Yes, Virginia, an FJ will fly, but not very far...

[rktmanfj]

Randy,

Do you think the dogbones failed before or after your bunny hop?
How thick was the mild steel strap you used to make them?
Sounds like you escaped pretty well for what could have been a very scairy moment.

Arnie

Arnie, after looking them over closely, I think they were stretching prior to the jump, and then failed upon landing it.

There was no skid mark, so there was no panic braking, and the tire was pretty tightly wedged up in the subframe, so if they had failed and caused the accident there definitely would have been.  Also, I would not have been able to compress the rear for the bunny-hop.  I do distinctly remember telling myself DO NOT let the front drop in there.

I just failed to hit my mark for the turn-in, and once I got over the surprise a split-second later, there were only a couple of choices from which to (very quickly) pick, and I think I made the correct one.  It didn't even last long enough to get a good shot of adrenalin.

The material I used was the same thickness as the OEM parts, and was definitely not up to the task.  I strongly advise anyone who has made this mod from similar material to at least remove and inspect them, or better yet just make/buy some of something stronger.  I'm convinced they would have eventually failed, especially considering some of the goat paths we frequent at the ECSR.

Randy T
Indy

Well, been out cleaning and checking things out on the rear of the bike some more this afternoon, and my findings have me rethinking some of the above.

I reassembled the Givi rack, and went to put some temporary 'bones on it, so I could move the bike around a bit.  The lower shock linkage is tweaked by about half the dia. of the bolt, (which unless someone has a better explanation) telling me that the 'bones didn't break at exactly the same time.  I thought briefly about using a press to bend it back, but decided against it, since it appears to be a cast piece.  It looks like it would be pretty strong longitudinally, but torsionally weak to begin with.

Randy T
Indy