides on the threaded 12mm section of the bolt. 0.4" may not be the optimum thickness for the spacer. I may want it to be thinner than that. I just made this one as a test to see how hard the bearing collar was to cut.

Cost of this approach is a bolt and nut from Home Depot and a bearing race part # 90387-127W0.