Bad Plastic?

[OhHeck04]

I was putting the bike back together after changing the battery when I noticed that the center fairing and the upper right fairing weren't lining up. The tabs above and below the mirror mount disintegrated. The plastic didn't just crack, it fragmented into little pieces. Check out the pictures. https://pbckt.com/sb.rm7 Ordered new factory replacement center cowling and upper right cowling for $172 and $118 from Ron Ayers Motorsports. Has anyone else experience (in my opinion) defective plastic?

 

[wheatonFJR]

mine are solid.

 

[SkooterG]

Never seen anything like that before. Looks like it took some kind of impact?

First, you don't need to remove the upper right fairing panel to replace the battery. Second, if you do need to remove that upper right panel, it's a hell of a lot easier to work on these pieces if you remove the whole front cowling. There will be one tab where it is virtually impossible to get to the hex screw. Whereas it's only 4 philips screws to remove the whole cowling once everything else has been disconnected, and then it's easy-peasy to work on everything.

And at Zanotti Motors prices for those panels are $159 and $108 respectively. :glare:

 

[08FJR4ME]

I had my battery cover piece crack around the screws. Still in warrenty and the dealer replaced it. He wasn't sure they would cover it and they did.

 

[OhHeck04]

Never seen anything like that before. Looks like it took some kind of impact?
First, you don't need to remove the upper right fairing panel to replace the battery. Second, if you do need to remove that upper right panel, it's a hell of a lot easier to work on these pieces if you remove the whole front cowling. There will be one tab where it is virtually impossible to get to the hex screw. Whereas it's only 4 philips screws to remove the whole cowling once everything else has been disconnected, and then it's easy-peasy to work on everything.

And at Zanotti Motors prices for those panels are $159 and $108 respectively. :glare:

I didn't remove the fairing to replace the battery. I removed the black inner panels. As I was putting it back together, the center and upper right pieces were coming apart - large gap. There has never been any kind of impact and the bike has always been parked in side. I seems like the plastic was exposed to repeated heat. I can't see that happening as the fairing is up front. I do ride it work every day during the summer but try to park in the shade. My local Yamaha dealer wanted $230 for the center fairing. It's always nice to have a recommended online source, so thanks for Zanotti Motors.

 

[BugR]

I hope your not using Loctite on fasteners which touch the fairings. It will do exactly that to the tabs.

Chris

 

[OhHeck04]

I hope your not using Loctite on fasteners which touch the fairings. It will do exactly that to the tabs.
Chris

Loctite may have been used but not by me. I bought the bike used a couple of years ago when it had 4700 miles on it. The FJR now has about 18K. I believe that the tabs were broke before I ever touched them with an allen wrench. So it's not the result of the bolt being frozen in the spring nut. I never had this problem with my 78 XS750.

 

[wfooshee]

That may also be indicative of an impact or forced out-of-sequence disassembly. Someone said, "Why the $^#* won't this thing come off?!?!?!?" when they really didn't know the correct order.

BTW, if you ever do have to get in there, those upper side fairings are the last piece of front bodywork to come off. Precedure (courtesy of Yours Truly) is here.

(Holy crap! My thread is the first hit on Google for "fairing and cowl removal" even without specifying the site or my name or the type of bike. Kewl!!!)

 

[OhHeck04]

That may also be indicative of an impact or forced out-of-sequence disassembly. Someone said, "Why the $^#* won't this thing come off?!?!?!?" when they really didn't know the correct order.
BTW, if you ever do have to get in there, those upper side fairings are the last piece of front bodywork to come off. Precedure (courtesy of Yours Truly) is here.

(Holy crap! My thread is the first hit on Google for "fairing and cowl removal" even without specifying the site or my name or the type of bike. Kewl!!!)

Wfooshee I wish I would have seen you post last night. I removed the whole front thing this morning with a friends help. We removed the 2 center bolts and 1 battery cage bolt and took the entire assembly off. Came to the conclusion that the 3 fairings must be assemble as a whole and put back on. The Factory manual is useless. I'm going to change the coolant while it all apart. There's no impact or forcing but the plastic is as brittle as glass and literally crumbled apart. There's not a mark on the exterior of the fairings.

More bad news (when it rains it pours) the new center fairing is NOT the same color as the original piece or the new upper right fairing! You said it best - "Holy crap!" https://pbckt.com/sb.wWN are pictures and the color differnce is clear.

 

[Bounce]

The brittle might be an exposure to either locktite or brake fluid. Both can attack ABS.

 

[Go Far]

I'm wondering, like Skooter if the bikes been dropped.

You may be able to see a slight misalignment in the mirrors if you sight from the front.

I hope your not using Loctite on fasteners which touch the fairings. It will do exactly that to the tabs.
Chris

Loctite may have been used but not by me. I bought the bike used a couple of years ago when it had 4700 miles on it. The FJR now has about 18K. I believe that the tabs were broke before I ever touched them with an allen wrench. So it's not the result of the bolt being frozen in the spring nut. I never had this problem with my 78 XS750.

 

[OhHeck04]

I'm wondering, like Skooter if the bikes been dropped. You may be able to see a slight misalignment in the mirrors if you sight from the front.

I'll tell you why I don't think that it was dropped. There are no marks on the outside. The mirrors weren't misaligned. I've accessed the battery before and the tabs weren't broke. This plastic is brittle! It did just crack; it shattered and splintered. The only time that it may have been taken apart is when the heated grips were installed. I believed that they were installed by a dealer which doesn't guarentee anything but they should have some level of competency. This was all before I bought the bike.