Sheared Suspension Linkage Rod

Denver Rick · Oct 2, 2012

Nice driving. Just wanted to add, that since you had this replaced, my guess is that it is workmanship. Just too much of a coincidence. Somebody works on a part, then a unique catastophic failure of that same part? You never know, but common sense tells me it is related to the install. Still scary as .....

Though you could leave it and paint it purple, get some little fuzzy balls haning from it and maybe some glittery flames, neon lights on the bottom, and modify the horn to play La Cucaracha.

Theefiveoh · Oct 2, 2012

Denver Rick said:
Nice driving. Just wanted to add, that since you had this replaced, my guess is that it is workmanship. Just too much of a coincidence. Somebody works on a part, then a unique catastophic failure of that same part? You never know, but common sense tells me it is related to the install. Still scary as .....

Though you could leave it and paint it purple, get some little fuzzy balls haning from it and maybe some glittery flames, neon lights on the bottom, and modify the horn to play La Cucaracha.

I agree man. Too coincidental. I couldn't stop laughing at your recommendation! La Cucaracha! Hahaha!

TransNone13 · Oct 2, 2012

Wow, I'm not going to lie. When I adjusted mine from F to P then back to F, the link felt super cheap. Should be billet or forged, not cast... I'd buy a fixed length one in a heart beat.

Sleekstyle · Oct 2, 2012

Theefiveoh said:
I'm assuming you havent read any of the other 9 threads about switching it from F to P. "F" for Flat, is supposed to be designated for track use, since it provides a more linear compression rate. However, F can provide quite the stiff ride. "P" for progressive, is supposed to be designated for street use and if you have a passenger. The compression rate "progressively" gets harder as the shock compresses further. The "P" setting is a little bit smoother for street use and per the manual is for riding with a passenger. I prefer P for everyday riding and canyon riding.

Just did bro, one thread had excellent in depth info on it sorry for the noob question

AntiHero · Oct 2, 2012

Bravo for keeping it upright in a turn. I think I'll wait for a billet part to come out before I switch to P!

efna · Oct 2, 2012

How unfortunate. Glad you are ok.

In looking at this, it would appear that the exhaust design (which many have complained about) may have actually saved your life. It seems to have prevented the complete collapse of the rear end into the tail section which would have locked the rear tire and certainly prevented the bottom of the bike from hitting the ground (during a turn no less).

A high quality spherical rod link would probably be a good upgrade from stock. Also, a non-adjustable replacement component, meant for P or for F position would eliminate the apparent weak point in this design.

Scarey stuff here guys!

DRSapp · Oct 2, 2012

Better than Speis!

This is the worst failure I've seen yet! Couldn't imagine it happening prior to seeing this.

At least you have skills - Not even Spies was able to keep it rubber side down when his suspension failed at Laguna!

jyli19 · Oct 2, 2012

DRSapp said:
This is the worst failure I've seen yet! Couldn't imagine it happening prior to seeing this.

At least you have skills - Not even Spies was able to keep it rubber side down when his suspension failed at Laguna!

haha, and people say the suspension design the flawed, haha

Theefiveoh · Oct 2, 2012

So here's the latest. My bike was towed back to my original dealer who has done all of the work on my bike. Since they hadn't taken it apart, they were hesitant to say what may have caused the incident. I pointed out the missing washers and showed them in comparison to another bike on the show room floor. I explained how the lack of these washers could cause unnecessary movement, vibrations and stress on the rod and was likely very influential in the rod shearing off at the weakest point.

The young fella at first tried to tell me the washers may have fallen off somehow. I explained how that is near impossible. He also tried to say another dealer may have taken them off even though no other dealer has touched my bike. So you can see I started to get the run around and them pointing fingers everywhere else but in.

As I increasingly became more frustrated and angry because of this, he began to apologize and said they will fix everything on the bike. I spoke with the owner who also was very apologetic and ensured the bike would be completely repaired. He said they will do a full "investigation" into the matter and submit the report to Ducati for review. We both wondered if it was a case of a weak/faulty part in conjunction with a mechanics big mistake of leaving out those washers. We spoke of recall options for the rod in case this is an issue. I guess we will all see as time progresses with this.

In the meantime make sure you check your linkage rods frequently. Some members have thrown out the idea of keeping the suspension set to "F" as the smallest and weakest points of the rod are reinforced my the other half of the rod that is threaded over those portions. It seems like the idea of 2 solid one piece suspension linkage rods will be the way to go to ensure this doesn't happen again. One rod P length and one F length.

Theefiveoh · Oct 2, 2012

efna said:
How unfortunate. Glad you are ok.

In looking at this, it would appear that the exhaust design (which many have complained about) may have actually saved your life. It seems to have prevented the complete collapse of the rear end into the tail section which would have locked the rear tire and certainly prevented the bottom of the bike from hitting the ground (during a turn no less)...

Actually the part that prevented the full collapse of the suspension was the part that the linkage rod bolts on to near the rear shock. You can see it here in this picture. This was the only point that was preventing the swingarm from collapsing into the rear header. You can see the scuff marks and gouge on the swingarm where they collided and rested.

littlejohn · Oct 2, 2012

Thanks for keeping us updated.

I was initially thinking that the rod needs to be engineered a little better.. But if the failure was due to improper installation, then no amount of engineering could account for that.
ie. If rod was made stronger, then something else would have broken.

Sounds very similar to the BMWS1kRR issue. Incorrect torquing of the bolts caused engines to go BOOM!!!

Theefiveoh said:
So here's the latest. My bike was towed back to my original dealer who has done all of the work on my bike. Since they hadn't taken it apart, they were hesitant to say what may have caused the incident. I pointed out the missing washers and showed them in comparison to another bike on the show room floor. I explained how the lack of these washers could cause unnecessary movement, vibrations and stress on the rod and was likely very influential in the rod shearing off at the weakest point.

The young fella at first tried to tell me the washers may have fallen off somehow. I explained how that is near impossible. He also tried to say another dealer may have taken them off even though no other dealer has touched my bike. So you can see I started to get the run around and them pointing fingers everywhere else but in.

As I increasingly became more frustrated and angry because of this, he began to apologize and said they will fix everything on the bike. I spoke with the owner who also was very apologetic and ensured the bike would be completely repaired. He said they will do a full "investigation" into the matter and submit the report to Ducati for review. We both wondered if it was a case of a weak/faulty part in conjunction with a mechanics big mistake of leaving out those washers. We spoke of recall options for the rod in case this is an issue. I guess we will all see as time progresses with this.

In the meantime make sure you check your linkage rods frequently. Some members have thrown out the idea of keeping the suspension set to "F" as the smallest and weakest points of the rod are reinforced my the other half of the rod that is threaded over those portions. It seems like the idea of 2 solid one piece suspension linkage rods will be the way to go to ensure this doesn't happen again. One rod P length and one F length.

littlejohn · Oct 2, 2012

Theefiveoh said:
Actually the part that prevented the full collapse of the suspension was the part that the linkage rod bolts on to near the rear shock. You can see it here in this picture. This was the only point that was preventing the swingarm from collapsing into the rear header. You can see the scuff marks and gouge on the swingarm where they collided and rested.

Maybe it was an intentional design element. Ducati engineering some redundancy into the bike. The idea being that if the suspension did collapse for whatever reason... ummm.. errr... the linkage push rod snapping.... then the link would stop hard against the swing arm and allow the rider to come to a safe stop

Theefiveoh · Oct 2, 2012

littlejohn said:
Maybe it was an intentional design element. Ducati engineering some redundancy into the bike. The idea being that if the suspension did collapse for whatever reason... ummm.. errr... the linkage push rod snapping.... then the link would stop hard against the swing arm and allow the rider to come to a safe stop

Ducati - "Ummm yeah, uhh we adesigned it to a do that, yeah, that wasa our idea, man were soma smart afellas"!

ScrapperX · Oct 2, 2012

I'm wondering if the linkage had gas porosity. Gas porosity is a major problem for casting. I've seen this problem before in cast products from some of the vendors we use at work. The only was to find out is by X-ray and look for air bubbles. Hopefully Ducati performs first article inspection which includes xray on each lot. Im pretty sure they don't X-ray 100 percent all all parts casted.

jyli19 · Oct 2, 2012

the dog linkage on my 04 R6 was billet aluminum, shame on Ducati.

mike · Oct 3, 2012

Theefiveoh said:
Actually the part that prevented the full collapse of the suspension was the part that the linkage rod bolts on to near the rear shock. You can see it here in this picture. This was the only point that was preventing the swingarm from collapsing into the rear header. You can see the scuff marks and gouge on the swingarm where they collided and rested.

After looking at your picture and comparing it to the replacement parts manual and various pictures on the internet I am pretty shure that they attached the reaction rod (part 14) in a wrong way after switching it from F to P.
Not only are the waschers missing but the short part of the rod with the thread had to be bolted on to the swingarm and the long part of the reaction rod has to be attached to the rear shock.

On all the pictures I found, it is exactly that way so maybe you have a little more then just washers to talk about with your dealer...

Thank you very much for sharing this info with us and I am very glad that nothing happened to you!!!

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wp-...k/ducati-1199-panigale-supersport-trim-23.jpg

Ducati 1199 Panigale naked - News - ccGALLERY

RSR racer · Oct 3, 2012

Take another look at the actual bikes...all Pani's have it in this orientation. The diagram is reversed and if the arm was assembled as in the diagram; then the set scew would not be accessible

mike said:
After looking at your picture and comparing it to the replacement parts manual and various pictures on the internet I am pretty shure that they attached the reaction rod (part 14) in a wrong way after switching it from F to P.
Not only are the waschers missing but the short part of the rod with the thread had to be bolted on to the swingarm and the long part of the reaction rod has to be attached to the rear shock.

On all the pictures I found, it is exactly that way so maybe you have a little more then just washers to talk about with your dealer...

Thank you very much for sharing this info with us and I am very glad that nothing happened to you!!!

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wp-...k/ducati-1199-panigale-supersport-trim-23.jpg

Ducati 1199 Panigale*naked - News - ccGALLERY

Steve B · Oct 3, 2012

RSR racer said:
Take another look at the actual bikes...all Pani's have it in this orientation. The diagram is reversed and if the arm was assembled as in the diagram; then the set scew would not be accessible

Funny; all the official pics show the female end of the rod forward, while my bike is the same as theefiveoh's, as are most from the sound of it - the other way 'round. Even the pics of the new '13 models show it backwards from how mine came, although they do show it in P. Gotta love it.

Really shouldn't matter though, as the pinch bolt is accessible either way and barring potential issues with bad castings, or as in the case of theefiveoh a dealership brain fart, those rods shouldn't be snapping as there isn't a significant bending force on them unless something's hosed at the pivot causing them to bind.

mike · Oct 3, 2012

The bolt is accessible either way. But RSR racer is right. I just looked at the first pictures of my Ducati dealer here in Germany (on his facebook page) and on his first delivered bike the rod was also mounted the "wrong" way (the bike was still on the cradle). So this is probably not the reason...
So it has to be either the missing washers or a faulty part. (the third option would be a general problem with this part but I hope that is not the case...)

Theefiveoh · Oct 3, 2012

Thanks for all the info gents. I have been looking at various pictures of the 1199 online and also noticed some of the rods are male end forward and some female end forward. Im not sure how much this would affect the stress on the rod.

It seems to me since those washers were missing, they allowed for unnecessary rotational movement of the rod, also not allowing for smooth, unrestricted movement of the rod, which could create stress on the rod as the swing arm moves. As the swing arm moves, the female end of the rod at the front of the bike, is restricted, causing a bending/flexing motion and stress on the rod.

Since I was in a fast/hard left turn, this put a constant hard force on the rod as the swing arm and rear suspension compressed and stayed compressed throughout the entire turn. Small bumps in the turn likely added additional stress to the rod. It makes sense that if a constant hard stress was put on the rod, it would eventually snap at the weakest point as mine did.

Sheared Suspension Linkage Rod

Help Support Ducati Forum:

Denver Rick

Theefiveoh

TransNone13

Sleekstyle

AntiHero

efna

DRSapp

jyli19

Theefiveoh

Theefiveoh

Attachments

littlejohn

littlejohn

Theefiveoh

ScrapperX

jyli19

mike

Attachments

RSR racer

Steve B

mike

Theefiveoh

Similar threads

Register CTA

Recent Discussions