DANGER! Warning. Potentially dangerous situation (Buddy)

[rickko]

I have never seen this addressed in this forum in the past year so I may be the 1st to experience it but, watch out! It might happen to your Buddy as well.

Today I started my Buddy then propped it up on the center stand. The engine was cold so it went into the normal auto-choke high idle. What I noticed at that point was a terrible vibration that I'd never heard before coming from the rear. I grabbed onto different things to see if I could muffle it and discover what was causing it. I grabbed the exhaust, its shield, the shock, the air cleaner cover. Nothing. Then I grabbed the rear wheel and the sound immediately stopped.

I shut the engine off and grabbed the rear tire. I pushed/pulled on it side-to-side and found it had side play.

I found a 24mm spanner, placed it over the axle nut and noticed it was really easy to tighten! And, the yellow paint dab (see pic below) on the nut wasn't lined up with the dab on the axle. I've never had the wheel off so it seemed obvious that it had loosened on its own.

I restarted the scooter. The vibration was gone.

So my warning is for you rotate your rear tire so you can see the yellow dab of paint. Notice if the part on the nut lines up with the part on the axle. If not, grab the rear of your tire and wiggle it from side to side to see if you see or feel a slight wobble. If it does, get that nut tight before you do any further riding.

Hopefully this is not going to become a common occurrence. My scooter has 1900+ Buddy miles on it.

What surprises me is, the axle doesn't have a means to put a cotter pin there to secure that nut. I'd hate to have it spin off or become extremely loose while riding down the road!

..rickko..

[Cheshire]

EEK. Yeah, that would suck. Glad you caught that. I'll add that to my list of "nuts and bolts to check at random intervals". Thanks for the PSA. (public SAFETY announcement?)

[BuddyRaton]

Good Tip...thanks!

[hcstrider]

Thanks for the tip.

[DennisD]

Went to the garage and checked mine. Thanks!

[rajron]

Double checked mine - lucky - all OK

[Lostmycage]

It's a good idea to take a quick peak at all the witness marks (the paint on bolts that indicated it's tightened position) at fairly regular intervals. This is the first I've heard of the rear wheel being loose though. Good catch and good warning!

[mattgordon]

I have never seen this addressed in this forum in the past year so I may be the 1st to experience it but, watch out! It might happen to your Buddy as well.

Today I started my Buddy then propped it up on the center stand. The engine was cold so it went into the normal auto-choke high idle. What I noticed at that point was a terrible vibration that I'd never heard before coming from the rear. I grabbed onto different things to see if I could muffle it and discover what was causing it. I grabbed the exhaust, its shield, the shock, the air cleaner cover. Nothing. Then I grabbed the rear wheel and the sound immediately stopped.

I shut the engine off and grabbed the rear tire. I pushed/pulled on it side-to-side and found it had side play.

I found a 24mm spanner, placed it over the axle nut and noticed it was really easy to tighten! And, the yellow paint dab (see pic below) on the nut wasn't lined up with the dab on the axle. I've never had the wheel off so it seemed obvious that it had loosened on its own.

I restarted the scooter. The vibration was gone.

So my warning is for you rotate your rear tire so you can see the yellow dab of paint. Notice if the part on the nut lines up with the part on the axle. If not, grab the rear of your tire and wiggle it from side to side to see if you see or feel a slight wobble. If it does, get that nut tight before you do any further riding.

Hopefully this is not going to become a common occurrence. My scooter has 1900+ Buddy miles on it.

What surprises me is, the axle doesn't have a means to put a cotter pin there to secure that nut. I'd hate to have it spin off or become extremely loose while riding down the road!

..rickko..

Good find on a potentially dangerous situation. It's wise to routinely check all major fasteners on all scooters occasionally...perhaps during an oil change, or at day's end with a cold one.

Importantly, does anyone know the correct torque requirement for that axle nut? I believe if torqued correctly a worry of it becoming loosened are unfounded....just like the wheel nuts on your car.

I doubt that nut worked itself loose especially if properly torqued...something else came into play. My .02.

[Prairiedale]

Vehicles have become so reliable and are nearly maintenance free so very few people do pre-ride inspections anymore. But since I started riding when this wasn't the case, performing an inspection before hopping in the saddle was part of the biker's ritual. While I don't believe today it is necessary to do a thorough inspection before each ride, I do one prior to a trip of any length or if I haven't taken a long ride in a while, at the beginning of the month. It takes a few minutes, but in nearly 40 years of riding, I have yet to be stranded. When I was a young pup I learned the acronym T-CLOCS.

T - Tires and Wheels
C - Controls
L - Lights and Electrics
O - Oil & Fluids
C - Chassis and Chain
S - Stands (ie Side/Center)

Part of the T is to put the bike on the center stand and check the wheel bearings for play and inspect the tightness of the wheel nuts.

[Skootz Kabootz]

...
T - Tires and Wheels
C - Controls
L - Lights and Electrics
O - Oil & Fluids
C - Chassis and Chain
S - Stands (ie Side/Center)

Part of the T is to put the bike on the center stand and check the wheel bearings for play and inspect the tightness of the wheel nuts.

Good reminder. They teach this day 1 of the MSF course. I definitely could stand to improve my pre-ride routine.

[lotusmark]

From the pic, it looks like a Nyloc?

[ScootStevie]

Glad you caught it

[rickko]

From the pic, it looks like a Nyloc?

Yeah it does doesn't it. Well that could be its saving grace vice the cotter pin.

Bet it would be costly and such a nuisance to check it to late only to find your wheel wobbling enough to damage the bearings.

..rickko..

[mrjoeygee1]

Thanks for the post, will add that to monthly maintenance. I DO have a intermittnet wobble...seems to "show up" when I hit a flurn in the road. I replaced front pads, thinking it was grabbing. Check tire for imperfections, check air pressure (fine), no real "side to side" motion when I try to move it, rim looks ok, bolt's tight. Any ideas where I might look next?

[jrsjr]

Be Advised: This is an 8 year old necropost. It's never a bad idea to be safe, but we didn't hear many cases of this that I know of, so please don't panic.

[lovemysan]

I watched the axle nut fall off a bike at rally in texas a few years back. I followed the nut till it stopped and gave it back to him. The tire stayed on because it bumped into the exhaust.

[wheelbender6]

24mm? Sacre Bleu!

[EricV]

Thanks for the tip. Made me go check mine! Checked the front too, but it's easy to see.