frustrated with HEAD SHAKE

[feejer222]

another update
I agreed to pay for another front tire.... This is the forth... They gave to me at cost... They called on Friday and said the shake is gone...

I went in on Saturday and rode it, like hell it was gone, I noted the Speed and gear it was in and had the tech reride it...... Sure enoguh he finally rode it like I told him all along and experienced it..

Take off in first, switch to second and take up to fifty, let go of the bars and immediately goes into a head shake with about three inch sway on bars, at about 35 it gets worse enough to regrab the bars.

Same thing happens in third gear.

Well the explanation now is bad neck bearings, I have to wait for those to come in, and they now said that even after adding the bearings and torquing to specs, they could over torque them and make the head shake dissapear.. That sounds like masking the problem.... The service guy even said hey "what about a steering stabilizer"......

What the hell, I thought the dealer should be on my side, and trying to throw this back at Yamaha and get them to own up to fixing it.

OOOOOOH dear. Just read through this thread.

My opinion. Forget tyres, pressures, your weight. This has gone on far too long to be any of the above. There is something wrong with this bike.

I had a 6 month battle with a dealer over an new 06 with a missfire. It went back to Yamaha for 2 weeks. When it was sent back to the dealer supposedly in good order, it was no different. Eventually I got a full refund and bought an 05.

Don't expect Yamaha to be compliant. It's down to your dealer to sort it (in my experience). You have done and spent more than enough to try and sort this. Give them the bike back and threaten them with a lawyer. Sorry to be so gloomy about it, I had 6 months of what you are going through.

 

[Bounce]

I am not sure if this is the problem. I had found out that I have a rubber O-ring between my 2 steering stem nuts. This made it impossible to maintain the torque, and the steering had loosened up even after I had put in the ALL Balls tapered steering bearings. I removed it and haven't had it loosen since.
Well after reading this thread I looked at the parts fiche and it looks as though it should be a washer plate between the 2 nuts. Can someone verify this. Is it a solid washer plate, or a rubber O-ring?

I wonder if they sent a batch of these bikes out with the wrong parts?

fiche

#5 is where the O-ring was.

Bob

it's a rubber (flat) washer; not an o-ring. the lower castle nut is what is torqued. the top castle nut is only there to keep the lower cn from backing out. the rubber washer goes between them to help pad the 2 and provide some stiction. the top nut is then torqued down to hold the upper clamp in place.

details on the maint. process are here:

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/shb/shb.html

 

[FJRBluesman]

Rock;

After reading and replying to your post I've been trying to feel for the head shake in my Gen1. It only does it, and not every time, when I pull my hand off the bars is it noticeable. I to would like ZERO head shake and I'm not thrilled with it, but it doesn't bother me.

Good luck. :good:

 

[Bounce]

I think I have finally cured my problem with headshake. As I memtioned in a previous p[ost I have replaced fork springs (1.2),oil,then tapered head bearings(timpkin type)Plus slightly increased the torque on the bearings. All this helped about 60% and I think that new tires may fix the rest.Meanwhile , I recall that all the bikes I have had to shake, just tightening the bearings fixed it.

I then found a piece of 1.5" pipe 6" long and marked one end with the cutout slots on the bearing adjustment nut. then started sawing and filing untill I had 4 tabs that fit into the nut. Then welded in an old 1/2 " socket that just slip fit in the nipple.

Took the bearings apart again (starting to get old) And torqued the adjustment nut to 40# and started to put it back togrther when I decided I did not like that rubber spacer that aligns the slots in the two nuts. So cut a ring spacer (about .065") to fit between the nuts.Also had to add another piece of shimstock

about .005" to align the slots in the two nuts. Sure hope this makes sense!

It has been very cold here, So I have only gotten to ride 3 times, But this seems to have completely cured my problem, and my front tire is still badly cupped.

While I don't think for a minute that the shims i made helped any, I don't think that the nuts will back off now, and that is comforting!

Bernie

P.S.

Need to do more testing as I rode today and it tried to shake at about 15 to 20 mph but stopped by it self.

Next time I have it apart I will go to 50# of torque.

My bike is an 03 with only 30,000 miles on it( bought it last summer) and I suspect that is why it was sold. Must admit that I was thinking the same thing because the shake was dangerous.

why not just weld up the head assembly and be done with it? no wobbles and straight line steadiness. just avoid needing to turn.

 

[bernie1]

I think I have finally cured my problem with headshake. As I memtioned in a previous p[ost I have replaced fork springs (1.2),oil,then tapered head bearings(timpkin type)Plus slightly increased the torque on the bearings. All this helped about 60% and I think that new tires may fix the rest.

Meanwhile , I recall that all the bikes I have had to shake, just tightening the bearings fixed it.

I then found a piece of 1.5" pipe 6" long and marked one end with the cutout slots on the bearing adjustment nut. then started sawing and filing untill I had 4 tabs that fit into the nut. Then welded in an old 1/2 " socket that just slip fit in the nipple.

Took the bearings apart again (starting to get old) And torqued the adjustment nut to 40# and started to put it back togrther when I decided I did not like that rubber spacer that aligns the slots in the two nuts. So cut a ring spacer (about .065") to fit between the nuts.Also had to add another piece of shimstock

about .005" to align the slots in the two nuts. Sure hope this makes sense!

It has been very cold here, So I have only gotten to ride 3 times, But this seems to have completely cured my problem, and my front tire is still badly cupped.

While I don't think for a minute that the shims i made helped any, I don't think that the nuts will back off now, and that is comforting!

Bernie

P.S.

Need to do more testing as I rode today and it tried to shake at about 15 to 20 mph but stopped by it self.

Next time I have it apart I will go to 50# of torque.

My bike is an 03 with only 30,000 miles on it( bought it last summer) and I suspect that is why it was sold. Must admit that I was thinking the same thing because the shake was dangerous.

3/24/08

Just thought that I should follow up on the earlier post that I made on this page about headshake.

Now have about 1000 miles on new bearings, and abesolutely no headshake under any circumstances, or at least on the highways we have in the Texas panhandle.

Had a silght problem that came after my last post it seems that I did not get one of the races seated properly, as I would ride it the head would loosen up and allow the dreaded shake to come back. I took it apart again and found that while increasing the torque on the bearings to 60# I could feel the race moving so stopped at 60#. Which gives a slight preload to the bars that I really like. My little factory spanner wrench is now in the trash!

While I am not sure that you can stop your problems by over torquing the factory bearings. I am positive you can fix the shakes with Timkin bearings and a preload. Bernie

 

[Teaster]

I have an 07 with 2500 miles on it and the headshake is on deceleration from about 50-40 then loaded bags that include a top case (yamaha brand) it's from about 50-35. I notice it even with both hands on the bars but only slightly. Trust me you do not want to take your hands off the bars bad idea. With one hand it's failry bad to make you want to ride with two hands. Two dealers later and three trips for the same issue it's still there. The factory tire is cupping and will be worn out in another five thoisand miles. Had the head bearing tight, new tire, balanced and it's still there. Yamaha customer service has been involved as well as a tech rep and they state "That's a characteristic of the FJR" it simply does it. I told them I thought it was design flaw and they stated I could trade it in. Of course I"ll get to eat $3500.00 in good ole US funds...lucky me. Thanks Yamaha for "NOTHING".

For those that say ride with two hands you must stay close to the house. Any ideas that do not require me to be an engineer I'd appreciate it. OR you if want an 07 FJR with the known characteristic let me know.

 

[mcatrophy]

As far a I'm aware, many bikes have a shake as they slow through some speed range, usually something like 45 to 35mph.

It seems to be very sensitive to the bike's load. I've noticed it on my previous bike (Trophy 1200) and on my current ('06 FJR).

It was influenced by several factors, the most obvious being load (whether actual load on the front wheel or weight distribution between front and rear I don't know).

When I first noticed it on my Trophy, I took it to the dealer. On the way I picked up a tank of fuel. It stopped doing it.

Later I found that, with only me and no luggage, it tended to do it more with about half a tank of fuel, less when empty or full.

With the FJR I notice it sometimes, it's never enough to cause me a worry, it damps easily with one hand. I haven't bothered to determine what influences it, I am quite happy to ride with it, knowing it's "normal" for many bikes.

Yes, a steering damper would reduce it, but would also affect normal steering, as would over(?) tightening the steering head. Unless you ride no hands a lot, accept it as a characteristic that has no particular safety or comfort issue.

 

[Teaster]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I hooked up with a local guy whose on his second FJR and he gave me the same insight. Not harmful or dangerous just an FJR characteristic. Just knowing that it's not a mechanical issue makes me feel better. He has 26,000 on his an is on his 6th tire and he's put several different brands of tires on it and it made little difference. As the tire wears it gets worse etc... So if I look at this one little issue and compare it to the good things about the bike I'll be riding this FJR for a long time. Looking forward to a few long rides in the near future.