Water pump

[NvNick]

Has anyone actually trashed the water pump cover or is everyone looking to fix something that isn't broken with a protective device ? 

[Louis]

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Same reasoning for wearing a crash helmet. R&G case covers, give a comforting amount of  prevention. Some bash plates and crash bars give a certain a protection. Or you can just take your chances. If you break it, highly unlikely that you will break it  just  near home. 

[Gary Dirt]

Anybody using the Touratech-USA water pump guard? And your thoughts ?...

I saw a video of a R&G install and wasn’t impressed with fit .. 

[Totti]

Still waiting for the picture of the first broken water pump.

[MagnusR]

The Touratech guard is light, strong and only £27.

Seems like a no brainer to me. There's one in my pile of "bits to bolt to the Tenere when I get it" in the garage!!

[AngryNeutron]

I've got one installed.  Fit and finish are good.  Relatively inexpensive and seems like it'll provide the added protection I was after.

[LoganC135]

I just installed one of the Touratech units & as AngryNeutron stated the fit & finish are good. Install takes minutes & for the price I figured it was worth a shot to try out. 

[Matth]

Only thing is with the protection cover if you trash it you could end up ripping the mounting bolts out of the casing or even braking the casing for the sake of saving a 65 pound water pump cover

[Louis]

4 hours ago, Matth said:

Only thing is with the protection cover if you trash it you could end up ripping the mounting bolts out of the casing or even braking the casing for the sake of saving a 65 pound water pump cover

Yes, it may get ripped off given the right circumstances! Case covers like  R&G seem a safer option, or crash bars and maybe some taller bash plates.  It might prevent a walk out from a remote location, I don't see any dealers out there! And they will be happy to order one in, with covid affected delivery times. Maybe just buy a  spare and carry it with you if you're against protection. 

[Canadian-t7]

If your not riding in rocks or other jagged things you may not need them. If you mange to rip them off and damage the cases, you probably wrote the bike off anyway.  95% of case damage off road will come from tip overs at slow speeds. I'd rather have that piece of mind then be stuck in the middle of no where. I don't have them on my fz07, but I don't ride it in the woods. I bought the triple clamp case guards for my T7. 

[Uncle M]

On 1/11/2021 at 6:40 PM, Gary Dirt said:

Anybody using the Touratech-USA water pump guard? And your thoughts ?...

I saw a video of a R&G install and wasn’t impressed with fit .. 

I have R&G and fit was not a problem at all.

[svebes]

On 2/12/2021 at 2:58 AM, Uncle M said:

I have R&G and fit was not a problem at all.

@Uncle M, had also no problems except a little more timeconsumption as initialy planed. But that was a problem of poor documentation of which screw belongs where, if I remember right.. It helps to think about in advance. For the price, better documentation should be produced.

[Zero600]

 

On 12/29/2020 at 6:18 PM, NvNick said:

Has anyone actually trashed the water pump cover or is everyone looking to fix something that isn't broken with a protective device ? 

Well, maybe.

 

While performing my 600 mile oil change today, I noticed bright green, powdery gunk around my water pump. 

 

I had a slow speed tip-over, to the right, onto what I thought was some pretty soft ground on my very first ride. (I know....classic!)  There were some scratches on the the water pump cover and pipes, but I didn't think much of it until today.

 

Headed to the dealer tomorrow to get a 2nd opinion but I'm pretty sure I'm leaking coolant, and I have to wonder if my little mishap was responsible.  Or maybe just bad luck?

[witgen]

I've dropped mine probably 30+ times with no issues on water pump cover. In full disclosure, I do have Heeds full crash bars so I have more protection than bikes with crash bars only on upper part of the bike.

 

When I was deciding if I need some kind of protection there, I made quite a few checks how I could actually damage the cover. End result was that catastrophic failure ( = cracking the cover beyond repair with epoxy putty that I always have with me on long journeys) was highly unlikely. If I was to protect my bike all highly unlikely scenarios.... well I'd have to drive a tank instead of T7. 

 

Another thing that I always worry when protecting the bike is that, if the actual protection gets hit hard enough, which one will fail protector or where the protector is attached to. In the case of water pump cover, I'm attaching stuff using (if I remember correctly) three short M6 bolts mounted to aluminium threads. So I wonder If i get blow that would absolutely obliterate my water pump cover what would equally strong blow do when all the force is transferred to crank case cover threads and those tiny m6 bolts. Catastrophic failure I'd reckon. Do I want to be stranded with cracked water pump cover or crank case cover?

 

Yes I know ie. touratchs solution is made out of quite thin aluminium so it will act more like a cushion (at least it looks like that on a picture) so it probably will absorb a lot of energy on deformation. So it's not as simple as I describe when we go to actual mechanics of things. 

 

But in the end I decided I would be buying mostly peace of mind rather than actual protection. It's not an expensive part but still I rather put that money to something else that has more obvious function. In the end, it's more about the driver. If the fact that it's just a plastic cover worries you, you should definitely get a cover. We are driving our bikes for fun, not to stress out what might break. For me it was not to get the cover and I've never thought of it until now. If the first thing you check after a drop is the water pump cover, get a protector. I don't. I only check if the muffler is bent and if it requires some TLC from my riding boot so it won't scuff the fork

 

 

[S.Ga.Rider]

I put one on mine. Not because I needed it but because im running out of things to buy for it. lol

[Cruizin]

On 12/29/2020 at 7:18 PM, NvNick said:

Has anyone actually trashed the water pump cover or is everyone looking to fix something that isn't broken with a protective device ? 

Moving this to the tech questions board.

[Zero600]

On 12/29/2020 at 6:18 PM, NvNick said:

Has anyone actually trashed the water pump cover or is everyone looking to fix something that isn't broken with a protective device ? 

 

On 5/5/2022 at 8:00 PM, Zero600 said:

 

Well, maybe.

 

While performing my 600 mile oil change today, I noticed bright green, powdery gunk around my water pump. 

 

I had a slow speed tip-over, to the right, onto what I thought was some pretty soft ground on my very first ride. (I know....classic!)  There were some scratches on the the water pump cover and pipes, but I didn't think much of it until today.

 

Headed to the dealer tomorrow to get a 2nd opinion but I'm pretty sure I'm leaking coolant, and I have to wonder if my little mishap was responsible.  Or maybe just bad luck?

I'm happy to report that, apparently, I did NOT damage my water pump.  The dealer checked everything, pressurized the system, ran the bike, no leaks.  They suggested (a little sheepishly) that perhaps the residue was some coolant that spilled when they were setting up the bike.  I'm keeping an eye on it, but at this point I have to answer "NO" to the OP's question.