Fork rebuild

[keizerken]

Just had the 12000 mile service done on my 07 FJR. I asked them to check the front tire balance, which they installed about 3000 miles ago, because the bike has developed a shimmy or head slap around 50 miles and hour if you take your hands off the bars. I know, you're not suppossed to to that. They checked all the torques on the front end, alignment and tire balance and they are all fine. They are telling me that my forks are likely beginning to fail and I was most surprised by that. The service manager said its not unusual and that they have had to rebuild them as early as 7 or 8000 miles. I find this a bit distressing and am not sure I believe him. So, what kind of experiences have you fellow FJR owners had?

Somewhat dissappointed!!!

 

[Big-D]

Sounds like your tire may be way out of balance. Unless you've damaged the fork in some manner there is no way it should have gone bad. Short of doing a little MotoX on your FJR.

I've had tires that were bad right from the factory. The manufacturer will usually stand behind it and replace it with no problem if that turns out to be the problem. Maybe you were sold a blem. I find it hard to believe that a fork would develop problems with those little miles on it. It wouldn't say much for Yamaha if it did, unless it had a factory problem from the beginning that has taken this long to show itself.

I had a new tire on my truck separate while hauling a trailer with two ATV's on the back. The tire grabbed a mud-flap, spun it around like a garbage disposer and tore the entire left fender off my truck and threw it back at the trailer and knocked three holes the size of bowling balls through the trailer. Yet the tire never actually lost any air, the tread came off and left it riding on just cord.

The manufacturer replaced all four tires, paid for the repair on the truck and trailer and paid me for the inconvenience it had caused. I was really surprised.

 

[dcarver]

Tire wear, ride height and other suspension settings will cause the 40-50 front end shimmy. Your dealer is either attempting to fleece you or doesn't know modern bikes very well. My 60k 06A has had shimmies come and go, most all due to tire wear and/or mixing/matching brands and/or running tires with profiles different than recommended.

For example, I'm currently running a ME880 (different profile than stock, taller and skinnier IIRC) and a 80% worn Avon Storm and I have the decel shimmies. New rubber will cure all ills.

Now, to simply change the fork oil at 12k is a good thing. Replacing seals, bushings, etc. is a tad expensive and not needed.

 

[SkooterG]

****! I am fuked!

Hmmmm........in 146,000 miles I have had the fork oil replaced twice. The second time, at 91,000 miles, required replacement of the bushings as they were extremely worn. I guess I am about due.

Now I wouldn't use me as the 'fork service poster child' :lol: , but 12,000 is ridiculous.

 

[Spook]

Could it be your dealer was trying to fork you???????????? :assassin:

 

[spalkin]

I agree with dcarver, an oil change in the forks is always a great idea. Rebuild not ness. at this time. I've got 26k on mine and all the bushings, slides, seals and washers to do my forks, plus some tapper'ds for the steering head. First lazy rainy day, it's done. Can't wait to see how it feels.

 

[dcarver]

****! I am fuked!
Hmmmm........in 146,000 miles I have had the fork oil replaced twice. The second time, at 91,000 miles, required replacement of the bushings as they were extremely worn. I guess I am about due.

Now I wouldn't use me as the 'fork service poster child' :lol: , but 12,000 is ridiculous.

Sorry Skoot, this time frame is too long! That fork oil must have looked really ugly. You really are a cheap SOB. Love yah dude, but you are not the maintenace queen on this fourm... :glare: Tires, fork oil, underwear.. ([SIZE=8pt]according to ODOT! :blink: )[/SIZE]

 

[Bruno]

My '06 made it 23k before I notice a fork seal leaking.

I asked the svc. mgr. why this would happen with so few miles and I was shown the bushings which were plastic and damn near completely wore through.

I don't get it. I've put 300k on 3 Hondas and never had seals/bushing fail this young, after warranty anyway (I remember now that the '98 ST blew a seal after a couple months at 7k but no problem up to 111k when I sold it). I'm heavy and like to ride backroads (gravel, dirt, rock) but I'm not riding any different then previous bikes.

Between this, the ignition failure, and very poor service, I'm really disappointed with my first Yamahas. Otherwise awesome machines but don't know if it's worth it.

 

[07FJRSD]

got 11,500 on mine and leaking bad on left side. I run some gravel roads to, still a little disappointed.

 

[dbvolfan]

Heck, my shadow went through 3 fork seals before 15k miles............

Now at 26k miles on my FJR I am about to replace the fork oil but no leaks yet (fingers crossed)

 

[El Toro]

Did they check the steering head nut torque? I checked mine at the first service, and although it was tight (about 40 ft-lbs), the spec is 85 ft-lbs.

Rebuilding forks at 12000 seems early unless you're running in really dusty environments.

Motion Pro is selling a little plastic/synthetic wiper tool that they say can clean up a seal and stop a leak. No first hand experience with the product, so I can't vouch for it.... but its cheap enough to be worth a try if you actually have leaking. My sense from your post is that you do not have an obvious leak.

Time and type of use can be more important than miles on fork oil seal life, but on 07 is pretty young.

I have seen older low mileage ST1100s that needed fork rebuilds.

You could check the fork oil. If there are parts that have worn to the point of needing a rebuild, I would think the fork oil would be showing some signs. In a one year old bike with 12000 miles one would expect the fork oil to look "ok" rather than the sludgy grungy look it gets after several years and a bunch of miles.

FWIW, its a messy job in my experience, and you usually need some special tools to get the fork fully disassembled (special socket on a long extension). Sometimes the Haynes manuals will give you tips on making special tools so you don't have to shell out the bucks for the official tool.

It could be a tire issue that they're avoiding because they sold you the tire and they would rather charge you for another job rather than fix the last job.

If the fork rebuild turns out to be necessary at 12000 miles, it would seem that it would be a warranty issue. I suppose technically bushings are "wear parts," But most folks would agree that bushings ought to last 12000 miles.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

The guys at GP Suspension told me at @12000 my fork bushings were shot, and they had seen it on more than a few FJR fork rebuilds they did on the last group buy. But I know new tires always make my shimmies go away. Didn't really know my bushings were needing replacement, but they sent them back to me ... and yup, they were worn.

 

[twowheelnut]

Odd, my 50 something k fork internals were 'in great shape' as proclaimed by GPS. I still had them go ahead with the upgrade and glad I did.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Odd, my 50 something k fork internals were 'in great shape' as proclaimed by GPS. I still had them go ahead with the upgrade and glad I did.

I use the front brake.

:lol:

 

[twowheelnut]

Oh. Yeah. Good point.

 

[Bruno]

"I use the front brake"

That is a good point, since moving to the city I do a lot more braking then I used to but...

just whinin' - hate downtime for service.

 

[keizerken]

Thanks for all of the comments regarding the fork question. Sounds like experiences are all over the board. According to the shop foreman, they checked all torques, rechecked the wheel balance and all as it should be. I'm not prepared to jump into a fork rebuild at this point as the shimmy is not an issue except when I want it to be. If the next tire change doesn't make a difference, then I'll think about it. Again, thanks for all the input.

 

[HaulinAshe]

Check your suspension settings to make sure they are matched right/left and according to the Yami defaults. Change tires, then change dealers.

 

[Bluestreek]

I"d bet a new front tire and a new dealer would fix your problem.