replace or repair radiator

I've had my WR for a couple of months but not much time to ride. I finally had a trip planned which included a stop to visit a friend in Fayetteville and then after that two days at our place in the Ouachitas.

The ride in Fayetteville was great and my WR kept up with my friends KTM big single with no issues on gravel roads and paved. I road his bike and have to say the WR is much smoother.

I then trailered the bike to our place in the Ouachitas and while backing up the trailer hit a big rut which caused one of the strap hooks to come off. Not sure how as the suspension was well compressed. I will never use open hooks again even though I've had no issues in the last 30 years.

When the strap came off the bike tipped onto the trailer and the radiator on the left side did a great job of saving the rest of the bike. The radiator caught the sharp edge of the trailer which but a good dent in it. No leaks but the fan bracket is bent so it won't run. I'm very good with mechanics so I'll pull it off and see if I can get it close to a workable shape. The verticle tubes do not appear to be crimped so if I can press the outside bracket back it may come back into shape. New rad is $400 and not sure how much if I send it off for repair. I will be making a guard for the rad to protect from side impacts going forward.

If I do send out for repair anyone know who to use?

Thankfully I've not run into this, but if a replacement is 4 bills, I'd like to know.

Ouch! That's tough. I had that happen on a KLR. I'm kind of leery about long travel suspension on trailers now.

We were looking at getting my wife's radiator repaired, but then found another supplier that could get the genuine part for half of what the dealer was quoting, so we went that way. A repair seems interesting, but unless they re-core it I don't see how they can repair them. And, wouldn't re-coring it cost about the same as a new one?

You'll have to post the details if you either find a cheaper radiator source or if you get it repaired.

If anyone knows of a source for yamaha parts at reasonable prices let me know. I'll try to work of the bent rad this coming weekend as my track day car project is nearly finished

Hey Trophy cup,

The best Yamaha parts prices I've found are South Seattle Yamaha Sports Plaza in Washington state. I've purchased a few items and they are 30% cheaper than my local Yamaha dealer here in Duluth, MN. Great service and quick shipping with your Internet order.

Here's their site addy:

http://www.yamahasportsplaza.com/

2Wheelz wrote:

Hey Trophy cup,

The best Yamaha parts prices I've found are South Seattle Yamaha Sports Plaza in Washington state. I've purchased a few items and they are 30% cheaper than my local Yamaha dealer here in Duluth, MN. Great service and quick shipping with your Internet order.

Here's their site addy:

http://www.yamahasportsplaza.com/

I think that http://www.cyclepartswarehouse.com has the best online parts prices.

macfast wrote:

2Wheelz wrote:

Hey Trophy cup,

The best Yamaha parts prices I've found are South Seattle Yamaha Sports Plaza in Washington state. I've purchased a few items and they are 30% cheaper than my local Yamaha dealer here in Duluth, MN. Great service and quick shipping with your Internet order.

Here's their site addy:

http://www.yamahasportsplaza.com/

I think that http://www.cyclepartswarehouse.com has the best online parts prices.

So what are the shipping prices like for both these sites? Just wondering

Near 20% S&H.

Thanks for the input regarding sources for a new rad.

Last night I decided to try fixing it myself as it wasn't leaking. Even tough it have a triangle dent in the side that went in 1 inch and about 3 inches wide at the widest point my neighbor and I gave it a try.

I cut some pieces of wood to fit around the various brackets and we slowly worked the aluminum back into shape with a hammer and after 3 hours it worked!!!

Will fill and test it today if all goes well.

Bending the rad back into shape worked! The coolant flowed as it should and the fan can on.

Gotta love DIY fixes. Makes it all the more worthwhile.

If you cant fix it, I have used Mylers Aluminum Radiator Repair,Mylers returns fixed radiators in 1 day.

Nice work! Make sure you keep an eye on your coolant holding tank to ensure the level stays within recommendations. If there are any light weeps, you might not detect them, but over time, you could lose some coolant. Probably an obvious statement, but thought I'd mention it because that is one of those things you might stop paying attention to in a couple weeks then 4 months down the road, you realize your coolant level is low. Your nose will probably be the best tool. Easy to detect the smell of coolant even if it's in vapor form.

I had an interesting issue w/ my radiator recently. Was doing some off-trail blazing and managed to ram into a decent-sized branch that caught the bike right at the radiator and threw me & the bike down.

I popped the stock plastic radiator guard off and was relieved to see that there was no damage at all to the front of the radiator - all the fins looked like new! Rode home, and rode it to work several times after.

2 nights ago I was riding home and smelled anti-freeze. I could see that the lower portion of the radiator was wet, but couldn't track down the source of the leak. Stripped off all the shrouds to find that the fan had jammed up against the back of the radiator, when it was spinning it actually ground through 3 of the vertical radiator tubes.

Cleaned it up real good and JB-Welded it, let it sit overnight and still leaked. I then poured some Aluma-seal into the radiator - no visible leaks (bone dry!), although I can still smell a faint hint of antifreeze occasionally.

upshot:

1) buy a radiator guard!

2) if you smack the radiator hard from the front, check that the fan brackets haven't pushed the fan into the radiator. Had I checked that after my incident, I'd have a perfect radiator instead of a slightly compromised one...

trophy cup wrote:

Bending the rad back into shape worked! The coolant flowed as it should and the fan can on.

I've seen aluminum auto radiators and a/c condensors start to leak sometimes months after an accident. I've always assumed that a weakened section finally fails after repeated heat/cool cycles. In addition to watching your level, it might be wise to carry some extra coolant to get you home if a leak starts on the road. I use old 1 quart rectangular plastic oil bottles to cary extra gas and coolant. They are zero cost, and fit easilly into various types of carriers. I bag them in 1 gallon size ziplocs just in case they might leak.

Flatland radiator guards looks pretty good. Hopefully Unabiker or even Moose Rcing will come out with armor that is a little more substantial. As it is very important to protect the radiiator is there any need to protect the left side of the bike where the coolant reservoir is located?

macfast wrote:

If you cant fix it, I have used Mylers Aluminum Radiator Repair,Mylers returns fixed radiators in 1 day.

http://www.motorcycleradiators.com/

Helps every timehttp://www.forceaccessories.com.au/store2/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=58

+10 Force makes a bulletproof guard. Seems that all of the stuff comin from Oz is that way; my skid plate is, gives absolutely no noise resonance like the others.

I purchased the Force radiator guard a few weeks ago. After placing my order from the Austrialia company delivery to my porch here in the Seatte area only took about 5 days. The guard is strong beyond belief and the fit is perfect taking only about 30 minutes from beginning to end to install it.

BPG: The JB solution is an immediate (emergency) fix. Been there, JB'd that.

Long term (perhaps even short term) reliability is compromised as eventually (and sooner than you want of course) the prolonged thermal excursions will jeopardize the JB fix.

You'll need to find a better repair (or replacement) and THEN get a guard.

...and of course watch out for those trees there George of the Jungle !

ZED: What was your resource ?