Rear shock linkage maintenance

Not sure how you got the wrench on the header bolts without swinging the radiator all the way forward. I definitely couldn't do that on mine. The second gens must have more room to swing a wrench between the rad and head.

Fred W said:

Not sure how you got the wrench on the header bolts without swinging the radiator all the way forward. I definitely couldn't do that on mine. The second gens must have more room to swing a wrench between the rad and head.

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a socket driven allen, then a universal, then a 12" extension, then the ratchet. Push the radiator as far forwad as you can.

I 'dropped' my header to reverse to centre stand bolts (several years ago). Don't remember it being much of a problem, just had to swing the radiator a bit forward.

Fred W said:

Hmmm...
To "just remove the exhaust header," requires moving the radiator, which requires removing the front tupperware lowers, and also draining the coolant so that you can remove the radiator hoses (required whether you remove the rad or tilt it forward). And that will add about an hour or more of recreational maintenance fun to the project.

OTOH, cutting a couple of bolts off with a Sawzall or Dremel cutoff wheel would take about 5 minutes max and cost a couple bucks at the hardware store for some grade 8 metric replacements.

Maybe you should think about taking up skiing or snowmobiling or some other winter recreational activity, Colin?

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Fred, if you'll notice, I believe ALL those who pulled their headers are Gen II'ers who have that fancy-schmancy curved radiator which must give more room behind the rad to access the header bolts.

Yer funny, howiekins.....there are no differences between genI, II or III fjrs.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmokay?????

Just when you thought this thread was dead it crawled out ot the ground through the deep haze like a ZOMBIE !!!!

I'm not the guy for the job (maybe the OP?) but might a new, abbreviated version of this thread hitting all the highlights be worthy of being locked and pinned? Could also include a link to the original so the discussion could live on and on and on and on . . .

RadioHowie said:

Fred, if you'll notice, I believe ALL those who pulled their headers are SUPERIOR Gen II'ers who have that fancy-schmancy curved radiator which must give more room behind the rad to access the header bolts.

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Fixed it for you, Howie.

But on topic, A 4inch cutoff wheel on a die grinder makes quick work of removing the offending centerstand bolt. And my centerstand didn't collapse while it had a replacement bolt (out of my voluminous hardware stash ) installed until the Yamaha replacement arrived and I got around to installing it.

So here are my two cents worth on all of this; I just finished doing my shock arm and swing arm bearings with a little over 20,000 miles on my Gen II bike. First off neither needed it at this time, but as I bought the bike used I wanted a baseline. I was able to use a cutoff wheel for the left side center stand bolt, but an old fashioned hacksaw worked the magic on the right side, with only the mufflers being removed. As I have an AE model you need to take off a few more things to get to the top shock bolt, but nothing major, just a little more time consuming. I made a "pipe stand" to hold the bike up with some 1.5 nylon straps holding the bike up for the clearance needed for the job.

To anybody thinking about doing this, take your time and reread the shop manual or this site a few times and all should work well.

Gene

Thanks for all the great info and pics on the relay arm removal, I have been able to remove mine because of it. My question is has anyone found a good source for the bearing and seals replacement kit for the relay arm? There was a post back in January 2013 saying all balls racing had one for around $65.00 but that doesn't seem to be available anymore.

Thanks

Rory

redpickles said:

Thanks for all the great info and pics on the relay arm removal, I have been able to remove mine because of it. My question is has anyone found a good source for the bearing and seals replacement kit for the relay arm? There was a post back in January 2013 saying all balls racing had one for around $65.00 but that doesn't seem to be available anymore.
Thanks

Rory

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you might take the bearing and seal sizes and contact a place that specializes in them such as McGuire Bearing or whatever is in your local area. They should be able to source it for you.

redpickles said:

Thanks for all the great info and pics on the relay arm removal, I have been able to remove mine because of it. My question is has anyone found a good source for the bearing and seals replacement kit for the relay arm? There was a post back in January 2013 saying all balls racing had one for around $65.00 but that doesn't seem to be available anymore.
Thanks

Rory

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Rory, just wondering why you'd not simply go with OEM for this? My lower shock linkage lasted to around 80k miles, the others I replace at around 160k miles and these, whilst worn still looked good enough to last longer, so what more could you ask

Thanks for the suggestion Auburn FJR, I was hoping for a ready made kit like the one All Balls use to offer for $65.00. JamesK the OEM parts priced out at $197.00 so at 65,000 miles I think I will grease the heck out of it and and call it good.

Thanks

Thanks for the thread. I've watched for years, been in denial for a portion of them, and NOW doing these things. It's a bit of a jigsaw to be sure.

My rear lifting system resembles a

I saw fellow bike rider, Alton Brown, devised....sans the hot oil and ratchet straps instead of a pulley.

I share the photos fully expecting to be mocked for my obviously lame maintenance....feel free to mock after reading. I've moved from admitting my problem to seeking a higher power...that deals in replacement Yamaha parts.

Pulled the relay arm out of the FJR. One of the collar and bearing sets was SEVERELY corroded (I could perhaps be mocked less if it was the one that's hardest to get too...but it's not. Even though it's bad the movement of this part was only a bit stiff and notchy. Two were significantly corroded and the stiffest to move (and one with tweaked bearings and had some side play), and the one on the swing arm had just a tiny bit of corrosion starting on one side. (2nd picture compares worst and best collars). And you can see the pile of bearing chunks that fell out as I took things apart.

Replacing them all with $150 of new parts (thanks MadMike for the parts sources in the other thread to find the cheapest place) and marine grade high temp grease FredW recommended. Once parts come in I'll visit a local shop I had do the steering head bearings to do the removal and install work. Maintenance in the future will be much easier as I will reverse the center stand bolts (with fresh ones I'll get tomorrow) that made this first time a PITA. I thought about pulling parts off my other FJR, but to sling two separate bikes at the same time is a bit beyond my current garage setup.

Also notice the line down the middle of the part! It shows 165,000 miles of road grit striking the forward facing portion that is closest to the ground....kinda cool actually as it isn't affecting the strength of the part and shows character of the ol' girl. I am resisting the urge to clean it up and powdercoat it all yellow........must stop thinking about NOW!

Once done I'll put it all back together, install the new Ohlins, and it should be good for at least another 165,000 miles with some more regular maintenance discipline. Don't do what I did. Learn from my mistake. I'm thinking 60,000 should have been a better mileage mark to take things apart.

Just an update to my modification I did some 27k kms ago.

My post regarding slotting the center stand bracket.

It took less than an hour to remove the relay arm, service and reinstall, real easy !!!

The anti-sieze lubricant worked extremely well, far better than Moly Paste.

Well Matt, one mustn't rush into things.......................

Ignacio said:

I share the photos fully expecting to be mocked for my obviously lame maintenance....feel free to mock after reading. I've moved from admitting my problem to seeking a higher power...that deals in replacement Yamaha parts.

8< 8< 8< Snipped a bunch of gory details and photos >8 >8 >8

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I refuse to rise to such a blatantly obvious trolling for a Friday dogpile.

Holy smokes! That's a good reminder to all of us not to blow off maintaining this very important area.