ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: geijuutsuka on June 29, 2020, 10:33:51 PM
-
New 2019 demo SR (200~miles) Rumble strip style vibration exactly at 63mph and up (from the rear/below the seat) Suspected rear wheel balance since the tire was swapped (previous dealer shipped it with weird cracks in it) and didnt have weights on it. Took it to the dealership and had them balance it to perfect, they added weights, machine said it was dead on, vibration persists. They think it might be a motor balance issue and are contacting zero now. Sound familiar to anyone? For reference the vibration increases the more throttle you roll on (any time after 63mph). If you roll off, it mostly goes away......I will add that my wife also has a new 2018 demo SR that does not vibrate at all. No other zero ive ever ridden (s, srf) have either.
-
It's a bit of a hassle but if you could remove the belt and spin the motor up on its own that would help determine whether it's the motor or not.
-
There are a couple of stub articles on the unofficial manual for vibrations, but this isn't common from what I've heard: https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Category:Vibration (https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Category:Vibration)
The line of thinking for diagnosis sounds reasonable. I assume they tested the bike without the belt engaged, or equivalent, to isolate it, and also tried to perform motor commissioning or at least measure alignment from the controller diagnostics (which is the same thing more or less).
Most Zeros are pretty damn smooth, thankfully.
-
Not sure if they tried to spin up the motor without the belt yet. Zero is talking with them now. The dealer doesnt seem to want to tear it down any farther without zero suggesting it first. What would they be looking for turning it up with no belt on a stand? I assume its fairly safe to do this, and they’d be hoping to feel it vibrate without the belt)?
-
Spinning up the motor without a load should be pretty risk-free. An owner can do this at home: put the bike on a lift with the rear wheel suspended, loosen the rear axle bolts and slide the belt off / to the side, and then twist the throttle with the kickstand up, etc. The only concern is making sure you can put it back together for further work or servicing.
The motor is an all-or-nothing replacement from the Zero servicing perspective, so if it's a matter of (bearings or axle or rotor or coils or encoder or) whatnot, the only question is whether something in the motor is at fault or it can be fixed with alignment.
-
UPDATE: It's now been a week, visited the dealer today, and they had just finished running through all the checks Zero requested. Zero decided a full motor replacement is in order. I was told the motor is in the mail now and will arrive before the end of the week. No shade to the dealer mechanics, but should I be concerned about this motor install? What should I be looking out for if I want to double check the work for safety? Has anyone else had to have a motor swap done?
-
UPDATE: It's now been a week, visited the dealer today, and they had just finished running through all the checks Zero requested. Zero decided a full motor replacement is in order. I was told the motor is in the mail now and will arrive before the end of the week. No shade to the dealer mechanics, but should I be concerned about this motor install? What should I be looking out for if I want to double check the work for safety? Has anyone else had to have a motor swap done?
I would check for things like the belt being aligned correctly and the correct tension and stuff like that. The same stuff you would check if buying a used (or even new) bike, just as if you didn't know the motor has been swapped. And then take it easy on your first couple of rides.
-Don- Auburn, CA
-
Motor replacement is a relatively straightforward procedure for a dealer. The motor has to be physically mounted in very good mechanical alignment, and the power cables (and sensor wires) have to be run up to the controller and lugs attached properly, and then the rear belt alignment is performed and the motor is commissioned with the controller.
The dealer documentation for this should be sufficient from what I've gathered, though I've not walked through it.
-
UPDATE: To my absolute surprise, the motor showed up wednesday and the SR was ready to be picked up Thursday. Nothing but good things to say about our dealer at this point. Rode the bike back in Eco and then took it out for it (the motor)'s maiden voyage. Smooth as silk. So glad to have it back!