FJR1300 Middle Drive Failure

[Warchild]

This posted on behalf of Dean Tanji:

2003 FJR1300 Middle Drive FailureDean Tanji

December 12, 2006

The Problem

I live in SoCal. On my way to Gerlach, NV, Sept 22, at 67,407 miles, my FJR1300 came

to a gut wrenching, grinding halt on NV-28 in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. I was at a

stop sign, making a right hand turn and forward progress was interrupted just as I was

pulling away from the stop. Any attempt to increase throttle resulted in horrific grinding

sound. The sound was coming from the front drive shaft/cross joint (universal) area.

Prior to the failure, there was no hitch, shutter, hic up, whine, grinding or any indication

of a problem.

Attempts in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear resulted in the same horrific grinding. When I put the

bike on the center stand, with no load, the rear tire would turn when the bike was in a

gear. I used my AAA towing to get the bike off the street up to my friend’s residence and

into the garage. My first though was the infamous front drive shaft spline. I pulled off

the rear wheel and removed the four acorn nuts and pulled the pumpkin/drive shaft out.

Both sides of the drive shaft splines looked normal. My problem was more serious.

History

I don’t think I’m hard on motorcycles. Most all of you ride more aggressive than me. In

four years I’ve never done a wheelie or dragged any part of the FJR. In a group, I’m

usually in the back. On the average, I ride the FJR once or twice a month. When I do

ride it, it’s usually for an extended number of days. The FJR has completed two 11-

day/11K rides, a 49 States+Mexico in 8 days and a number of 1K and 1.5K days.

This bike has never been to a dealer for service except for valves. I do all the regularly

scheduled minor service myself. This includes oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs, TBS, lubing,

brake pads, front forks, pumpkin and drive shaft inspections all learned from Warchild’s

https://www.fjrtech.com/ and HMarc’s https://www.fjr1300.info/, and you folks on this

forum.

I followed the Motoman Break-in and changed oil at 60 miles.

https://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I followed the maintenance schedule using Yamaha dino oil then switched to Mobil 1

synth red cap at 9,000 miles. When the red cap packaging changed, I’ve been using

Mobile 1 MX4T 10W-40 4-cycle Full Synth motorcycle oil.

Service Options

Reno Yamaha dealer said 2 months and Carson City Yamaha said they can look at it but

parts would take 2-3 weeks. I ended up carrying the FJR back to Orange County in a

pickup truck.

I first thought I would service the bike myself but work became a priority. My YES

service plan (purchased from Sunnyside Yamaha, WA) ended Dec 13, 2006. After much

procrastinating on my part, I took the bike to Mission Motorsports, Irvine, CA on Nov 6.

I was in no rush to get the bike back. My instructions were to save all replaced

worn/damaged parts. I wanted to understand what happened.

A week later, I got the phone call, the “Middle Drive Gear Assembly” had to be replaced.

“Things are very loose in there.” was the comment. Hell, I was expecting chunks of

metal, numerous twisted shafts and dog bones!! The “Middle Drive Gear” arrived in two

weeks but the gaskets were on backorder.

Today I picked up the FJR. The service tech, Kevin, came out with the Middle Drive

Gear Assembly and said, “I can’t give these to you. Yamaha wants these back”.

Both the drive shaft splines and the teeth (that mate with the drive shaft) inside the gear

hub are heavily worn.

At this angle, the teeth are almost worn flat. Now you would think that I would have

noticed metal parts floating in the oil during an oil change. But I didn’t see anything

abnormal.

Detailed schematic can be found on this page:

All that grinding racket came from very worn gears. At this time, I know of no other FJR

failure like this. The service tech had no explanation why this failure occurred. First one

he’s seen on an FJR.

Do I think the YES extended warrantee is worth it? You betcha! My FJR is now running

fine. This whole event has not soured me on the FJR or Yamaha one bit.

Summary

2003 Yamaha FJR1300

Mileage at failure – 67,407

Oil at time of failure: Mobil 1 MX4T 10W-40 4-cycle Full Synth motorcycle oil

Service History: 100% self service with exception of valves

Problem: Middle Drive Gear spline failure

YES agreement – Expires Dec 12, 2006

Cost to fix – 100% under warrantee

At this time, I am pleased with the final outcome.

Dean Tanji

Tustin, CA

Now, without researching it (or even opening the Service Manual to look at the oil flow diagrams), my initial question is: how is it that there *appears* to be so much corrosion on those internal spline teeth on the Middle Gear?! (first photo, in particular).

I thought this entire assembly is bath in oil.... ASSuming this is indeed corrosion we are looking at.... :blink:

 

[Fencer]

I thought this entire assembly is bath in oil.... ASSuming this is indeed corrosion we are looking at.... :blink:

it looks like it could be oil/grease to me, But What do I know?

 

[slapnpop]

Looks like it might be glazed oil from excess heat in the area (probably when the metal was shearing).

Appears much worse in the gear mating sections that the flat open areas.

 

[Warchild]

Yeah, upon further review after blowing up these photos to 175%, I'm hard-pressed to believe it's corrosion, but, daaaaaayumn..... :blink:

 

[huron52]

I know this sounds bad and everyone will now go out and check for themselves or have the dealer check how bad that middle gear is. Un heard of? It has never happened to another bike?

Here is a story.... Way back in the summer of 1978 I was riding my brand new XS11 standard. Cruising a long at about 60mph and there was a shutter or something like that... maybe it felt like a miss or something. So I though, hell open up the throttle..... that will fix her! Less than 500 feet down the road the rear tire locked up and I came to a stop. More like a rear tire sliding stop. I managed to keep the bike up right. Under warrenty, I took it back to the dealer.

At that time there was a separate oil compartment for the middle gear. It used gear lube. Today the FJR uses the engine oil to lube the middle gear.

Now I didn't see any of the parts but they replaced the middle gear and Yamaha took the old parts. But the dealer couldn't or wouldn't tell me what was the cause. Never had the problem again.

Don't be yelling " the sky is falling"

 

[madmike2]

Don't be yelling " the sky is falling"

Hmmmmm, I only read the piece as "informational" about a one-time failure. Should there be another, then questions could be asked, but there are other FJRs running around with more miles than Dean's an no problems.

 

[twowheelnut]

I followed the Motoman Break-in...

 

[Fencer]

I followed the Motoman Break-in...

Set the piston rings/shear the middle drive :blink:

 

[Warchild]

Don't be yelling " the sky is falling"

Say whaaaaaat.....? :blink:

Pretty sure no one's claiming the end of the world here....

Hmmmmm, I only read the piece as "informational" about a one-time failure. Should there be another, then questions could be asked, but there are other FJRs running around with more miles than Dean's an no problems.

Absolutely. There's no question that this is extremely unusual, and I hardly think folks will be breaking into their gearboxes to look at their middle gear.... :lol:

If there was anything REMOTELY approaching a trend here, I'm pretty sure LD maniacs like SkooterG, Doug Chapman, George Zelenz, Doug Banfelder, Skyway, Rick Martin, Tom Melchild, etc, etc, etc would have uncovered this long, loooooong before the mild-riding Dean Tanji would have. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Regardless, it still doesn't keep the curious from wondering what happened to cause this...

 

[twowheelnut]

Set the piston rings/shear the middle drive :blink:

You think that procedure affects just the motor? What if the parts were lube starved from the factory for some reason? That's been documented on the spline, what's to say that something was done not quite right here that could have been affected? Hammerin' the drive train when fresh *could* affect long term reliability in that case. I'm sure Yamaha doesn't design the bike to Motoman's break-in procedures. Not that they know anything about drive train design and manufacture or nuttin', but I'm sure Motoman has designed and built endless power trains with which to prove his voodoo logic.

Anyway, this is just an odd ball situation and prolly of no concern to the general populace. I just like to jump on Hocus Pocus theories that make little or no sense at all in the real world.

And, sorry for starting to push this thread into it's inevitable and natural home. I know that it was put out here only for informational purposes.

 

[Windjammer]

That dark colored crap looks like cooked grease. Are we sure that BOTH ends of that middle gear shaft run in an oil bath? Is it possible only the undamaged end is inside the motor, and the damaged end is sealed outside the motor, and is manually lubed like the driveshaft splines?

Only reason I ask is that it seems unlikely that oil would cook onto just one end of that shaft. An oil bath would lube both ends more or less equally, no? Very, very odd failure. Seems induced by lack of lubrication, but how is that possible?

 

[bramfrank]

This showed up on Micapeak (obviously without the benefit of photos).

One thing that comes to mind is that Dean's claim for this wear situation could easily have been dismissed by Yamaha, because wear and tear are excluded from warranty coverage.

As the first of it's type, I suppose that Yamaha wanted the parts back for analysis. (as in, what happened if the thing had locked up at speed and it turns out it is a design defect?)

In any case Kudos to them for not giving Dean a hard time when they could have blown him off like they suirely did to others for the first of the tickers.

 

[Warchild]

In any case Kudos to them for not giving Dean a hard time when they could have blown him off like they suirely did to others for the first of the tickers.

I don't think this could have been "subject to review" by Cypress, because as long as Dean had proof of proper oil changes at the specified interval, this is the only possible tie-in to scheduled maintenance they could have used to deny a warranty claim, since I do believe this area is lubricated by engine oil.

It's not like this is a service "wear item" like shock absorbers or fork seals, and it definitely isn't a service interval item you'll find on the published Maintenance Schedule. These items are part of the powertrain, which is fully covered under Y.E.S. Good job on Dean's part to purchase a Y.E.S. warranty from Sunnyside; as I'm thinking this repair would have no doubt far surpassed the cost of Y.E.S. just on labor alone.

 

[Bounce]

If there was anything REMOTELY approaching a trend here, I'm pretty sure LD maniacs like SkooterG, Doug Chapman, George Zelenz, Doug Banfelder, Skyway, Rick Martin, Tom Melchild, etc, etc, etc would have uncovered this long, loooooong before the mild-riding Dean Tanji would have. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Regardless, it still doesn't keep the curious from wondering what happened to cause this...

i'll step to the plate with the correctly-jumped to conclusion! It's those california models. Their splines are limp wristedly weaker than the 48 state models!

All seriousness aside. Thanks for posting this. It's reassuring to hear Yamaha stepping to the plate for "unique" situations like this.

 

[bramfrank]

It's not like this is a service "wear item" like shock absorbers or fork seals, and it definitely isn't a service interval item you'll find on the published Maintenance Schedule. The se items are part of the powertrain, which is fully covered under Y.E.S. Good job on Dean's part to purchase a Y.E.S. warranty from Sunnyside; as I'm thinking this repair would have no doubt far surpassed the cost of Y.E.S. just on labor alone.

Not everything in the cases in the power-train or bathed in oil and without a service interval is covered - witness shift forks, clutch parts and so on.

I wasn't even saying that it shouldn't have been covered - but Yamaha MIGHT have said that the unit suffered from wear due to abusive operation or something similar (Certainly I've seen claims denied by car manufacturers for similar weirdness, however usually only when WOMEN bring their cars in).

In fact the wife had her van serviced just last week for a non-functioning gas gauge - the sender/fuel pump assembly was at fault and the vehicle was under GM's Protection Plus extended warranty - they warned her when she called that it wasn't covered and it would cost C$900. She said nothing, just made an appointment.

When I brought the vehicle in for service there was no mention whatsoever of the possibility that it might be chargeable. However the DID try to sell me a turn signal bulb for $30 installed (no thanks - Paid $2.85 at the parts counter and installed it myself, thank you very much). Total bill? $35 for an oil/filter change.

 

[huron52]

For years when I mention in passing that the middle gear went south on me people told me they never have heard of that happening.

I wish I had the internet then to see how many broke since then. Anybody know?

Is this the second known in close to thirty years?

If that is the case.... I don't know whether I will be able to sleep tonight. :lol:

 

[skyway]

Regardless, it still doesn't keep the curious from wondering what happened to cause this...

TWN does raise a good point with the motoman break-in. I would not do this on any of my vehicles, it just doesn't make any sense to me, I mean you only have to take it easy for the first 1000 miles, that's nothing. There's no doubt that there's a lot of stress being put on all new parts throughout the engine/drive train, when they have had no time to seat in against one-another. I wonder if Motoman is so confident in his procedure that if proven it causes any long term failure will be willing to foot the bill for needed repairs? There's no doubt that as the miles have added up the transmission has gotten very smooth on my bike as compared to new.

I'm not here to argue the pro's and con's of this break-in procedure, just pointing out a possibility to the long term failure. I'll save this fight for another thread.

It could also be one bad part in a batch/or poor assembly and Dean unfortunately got it in his engine. I'm not concerned in the slightest about this problem for the reasons mentioned above by Warchild. The FJR power train is damn near bullet proof and has proven itself time and again for many years under extreme riding conditions.

 

[skyway]

Is this the picture of both failed parts? If so, it appears that the teeth are only bad on 1 part and not both? If so, it could just simply be an out of spec part in terms of hardness? It does look like the oil in there is real gunky, could one of the oil lubrication channels be plugged that point to this area? It sure does look like this area has been starved of lubrication with a heat build-up as a result. Even if heat was the result of failure here, wouldn't this area still have relatively clean engine oil flowing through it?

 

[Greg E.]

Don't be yelling " the sky is falling"

Say whaaaaaat.....? :blink:

Pretty sure no one's claiming the end of the world here....

Hmmmmm, I only read the piece as "informational" about a one-time failure. Should there be another, then questions could be asked, but there are other FJRs running around with more miles than Dean's an no problems.

Absolutely. There's no question that this is extremely unusual, and I hardly think folks will be breaking into their gearboxes to look at their middle gear.... :lol:

If there was anything REMOTELY approaching a trend here, I'm pretty sure LD maniacs like SkooterG, Doug Chapman, George Zelenz, Doug Banfelder, Skyway, Rick Martin, Tom Melchild, etc, etc, etc would have uncovered this long, loooooong before the mild-riding Dean Tanji would have. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Regardless, it still doesn't keep the curious from wondering what happened to cause this...

Seems to me that this failure is a fluke. How many FJRs are on the road and ridden far more aggressively than this one. Given the attention that any mechanicals are given by members of this forum, it would've seen the light of day a lot sooner than now.

Just my humble observation.........