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Big H Issued A Recall On Vfr1200F And Vfr1200X Re:drive-Shafts


Skids

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just bought mine 4 weeks ago with the recall already performed, and I haven't noticed anything of note whatsoever from the driveshaft in my 1000+kms. And while I dont have experience with the 1200 prior to the recall, I have many miles on my ST1300 shaft drive with which to compare problems/irregularities 

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  • 11 months later...

Hi all,

 

I'm new on the forum and i just saw this topic.

I was looking under the seat and saw a small red dot on the right side. I just wanna confirm that this means the problem was solved.

 

Thank you

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Well here we are in late '18 and I'm buying one of these bikes, VIN showing up as "open recall" and in the effected SN range.   

 

Is Honda still issuing these parts?  I do have a good relationship with my Dealer and would expect they'll be helpful.   

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4 hours ago, UpArrrow said:

Well here we are in late '18 and I'm buying one of these bikes, VIN showing up as "open recall" and in the effected SN range.   

 

Is Honda still issuing these parts?  I do have a good relationship with my Dealer and would expect they'll be helpful.   

I guess you'll need to check with your local dealer to confirm. Best of luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Vfr 1200 F is discontinued since 2016.

There is no newer model year so it should be a leftover unit. There's no big deal applying the recall prior or after the delivery even if the bike has the "old" part on it. It's not gonna fail instantly. Just enjoy the bike!

 

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1 hour ago, vfr1200f said:

The Vfr 1200 F is discontinued since 2016.

There is no newer model year so it should be a leftover unit. There's no big deal applying the recall prior or after the delivery even if the bike has the "old" part on it. It's not gonna fail instantly...

 

Well I don't want to be a scaremonger, but "instantly" is exactly how it can fail and why Honda went to the trouble of the recall. 

 

Initially the Universal Joint is simply stiff due to the assembly process leaving the bearings too tight. So what you might then think is that it will simply wear out faster, but what Honda are concerned about is that the UJ will crack and break apart and that means instant and possibly catastrophic failure. They had I believe experienced 2 total failures like this prior to issuing the recall, although no injuries have been caused (to the best of my knowledge).

 

Part of the process was to have each bike checked immediately to detect any imminent failures and if new parts were not immediately available, they would have to remain off-road until the part (shaft assembly) could be replaced. In fact I seem to recall in these cases a new 'old' type part (checked before fitment to ensure it was not too tight) would be installed to keep the bike going until the 'new' part was available and could be installed. Expensive for Honda, but when it comes to safety, they don't mess about.

 

The above is not simply heresay. I have seen a drive shaft (my own, although not on my actual bike) where the UJ bearing mounts/retainers are badly cracked and likely to fail imminently if used. This was taken from a bike dismantled for entirely other reasons, not related to the shaft. I bought the back end and when the recall was announced some time later I had a look at my spare shaft and was horrified how bad it was. My actual bike was not that bad and the UJ simply stiff and 'notchy'.

 

If I still had the 'old' part on the bike and there were no untoward symptoms, would I have continued to use the bike? Possibly, for a short while until the replacement part was available. But that would be my decision and in no way a recommendation for others to employ the same course of action. This is a potentially very serious problem and should be taken seriously. I don't think it is possible for Honda to deny supplying 'New' parts to any bike not yet fixed. That's part of what an official recall means. It is a legal as well as technical process. So there should be no issue getting parts.

 

The replacement is a bit fiddly, but not hard and then you have a brand new drive shaft that should last the life of the bike.

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On 12/5/2018 at 10:40 PM, BiKenG said:

Well I don't want to be a scaremonger, but "instantly" is exactly how it can fail...

.....

In fact I seem to recall in these cases a new 'old' type part (checked before fitment to ensure it was not too tight) would be installed to keep the bike going until the 'new' part was available and could be installed.

 

He already HAS that new "old" part on the bike. The bike may be used as I immagine the dealer does a delivery pre-check anyway and the inspection of the drive shaft would be one the checkpoints for them considering the issued recall... in a perfect world...

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8 hours ago, UpArrrow said:

I did call my local Dealer and fed them the VIN and they confirmed the bike is eligible for the recall.   Here she is BTW.  Will be here in about 3 weeks.

 

 

47222585_536303116781792_8819435177324314624_n.jpg

47294023_308798026631065_2504972467743752192_n.jpg

47681785_413167612759633_5734927099995619328_n.jpg

Great looking bike... looks like new 😛 ... i'm just teasing ya'.

Also, i noticed it's a DCT.

Enjoy!

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1 hour ago, vfr1200f said:

 

He already HAS that new "old" part on the bike....

 

Really, I must have missed that. In fact, I still cannot find any mention by the OP of that having been done.

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8 hours ago, BiKenG said:

 

Really, I must have missed that. In fact, I still cannot find any mention by the OP of that having been done.

If it wasn't mentioned, I apologise. The work was completed a long time ago.

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10 hours ago, vfr1200f said:

Great looking bike... looks like new 😛 ... i'm just teasing ya'.

Also, i noticed it's a DCT.

Enjoy!

 

My 18 Wing has DCT, I only ride it in manual mode and enjoy it in sport mode.  I plan to do the same with this one.    I'm short & round-ish with knee flexibility issues at 55 years old.  With marginal reach to the ground,  I figured not having to work the clutch pedal at start & stop would probably save me an embarrassing drop several times over.  And once one is accustomed to manually flicking the fore/aft triggers the DCT is quite enjoyable to use.   

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  • 4 months later...
On 5/18/2016 at 3:35 PM, BiKenG said:

If replacing the shaft yourself, some advice. Follow the procedure in the manual. This states that the shaft should be fixed onto the final drive unit (so the snap ring has snapped into place) and then insert that whole assembly into the bike. However this means holding the final drive unit with one hand while trying to push aside the rubber boot and feed the UJ onto the gearbox output shaft, while holding the snap ring at this end open with a pair of circlip pliers. Well if you've been counting, that's 3 hands at least, not to mention the impossibility of holding the final drive unit up with one hand. Man, it's heavy.

 

So I took the obvious alternative method of installing the drive shaft shaft into the swingarm and onto the gearbox shaft first, then pushing the final drive unit onto the CV  joint output spline and finally onto the swingarm studs and avoid having to manhandle the final drive unit and shaft together as one assembly. Ha... I thought.

 

Don't bother even trying.

 

It is IMPOSSIBLE to push the final drive unit onto the shaft spline. Even with plenty of good grease, it simply won't go on and just pushes the shaft into the swingarm instead. There is no way to hold the CV joint to stop it all disappearing into the S/A as soon as you try to push on the final drive unit. If only they'd put a small step in the CV joint or shaft to hold it while pushing on the final drive unit...

 

But they didn't. So after pulling it all out again, if fitted the shaft into the final drive unit and then installed it all together as one assembly. A box, or something similar onto which the final drive unit could rest approximately in position, while working on getting the UJ onto the gearbox output shaft is I'd say essential, but then it wasn't actually as bad as I expected. The rest is a piece of cake anyway, so overall it's not a particularly hard job - if you follow the manual :wink:

 

Well, it all helps to pass the time while it rains outside :sad:

So, although I've supposedly had the new shaft fitted by a local dealer, I can't find any punch marks on the subframe, or below the first digit of the frame number, so I'm curious as to what has actually been done.

 

Also, ever since the work was carried out, my rear brake calliper carrier has been pretty much touching the brake rotor and  although the bike runs great, I have no confidence in the rear brake, as the odd time I've used it, it's ended up binding due to heat and expansion.  (See photo of just how close the clearance is on my rear hub - it's as though the disc carrier is seated too far into the FD).

 

So, I'm replacing the final drive with a different one, where the calliper carrier is in the correct position.  Which brings me to the nub of my post:

 

When removing the final drive/shaft, how the heck do you remove the shaft from the FD pinion gear??  I've followed the manual, turn slowly while gently pulling on the CV joint, but it's not budging.  How much force does one need to put in to separate the two??

IMG_7574.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Only just seen this. It's a while since I did this work, but checking the parts list again shows that as I recall, there is a spring circlip on the end of the shaft as it pushes into the FDU. So to pull the shaft out requires pulling hard enough to overcome the circlip trying to stay seated in its groove. I don't now remember how hard it was, but I'm thinking it will be a fair old tug. That's why trying to push the FDU back onto the installed shaft is basically impossible as the shaft telescopes shorter rather than the circlip allowing the shaft to slide into the FDU. So you need to fit the shaft to the FDU, then install that assembly into the S/A. To have 3 hands would help with that.

 

Regarding the rear brake binding, I do recall the carrier being very close to the rotor, but as long as it's not actually touching, that's ok. I cannot imagine how it could be assembled with the carrier in the wrong place. Also if the binding occurs after braking, that would suggest it's a problem with the caliper.

 

Mind you, if yours is DCT, there's 2 calipers and I've never worked on a DCT.

 

You may of course have sorted it by now, in which case, what was found to be the trouble?

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  • 1 year later...

I did mine in 2019 shortly after I got the bike. Passed on few dealers before settling on one in Palm Beach to do the job. Some tried to hold to my bike before part arrived, that took about a month. Quite pleased with new shaft. Old one was clunky at low walking speed, with bike at 20k miles I am assuming that was due to loose tolerances not actual wear

 

Here is an old pup

 

 

20210217-151231.jpg

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Jumping onto this old thread but just picked up a Honda VFR1200F and called Honda Powersports to make sure recall repair was done and for me it was done in 2018. There were NO markings made on the bike to indicate that the repair had been done. Thankfully Honda kept good track of their recall repairs. 

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1 hour ago, JackX said:

Jumping onto this old thread but just picked up a Honda VFR1200F and called Honda Powersports to make sure recall repair was done and for me it was done in 2018. There were NO markings made on the bike to indicate that the repair had been done. Thankfully Honda kept good track of their recall repairs. 

 

Glad it was sorted though. :beer:

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