16K Maintenance Performed

[900gc]

To the FJR vets this may be preaching to the choir, but to the first time owners as myself, I hope this will help to convince you to do these things sooner than later as the experienced ones have been telling us. Many, many thanks to all the contributors over the years to this forum with very helpful info to aid in keeping our Feejers happy!

I bought my '08 in Jan. this year w/14k on it. I bought it from a dealer who had taken it in on trade and they claimed to have "performed all services" on it (dealer speak). At least the oil looked clean in the sight glass and the filter looked new. It looked well cared for so after a basic pre flight checkover, I decided to ride it for a while before diving in on the maintenance.

The PR2s have plenty of tread so I took off the rear wheel specifically to check the U joint/drive shaft and pumpkin splines for lube (or the lack there of). Like many have found, the drive shaft spline/U joint interface was almost dry with some light rust as well, whereas the U joint/motor spline at least had a little grease on it. The pumpkin and rear wheel splines were well greased by the previous tire changer though. Cleaned them all and applied the recommended Honda Moly 60 and sprayed Boeshield on the drive shaft to prevent further rust. Changed out the gear oil with the Yamaha stuff as well.

So if you are not sure you're splines have been serviced, DO IT.

Next up; Steering head bearing repack. First I tried to buy a nut tool from the dealer to no avail. Then, after searching this wonderful forum for ideas, I was inspired to make my own from Sched. 40 alum. pipe. So, with my new tool in hand... I found the nut way over torqued from the 13 lb.ft. final figure (not surprising since I found punch marks on it). The upper bearing was pretty well greased but packed it anew anyway. Dropping the forks down to do the lower one revealed a not so well packed bearing. I suspect the upper one was serviced but the lower one, being somewhat of a PITA to get at, was neglected. That one really needed help and I'm glad I did it now instead of waiting for the next tire change. The before and after was noticeable. Before the repack, I was experiencing some clunking when hitting sharp edge bumps, which I thought was either the steering head or something else associated with things fairing related. The after; no more clunking and the front end now feels tighter and smoother.

So don't put this one off either. The lower one at least, probably needs TLC.

Next I lubed the shift, brake and hand lever pivot points. The grease on these items was more like glue than anything remotely slippery. Wow, what a difference to have smooth, slick working controls now.

So, new owners, your bike most likely needs this too.

Lastly, for now anyway, I replaced the clutch and brake fluids and coolant. After doing the brake fluid, I discovered that I actually had some form of rear braking power after all. Without having ever ridden another FJR, I did not know if the rear was designed to be wimpy or that mine was in need of maintenance. Well like everything else I've found, it was the latter.

I still need to get around to the rear suspension pivot bearings and the swing arm bearings but I think I'll put those off until the next tire change in about 4K.

Cheers.

 

[user 28760]

Excellent write up. Things we likely all need to do every other year - at the most. Thanks.

 

[HotRodZilla]

It's always nice to ride the bike after a good service. I'm with you on the levers and shifter. I do my levers once a year, just to inspect the bushings and clean the gunk out. They feel really nice afterwards.

Does your clutch feel way different after the fluid change? Mine seems to be much more responsive when I put new fluid in there. Not so much the brakes, but the clutch...wow.

Now go ride and have fun.

 

[escapefjrtist]

You're hitting all the right things.

Great write-up and reminder that although the FJR is as reliable as a stone, a little TLC is necessary too.

--G

 

[900gc]

It's always nice to ride the bike after a good service. I'm with you on the levers and shifter. I do my levers once a year, just to inspect the bushings and clean the gunk out. They feel really nice afterwards.

Does your clutch feel way different after the fluid change? Mine seems to be much more responsive when I put new fluid in there. Not so much the brakes, but the clutch...wow.

Now go ride and have fun.

The uptake does seem a little more gradual/smoother as it starts to move away from the grip now that you mention it. As noted, the rear brake responded nicely to the new fluid. Of course, for all I know, the fluid was never changed by the former owner. It was kind of gunky looking as was the clutch fluid.

 

[carlson_mn]

Just changed all the DOT4 on my 2008 bike, which had 30k and it was original. Everything worked great before the flush and equally well afterwards. Definitely no difference in clutch. The steering head bearings I'm going to leave alone for a few more years because I notice no issues yet (feels like new), that's just my personal feeling towards that item.

One thing I may consider doing is soaking my clutch plates because when cold the clutch does not full disengage. Not an issue when warmed up but if I start the bike in 1st gear it will slightly jump forward.

 

[Robert Ford]

Lastly, for now anyway, I replaced the clutch and brake fluids and coolant. After doing the brake fluid, I discovered that I actually had some form of rear braking power after all. Without having ever ridden another FJR, I did not know if the rear was designed to be wimpy or that mine was in need of maintenance. Well like everything else I've found, it was the latter.

I did this today, and have to say I was amazed at the difference in braking. I actually get some diving out of the front end when I stomp on the pedal, never got that before. The clutch system was full of air and I notice a positive difference there as well.

I bought this bike (09)in September of 2010 and it had less than 1,000 miles on it, just turned 12,000 this week.

 

[SkooterG]

Interesting. Here's another data point: In over 300,000 mile of FJR ownership I have never repacked the head bearings, nor the swingarm pivot bearing. On my first FJR I did have to re-torque the head bearing once to get ride of a minor clunk that developed, but thats it.

The other stuff I do regularly.

 

[carlson_mn]

Interesting that there's a few "jacked up" relatively new FJR's with regard to the detail the factory techs must have not put into properly priming the brake/clutch systems. That's not the norm.