Hi All

Had a concerning post from a 2012 KTM 990 SMT owner on the ktmsmt.com site. His oil pump gear (600 38 001 024) snapped in half during a spirited ride. He contacted KTM, but is getting brick walls going up http://www.ktmsmt.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11930

Maybe a one-off, I can't recall any oil pump issues on the 990 here and there is a fair amount of "spirited" riding happening.

Does anyone know what has happened to the SMT forum ? (www.ktmsmt.com). It's been gone for a week.

Anyway, I replaced my oil pump gear on the weekend. My original gear has no damage.

As an Engineer, an obvious design flaw in the left of the two gears you show isn't apparent. They've remodelled it without all the lightening holes, through which a crack would probably propagate, though there aren't any obvious stress-raisers in it. Maybe it was a heat-treatment issue and they had a few that escaped the safety net....

Thanks Scotty. I'll take your word for it . I have no mechanical qual.

In Australia, we don't have any opportunities to ride hard due to the low speed limits. So, our bikes have an easier life than in other countries whose bikes regularly see 180+km/h. My example is not a good one and I wasn't expecting to see any malfunction.