Get your FJR's guts balanced

[DocDanDC]

I'm sick of the vibration on my '05 FJR 1300! Has anyone sent a crank into Falicon cranks yet? They offer supercrank options, blueprinting, knife edge connecting rods, balancing, ect.

Does anyone know if this might help motorvibration with the FJR? Or, will it change the performance for the worse?

I think my FJR may need a gut balancing.. Anyone have any experience with this?

https://www.faliconcranks.com/index.html

 

[Vulcan]

Pretty drastic action.....Have you checked the motor mount bolts for the correct torque and had the TB balanced? Those seem to be the main reasons that the FJR vibrates.

 

[Randy]

Not on the FJR, but, I've sent cranks to them in the past. Had them do polishing and knife edging. Definite improvement over stock, but, then again, we were begging, borrowing, and stealing to get every speck of hp out of the motor. It wasn't cheap.

 

[radman]

It's an inline 4, in which vibrations are endemic. You'll never get rid of them all, Yami added 2 balancers in an attempt, and it helps but doesn't eliminate. Spend your money on a PCIII, your time on synch, and it will improve greatly.

 

[FJRay]

every time i listen to vibration complaints about the fjr all i have to do is go for a ride on my 750 enfield twin and by the time i have gone 20 miles i am numb from the waist down and all thoughts of the fjr vibration are gone forever. the sr500 yamaha does a pretty good job also.

 

[radman]

every time i listen to vibration complaints about the fjr all i have to do is go for a ride on my 750 enfield twin and by the time i have gone 20 miles i am numb from the waist down and all thoughts of the fjr vibration are gone forever. the sr500 yamaha does a pretty good job also.

True, I also have a couple real vibros in my past, but with them, not only was it part of the deal, but they occurred at a different frequency than a four. Something about the fours range is especially irritating, especially on a long distance mount like the Frank. Hell, a 200 mile run on my Sportster was superhuman in my estimation, with a 1" pad for a seat, and no front brake. But hey, I looked cool............ :lol:

 

[motorgod]

I'm sick of the vibration on my '05 FJR 1300!  Has anyone sent a crank into Falicon cranks yet?  They offer supercrank options, blueprinting, knife edge connecting rods, balancing, ect. 
Does anyone know if this might help motorvibration with the FJR?  Or, will it change the performance for the worse?

I think my FJR may need a gut balancing..  Anyone have any experience with this?

https://www.faliconcranks.com/index.html

Sell the bike...you'll never be happy. Some type of vibration is inherent in the design of the bike...It can be minimized but it will always be there. Then by a Harley and realize how smooth the FJR really is.

 

[Skippy]

It must be a problem with individual bikes as I , for one, have not experienced any noticeable vibration on my 05 in the last 19,000miles, and I have done WAY TOO MANY 800+ mile days on it, and did not notice any kind of perciveable vibration.

I will say this, if it vibrated enough to warrant me taking the motor out, striping it down and sending out the crank, I would make sure my insurance was up to date drain the fluids, and send it into the nearest lake and report it stolen.

Skippy

 

[Bluestreek]

Mine doesn't vibrate much, I had to put louder exhaust on so I could tell if the engine was on. :blink:

 

[DocDanDC]

Well, the Yamaha rep is on his way over to ride the bike to see if it is me or the individual bike. Lucky that I work about 2miles from the Yamaha factory/headquarters. They were real nice on the phone so far.

My local Yamaha shop had one of their service mechanics tune the throttle bodies while I watched. He made sure that I had installed the PCIII correctly, 001map loaded, idle set, balancers checked and tuned. Then he rode it about 15miles. When he got back he said that he too felt excessive vibration. Refered me to the dealership service manager. The service manager, thankfully is the proud owner of a 2005 FJR 1300! The Service manager rode it home and back (80mile round trip). The next day he too said that not only was there excessive vibration, "abnormal compared to his FJR" but his hands and feet were numb by the 10 mile mark! He then called Yamaha and set me up with the Chief Service Rep. They will make it right.

My FJR vibration is not just in the bars. When I stand up on the foot pegs, they too are vibrating alot. When I pull in the clutch the vibration disapears. Rev with the clutch in, vibration disapears. Rev in neutral, vibration disapears. Ride in gear, any gear, vibration is present. Coasting out of gear, vibration is gone. Riding my friends FJR, vibration gone, enduring severe acceleration G-forces, smile on face.

So I am using the chain of command, doing my part, using the extended warranty, using the dealer direct prepaid maintenance and Yes Im trying to do my FJR homework too!

To me, getting into the motor is a last resourt but if the problem is the crank out of balance then thats the next step. Maybe the motor mount bolts are not correctly torqued but they said that they checked it already. (BUT NOT WHILE I WATCHED)

:bigeyes:

I dont mean this to be a gripe session but I figure that some of the FJR bros out there could give me some ideas. THANKS!

 

[Skippy]

Sounds more like a clutch basket carrier bearing or release bearing than a crank outta balance.

I had to change the clutch basket main bearing on my old 86 FJ1200 for exactly the same symptoms.

Skippy

 

[DocDanDC]

Thanks Skippy. That sounds bad too.

 

[exskibum]

It's an inline 4, in which vibrations are endemic. You'll never get rid of them all, Yami added 2 balancers in an attempt, and it helps but doesn't eliminate. Spend your money on a PCIII, your time on synch, and it will improve greatly.

I'd sure like to know why it is that on the CBR 1100XX, Honda's twin balancers produce one of the most vibration free engines this side of a Gold Wing, but Yamaha's balancers on the FJR do a less efficient job.

Anyone know the answer or the difference in balancer design? I can attest to the difference (see my signature), suspect you'd hear the same from Warchild, and understand it to be pretty much consensus that the Blackbird is one of the most vibration free inline 4s ever made. So, what did they do differently?

 

[radman]

I'd sure like to know why it is that on the CBR 1100XX, Honda's twin balancers produce one of the most vibration free engines this side of a Gold Wing, but Yamaha's balancers on the FJR do a less efficient job.
Anyone know the answer or the difference in balancer design? I can attest to the difference (see my signature), suspect you'd hear the same from Warchild, and understand it to be pretty much consensus that the Blackbird is one of the most vibration free inline 4s ever made. So, what did they do differently?

Could be engine size, 1300 vs 1100,more size=more mass, could be mounting, balancer tuning, balancer drive method, clutch mass and/or drive method, a whole host of things as varied as the sounds they make.

 

[yamaholic]

Agreed, this does not sound normal. All the FJR's I've seen/heard are very smooth running engines. Just some minor tingle.

Mine tends to start running a little rough when the sync is do. Nothing like a v-twin mind you..just not as smooth

 

[Randy]

And to think some people actually pay EXTRA for vibration on a motorcycle

https://www.viberider.com/

 

[radman]

Ah, livink in Kapitalist Kountry! What is not to love, da?!?!

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Has anyone sent a crank into Falicon cranks yet?  They offer supercrank options, blueprinting, knife edge connecting rods, balancing, ect. 
Does anyone know if this might help motorvibration with the FJR?  Or, will it change the performance for the worse?

Not on the FJR, but I had them do an "Ultralight Supercrank" job on one of my old 900 Ninjas. I balanced the rods and pistons myself. That Supercrank was such a thing of beauty that you hated to hide it inside a motor. The motor was absolutely as smooth as glass and revved incredibly quickly. I have pics of it, but they really don't do it justice. Tom Falicon told me they shaved almost 4 lbs off that crank!!!

All that aside, as someone else already stated...it's probably not the answer to your problems. As a 22 year mechanic, I suspect that your problem actually stems from something making contact somewhere it shouldn't be, rather than an internal problem in the engine. If uncle Yami actually opted to tear down the engine for inspection, it's just as likely that the problem would be reduced/resolved just through the act of disassembling/reassembling the engine from the frame.

I have found some CRAZY **** over the years causing vibrations in vehicles. My personal favorite?? The guy who was screaming for his Corolla to be bought back for excessive vibration. The culprit?? A WALNUT, apparently dropped into the rear motor mount by an errant squirrel. When you put the car in drive, the engine would rock back against the walnut, creating a direct vibration transmission path. The most common source of excessive vibration?? Bent exhaust components touching something they shouldn't. Makes for some NASTY vibrations. Look at the exhaust and motor mounts carefully...don't assume your dealer did it (thoroughly). Getting a Falicon job on your motor is probably not the answer. It would be sweet though.

 

[DocDanDC]

@Dangerous Dave

Thanks for the tips. Do you think that a Falicon crank job and knife edge connectors would make the FJR too radical for street use?

New clue to the vibration. If I stand on the foot pegs there is alot of vibration. However if I touch the end of the foot peg and push inward, Like spurring a horse, there is no felt vibration. To me this means that the vibration is in the vertical plane.

The Yamaha rep, from the factory, rode the bike yesterday for about 1hr. When he came back he would only tell me 3 things that he "didnt like about this bike".

1. He said, "the bike feels Lazy" he swiped his finger around the exhaust pipe and said that it was running rich due to the black exhause residue.

2. He said, "I dont like the Power Commanders" and added that he wanted me to remove it so he could ride the bike again and see if there was any difference. I told him that I could just put the 000map in. He said NO, "I dont even want it connected". To me this was a Red Flag. I dont know if he said that because that is what he has been trained to say or if he actually knows his ****.

3. He said, "He wants the Yamaha shop mechanic to loosen the motormounts and let the engine settle then retorque everything". This is the only thing that made sense to me.

I told him that I wanted to try the motormount idea first. The power commander seems to work OK for bringing down the engine heat, two bars usually at cruise. Although I do realize that a very minimal black pipe residue is not optimal for performance. I figure then I could get the bike tuned on a dyno for best performance.