I was taking the trike to the shop for some maintenance and doing about 65 MPH in rush hour traffic when it instantly started doing a "death wobble." When the shop put it on the lift, the service manager came to the waiting room and exclaimed "You got to see this!" Both rails of the swingarm were broken clean through. One fracture had rust on it so it must have occurred during the return trip from Sturgis. The other was bright and shiny and must have just happened. No one at the shop had ever seen something like this. Just wondering if anyone else had this happen. The conversion has about 20,000 miles on it and while it's been ridden hard it's not been abused.
Anyone else brake the swingarm on their trike?
- Thread starter Dennis Murawski
- Start date
Boy' your darn lucky the ride didn't turn into something real bad, what model, year of trike and could we see a picture, please?
Butch
- Thread starter
- #3
The service manager commented that I must have had an angel riding with me because I should have been bouncing down the highway. The bike is a 2007 Harley FLHT that was converted two years ago with a Champion IRS kit. The service manager took some pics. I'll see if I can post them.
My first question would be did you buy the bike new ? I saw a swing arm that was close to breaking a few years back on a bike that had been wrecked, totaled. The bike was run thru auction and was supposed to be sold "parts only" because of it's being totaled. The buyer washed the title and sold it as being like new.
8~\o
8~\o
- Thread starter
- #5
I bought the bike new in 2007 right off the showroom floor. The conversion was done by an official Champion installer in 2013. The bike/trike has never been out of my hands and never been involved in an accident.
- Thread starter
- #6
My upload attempts of the jpg are failing. Not sure why.
Hummmmmm.... Puts a bigger, brighter bulb on the subject since your mentioned "rust". Wonder why your "official" installer didn't notice it ? I'd love to see the pics myself....hope you figure out your file upload problem.
8~\o
- Thread starter
- #8
No, no, no. There was no rust problem here. There was a slight patina of rust on one of the fractures that indicated it didn't just happen. The other fracture did not have any surface rust on it. I repeat, this failure was not caused by rust.
- Thread starter
- #9
I guess the original file was too large, so I cropped it down.
Yeah, I understood what you were saying.. Still I see patina (a $20.00 dollar word these days for what we use to call F*^g'n rush) on a suspension part I'm going in investigate and protect (paint) it. My opinion should have been caught.
Guess I need to educate myself here a little. I didn't realize any of the conversions utilized the swing arm.
8~\o
- - - Updated - - -
Okay Lucy, you're going to have to splain this pic a little. Is that the swing are that has the clean break on it ?
The bottom of in hanging down ???
If so that has got to be the cleanest break I've ever seen. Looks like no fatigue at all.
8~\o
- Thread starter
- #11
I belive the trike unit attaches to the frame where the swingarm was attached. You can see that with the bracket it no longer "swings." Hey Ricky, I'm just showing the pic the service manager sent me. I'll leave any splaining to the guys that know what they're doing.
Have you contacted Champion yet? That looks dangerous..Glad you made it to the shop safe. :AGGHH:
- Thread starter
- #13
Yes, and the unit is still under warranty. The shop is completing the paperwork to get the repair covered and completed.
I am wondering how it broke? Did they give you an explanation or idea how this happened? :xzqxz:
- Thread starter
- #15
That's the $64,000 question. Because the strut is taller than wider, I'm thinking the forces had to be "right and left" rather than "up and down". If the installer didn't have the trike aligned correctly, could 20,000 miles of left/right "micro-shake" caused the metal to fatigue? One member failed first undoubtably putting more stress on the other one. The official installer is no longer in business and nowhere to be found. Suggestion -- choose your installer carefully.
You need to buy a lottery ticket. You are one lucky person to make it to the shop! Never seen anything like that on a trike (or bike). Will be interesting to see what the dealer says. Looks like side to side flexing, not up and down flexing to me.
Sunman
Sunman
Hard to tell from the picture but the area that broke looked reinforced already. Did they put two pieces of metal together and weld a plate over the joint? Like I said the pictures only show one side and I am basing on the one picture?? Hope you get a answer..ThumbUp
Ray55
850+ Posts
Are those breaks at the 45 deg bends on the front half of the bottom frame? It looks like the two pieces of the frame wasn't welded just the stiffners. I don't have a Harley but I have a Champion kit and the rear frame is the same, only the attachment points are different.
Lee H. Mann
Gone But Not Forgotten
Scary Stuff there. That is caused by a twisting of the motorcycle frame. This seems to be a weak link in the IRS system. I would check the upper frame bracket and connections. Looks like a beef-up of the swingarm is in order.
I do have a question. Do you haul a trailer ?
Too much tongue weight could cause this too.
I do have a question. Do you haul a trailer ?
Too much tongue weight could cause this too.
- Thread starter
- #20
Yes, I did haul a Lees-ur-lite Excel motorcycle camper. The load was balanced (at least I thought so anyway) and the tongue weight, although I didn't weigh it, seemed to be within the specs. Hmmm, maybe next time I should get a scale. I had a tool kit in the trike box, but that was centered between the wheels. But still, one would hope the design would be a bit more robust than that.
- Thread starter
- #21
The shop now has the body off and is able to get a better look. The service manager thinks there was a bad weld. He said the weld didn't get hot enough to penetrate the metal. They're sending the unit back to Champion for their evaluation.
- Moderator
- #22
we are all human errors happen. making it right is the human factor
I think the shop is fishing for answers there. But the picture isn't complete enough to see the other side of the tube. There shouldn't be a weld where the tube broke at.
If you will look to the left of the break there is a weld. That is the proper way to weld a frame member. NEVER straight across.
If you looked inside the tube, I bet you will find the inside tube ends just about right at the break. There is a mount just above the tube that would put stress on the area. the stress would cause the outside tube to flex at the first point after the double tube. This doubled area wouldn't allow any flex.
If there is an intersecting tube on the inside that isn't visible from the photo, the joint should be designed to spread out the stress in the area & not compound it. It would need a gusset shaped like a diamond & shaped (bent) across the joint as to not be straight across either of the joining tubes.
Been welding too many years to buy just a cold weld theory.
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I found the easiest way to weigh the tongue weight is with a fish scale.
Kevin
- Thread starter
- #26
I stopped by the shop yesterday. The broken assembly was shipped to Champion but as of yet, they have not heard back.
Ultra Glide / Lehman Renagade conversion swing arm breakage
So I found this thread on a "Bing search". Just had same issue with my 08 Harley Ultra with a 2015 Lehman/Champion Renegade LLS . Swing arm broke on both sides. Any idea how many of these have done this? conversion has 13000 mi on it ,was installed by Lehman/Champion dealer, has never pulled a trailer and rarely rode 2-up.
So I found this thread on a "Bing search". Just had same issue with my 08 Harley Ultra with a 2015 Lehman/Champion Renegade LLS . Swing arm broke on both sides. Any idea how many of these have done this? conversion has 13000 mi on it ,was installed by Lehman/Champion dealer, has never pulled a trailer and rarely rode 2-up.
Attachments
If you look under the oil pan, the gusset or welded brace from the factory is bowed. That can have an affect on the handling and create stress on the swing arm assembly. Also the tubing and welded gussets on the swing arm not thick enough steel.
Lee H. Mann
Gone But Not Forgotten
Looks like very poor (South of the Border) welding. Nearly missed the joint completely or the welder didn't intend on hitting the joint in the First Place.
On the IRS (LLS Lehman) the swingarm acts as a dead-man. There is stress as the picture shows but I believe it is defective construction.
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