One of these things........is not like the other.

I'm doing a major lube service (among a lot of other things) on an 05 ABS with 73k.

This is what the center relay arm "collar" (as Mamayama calls it, I call it a bushing) looks like when it's installed dry from the factory.

The bearings still turned - they squeeked, but amazingly, still turned! Had this not been caught and the corrosion continued, the bearings would have frozen, the bushing would no longer do the job, and the dog bones would have failed. Result? Collapse of the rear suspension. Could have been an exciting time.

On the right is a maintained bushing from an 03 relay arm with over 90k, on the left, the other.



Let this serve as a warning to the collective - the relay arm is a bitch to get to and do right, but ya'all need to do it. Do it at least once to ensure that it's actually lubed. Do it yourself, pay someone, whatever - but do it.

I've now done 4 major lube jobs and this one is the only one I found dry. And I mean dry, as in dusty. No evidence of any grease ever being used from install on. It's worrisome, to say the least.

Just when I was willing to accept all the "you can skip this" advice, you go and make my life more difficult. :glare:

TomInCA said:

Just when I was willing to accept all the "you can skip this" advice, you go and make my life more difficult. :glare:

Click to expand...

If you perform maintenance, you know, factually, the health of all motobike systems of which you ride. If you don't, it's just a guess-estimate, a crap shoot. So then, while your fragile-ass human anatomy is hurtling with (terminal) velocity upon a ribbon of concrete, do you want to know if your steed is healthy or not?

I do.

Dcarver is absolutely right. I perform all of my own maintenance

and repairs as if my life depended on it.

On my bike there are no surprises, missing fasteners, worn out

parts or in this case, ungreased bearings.

After hearing of the dog-bone failures overseas and up north, did this maintenance project on my [previous] 50K mile '06. The bearings weren't as dry as KD found but still needed a little cleanup and TLC.

If you do your own work, it's not too bad and as has been said...you know it's done right.

Maintenance...pay me now or pay me [a lot] later!

--G

escapefjrtist said:

After hearing of the dog-bone failures overseas and up north, did this maintenance project on my [previous] 50K mile '06. The bearings weren't as dry as KD found but still needed a little cleanup and TLC.

If you do your own work, it's not too bad and as has been said...you know it's done right.

Maintenance...pay me now or pay me [a lot] later!

--G

Click to expand...

I'll do it, but I only have 27K on the bike right now. But the feedback in this thread, except for dcarver who disagreed, was overwhelmingly, that the swingarm was a non-issue. It is a listed item in the maintenance interval, and for that reason alone, I will get it. This thread reinforces the need, and Kaitsdad is talking about a California bike.

Great catch and safety tip Hal.

When I swapped shocks on my new to me Feej, I saw how ill lubed mine was too. Glad I tore into it and gotter done.

kaitsdad said:

I'm doing a major lube service (among a lot of other things) on an 05 ABS with 73k.

This is what the center relay arm "collar" (as Mamayama calls it, I call it a bushing) looks like when it's installed dry from the factory.

Click to expand...

Where on my bike is this mystery part anyway? Somewhere near the back? :blink:

TomInCA said:

escapefjrtist said:

After hearing of the dog-bone failures overseas and up north, did this maintenance project on my [previous] 50K mile '06. The bearings weren't as dry as KD found but still needed a little cleanup and TLC.

If you do your own work, it's not too bad and as has been said...you know it's done right.

Maintenance...pay me now or pay me [a lot] later!

--G

Click to expand...

I'll do it, but I only have 27K on the bike right now. But the feedback in this thread, except for dcarver who disagreed, was overwhelmingly, that the swingarm was a non-issue. It is a listed item in the maintenance interval, and for that reason alone, I will get it. This thread reinforces the need, and Kaitsdad is talking about a California bike.

Click to expand...

The swingarm pivot is a bit different than these suspension pieces. I never would have told you to 'not' do them. They are more exposed to elements and get a LOT more use than the swingarm bearing. I have NEVER heard of a problem with a swingarm bearing, but as Hal mentioned, there have been a couple of reported issues with some of the suspension pivots. At your mileage, I still wouldn't be too concerned unless the bike spent a LOT of time in rain, or on salty roads.

James Burleigh said:

Where on my bike is this mystery part anyway? Somewhere near the back? :blink:

Click to expand...

Underneath, in the general vicinity of the top of your center stand.

"So then, while your fragile-ass human anatomy is hurtling with (terminal) velocity upon a ribbon of concrete, do you want to know if your steed is healthy or not?"

Would it really matter at that point?

Some zerk's woulda been nice.

TomInCA said:

I'll do it, but I only have 27K on the bike right now. But the feedback in this thread, except for dcarver who disagreed, was overwhelmingly, that the swingarm was a non-issue. It is a listed item in the maintenance interval, and for that reason alone, I will get it. This thread reinforces the need, and Kaitsdad is talking about a California bike.

Click to expand...

As Skooter said, the recommendation in that thread (and some others) to skip that maintenance was limited to the swingarm pivot bearings, which many folks tend to lump together (schedule wise) with the other suspension pivot bearings. The relay arm bearings hang down at the bottom of the bike, right in the path of all sorts of road spray. They are also well known to come from the factory with some sort of a strange, waxy lubricant, not much protection from the elements IMO. I think one would be well advised to service these at about the same interval as valve lash checks (~25k miles) or more often for those who ride often in the wet weather. Desert dwellers like Skooter might get away with much longer intervals.

The swingarm pivot bearings (and steering bearings for that matter) are up relatively high and fairly well protected from the elements, and also historically come with adequate grease from the factory. I would not bother to disassemble these for re-greasing unless (or until?) there is some reason to suspect there is a problem with them. While there are many documented cases of corroded relay arm bearings, I've not heard of any failed swingarm pivot bearings.

To be concise: removing the swingarm to lube the bearings was a

tremendous waste of my time.

Gregg and Fred, thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding. I'll get er' done.

exskibum said:

James Burleigh said:

Where on my bike is this mystery part anyway? Somewhere near the back? :blink:

Click to expand...

Underneath, in the general vicinity of the top of your center stand.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Rich.

James Burleigh said:

kaitsdad said:

I'm doing a major lube service (among a lot of other things) on an 05 ABS with 73k.

This is what the center relay arm "collar" (as Mamayama calls it, I call it a bushing) looks like when it's installed dry from the factory.

Click to expand...

Where on my bike is this mystery part anyway? Somewhere near the back? :blink:

Click to expand...

I wanna help too! :blink:
Hans - It's between the front and rear black circle thingy that spins round and round when the motorcycle is moving. It's actually more towards the rear, right behind the big silver thingy that the spark plugs go in, but lower and to the rear. To be more accurate, it hangs between the silver forked thingy that holds the rear black round spinning thingy. It has a black (if stock) springy looking whactchmacallit around it. And the rusty pinnimmibob thang is inserted into the silver linkitagy goodie holding it all. Not sure why they ,mention giving the dog some bones, but if that works so be it. I'm not one to question the all mighty minds of this forum.

Good luck finding this, I hope this helped. Call me with any questions.

FJRBluesman said:

Hans - It's between the front and rear black circle thingy that spins round and round when the motorcycle is moving. It's actually more towards the rear, right behind the big silver thingy that the spark plugs go in, but lower and to the rear. To be more accurate, it hangs between the silver forked thingy that holds the rear black round spinning thingy. It has a black (if stock) springy looking whactchmacallit around it. And the rusty pinnimmibob thang is inserted into the silver linkitagy goodie holding it all. Not sure why they ,mention giving the dog some bones, but if that works so be it. I'm not one to question the all mighty minds of this forum.

Good luck finding this, I hope this helped. Call me with any questions.

Click to expand...

Finally, some clear direction.

FJRBluesman said:

Hans - It's between the front and rear black circle thingy that spins round and round when the motorcycle is moving. It's actually more towards the rear, right behind the big silver thingy that the spark plugs go in, but lower and to the rear. To be more accurate, it hangs between the silver forked thingy that holds the rear black round spinning thingy. It has a black (if stock) springy looking whactchmacallit around it. And the rusty pinnimmibob thang is inserted into the silver linkitagy goodie holding it all. Not sure why they ,mention giving the dog some bones, but if that works so be it. I'm not one to question the all mighty minds of this forum.

Good luck finding this, I hope this helped. Call me with any questions.

Click to expand...

OK, good. I'm gonna get some duct tape and whiteout and go take care of this problem right now. Thanks!

This is a huge issue in the UK there have been several cases of linkages snapping due to the bearing seizing through lack of grease. I'd suggest that it could become a problem where ever an FJR is used year round in poor weather. If the roads are salted it adds to the problem. All three of the FJRs I've owned came with seized linkages, one was an ex police bike, one was owned by Yamaha UK and the other a fully serviced privately owned bike. On one of the bikes the linkages were starting to bend (so not too far from a failure) Ignore this maintenance at your own peril.

A few photos to give you an idea









for Hans benefit this is where it lives