Grounding Harness

[RaYzerman19]

Satisfied customer here too.... found all the spiders including the two extra under the tank, all are greased. I would suggest putting in enough grease to fill the cavities, including the back. My spiders were in good shape but the front left one in the engine bay was showing signs of corrosion starting. Up by the signal light was OK but you could see the signal light connector had definitely seen water and corroded, so I greased that up too. Bit of a job up top if you have a shelf and Baker Air Wings, since it's so much to take apart and reassemble, but not awful. It was good to get in there again and see that all is OK.

I was running out of gas (not enough sleep the night before and the coffee maker is broken), but then I realized all I had to do was eat the two Tootsie Rolls that came with the harness. Brodie thought of everything!! Thanks, sir!

 

[showstopper]

Brodie,

I need a grounding harness from you. This is Showstopper. Just let me know how. Thanks

______________________________________________

[SIZE=12pt]Here it is [/SIZE]

My answer to the melting grounding shunt issue that has been plaguing the owners of Yamaha's second generation FJR 1300...

For those of you who don't have the time to read the dozens of pages on this subject , here is the condensed version of the issue...

Yamaha upped the alternator output on the 2nd gen. bikes in 2006. They also introduced a new method of tying all the black (return) wires together on the way back to the battery negative terminal. They used a 6 pin Sumitomo MT connector that is open to the environment. When the bike is new all the connections are fresh and have minimal resistance to the current flowing through them. In order to keep cost down they engineered the smallest gage wires to do the job. The largest wire that the connector is rated at is 1.0 [SIZE=8pt]mm2[/SIZE] (16 gage). My opinion is that the wire is large enough to work, but the connectors are the weak link. As the bike ages the pins oxidize thereby adding more resistance to the current. When this resistance builds it causes heat. With heat brings more resistance, and so on. Left unchecked, this is a recipe for a classic thermal runaway condition (see picture below). If all they had to do was handle 1 or 2 components, there would be no issue. However, these spyders are connected in series; the ones closest to the battery channels all the current on 1 skinny pin. It's typically that one, and the next one upstream from it on the fairing sub-harness that have a history of failure.

My Grounding Harness takes the place of the forked shorting bars (aka ground spyders). It provides a second path of 10 gauge (thick) copper wire back to battery negative terminal for all 6 grounding shunts on the bike's wiring harness.

Thats 6 groups of 6 wires attached to the 10 gage wire. The whole idea is to keep this from happening...

Several weeks back I built my first "proof of concept" Grounding Harness on my '06 AE model FJR.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s=&showtopic=126635&view=findpost&p=712671

Prototype Grounding Harness
https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s=&showtopic=126635&view=findpost&p=712671
Since then I built and installed 3 more, one on Don Carver's '06A, one on Roy Epperson's '07A, and one on my buddy Brian's 08A. All went in smoothly and have no reports of ground loop issues. The radio reception on my bike has not been impacted.

What's involved is removal of the fuel tank, T bar, and heat shield. Removal of all 4 dash panels. Removal of the left side cover (by your ankle), and removal of the left inner fairing panel (behind the turn signal, next to the radiator/horn). Then you locate and remove the 6 grounding spyders (the ones with the all black wires) and attach my harness to them. My harness also attaches to the battery negative terminal. The other 2 spyders are serviced with dielectric grease (provided) reassembeled and tucked out of harm's way. It's not a difficult job if you are handy with some basic tools. The job will take about 2 hours if you keep at it. The 2 "Spider Nests" above the headlight sockets are the trickiest to get to. I am providing instructions on my personal website on how to install it.

I am tooled up and am in production now. As of today I have 18 Grounding Harnesses ready to ship. My price is $90.00 plus shipping - UPS Ground, unless otherwise specified.

This following is the waiting list gleaned from my Prototype Grounding Harness thread. I will send PM's to each in order as Grounding Harnesses become available. This PM will direct you to my personal website where you will make the PayPal transaction.

VERY IMPORTANT... Please include your FJRForum name in the comment area on the PayPal order page. I need to keep this list up to date.
As of 8/29/2010

1. Sent     FJR Flyer
2. PM sent     Joe2Lmaker     Deferred until later
3. Installed     dcarver
4. Installed     Roy Epperson
5. Installed     FJRONAMISSION
6. Sent     JetDoc
7. Sent     petey
8. Sent     FJR919
9. Sent     OK Red
10. Sent     Larry33319
11. Sent     AuburnFJR
12. Sent     WRichStrom
13. Sent     nwrider1
14. PM sent     johnny80s     Deferred until later
15. PM sent     majicmaker   Deferred until later
16. Sent     steve
17. Sent     Good2Go
18. Sent     turbodave 98
19. Sent     doug5551
20. PM sent     mr.paul         Deferred until later
21. Sent     Nosecone
22. PM sent     clubber        
23. Sent     FJRRider08
24. Sent     ahchiu
25. Sent     blackarrow
26. PM sent     Mikeysduck   Deferred until later
27. Sent     Cavy
28. Sent     Beacher
29. Sent     Panman
30. Sent     Alex
31. Sent     Carl Stark, IBA #339
    
32. Sent     ShinyPartsUp
33. Sent     Beamer Reamer
34. Sent     Dragonchef
35. Sent     Boostn
36. Sent     BwanaDik
37. Sent     Hudson
38. Sent     Rushes
39. Sent     phroenips - 1st one
40. Sent     phroenips - 2nd one
41. Sent     rfulcher
42. Sent     recreate
43. Sent     Topspeed
44. Sent     Wes Nile
45. Sent     Greb
46. Sent     1stFJR
47. Sent     reddog
48. Sent     canucklehead-biker
49. Sent     Ian Stephens
50. Sent     HaulinAshe - 1st one
51. PM Sent     HaulinAshe - 2nd one     Deferred until later
52. Sent     HJHFJR
53. Sent     BILL
54. Sent     bikesniffer
55. Sent     GL4435
56. Sent      fossil
57. Sent     William42
58. Sent     1911
59. Sent     Diavalos
60. PM sent     Jeff Q     Deferred until later
61. Installed     Yamalude
62. Sent     Hayduke
63. PM sent     mdisher     Deferred until later
64. Sent      CRMH Eagle
65. Installed     Old Michael
66. Decided not to buy     TheZsdad
67. Sent     c-zulu
68. Sent     Solo
69. Sent     spinblue
70. Sent     RavFJR
71. Decided not to buy     VanHarlan
72. Sent     shiloh
73. PM sent     skifrik
74. Sent     Bigbeavk
75. Sent     rockmurf
76. Sent     HelzBelz
77. Sent     jpcfjr
78. PM sent     Donal
79. Sent     Yzerman19
80. Decided not to buy     noire
81. PM sent     ridgerunner88
82. Sent     yamafitter
83. Sent     Jogle
84. wpbfjr from FJR Riders Forum
85. Powerman
86. 08FJRSteve
87. gsozz
88. Painman
89. Rudy
90. tesla

If you made a request on another thread and your name isn't listed above, send me a PM and I will get it up there.

If you wish to buy a harness and haven't yet asked, please post your request on this thread.

If I have you marked Deferred until later, when you are ready just send me a PM indicating so and I will re-activate your name at it's original place in line on the waiting list.

For those of you with a
3 digit IBA number
(the flea on the back of a flea, on the back of a flea), Let me know up front and I will attempt to accommodate your schedule.

Many thanks to RZ350 and RoadRunner for the excellent work they did on tracing out the grounding circuit on the bike's wire harness. My Grounding Harness isn't the only fix offered on this FJRForum, RoadRunner went a different direction with his harness. Which ever method you choose, you will have addressed a major fault that has reared it's ugly head. Take care of it before your bike has a melt down and leaves you stranded several thousand/hundred miles from home.

Thank you.



Brodie

 

[Designer]

Brodie,

Please add me to the list for the grounding harness.

Thanks, Designer

 

[GillaFunk]

Seems like a lot of '07 owners ordering a unit. While test riding the bike before I bought it it did die on me 2x. Since then the bike was inspected by Yamaha and the ECU was replaced under warranty. It has randomly stalled once or twice in the 7 weeks I've owned the bike.

If $100 will give me pece of mind that this spider issue wont happen add me to the list. I'll be removing the tupperwear to do my HID install. I guess then will be a good time to get this added as well.

 

[dcarver]

Update - months of riding and thousands and thousands of miles later...

No problems...

This fix simply works.

Until MammaYamma fixes this -

(and what WTFMY)

...this kit is needed on every Gen2 ever made.

Otherwise, it's just a matter of time.

 

[bramfrank]

Seems like a lot of '07 owners ordering a unit. While test riding the bike before I bought it it did die on me 2x. Since then the bike was inspected by Yamaha and the ECU was replaced under warranty. It has randomly stalled once or twice in the 7 weeks I've owned the bike.
If $100 will give me pece of mind that this spider issue wont happen add me to the list. I'll be removing the tupperwear to do my HID install. I guess then will be a good time to get this added as well.

Could your problem simpy be that you idle speed is set too low? It should be at 1100 rpm.

As to removing your plastic to install an HD conversion . . . why? I did mine with theplastic on - removed it afterward, too.

 

[jkirk]

Brodie,

Please put me on your list. I will await instructions on payment.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

As of 9/25/2010

1. PM sent Joe2Lmaker Deferred until later
2. ...

I've lived to regret that decision.

The "Black Widow" bit me Saturday... Twice! 150 miles from home :banghead:

I'm not very happy with Yamaha.

 

[Motorcycledoc]

Hi Brodie:

Sign me up for a harness. I helped Ian Stephens install his on Saturday and looks like good preventative medicine!

Thanks!

 

[no1passesme]

PM sent, sign me up. Looks well worth it!

 

[shakin]

Put me on the list too.

Mine died twice on the way back from NAFO and is now at the Yammy dealers while Yamaha Canada is doing whatever it is they are going to do.

Thanks,

shakin

 

[fjr183]

Brodie,

Please put me on the list for one harness.

Fred

 

[FastJoyRide]

Please put me on your list too Brodie. Big trip next summer and I don't want to be stranded!

 

[tesla]

Just installed the Brodie harness and found that all my spiders were clean and healthy, however, I'm on an 07 with less than 8K miles and very few electrics. In some ways, I'm disappointed because I wanted visual validation for my time and money spent but the peace of mind that I wont get a nasty spider bite is priceless. By the way, is there a correlation between riding in hot climates (like me in the Dallas area) and spider failure?

Harness was top notch even for a post crash/injured Brodie.....thanks Brodie, hope your mending quickly.

Would Yamaha install this harness if we didn't want to do it ourselves? Curious how much they would charge. I'm not mechanically inclined which means it takes me much longer to do a job than most of you. I actually enjoyed most of the process which included installing a new battery, new horns and disabling the windshield auto retract but spent WAY too much time doing it and could have been spent this time doing honey-do's, yard work, home repair/improvement stuff, etc. (not to mention, I think I scare my wife when things are not going well). Anway, its got me thinking about doing my own wrenching vs someone else doing it. I guess it depends on what it is. For example, changing oil and filter is just too easy to have someone else do it. Adjusting the valves I think would be the tipping point for me. I admire you guys that have the skills to do this.

 

[silverdog]

any one know how long it takes to get one of these ? kinda afraid to ride it too far from home. these things are to heavy to push home.

 

[showstopper]

Just installed the Brodie harness and found that all my spiders were clean and healthy, however, I'm on an 07 with less than 8K miles and very few electrics. In some ways, I'm disappointed because I wanted visual validation for my time and money spent but the peace of mind that I wont get a nasty spider bite is priceless. By the way, is there a correlation between riding in hot climates (like me in the Dallas area) and spider failure?

Harness was top notch even for a post crash/injured Brodie.....thanks Brodie, hope your mending quickly.

Would Yamaha install this harness if we didn't want to do it ourselves? Curious how much they would charge. I'm not mechanically inclined which means it takes me much longer to do a job than most of you. I actually enjoyed most of the process which included installing a new battery, new horns and disabling the windshield auto retract but spent WAY too much time doing it and could have been spent this time doing honey-do's, yard work, home repair/improvement stuff, etc. (not to mention, I think I scare my wife when things are not going well). Anway, its got me thinking about doing my own wrenching vs someone else doing it. I guess it depends on what it is. For example, changing oil and filter is just too easy to have someone else do it. Adjusting the valves I think would be the tipping point for me. I admire you guys that have the skills to do this.

 

[showstopper]

It was hot when my spider burned up. About 92F w/ wife on the backgoing up steep Mt Diablo very slow 10mph so the bike was getting warm. Temp guage was about 75-80% up the guage. Good move with pre-emptive strike. Sooner or later it is coming. I have no farkles on my bike. Obviously the head lamps were on and my fans must of been engaged. Not fun, in fact out right dangerous.

 

[Ian Stephens]

Just installed the Brodie harness and found that all my spiders were clean and healthy, however, I'm on an 07 with less than 8K miles and very few electrics. In some ways, I'm disappointed because I wanted visual validation for my time and money spent but the peace of mind that I wont get a nasty spider bite is priceless. By the way, is there a correlation between riding in hot climates (like me in the Dallas area) and spider failure?

Harness was top notch even for a post crash/injured Brodie.....thanks Brodie, hope your mending quickly.

Would Yamaha install this harness if we didn't want to do it ourselves? Curious how much they would charge. I'm not mechanically inclined which means it takes me much longer to do a job than most of you. I actually enjoyed most of the process which included installing a new battery, new horns and disabling the windshield auto retract but spent WAY too much time doing it and could have been spent this time doing honey-do's, yard work, home repair/improvement stuff, etc. (not to mention, I think I scare my wife when things are not going well). Anway, its got me thinking about doing my own wrenching vs someone else doing it. I guess it depends on what it is. For example, changing oil and filter is just too easy to have someone else do it. Adjusting the valves I think would be the tipping point for me. I admire you guys that have the skills to do this.

I suspect that any dealer would be able to do it. My local dealer (Walt Healy here in Calgary) did one for a customer of theirs with an FJR. The owner had a meltdown of the spider near the signal light. Since his bike was well out of warranty (an 07), he paid for the dealer's service guy to basically do a Brodie harness up in the shop.

I just installed the harness on my bike a couple of weeks ago and seriously the hardest part is getting all the Tupperware back on. If you're concerned enough to want to order the harness, try to get in on a Tech Day near you and get some supervision - you don't have to be mechanically inclined to do it. You just need to be able to read Brodie's instructions online and know the difference between righty tighty/ lefty loosy.

Ian

 

[Brodie]

silverdog

I have another 6 in the pipeline, I should get them done this weekend. Things are a bit busy these past few days since going back to work (light duty) last monday. Three months off since the accident, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I will send you a PM when I have one ready for you.

Brodie

any one know how long it takes to get one of these ? kinda afraid to ride it too far from home. these things are to heavy to push home.

 

[silverdog]

Brodie