Broken rear light assm mount on subframe

Well was having a great day riding today until I stopped and noticed my rear right turn signal was melting!!!!  After close inspection I could see the whole taillight assm was hanging lower then normal. I headed back home and removed the rear fender and found the plate where the assm mounts broken.



I did a search for this but did not find anything, so has anyone else had this happen??  Any ideas on reinforcing this area?

I've never seen this either. Did you have a rack on there with significant weight on it?

The good news is that the subframe is steel, so any competent welder will be able to fix it and reinforce it.

Edit as I was wrong...Sorry  - after a moment of thinking after I replied I went out and looked at the frame again and you are right. The rear two bolts of the rack do mount to this. So after repairing I will have to weigh my stuff to see how much weight I am putting on that rear area.

This part of the subframe cannot support too much weight. Back when Yamaha were still selling their own rear rack for the WRR, they had a weight limit of just 6.6 lbs (3 kg) for the rack.

Did not know about that limit, I know I have been carrying more then that for the last 8 years as the 2 gallon roto pax weights at least 13 lbs. It is going to be interesting to see how much all the gear weighs I have been carrying all these years before the subframe gave way. I dropped it off at the local machine shop this morning and they had it done within the hour and no charge!!!! Nice fellows down there. Going to start putting the bike back together this evening.

If you take a look at the rear end of the subframe you will notice that the last 10 inches of it are not supported by anything, it's essentially two horizontal 3/4" steel bars trying to support whatever weight you put on the rack. Take into account also the dynamic forces that the rack experiences with the weight bouncing around on rough off-road, and you can understand why Yamaha has such a low weight spec for the rack area.

I got the subframe reinstalled last night after work, its a little hard to get it to move over the airbox assm but doable. I forgot to mention that the machine shop said the right side was bent down some(which they corrected) and that is what caused the left side weld area to fail. The left side gets some support from the extra bar where the helmet lock is mounted. I only mounted the subframe as I have to wait about a week for my replacement turn signal light. I also broke down and purchased a 3.0 gallon IMS fuel tank, probably should of gone this route at the beginning instead of the 2 gallon rotopax set up but its a lot of monies for just one more gallon and not only is the rotopax less expensive it gave me almost another full tank which really extended my riding without coming out of the mountains to refuel.

The IMS 3 gallon tank is not such a great value compared to the 5 gallon one, which is only $75 more.

Someone was actually selling a brand new 5 gallon tank in the For Sale subforum, did you see that?

I did not see that but have thought about this option over the last several years. Just never comfortable with the idea of the sub pump system on the larger tanks so opted for the 3 gallon. Time will tell if I like my choice or not!

Ok weighed my fuel can and tailbag and came up with 56#.....slightly over what you posted for a limit. I guess I did good carrying all that for as many years as I did! Anyways it will be reduced as I am going to switch to a wolfman tailbag I have. When I get it all figured out I will reweigh it.

Another question, as I was pushing the subframe back on a piece fell out from some where near the front of the bike frame. I do not know what its for or where it fell from. Must of been hanging loose after I unbolted something. I will post a photo of it from each side and will also post it else where on the forum to see if anyone might know.

NROA wrote:

Ok weighed my fuel can and tailbag and came up with 56#.....slightly over what you posted for a limit.

Slightly???

All this weight didn't bother you, especially the fuel sloshing around? I once rode my enduro bike with a 1 gallon canister on the back, and I felt it so much that I have never carried fuel in the back since then.

Can't readily identify that part; I'll take a look in the morning and see if it's something easily recognisable.

Surprisingly no I did not notice it or maybe I do not remember and got used to it since it was that way so long....

Yeah its a plastic piece, I looked all over the place upfront where I thought it fell out of but did not see where it might be from.