Possible design flaw 06' XR650L left side case cover.

[XR650L_MN]

My 06' XR650L tipped over in the garage the other day. I picked the bike up and oil was leaking from the left cover. The shifter put a crease in the cover that was deep enough to form a crack. Luckily my bike was in the garage. I sure would have hated to have been out in the wilderness. I have had many dirt bike, moto-cross style bikes over the years. They could with stand some pretty severe crashes. This was just a simple topple. Hopefully the JB weld will keep the oil where it belongs. Looks like Honda should have deepened the clearance on the cover or re-designed the shifter. I did a search on this & saw that I am not the only one that this has happened to. Kind of a scary dirt bike if you need to worry about severe problems like this while out on the trail.

Thanks,

Mike

2006 XR650L with Edelbrock performance carb, Oregon enduro headlight w/ front blinkers, Pro circuit type 496 exhaust, Maier supermoto front fender, Maier MX rear fender, mini stock rear blinkers, removed battery box, K&N pod air filter w/ precharger, Uni crankcase vent filter, Daytona digital tachometer, Powermadd roll up tool pouch, black seat cover w/ flaming skulls, Black Grim Reaper Tank stickers.

[rebelventurer]

Welcome to ThumperTalk! And you lost your cherry to the garage floor huh! Welcome to the only shortcoming on the L other than no rocket launchers. Hopefully it didnt bend the cover up, because if it did its toast, generally you can do the JB weld thing on the inside of the cover and fix it, be sure to rough it up with sand paper, and clean with solvent first though.

Everyone else you can toughen your left side cover to prevent this by doing the JB weld thing to strengthen the cover in the general area, on the inside.

I have been trying to figure out how to protect this cover, and the easiest way I have found is to put jb weld inside it!

[R1-xr650-400]

just a note: this isn't a fault unique to the 650L either...my friend has an '06 DRZ400 that we go riding with, he was practicing at the DMV to pass the test when he first got it, and dropped the bike from a stand still, and he was even supporting part of the weight while it was going down.

Shift lever broke RIGHT into the case. I patched it up for him just scuffing it up with course sandpaper, and cleaned it a bit, then boom, JB Qwik Weld to the rescue...haven't had any problems with it yet, and he's dropped it it tons of times since then.

My fix? I got some superglue epoxy, and put a little piece of heavy-duty rubber on the inside of the shift lever, as well as brake lever...just to be safe. He dropped it again, on the street, and it didn't even scratch the JB Qwik Weld

[TARFELE]

Cover it with JB Weld and ride it until the frame rusts through.

I did mine in Mexico and covered with the Moose 2 part putty and then sold it the next year the same way.

[frankstr]

Welcome to TT, XR650L_MN..Sorry about your ride.....

But happens....

[motomonte]

Yup,me and some others have gone there too.Theres some fixes like welding,JBweld and metal plates.Here's what I've done:

Seems to work fine,field tested...

[Dual_Dog]

If it drops, stuff's gonna break. JB Weld is the only short term or low-tech fix like has already been said.

Invest in a good skid plate and/or case savers. Possibly purchasing an ftermarket shift lever with a folding tip? Not much else you can do...

[COAL RUN]

motomonte, looks like a good fix. Is that a piece of stainless? what did you use to glue it on with. I had the shifter take a gouge out of the side case this past weekend, didnt break it, but this looks like it would add good protection:thumbsup:

[XR650L_MN]

If it drops, stuff's gonna break. JB Weld is the only short term or low-tech fix like has already been said.

Invest in a good skid plate and/or case savers. Possibly purchasing an ftermarket shift lever with a folding tip? Not much else you can do...

Thanks for the replys, I would expect things to break. But the side cover to the case should not be that vulnerable. If Honda would just recess the cover a little more would probably be a real improvement. I read a post where another XR650L tipped while washing it and identical results. The bike does have the stock folding shift lever, which will work great for anytime the bike is in motion. The problem is when the bike just falls over while parked the folding shift lever does nothing. I will try to build it up with a few more layers of JB. If this fails I will probably try taking my highway bars off of our Road King and attach them to the Honda:) I might also try a couple of the suggestions that have been offered. With that cover costing over $100.00 I want to make sure that it never happens again>

Thanks again,

Mike

[R1-xr650-400]

Like I said, it's not a Honda issue...there must be a reason they don't recess it a little more, because Suzuki, and Kawasakis both do the same thing. I've seen it in person on the DRZ400, and seen several patch jobs on Kawasakis.

Coal Run: looks to me like he used JB Weld to secure the plate. A lot of things will work though, JB Weld is one of the trusted oldies though. If you don't have some in your tool kit while riding rural areas, good luck to you

[Big Ron L]

my buddy broke his case too and yes it was parked on the street.how well does that moose stuff work?

[XR650L_MN]

Hey that is a really nice looking fix, thanks for the picture. I am going to do that to mine & also I think the epoxy and the rubber bumper idea will also be added. I am very content with my XR, just figured that with the R&D Honda has this might be an area to try and improve upon for future years.

Thanks again for the pictures & information. Mine is getting the mod tomorrow.

Mike

[XR650L_MN]

Thanks for the input on case cover rebelventurer. Does the JB weld stay intact inside the cover? I was at first thinking of also adding the JB to the inside cover but I was concerned as to if it started separating eventually if it would end up doing more damage. How long have you had the JB inside the cover? I am thinking of dremeling the crack out a little to give the JB a little more surface area to grip to & then doing the fixes listed below.

Thanks again,

Mike

[TARFELE]

my buddy broke his case too and yes it was parked on the street.how well does that moose stuff work?

If you are talking about the Moose Putty it works great. It is the same as JB Weld.

Someone mentioned getting a skid plate and case savers. That is part of the problem. No one makes Case Savers and a skid plate does not cover that part of the case.

I just cut a piece of aluminium and epoxied it on mine. At least now the shock of the shifter hitting the side will be more wide spread and may take pressure off of the one small spot.

[xr650l bum]

While you are there, take a one inch strip of the aluminium and wrap the bottom of the case as well. You can notch the metal with a dremel to get the case bolts out. If they are impeded at all. When I figure out how to post I will show my fix. Use JB weld, it has a higher temp rating than most!

[goblin127]

I did the rubber bumper thing and it finally got tested a week ago Sun. Every thing was fine.

[XR650L_MN]

Just wondering if anyone has ever done the JB weld fix and then applied several layers of fiberglass and resin over the JB fix. I went down & v'd out the crack this morning and roughed up the side cover area preparing it for the extra piece of metal. While I was doing this I got to thinking about the Glass fix. I have used glass & resin in the past for a few fixes and the resin becomes hard like metal. Just curious if anyone has tried this?

Thanks,

Mike

XR650L_MN

[R1-xr650-400]

I did the rubber bumper thing and it finally got tested a week ago Sun. Every thing was fine.

glad to hear it!

you are my first victim!

For some reason, my buddy wanted to do the metal plate thing (which is still a great idea), but involves more work, and the rubber/epoxy works great for me.

I've had mine on some pretty highspeed crashes so far, and it hasn't come off yet. And if it does, I got plenty more rubber where that came from

[Bodhisattva]

xr650l-mn....Are you in mn?? i sent you a pm.

[Captain Midnight]

Weld a flat washer on the inside of the shift lever.