Gearbox failure - intermediate shaft broken...

[tflatt]

I just received word from the dealer that the intermediate shaft, in the gearbox, broke in half. It is a 2016 with 35000 km on it, I was riding along at 75 km/hr when I heard a loud snap and the engine started to rev up. I had the cruse on at the time, I puled it over and shut it off, it would start but not move towed it to the dealer to check it out and after a week got the bad news. They said they had never seen one break like that but since it is out of warranty BRP will not accept any responsibility for the shaft breaking. I have worked on alot of gearboxes, in my life, and any time I saw a broken shaft it was usually caused by a flaw in the casting. I pointed this out but BRP said it is not there problem. Once it is fixed, I think I am going to sell it maybe I will by a Trike from another company, one that stands behind their product. I am totaly pissed at BRP!!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

.... Sorry to hear this ...... When BRP changes Parts supplier's it can have disastrous results ..... Like the Sprocket " fretting " that's now occurring. ..... this wasn't occurring prior to 2014 that I ever recall reading about here ...... Mike

[Mikey]

Sorry for your troubles!!! Some times I do not understand where BRP's head is, but in this case we know where it is!!!! Sorry

[pidjones]

Sorry for this, but would like to know of what company will stand behind a five year-old trike these days.

[JayBros]

Sorry for this, but would like to know of what company will stand behind a five year-old trike these days.

As much as we empathize with the OP and the cost he'll incur getting his Spyder repaired, you're right about who else in the industry would cover a five year old vehicle that is no longer under warranty. Does Harley have 5yr+ warranties on their trikes? How about trike conversion companies? We know the original manufacturers of triked two wheelers won't touch 'em. Unfortunately, when your vehicle is beyond its warranty, it doesn't matter how many wheels it has or who made it, unless the failure is related to s specifically issued recall it's out of the owner's pocket unless the owner has purchased a third party extended warranty.

[Stephen60]

If you forward to 11:15 here you can see the problem with the shaft breaking and brp is aware of this issue, it terrifies me every time I put mine in gear boom, come on BRP do the right thing and fix it! https://youtu.be/9arBo21wnJg

[Stephen60]

Gearbox 2 https://youtu.be/rGIjLwcPKEs forward to 1:14 minutes in, this should not be happening! https://youtu.be/rGIjLwcPKEs

[JayBros]

You have at least one potential remedy, file a complaint with the NTSB because it is a safety issue when you lose your transmission at highway speed. Of course, you do not know how many other Spyder owners have had the same problem and BRP will fight it too unless there are so many that they may be forced to issue a recall. Do a search and find out how long it took them to issue a recall for the 'firebomb" 2013 RTs.

[widowmaker2011]

As Sean (who is a brp master tech) said in his youtube video that someone attached above , it's a very simple fix and he made no indication that he'd ever seen anything like it. If you follow him on youtube you will know there is very very little he doesn't share or know about Spyders.
Regarding other manufacturers standing behind their product well out of warranty , having been around the industry longer than I will admit , I have seen almost everything , Goldwings breaking rear subframes, finally issue a recall after customer paid for thousands of them to be fixed , only to have the same issue crop back up... , BMW's munch 1 driveshaft carrier bearing after another and guess what ? If it was under warranty it was fixed and sometimes rarely , there would be some assistance if it was out a year or less.
Take a deep breath, this is a straightforward simple fix, get it done and if you don't like the Spyder , get rid of it, I understand your frustration of a breakdown, but insinuating Honda etc. will just fix a failure 5 years out is pure fantasy and holds no factual argument.
That being said the BRP extended warranty or the BMW after-care or Honda extra-care warranty WOULD take care of this. So whatever manufacturer you buy next , if this type of failure concerns you fomr a financial standpoint after the base warranty , invest in the peace of mind of an extended warranty. Ryde on.....

[Stephen60]

One thing about this thread on 1330 gearboxes is that people are now aware of the problems. It’s now a talking issue so we can Report on it here. I wonder if they will fix the gearbox main shaft for 2022? Looking at BRP Connect after a number of years, I doubt it. I know there’s fanboys and haters here, but a main shaft should not break!!

[Freddy]

......nor should a drive pulley fall off - or show red dust. The old reliability spyder has returned to bite another part of the trike's anatomy.

[MeudtPG]

I have to wonder how many of these intermediate shafts in the 1330 gearbox failures have actually occurred. I have a 2018 RTL with 14,541 miles when this may have occurred. Still waiting for official diagnosis from dealer.

Sitting After Break Down.jpg

After watching the two smokes vlog videos

https://youtu.be/9arBo21wnJg (forward to 11:15) &

https://youtu.be/rGIjLwcPKEs (forward to 1:14 minutes)

showing the damage when this happens & now wonder if this is what happened to me yesterday. How common does this happen?

I was driving 2-up all fine doing miles of smiles then a hard clunk & a few clicks just leaving a stop sign while Spyder acted like it popped into Nuetral. I had nothing but freewheeling and had to push it out of traffic thinking the front sprocket recall failed but that felt fine. Looking at the rear I noticed the belt was now riding outward on rear pulley.

Belt After Break Down.jpg

I called my dealer, and they arrived within a half hour with a trailer to take me and my passenger to their shop. Great response and concern from dealer. Now I wait for the official diagnosis when they pinpoint the actual damage. However, I am afraid that the shaft is broken, and major shop time is coming. I do have the extended warranty and now am glad I got it when I did. Will update what happened when it becomes official.

Anyone else have any reports of intermediate shaft breaking on the 1330 gearbox?

[TerryTheSpyderRyder]

As much as we empathize with the OP and the cost he'll incur getting his Spyder repaired, you're right about who else in the industry would cover a five year old vehicle that is no longer under warranty. Does Harley have 5yr+ warranties on their trikes? How about trike conversion companies? We know the original manufacturers of triked two wheelers won't touch 'em. Unfortunately, when your vehicle is beyond its warranty, it doesn't matter how many wheels it has or who made it, unless the failure is related to s specifically issued recall it's out of the owner's pocket unless the owner has purchased a third party extended warranty.

Are there companies that offer extended warranties on our beloved trikes, and are they any good? A lot of extended warranties, at least on cars, are barely worth the paper the agreement is printed on.

[pegasus1300]

BRP offers the BEST extended warranty which is the gold standard but must be bought before the original warranty expires. When I bought my 2012 RTL the factory had expired so there was nothing available from BRP. Another power sports dealer told me about Zurich. I bought one from them and was quite happy with it. It replaced the compressor for me. Copay was $50.00

[acdcking12]

.... Sorry to hear this ...... When BRP changes Parts supplier's it can have disastrous results ..... Like the Sprocket " fretting " that's now occurring. ..... this wasn't occurring prior to 2014 that I ever recall reading about here ...... Mike

Fretting? What does that mean? This is happening with sprockets used to repair bikes from the recall?

[BajaRon]

A very sad situation. We all know that this broken shaft should easily last the life of the vehicle. If BRP wanted to do the right thing, they would replace it for free. Yes, 5 years down the road but just over 20,000 miles. The engine and trans are still just about new at that distance.

But a warranty is an agreement between 2 parties. And BRP has no legal obligation to do anything, at this point. Corporations are what they are. They offer advantages and disadvantages. Though you've run into a disadvantage, you're not going to find any manufacturer that will cover this failure. Though there is no excuse for this shaft having broken. The only practical remedy is to do what you are doing. Have it fixed.

Remove the emotion from the equation and the smart thing to do, going forward, would be to keep the bike. The chances of having a repeat performance are virtually zero. And otherwise, I assume you are happy with your Spyder. You're not going to find anything comparable elsewhere. And a new machine offers no guarantees that something rare & unexpected will not happen again. After all. It's not really your Spyder that you're angry with. It's BRP. And they don't care. You can't punish them by switching rides. But you may punish yourself if you give up on this Spyder.

Sometimes, it's all in the perspective.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Fretting? What does that mean? This is happening with sprockets used to repair bikes from the recall?

" Fretting " my understanding of it ( from what I read here ) is an interaction between two surfaces ..... JMHO ... Mike

[XB12X]

A very sad situation. We all know that this broken shaft should easily last the life of the vehicle. If BRP wanted to do the right thing, they would replace it for free. Yes, 5 years down the road but just over 20,000 miles. The engine and trans are still just about new at that distance.

But a warranty is an agreement between 2 parties. And BRP has no legal obligation to do anything, at this point. Corporations are what they are. They offer advantages and disadvantages. Though you've run into a disadvantage, you're not going to find any manufacturer that will cover this failure. Though there is no excuse for this shaft having broken. The only practical remedy is to do what you are doing. Have it fixed.

Remove the emotion from the equation and the smart thing to do, going forward, would be to keep the bike. The chances of having a repeat performance are virtually zero. And otherwise, I assume you are happy with your Spyder. You're not going to find anything comparable elsewhere. And a new machine offers no guarantees that something rare & unexpected will not happen again. After all. It's not really your Spyder that you're angry with. It's BRP. And they don't care. You can't punish them by switching rides. But you may punish yourself if you give up on this Spyder.

Sometimes, it's all in the perspective.

I agree with all this. I had a similar problem with a BMW R1100GS, replaced the gearbox and did a further 40,000 miles [91,000 in total, sold it at 95,000 miles]. I'm glad I kept the bike so long.