2004 FJR Final Drive Failure

[catiadan]

Heard a noise on the way to work today which almost sounded like a siren and thought I was being chased! Turned out to be final drive failure with metal shavings in the case. My 2004 has around 54k miles and was wondering if others have experienced failure of this "bullet proof" unit?

 

[SkooterG]

First I have heard of any failure like that. Was there oil in it? When was the last time the oil had been changed? No shavings in the oil then?

The good news is you should be able to find a replacement on ebay that will be relatively inexpensive. Since they so rarely fail, there are lots of used one's out there with no demand for them from crashed bikes.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Heard a noise on the way to work today which almost sounded like a siren and thought I was being chased! Turned out to be final drive failure with metal shavings in the case. My 2004 has around 54k miles and was wondering if others have experienced failure of this "bullet proof" unit?

Extremely unusual, and you may be the first that I know of out of thousands of peeps on this forum. More info would be appreciative in order to further study this anomaly.

Any pic's?

Dave

 

[08FJR4ME]

On second thought this could be a BMW SCIOP. h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r:

 

[wheatonFJR]

How often was the FD oil changed and fluid level checked? How many miles since the last oil level check?

 

[ahchiu]

How often was the FD oil changed and fluid level checked? How many miles since the last oil level check?

+1, I change mine every 5K, cheap insurance

 

[allrider]

My 2cents: Dissect it and take lots of pics for us. Document the amount and condition of the oil also, and let the collective brain trust that is this forum have at it to diagnose the problem. Oh, and post it on a Friday

Just for the hell of it, put out a separate posting, "WTB Gen I final drive" on the forum. You never know, someone may have one in the back of their garage that they will part with for little or nothing.

Can't wait to see the carnage. :clapping: The worn out final drive will be interesting too. :assassin:

 

[escapefjrtist]

How often was the FD oil changed and fluid level checked? How many miles since the last oil level check?

My thoughts exactly. Maintenance records, damage, fluid leakage, contaminated lube...a little more information would be helpful. Bearing failures are not unheard of and any number of things can cause problems.

Let us know what you find on the postmortem.

--G

 

[FJRay]

PM n2osx here on the forum. He is parting out a 05.

 

[TILAM]

Good news is that there should be lots of available "pumpkins" out there cheap. More good news is that it is a really easy fix and probably shouldn't take more than an hour. Keep in mind that you need to find a Gen 1 as the Gen 2 has a longer swing arm.

 

[Fred W]

I have not seen any pitchers.

I don't think this ever happened. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

 

[SkooterG]

Yo catiadan - where'd you go?

 

[beemerdons]

Yo catiadan - where'd you go?

Hans und Dieter recalled Herr Catiadan to Berlin BMW HQ at Spandau for reeducation! He was not successful in convincing you Jap Crap lovers that an FJR Final Drive had actually failed. Was ist los? Machts nichts, we still have the heavy water project going on at Pennemunde! We will promptly send over another Infiltrator to convince you Rising Sun Fanatics that the ground spiders will fail on each and every Gen II FJR! Deutschland Uber Alles! Arbeiten macht Frei! Verstehen Sie Fred W, Hans und Dieter will deal with you personally for your blasphemy, Schatzie! Auf Wiedersehen!

 

[beemerdons]

On second thought this could be a BMW SCIOP. h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r:

Guten Abend Mein Bruder Dave, Hans und Dieter will also deal with you; after they're done with Fred!

 

[catiadan]

The drive had oil in it and was not even low. Had been properly serviced so I must have had a drive which did not meet specs is my guess. Maybe heat treat issue with the ring & pinion gears? Who knows, but at least the used units are much cheaper than the approximately $1000 for a new one. I have ordered an ebay replacement and hope it lasts the rest of my term with the FJR. I bought the bike new in Aug 2003 and this is the first problem I have had other than the constant overheating issue which existed from brand new. Not sure if there is an easy fix for the overheating, but in slow traffic on hot days this baby spews out coolant. To my knowledge I never had the final drive under water. I will admit, I have not been easy on this machine and would be considered an aggressive rider, but never did do any track days like some I have seen at tracks. The drive has not been torn down yet and not sure I want to bother doing a bunch of forensics on it as I just ride the thing to work every day. Thanks for all the comments....sounds like this is an unusual situation...maybe I need to be the Reliability and Safety guy for Yamaha as I found a week spot with their hardware.

 

[escapefjrtist]

<snip>

I bought the bike new in Aug 2003 and this is the first problem I have had other than the constant overheating issue which existed from brand new. Not sure if there is an easy fix for the overheating, but in slow traffic on hot days this baby spews out coolant.

*hijack*

Dealer should have looked at this heating issue when the bike was new. Something is definitely amiss with the cooling system as FJRs don't typically have heating problems. I have been in rush hour traffic in 100F temps with no coolant loss...ever.

Good luck replacing the final drive, hope you found a good used one.

--G

 

[BobbyBlue]

Wow, sorry to hear this, it is rare amongst our bikes of any year, and lots of us ride a little aggressive from time to time...or more even ! But my feej has never barfed coolant...and San Antone is waaaaay hotter than San Diego...Navy '78-82...it DOES get hot and the fan kicks on just as the sperm start looking for other glands to escape to, but i replace less than a pint of coolant every year between flushes...strange, the range of normals that exists...ok...back to the turkey necropsy....

Happy Thanksgiving !

Bobby

 

[Donal]

If you are spewing coolant it is likely to be one of two things. Either the system is not holding pressure or the "radiator" cap is not holding pressure. The easiest thing to do is replace the cap. If that doesn't make any difference then try doing a pressure test on the system.

It would be a real shame to let your final drive go to the scrap heap without some sort of investigation being done. If you don't want to do it hopefully someone (with time on their hands) will volunteer

Don

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wow...spewing coolant AND FD failure all on the same bike. :dribble: