Ameliorated Ural

Four wheels + Wisconsin = three? The ameliorated Ural returns. Monday, both my wife and I took the afternoon off work, and she generously drove me (Thanks!) the 100 miles to Scrambler Cycle (SC) to get my repaired 2009 Ural Patrol. I spent the entire drive studying for my RCPC.

Back in March, my Ural’s final drive (FD) failed with a large hole in the case: Ural Final Drive Fail. I had it trailered to service to be repaired under the warranty.

Initially, Ural didn’t have any final drives in stock, and it was on back order waiting for the unit to come from the factory in Russia. After waiting a number of weeks, Kevin had them repair my FD unit instead.

The lead mechanic at Ural completed the repair himself and built it to the 2011 FD spec which fixes the condition that caused the failure in the first place. There is a service bulletin about the failure on models 2007-2010, but no recall. Sad.

Apparently, some bolts, even with retainers, managed to back themselves loose and fall off.

This causes massive damage inside the FD unit destroying everything including the bearings and housing.

Here is a photo of another stricken Ural (2007 Patrol) at Kevin’s shop while I was picking up mine. The photos above are its failed FD.

He was replacing the rear wheel and noticed a small hole in the FD case. Mine probably started like that and quickly ripped apart. (see above pics)

This Ural (2004 Tourist) was also at Scrambler Cycle. Kevin replaced the alternator with the upgraded model (same I have) and cleaned the carbs. It’d been sitting for the last few years. The rig only has 2400km since 2004! Original owner too. I wish mine was so clean.

Ural has some good language in their warranty:

“In cases when warranty repair takes longer than 14 days, the warranty time period (see Warranty Time Period) is extended for the time period of repair, during which the motorcycle could not been ridden due to failures.”

In my case, it was an additional six weeks added to the warranty. A nice touch that sort of makes up for their utter incompetence with inventory tracking and parts shipping.

IMZ Ural had no idea who they had sold FDs to in the USA or where they might be, and they couldn’t give a straight answer if the FDs were on the boat from Russia or not. No date on when they might arrive either. This parts “issue” is my biggest gripe with owning a Ural.

I also bought some consumables (oil filters, spark plugs) while I was at SC in addition to adding an extra year of warranty. I am covered now until January 2013. I am still waiting for a new rear brake switch (failed again) and the left mirror that died (again!). I should get those when I see Kevin again at the SKUNK rally in two weeks.

It was a bit strange to be on three wheels again, but very familiar. It’s good to have the beast back. Next up will be to address the minor rust that formed from this past winter, change the tires and the oil, and remove the fairing.