Washer on rear wheel?

[Richouse]

I'm almost positive that I have it right but...

I took the rear wheel off to get the tire fixed and a week later I am putting it back together. I want to be sure I have the washer in the right place. As you are sliding the axel through the first thing it goes through is the swing arm then the washer then the brake caliper then the ABS sensor then the hub right? This is how I have it and the wheel spins freely...

For some reason I kept thinking the washer was between the brake caliper and the hub when I took it apart...

Thanks,

 

[escapefjrtist]

Yup, you have the stack up correct!

--G

 

[Bogus]

Yessir!

 

[wnyfjr]

Just did this yesterday, you have it correct!

 

[Fred W]

Definitely washer goes outside of the caliper. To remember this forever you just need is to understand why it is there at all:

The axle is a solid rod of two diameters. The main smaller diameter that passes through all of the wheel bearings and internal spacers, and the stepped up larger diameter at the right end. The reason for the larger diameter end is so that when you tighten the nut on the left end it pulls everything inside the wheel tight and holds the wheel spline fully engaged in the final drive. In that regard it is like the head of a bolt. The washer is there (under the "head" of this "big bolt") to spread the load of that against the part that it bears against , the brake caliper, just like any washer.

The pinch bolt is tightened so that the right side swing arm clamps onto the head of that "bolt" after it has been fully tightened and pulled fully to the left, so it has no contact with the washer.

 

[Richouse]

Thanks for thr replies guys. I feel better knowing it is right.

Definitely washer goes outside of the caliper. To remember this forever you just need is to understand why it is there at all:
The axle is a solid rod of two diameters. The main smaller diameter that passes through all of the wheel bearings and internal spacers, and the stepped up larger diameter at the right end. The reason for the larger diameter end is so that when you tighten the nut on the left end it pulls everything inside the wheel tight and holds the wheel spline fully engaged in the final drive. In that regard it is like the head of a bolt. The washer is there (under the "head" of this "big bolt") to spread the load of that against the part that it bears against , the brake caliper, just like any washer.

The pinch bolt is tightened so that the right side swing arm clamps onto the head of that "bolt" after it has been fully tightened and pulled fully to the left, so it has no contact with the washer.

And here I thought it was just a spacer washer therefore I was not sure of where it went. Thanks.

 

[Spud]

Take an up close pic with your cell before you take it apart, then you'll never wonder.

 

[Hudson]

Made me look.

 

[Gary B]

Here's a picture of mine after I had some rear wheel trouble. There should be a gap between the washer and the inner face of the swing arm and the right end of the wheel spindle should be pretty much level with the outer face of the swing arm.

When I bought my FJR last year it needed new tyres, had plenty of tread left but the front was cupped and the rear had squared off. The bike was handling very strangely, pulling to the left on uncambered roads as if it had been in an accident.

The new tyres arrived by mail order and I removed the wheels myself to take them to my local friendly bike shop to have them changed (he doesn't charge any money, check it out!).

No problem removing the front but the rear was a different story, I could not undo the spindle nut. I had to buy a 3 foot breaker bar and still pulling upwards as hard as I could the nut eventually came loose, it was still tight for a few turns (no gap appearing under it) then undid normally which I thought was strange.

I worked out afterwards that whoever fitted the previous tyre had tightened the pinch bolt first with no gap between the washer and swing arm then gunned the spindle nut up with an air tool (probably meant for lorry wheels). The right swing arm leg was definitely pulled toward the left which would put the rear wheel spindle out of line causing the strange handling.

Worth checking if you have your tyres changed by someone not familiar with the FJR, from receipts with the bike the rear wheel had been like that for more than 6,000 miles.

 

[Fred W]

Ugh! The end of the axle must have stuck out pretty far from the right side of the swing-arm in that situation. That would be a clue something was wrong. The other thing to worry about now is if they permanently bent the swing-arm in at all when they did that.

I just measured the gap on my 2014; you should have a space of about 4.4mm (.173") between the washer and the inside of the swingarm when everything is done up right.

I will usually fit everything up loosely and tighten the left side axle nut up as snugly as I can with the pinch bolt loose first, then tighten the pinch bolt to clamp the axle from rotating while torquing the axle nut to spec. After torquing the nut I'll loosen and release the pinch bolt so the swingarm can spring out to it's correct, full width before re-tightening it to spec. It usually only springs out a fraction of a mm., if at all. And the axle is almost flush (slightly recessed) to the outboard edge of the swingarm.

 

[BigOgre]

I will usually fit everything up loosely and tighten the left side axle nut up as snugly as I can with the pinch bolt loose first, then tighten the pinch bolt to clamp the axle from rotating while torquing the axle nut to spec. After torquing the nut I'll loosen and release the pinch bolt so the swingarm can spring out to it's correct, full width before re-tightening it to spec.

That's just what I was thinking happened while reading Gary B's post, minus the loosening. I'll do this with each change too but always thought I should get off my duff and hold the axle properly from the end instead of relying on the pinch bolt.

 

[Gary B]

Yes, a slight worry about stress on the swing arm and also the wheel spindle as I estimated that the nut was 'torqued' to over double what it should have been (125 Nm I think from memory).

I pull 200 Nm at work sometimes and that is a struggle.

I checked the spindle thoroughly with a 10x magnifying glass for cracks and am happy that it survived unscathed. I think I'm right in saying that if it is assembled this way there will be more thread protruding from the spindle nut (currently have 4.75 mm of spindle thread showing, a 3.25 mm gap between the washer and right swing arm leg with 0.6 mm of spindle protruding on the right side).

It could also have put a side load on the caliper bracket and torque arm.

Worrying that the design is not foolproof, I guess mine is not the only FJR that has ever been assembled incorrectly and probably not the last!

 

[Fred W]

a 3.25 mm gap between the washer and right swing arm leg with 0.6 mm of spindle protruding on the right side).
It could also have put a side load on the caliper bracket and torque arm.

Worrying that the design is not foolproof, I guess mine is not the only FJR that has ever been assembled incorrectly and probably not the last!

So your swing arm sides are about 1mm closer together than mine are right now. That's probably not enough to worry about from a geometry / steering standpoint. I suppose you could try to spread/spring them out a little bit next time you had the wheel off if it bothered you.

 

[Gary B]

Yes, 1 mm is probably within tolerances over that length of casting.

My washer looks slightly dished in the photo, it could be bent and closing the gap.

Literally five minutes ago a freak gust of wind slammed my garage door down on to the FJR, arggghhhh!!

Luckily it just popped the Laminar Lip off, no other damage. Won't be parking it under the door again!!

 

[Richouse]

I took a 14mm bolt and spun a couple of nuts on it to hold the axel and keep it from spinning while tightening the mail nut on the left. I did this so I would not have to tighten the pinch bolt to hold the axel for the reasons posted above.

https://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz158/rhouse18/image.jpeg

https://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz158/rhouse18/image_1.jpeg

(I hope you guys can see these photos, this forum is such a pain in the ass to try to share photos! I used to could share them straight from photo bucket but now it just tells me I can't use this format. I used to be able to.)

 

[rbentnail]

...

 

[lonerider]

If the axle nut was tightened that much and was difficult to loosen after you broke it loose, might be a good idea to check and see if the threaded part of the axle where it meets the unthreaded shank might have been stretched.

 

[Fred W]

I took a 14mm bolt and spun a couple of nuts on it to hold the axel and keep it from spinning while tightening the mail nut on the left. I did this so I would not have to tighten the pinch bolt to hold the axel for the reasons posted above.
https://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz158/rhouse18/image.jpeg

https://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz158/rhouse18/image_1.jpeg

(I hope you guys can see these photos, this forum is such a pain in the ass to try to share photos! I used to could share them straight from photo bucket but now it just tells me I can't use this format. I used to be able to.)

The problem is that the photos that you have uploaded to photobucket have ".jpeg" as the file extension. You have to use '.jpg" for this forum's software. But clicking on the links gets us to your photobucket photos just fine.

If everything is assembled and snugged up before tightening the pinch bolt, you will not be drawing the swing arm leg in very much. If you tighten the pinch bolt before you even thread the nut on, then you risk doing the kind of potential for damage that Gary B did.

 

[Gary B]

Err..I didn't do any damage, the wheel was fitted by persons unknown before my ownership.

My photo above is from Photobucket, I copied the 'direct' link and used the image icon in the menu bar.

Yep, it's possible the wheel spindle was stretched, I did check it thoroughly and it looks fine. Would be worth measuring it accurately next time it is out. I don't know the measurement but knowing Yamaha it will probably be an exact whole millimetre figure. A new spindle would give complete peace of mind, they are £70 in the UK and back order.