my buddy has a '06 grizzly 660 with 9000 km's or 5000 miles on it and its only a year old, he rides alot, the frame is broken and cracked all over, we ride hard but no harder than most people and we dont jump our bikes on big jumps. Its got an extended warranty but yamaha wont cover the frame, what a bunch of BS, anyone else broke their frame? he welded it up and its been good for the last few rides
-he took the skid plate off for the pics and to weld the frame
this machine has NEVER been rolled or crashed and he bought it new
That looks like they did not run enough analysis on their frame. From all of my race car tube frame building, they have too thin of a wall (probably .062) and the loads are not tied in well with the upper frame. I guess if they are not going to warranty it I'd recommend grinding a "v" in every weld, fill it, grind it and put a equal I.D. to the frames O.D. and weld a two inch patch over every stress joint. Simply welding it will cause stress right next to it. Is the frame chrome moly or mild steel?
While I am sorry to hear of your friend's misfortune, Yamaha likely isn't fixing this machine because they believe it was used for commercial or business purposes. (or abused the hell out of)
5,000 miles in a year on an ATV means it was being ridden CONSTANTLY. Even machines which I've owned for 5 years didn't have that many miles on them when I sold them. (and I feel I ride the crap out of my bikes).
The national average for annual mileage accrual on an automobile is only 12-15,000 per year.
The distance between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Maine is roughly 3,200 miles. Which means that to accrue that many miles, your friend would have travelled (on an ATV) nearly 2,000 miles more than that distance.
5,000 miles, if you rode 365 days per year you'd have to ride nearly 14 miles every day.
Something tells me that there is more to this story than meets the eye.
Ride Safe,
Chuck
Not trying to offend, just doing the math... that's a bit more than pleasure riding in my opinion.
(and from the looks of those pictures.... the bent cross members, dented tubing, etc.... it's been over some VERY rough terrain.) The 1999 SRA I just sold didn't look that rough underneath.
While I am sorry to hear of your friend's misfortune, Yamaha likely isn't fixing this machine because they believe it was used for commercial or business purposes. (or abused the hell out of)
5,000 miles in a year on an ATV means it was being ridden CONSTANTLY. Even machines which I've owned for 5 years didn't have that many miles on them when I sold them. (and I feel I ride the crap out of my bikes).
The national average for annual mileage accrual on an automobile is only 12-15,000 per year.
The distance between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Maine is roughly 3,200 miles. Which means that to accrue that many miles, your friend would have travelled (on an ATV) nearly 2,000 miles more than that distance.
5,000 miles, if you rode 365 days per year you'd have to ride nearly 14 miles every day.
Something tells me that there is more to this story than meets the eye.
Ride Safe,
Chuck
Not trying to offend, just doing the math... that's a bit more than pleasure riding in my opinion.
(and from the looks of those pictures.... the bent cross members, dented tubing, etc.... it's been over some VERY rough terrain.) The 1999 SRA I just sold didn't look that rough underneath.
thanks for the calculations but i've done that before, he rides all the time, doesnt have a drivers license so i think that is part of the reason he rides more, i thaught he was joking when he told me he already had 9000 km's on it but its true!
I also am not trying to offend anyone. But I am with CCrane on this one. And by no means am I an expert. But that machine looks like it has been severly abused.
What I was trying to say (without being rude or insulting) is that the machine has in fact been abused. Those pictures show obvious signs of abuse that usually only comes with rock-crawling and/or high-speed/extreme terrain situations.
If the machine has been through 5,000 miles of this sort of torture... then in my personal opinion, it's a credit to Yamaha's quality and pride in workmanship that the thing is even still running.
In the first picture you posted in that link, you were pointing at certain locations on the frame. Near to each of these points was a corresponding dent or bend in the frame where something has/had impacted the frame violently.
Welds are actually stronger than the tubing itself, but as said before they will cause weak points in the tubing around them... and points of high-speed impact are usually the first to break.
I would recommend to this individual that this is an ATV and not a Sherman Tank... and should be treated as such.
I have an 06 grizzly which I've been very hard on I've got no problems with my frame, that and my frame doesn't look rough like the one in the pictures, sorry about his luck if it is true.
