zeta bellypan makes noise

Ok am I going to have to figure out some rubber mounts on this thing? I took a ride after installing and there's a loud high pitching 'zinging' vibration at certain revs, notable when downshifting etc.

Screws are tight, there are steel spacers on the front screws. Maybe some rubber washers?

This bellypan seems very high quality thick aluminum and fits well. I sure hope I can do something about this.

What happens is the skid pad turns into a low fidelity speaker from the vibrations of your motor. I use garden hose gaskets as cushions behind each attachment point. It helps some.

I took mine back off and applied several coats of rust-o-leum rubber leak seal on the inside (the side up against the crank case, not the bottom of the skid plate). this is like the stuff they sell on TV that the guy sprays on a screen door in the bottom of a boat. It is quite effective at dampening the reverberations. When I first installed the skid pan without it, the noise was unacceptable. wouldn't run a skid plate without it.

Hog86r wrote:

I took mine back off and applied several coats of rust-o-leum rubber leak seal on the inside (the side up against the crank case, not the bottom of the skid plate). this is like the stuff they sell on TV that the guy sprays on a screen door in the bottom of a boat. It is quite effective at dampening the reverberations. When I first installed the skid pan without it, the noise was unacceptable. wouldn't run a skid plate without it.

Ok it seems to be a common problem, I'll see what I can do to help, maybe a rubber bit or some spray stuff. Thanks!

I coated mine with some spray rubber, then put some black self stick weather stripping on the frame where it hits. I then used some rubber hose grommets on the inside where the screw go, and some thin rubber washes for the screws on the outside. Not sure if it makes sense or not, but it worked great.

Gath3r13 wrote:

I coated mine with some spray rubber, then put some black self stick weather stripping on the frame where it hits. I then used some rubber hose grommets on the inside where the screw go, and some thin rubber washes for the screws on the outside. Not sure if it makes sense or not, but it worked great.

Interesting, but it worked that's good. I sliced some thin rubber washers off some grommets and put them between bellypan and mount points. Pain to get them in place but did it. Short test ride seemed to work, more testing will be needed as I think it's still going to make some noise, hopefully not.

Seems like makers are unaware of these problems, they should include the right rubber washers, change the design a bit. For example the metal spacers on the front mounts should be a bit wider for a rubber washer. If they glued the washers to the bellypan it would make installation a whole lot easier. I think I'll glue mine in place if I have it off again.

Rubber weatherstripping, have some of that might put some of that I too if it still makes noise, thanks!

Eastern Beaver wrote:

Gath3r13 wrote:

I coated mine with some spray rubber, then put some black self stick weather stripping on the frame where it hits. I then used some rubber hose grommets on the inside where the screw go, and some thin rubber washes for the screws on the outside. Not sure if it makes sense or not, but it worked great.

Interesting, but it worked that's good. I sliced some thin rubber washers off some grommets and put them between bellypan and mount points. Pain to get them in place but did it. Short test ride seemed to work, more testing will be needed as I think it's still going to make some noise, hopefully not.

Seems like makers are unaware of these problems, they should include the right rubber washers, change the design a bit. For example the metal spacers on the front mounts should be a bit wider for a rubber washer. If they glued the washers to the bellypan it would make installation a whole lot easier. I think I'll glue mine in place if I have it off again.

Rubber weatherstripping, have some of that might put some of that I too if it still makes noise, thanks!

Some makers are aware and they supply composite skid plates. Some worry about the protection of a 'plastic' skid plate but after 4000 miles it still seems to be holding up fine. I suspect if I hit something hard enough to breach my skid plate it is very likely that I will have a more serious issue at hand.

I also have a Flatland Aluminum skid plate that I coated in spray on bedliner and that seems to work pretty well at taking the noise down as well.

I applied that Dynamat aluminum/rubber noise insulation to the entire skidplate. Reduced noise a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10455-Self-Adhesive-Deadener-Xtreme/dp/B00020CB2S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399919217&sr=8-3&keywords=dynamat+noise+insulation+auto

GusinCA wrote:

I applied that Dynamat aluminum/rubber noise insulation to the entire skidplate. Reduced noise a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10455-Self-Adhesive-Deadener-Xtreme/dp/B00020CB2S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399919217&sr=8-3&keywords=dynamat+noise+insulation+auto

Thanks for that link. I ordered a piece of dynamat large enough for bellypan, thin enough to work, they even ship to Japan. I think this will really kill the sound.

Eastern Beaver wrote:

GusinCA wrote:

I applied that Dynamat aluminum/rubber noise insulation to the entire skidplate. Reduced noise a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10455-Self-Adhesive-Deadener-Xtreme/dp/B00020CB2S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399919217&sr=8-3&keywords=dynamat+noise+insulation+auto

Thanks for that link. I ordered a piece of dynamat large enough for bellypan, thin enough to work, they even ship to Japan. I think this will really kill the sound.

Think it's just something we have to live with. Noise can be dampened some, but the pan is going to bounce engine noise upward.

I went kindof a different route and drilled alot of (large and small) holes in my MSR skidplate in hopes of giving the noise another outlet (it's lighter now too..got hole pattern ideas from the megabuck Works bashplates).

Going to try it again along with rubber hose type mat'l where pan meets frame.

rider213 wrote:

Thanks for that link. I ordered a piece of dynamat large enough for bellypan, thin enough to work, they even ship to Japan. I think this will really kill the sound.

Think it's just something we have to live with. Noise can be dampened some, but the pan is going to bounce engine noise upward.

I went kindof a different route and drilled alot of (large and small) holes in my MSR skidplate in hopes of giving the noise another outlet (it's lighter now too..got hole pattern ideas from the megabuck Works bashplates).

Going to try it again along with rubber hose type mat'l where pan meets frame.[/quote]

I might drill holes if I had a drill press. I think the holes might just catch and hold a lot of dirt, but likely won't hurt anything.

I haven't received the sound deadening matt yet, will report back on how that works.

I did get the handlebar lever guards installed though and have the IMS 3 gal tank here to install today.

I used adhesive 6mm "D" profile weatherstripping installed along the wearlines on the skidplate where it touched the frame during the previous 5000km's.
It cut down on the noise substantially.
Initially, I had bicycle innertube material strapped to the frame in a few spots, it didn't do much.

I got the Flatland skid plate, and yes it is noisy. I just push my earplugs in a bit further. I do like it when folks turn around as I ride by to see what all the strange noise is about.

The noise doesn't bother me. I wear earplugs most of the time anyway. If I cared I go the route of reducing reflected and resonant vibration similar to the poster above with the rubber type coating and isolation at the mounts.

[quote="Eastern Beaver"]Ok am I going to have to figure out some rubber mounts on this thing? I took a ride after installing and there's a loud high pitching 'zinging' vibration at certain revs, notable when downshifting etc.

Screws are tight, there are steel spacers on the front screws. Maybe some rubber washers?

This bellypan seems very high quality thick aluminum and fits well. I sure hope I can do something about this.

I had same problem. Used rubber bushings at mounting holes. Turned it into a big tuning fork. Tried camper shell foam gasket between frame and pan. Much better. Third attempt will be rubber mat lining on the whole pan surface between engine and pan. Have not found the rubber mat yet. Maybe a rubber floor mat for a car would work. Oh and I also tried tool dip spray on inside pan surface. Applied at least 8 coats. Little affect. Good luck.

Rockrider wrote:

I had same problem. Used rubber bushings at mounting holes. Turned it into a big tuning fork. Tried camper shell foam gasket between frame and pan. Much better. Third attempt will be rubber mat lining on the whole pan surface between engine and pan. Have not found the rubber mat yet. Maybe a rubber floor mat for a car would work. Oh and I also tried tool dip spray on inside pan surface. Applied at least 8 coats. Little affect. Good luck.

Success! I got a roll of Extreme Dynamat sound deadening stick on sheet and covered the entire inside of the bellypan. Mounted it, and no more vibrations. It does still reflect a bit more engine sound than before, but nothing we can do about that.

Rockrider wrote:

Third attempt will be rubber mat lining on the whole pan surface between engine and pan. Have not found the rubber mat yet. Maybe a rubber floor mat for a car would work. Oh and I also tried tool dip spray on inside pan surface. Applied at least 8 coats. Little affect. Good luck.

[/quote]

I had trouble finding a suitable sheet of rubber to line my skid plate until I came across a roll of tool box liner at Princess Auto (kind of like Canada's version of Harbour Freight).  
I only  lined the bottom and not the wings.  I used silicone to glue it to the plate.
I am happy with the results.  I would say it reduced the noise by 75%.  I wonder if lining the wings would improve that but I don't think I will.  The noise at it's present level doesn't bother me anymore.

I have a feeling the wings are where my vibration/sound was happening mostly. As long as you don't have a high pitched vibration not a problem.

The dynamat is wonderful stuff and sticks on very well. Plus it's not too thick and has a heat resistant aluminum backing.

When i did mine, I coated the whole thing and cut off the excess. Reduced annoying high vibration sound by half, in my opinion.

Of course, when the way I ride causes hits like this, there is no way I could go without a thick bash plate...:)

GusinCA wrote:

When i did mine, I coated the whole thing and cut off the excess. Reduced annoying high vibration sound by half, in my opinion.

Of course, when the way I ride causes hits like this, there is no way I could go without a thick bash plate...:)

You didn't say what you coated yours with, but with the Dynamat all high pitch vibrations are gone. I still get more engine noise reflected but not too bad. Bit disconcerting at first until you get used to it.

That picture is a compelling reason why everyone needs a bellypan. No matter how you ride, a rock in that area would not be good for the engine.

[/quote]

You didn't say what you coated yours with, but with the Dynamat all high pitch vibrations are gone. I still get more engine noise reflected but not too bad. Bit disconcerting at first until you get used to it.

That picture is a compelling reason why everyone needs a bellypan. No matter how you ride, a rock in that area would not be good for the engine.

[/quote]

In my May 12th posting above I said I used Dynamat. it works perfectly for this kind of application.

But yes, a huge hit in that area would have destroyed something like the oil filter cover, the clutch cover, all sorts of things. The factory protection is useless for anything off road.

I took a pry bar to the rear of the skid plate bent it down a 1/4 in..No more noise.

I did the same to mine by slamming into rocks, it wasnt on purpose but the skid plate stopped resonating.
I noticed this a few rides ago, its quiet now.

As mentioned in another skid plate makes noise tread, its the back part of the skid that makes the noise because its unsupported and free to vibrate/resonate.

Hmmm, might have to look into that.

I bought gasket material from home depot, unfortunately it does not come in sheets bigger than 6"x6" and only 2 in a pack
so I cut strips followed the lines for the frame cradle and glued them down and also at the tail end of the plate
then glued some denser type weatherstripping to fill the voids in hopes to absorb the noise, that weird resonance is still there but much more muted and lower pitched. hear more of the motor now....
It's pretty good, but I think it could be better,, guess this will be rainy day experiments.. would like to try the dynamat but seems expensive