my baby is broken

[fj11.5]

went for a ride on effie today,, had a nice " casual" ride the 30 k,s into town to pick up my freshly covered corbin seat,  for the price of bugger all, went to school with the owners wife, , they both ride,  she has a 400 honda,, anyway cruised back towards home but accidently missed my driveway,  great roads up here,  got to the end of the sealed section, turned around to come home, not sure if the sticky tyre picked up some rocks and dumped them on the chain, but the chain started making clunking sounds, going about 60 klm,  so slowed to forty thought id just limp to the top of the short but steep hill and stop,, well just made the crest,  and heard and almighty bang, pulled the clutch in, ,odd no clutch, hit the kill switch and rolled to a stop,  climbed of and as i expected busted chain, , also smashed sprocket cover, , bugger,  so pushed the short way to edge of hill and rolled the 2 k,s to get closer to home,, pushed some more, parked then walked till a mate gave stopped and gave me a lift home, went back with the other half and she towed us home,, stripped ummm effie down with orion,s help (5yr old)  found id broken the clutch push rod in three pieces, cracked the top of the rear engine mount,  partly cracked the bottom bolt mount for the sp cover and gave the starter motor mount a good beating,, half the chain was bunched up against the engine mount and front sprocket ,, no visible damage to f sprocket or gear box shaft, , hoping i can weld the enging mount section and cover mount,  but its keeping the oil in that has me worried, , hope i dont need a new enging half as im not that ready to attempt work ive never done, , top end no worries but pulling out bottom ends scares me

[FJmonkey]

Major bummer, weird that you were getting noise and other mechanical feedback before the chain broke. I wonder if something else let go and then took out the chain. Once the chain goes you have no way to get power to the wheel. Keep us posted on your repairs. Take some pictures after you get her cleaned up, you might get some good info on what you can repair what you should replace.

Not sure how you worked it out but your post happened to be number 1984.

[fj11.5]

1984 now thats freaky,  , yeah was rather odd to get a warning of sorts, usually chains just go? ? ,, ill take some pics tomorrow, once i clean out some more crud, , expected the front sprocket to have teeth missing or bent,  but not a mark on it

[movenon]

Sorry about the chain problem. Wonder what caused it to fail. Doesn't sound like you were putting that much stress on the chain. It will be interesting to know why it failed.

I have been thinking about a new chain and keep putting it off but this might motivate me to get one on order. The one I have is in good shape installed by the PO 3 or 4 years ago but is an inexpensive off brand chain. It holds adjustment but......... 
George

[JMR]

 If you end buying cases get a matching set. The bearing saddles are align bored etc and small differences between mismatched cases halves can cause  all sorts of problems.

[Pat Conlon]

Oh man, that's terrible news. I know how much work you put into your bike...and to have THAT happen? Shit.
What was the history on the chain? You know that any rocks thrown up by your tire did not cause it to fail...right?

[The General]

Condolences. Mate, did you have a split link by any chance?

[aviationfred]

Sorry to hear about clutch/chain grenading. Hopefully everything is repairable.

Fred

[craigo]

That happened to me once caused by the master link coming apart. Caused a lot of damage to the oil filter housing bolt, bent the clutch push rod and had me scared that I popped a hole in my case. Lucky for me that didn't happen.

Since then, I have bought premium chains and riveted it on. Never again!!!!

Hope that there is minimum damage and it all goes back together fine.

CraigO

PS: When my chain went it was in a parking lot, so no real stress to it at all.

[Pat Conlon]

Yep, also happened to me.

Not on my FJ,  but in 1975 on my Honda CB500. I was on the I-10 freeway in Los Angeles in rush hour traffic 70 mph bumper to bumper, when the chain snapped and wound itself around the back sprocket, locking up the back tire.

Wow, that was exciting. I almost died that day..

Thank God cell phones were not invented yet, and the drivers behind me were paying attention.

Lesson learned, only the best chains for me....

[fj11.5]

thanks guys for the condolences  ,, really hope i dont need cases,hard to find down here  but ill buy the set if needed, , chain was only 12 months old,  lubed with castrol chain lube every other week,  as i hadnt ridden much since moving, , sadly it was one of the mid $100 chains with the clip link,  x ring anodized jobbies,,  its the noise it made before grenading that had me thinking id flicked a rock or something into it, , not sure if you were lucky or un,lucky to have it happen in a car park, bad it happend but better than at speed either way the bloody things leave you stranded,, , hell pat thats about the nastiest way for one to break, your one lucky guy , glad nobody ran into you,  must of been a sphincster puckering moment , was there any warning sounds it was going to go, , i was waiting for the wheel lock up myself and looked for a place to land,  especially when i clutched her and got nothing 

[craigo]

When I crashed my 1st FJ, I just bought my 2nd one. Then I repaired the one I crashed while riding my second one. Then, when repairs were done, I had 2. I advertised both and sold my 1st one for about what I paid for the 2nd one.

The 2nd one perished when my house burned down. Now I own my 3rd.

I will always have a FJ until there are no more FJs to be had.

CraigO

[Pat Conlon]

 Yea, it was a cheap master link chain with the owner (me) not being very diligent about cleaning, lubing or adjusting.

I was a stupid industructable 22 year old kid. It just was not my time yet. I'm 60 now, and to think about what I would have missed had those drivers behind me been watching for my tail light (that never came on)

I like to think I've been living the last 38 years on bonus time.

[JMR]

Yep, also happened to me.

Not on my FJ,  but in 1975 on my Honda CB500. I was on the I-10 freeway in Los Angeles in rush hour traffic 70 mph bumper to bumper, when the chain snapped and wound itself around the back sprocket, locking up the back tire.

Wow, that was exciting. I almost died that day..

Thank God cell phones were not invented yet, and the drivers behind me were paying attention.

Lesson learned, only the best chains for me....

OMG Pat......my pet projects. Chains sucked back then....the early 750's broke enough sandcasts to make the worlds wail. I do work for one fella in Canada who is a #1 champion road racer with his 592cc piece.
  My brothers friend had a 1988 ZX10 counter sprocket come off at 75 MPH on I 95N in Rhode Island.....and he lived. He died 10 years later in a stupid industrial accident.....his fault I'll add. I always said he won the lottery when he lived through the first one.....you only get one of those chances. Tony was a good guy....I knew him since he was a kid....my brothers age at the time who he grew up with him. I miss him till this day.

[movenon]

Damn.... Guess I will be replacing my off brand master link clip on chain SOON... Think I located a EK 530ZZZ for 139.00. Still getting educated... I thought because I am not a hard rider that it would be OK but it sounds like most of them "let go" chains happened while not doing anything abnormal...
I am glad it did not tear up your case FJ 11.5. Still a pain in the ass to deal with. Also glad you were not hauling ass down the road at the time.
George