How fast can YOU take your FJR apart and reassemble?

[Flyguy]

For the first (and I hope the last) time I have had to remove all the body panels to change out the sub frame after a mishap with a rear view mirror. The only things damaged were the mirror and the magneto cover. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! Trying to do this without the shop manual is probaly an exercise in futility but now it has become a challenge. (chest out) It has been a tremendous cleaning opportunity though.

I have removed all and replaced the frame and reattached the wiring harness. I looked at the debris trail of parts on the floor and realised the scope of this job. Hmmmm, maybe that's why the dealer wanted $400+ to do this. :blink:

Anyway, it made me wonder how long it would take the more experienced of us to accomplish this daunting task?

 

[Geezer]

With constant wrenching, if I know exactly what I'm doing because I've done it many times before, a spacious uncluttered work space, and all tools immediately at hand, this job could be done very quickly.

For me, I need to work very slowly and deliberately so I don't break or lose anything. Even with a service manual I recommend taking a lot of digital pictures as you go so you can see how it looked before you took it apart. My garage is cluttered with materials from many other projects so I don't have much free space, and where the &(&^ is my 12 mm box wrench?

Overall, I'd say if you replaced the sub-frame in one day you were doing well.

 

[Randy]

With a service manual, couldn't see this taking more than a few hours.

 

[Checkswrecks]

For the first (and I hope the last) time I have had to remove all the body panels to change out the sub frame after a mishap with a rear view mirror. The only things damaged were the mirror and the magneto cover. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! Trying to do this without the shop manual is probaly an exercise in futility but now it has become a challenge. (chest out) It has been a tremendous cleaning opportunity though.
I have removed all and replaced the frame and reattached the wiring harness. I looked at the debris trail of parts on the floor and realised the scope of this job. Hmmmm, maybe that's why the dealer wanted $400+ to do this. :blink:

Anyway, it made me wonder how long it would take the more experienced of us to accomplish this daunting task?

My guess is that you are talking about the front sub-frame rather than the rear. If I'm focused and in my garage where everything is at hand, I'd probably have everything forward of the seat off in 45 minutes (tank flipped up but still connected), with maybe an hour to re-install. I'm sure that plenty of people are faster than me.

The real reason I responded is to point out that removing the fairings on this bike are an absolute breeze after living with the Ducati ST2. On the ST, the big top shell has to come off, before the piece under the headlight comes off, which has to go before the big lower fairings. A lot of guys get out the dremel tools and buy cam-locs so the process isn't so damned painful.

 

[twowheelnut]

With a service manual great forum write-ups like this, couldn't see this taking more than a few hours.

Phicst.

 

[RonBB]

Not sure how long it will take me. But after owning an 05 (Gen I) and now an 07 (Gen II) I think I can safely say the Gen II will take longer. For me it looks like much longer. Ron :blink:

 

[mattster31]

For the first (and I hope the last) time I have had to remove all the body panels to change out the sub frame after a mishap with a rear view mirror. The only things damaged were the mirror and the magneto cover. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! Trying to do this without the shop manual is probaly an exercise in futility but now it has become a challenge. (chest out) It has been a tremendous cleaning opportunity though.
I have removed all and replaced the frame and reattached the wiring harness. I looked at the debris trail of parts on the floor and realised the scope of this job. Hmmmm, maybe that's why the dealer wanted $400+ to do this. :blink:

Anyway, it made me wonder how long it would take the more experienced of us to accomplish this daunting task?

Don't be intimidated by it. "Hands on" is the best way to learn about your bike. Besides......it only gets easier the more you do it.

 

[993_Pilot]

Most of the time now-a-days, with anything more complicated than changing the oil or installing a new triple clamp/risers or some other farkle, I would rather just work a day of overtime and pay the dealer the $$ required. On my dirt bikes, I will try almost anything, but the FJR is a bit more complex, so I leave it to folks (mostly) more knowledgeable than myself.

 

[Randy]

With a service manual great forum write-ups like this, couldn't see this taking more than a few hours.

Phicst.

If yer doing the front, I agree, but, he said subframe. Never heard a front fairing stay called a subframe. Guess that explains why I was scratching my head wondering why he was asking about taking the bodywork off to replace the subframe.

 

[Ignacio]

Anyway, it made me wonder how long it would take the more experienced of us to accomplish this daunting task?

I took off the fairing and nose assembly on my Gen I, fixed an intermittent HID light connection, and reassembled in about 90 minutes once. The third time around is easier.

 

[Moosehead]

The first time always takes longer. Be very neat and methodical. Yamaha uses lots of different types of fasteners that can easily get mixed up. Don't just throw every screw into a bucket, keep the screws with the panel that they came off of.

I also pile the removed parts in the order I take them off so that re-assembly is just the opposite. Nothing is worse than finishing a difficult assembly and then realizing that another part had to go on first.

Your tools must be good quality. If for example you round off the head of a SHCS(socket head cap screw) with a cheap Allen wrench, you could be into hours of extra fixing.

The more you work on the bike the faster you will get.

 

[Flyguy]

Thanks for the responses. TWN - thanks especially for the reference. I'm always amazed at the time some will put in to help the rest of us. While the post was very through, it has some significant differences from the Gen II's. I would hate to tell you all how long it took me, mostly because I did it before seeing TWN's link. The pics in the service manual are terrible. The post was MUCH more helpfull.

Armed with experience and an accurate sequence, I think it can easily be done in 2 - 3 hrs. That is NOT counting replacing the mounting tape on the rubber windshield arm gasket. To remove the old tape, clean the fiberglass and reinstall the gasket carefully takes almost 2 hrs by itself. Yamaha did a poor job on this on my bike. I was glad I did it myself as I don't think even a good mechanic would be as exacting. Just takes too long.

Thanks all.

 

[Fred W]

Most of the time now-a-days, with anything more complicated than changing the oil or installing a new triple clamp/risers or some other farkle, I would rather just work a day of overtime and pay the dealer the $$ required. On my dirt bikes, I will try almost anything, but the FJR is a bit more complex, so I leave it to folks (mostly) more knowledgeable than myself.

That's exactly why I make the dealership wrenches my last resort. There's no way that I can work as cheaply as they do (my earning rate vs their labor rate). That ain't the point. I know when I do the job, it'll be done right.

With a service manual great forum write-ups like this, couldn't see this taking more than a few hours.

Phicst.

Exactly right. The FSM doesn't help very much in this kind of procedure. A lot of line drawings and sequence numbers and not much in the way of instructions. I like the write-ups on the various FJR tech web sites much better.

 

[Fencer]

insurance allowed 18 hours for a complete frame swap. D&H said they could do it in 12

 

[JohnB]

Most of the time now-a-days, with anything more complicated than changing the oil or installing a new triple clamp/risers or some other farkle, I would rather just work a day of overtime and pay the dealer the $$ required. On my dirt bikes, I will try almost anything, but the FJR is a bit more complex, so I leave it to folks (mostly) more knowledgeable than myself.

This makes perfect sense to me except the dealers in my area are incompetent. So, I have a better chance of getting it right by doing it myself with the help of this forum and a service manual. :dribble: