I forked myself.

[Panman]

Andrew now has my spare set of forks that were rebuilt by Barry and carry the GP sticker. I bought these from Marcus who bought them from Wayne (extermmarine).
He now can ride till he gets his stuff fixed, I would have tried to fix his myself but vise wise I'm not quite there yet.

 

[Sunnyorlando]

(Edit - these are conventional forks, not the upside-down ones in the ES version for 2014+)
When you use the "slide hammer" technique to separate the forks and pop out the seals, the (I think) middle bushing can get jammed under the top bushing. Usually they can be tapped back although it can take some force - thus my suggestion of mallet with wood buffer.

Something to remember...
Make sure you remove the snap ring BEFORE trying to separate forks...

Good reference
https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/ForkSeal-BushingReplacement.pdf

I see, thanks. In other standard forks I've done (Suzuki, Honda), the lower bushing (no middle) is tightly fitted and I cannot see a way for it to losen to the point of jamming with the 'sledgehammer' technique.
Is there something about these FJR ones that makes using this process such risk?

 

[Archer]

Archer has a temporary solution in hand and a few more ideas to try.

TADA! Panman talked me through the install of his loaner set of ExtremeMarine's forks. They're solid. Next is fixing the stuck tubes problem, attacking all forum suggestions until!! Thanks.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Glad it worked out Archer!

~G

 

[Panman]

Talked to Marcus the yesterday, he thinks he stuck the bushing/s like you did. He took them to KFG and had them do the rebuild, he believes that they have Race Tech Vales and Progressive springs in them.?
Glad they are working for you!

 

[Mad German]

Following; lots of great information here.

 

[Okmurdog]

I too had this problem when I rebuilt the forks on my wife's 2014 FJR1300A - I had no issues with the left fork, and was able to "slide-hammer" the pieces apart. However, when I got to the right fork, the inner tube got 'stuck' inside the outer tube nearly fully extended. Despite trying to reverse the process by holding the inner tube and smacking the entire assembly down on the concrete (padded with cardboard and a rag to not mar the bottom of the outer tube), it remained stuck. By this time, the fork was nearly fully compressed, and going any further would damage something. I thought I was doomed, and would have to replace the entire fork assembly...however, the parts are not available stateside and only available in Japan.

I rigged up a clamp using aluminum angle and U-bolts to hold the inner tube (as to not mar or damage it), and used my cherry picker to pull the two halves apart...and Bingo, I was able to get them apart without any damage to either tube. Use the bottom axle hole and place a large pin in there, and wrap a chain around the pin and secure to the bottom of the picker. Of course, you'll need to replace all of the bushings regardless. See pics below - the first two pics are before pulling apart, the third pic is after - notice how the angle is offset in the third - this is intentional when I built the jig, as pulling one piece of the angle (vs pulling on both) will naturally create additional compression on the tube. The softer aluminum won't hurt the hardened fork tube. Be sure to install the top cap, as not take chances of deforming the top part of the tube when doing this. I believe what happens is the lower fork bushing gets stuck just inside the middle fork bushing when slide-hammering the assembly.

Removing the oil seal before slide-hammering the assembly makes a world of difference too. Fill the fork with oil, and either use a shop-press or a cherry picker to gently compress the fork assembly - the hydraulic compression will push the oil seal out with little effort. In my case, my shop press wasn't quite long enough to fit the fork...so I used the top arm of my cherry picker, and the top frame of my shop door....rested the fork on top of cherry picker...worked like a charm (get a helper so one can hold the fork, and the other can pump the cherry picker). One could also use a hydraulic bottle jack, and lay the fork sideways against a garage frame or tree, and use the tire of a parked car (with a piece of wood, or something rigid) and accomplish the same thing.

 

[Archer]

I too had this problem

Morning, OKMurdog.

I'm reading your posting and very interesting. Thank you. Question. Is the third paragraph telling what to do when fork is normal? Thanks for the solid idea. I may entertain, but am hoping to make it a Suspension shops' work-order; my little shop doesn't have room. Thanks again.

 

[Rocnsanman]

Why all the tags on the u-bolts? Going to return them ? Kidding of course, very ingenious solution. 5 STARS!!

 

[Okmurdog]

Morning, OKMurdog.

I'm reading your posting and very interesting. Thank you. Question. Is the third paragraph telling what to do when fork is normal? Thanks for the solid idea. I may entertain, but am hoping to make it a Suspension shops' work-order; my little shop doesn't have room. Thanks again.

Yes...this is what the Yamaha manual states to do - fill the fork with oil and use a press to push the oil seal out. I had initially ignored this, and went right to the slide-hammer technique (after removing the oil seal circlip). However, in my haste I had full reassembled one of the forks and realized that I forgot to set the middle fork bushing into place ...so I had to disassemble the fork and do so. I tried the shop manual method of removing the oil seal, and it worked great. I then clamped the fork into my vice, and was able to pull the inner tube without much effort. Of course, the middle bushing wasn't seated, so it was artificially easy. Although getting the oil seal out of the way was one less thing to offer friction against the inner tube removal...

 

[Okmurdog]

Why all the tags on the u-bolts? Going to return them ? Kidding of course, very ingenious solution. 5 STARS!!

The tags remained as I was too focused on building the jig . Notice the notches on the peaks of the aluminum angle where the U-bolts contact - this took me a few minutes to measure and get those cut out...all the while my mind was focused on getting that damn fork apart! lol

 

[Rocnsanman]

I get it and yes, I noticed your work. Good job!

 

[Sunnyorlando]

This is great, I will def try this method on my next for tube rebuild no matter what bike. I can see the pulling working with a 'come-a-long' too.
On the compression to pop the seals, any idea about how much pressure that took to get to that point?

The one thing I'd add to this jig, is wrapping the fork tube with a protective material to avoid scratches. I think a layer of rubber from a tire tube would not only protect, but also add grip. I use bicycle tubes to protect surfaces such as this in many projects, and when mounting accessories as a gasket of sorts, it protects the mounting surface.

 

[Okmurdog]

This is great, I will def try this method on my next for tube rebuild no matter what bike. I can see the pulling working with a 'come-a-long' too.
On the compression to pop the seals, any idea about how much pressure that took to get to that point?

The one thing I'd add to this jig, is wrapping the fork tube with a protective material to avoid scratches. I think a layer of rubber from a tire tube would not only protect, but also add grip. I use bicycle tubes to protect surfaces such as this in many projects, and when mounting accessories as a gasket of sorts, it protects the mounting surface.

No idea on the pressure, there was no discernable struggle or anything like that when using the picker I have. Using a bottle jack or anything like that should definitely yield results.

Using rubber certainly won't hurt...although there's pretty much a zero chance of marring the inner tube, as it is much harder than the aluminum, that's why I didn't use rubber or anything else...just make sure you have no grit, etc on the aluminum and the tubes are clean too. Plus, the area on the tube I used doesn't go inside the outer tube anyway. There was absolutely zero marks on my inner tube, and you can see that the aluminum slid slightly during the process.

 

[Jerseydevil]

I removed my forks, dumped the oil, unscrewed RH tube internals complete, same with LH, and began to separate the outer tube from the inner tube. The lower bushings (and maybe middle) moved around and then jammed tight, leaving the tubes still connected but fully extended. This was my fault because I then did the exact thing to second fork tube.

I took frozen forks to Yamaha shop on highway just east of Seattle and was told worst case ever. No available solutions. Was also told Yamaha no longer supports the 2013 (A) with available replacement forks (?).

Signing into Yamahamotorsports and selecting all parts related to Forks returns message saying contact local Yamaha representative. Searching eBay for used forks has nothing. Seems stupid for me to chase forks off a wrecked bike.

My questions for the Forum members, please, are as follow:

Firstly, what the Hell should I do?

Are new forks anywhere in the U.S. supply chain?

Does any member have forks that I could buy?

Thank you, fellow members.

Archer

I found these.. Im not affiliated with the company.. was just banging around their site recently looking for fork seals etc, https://www.partzilla.com/product/y...?ref=4129d080c10e70b266b2753d4fad0653e6999f14

 

[Niehart]

JD, good find but that does not mean the parts are in stock as I just found out when ordering parts to rebuild my forks. Metal, slide 2 was on back order but the part is shipped now.

 

[Jerseydevil]

Can confirm GEN II forks are a direct bolt in for any "A" model '06 to '19.

Archer - I would call a few on-line parts houses and see what answers you get. A couple to try are Partzilla, Cycle Parts Warehouse and Lone Star Yamaha. There's many others, these are the few I regularly use. I find it hard to believe "A" model fork parts are no longer available.

~G

I found that out the Hard way on my 2010 in 90 degree heat yesterday. Not one mention of a special Cartridge removal tool anywhere, Bottom bolt just kept spinning.

 

[Auburn]

I found that out the Hard way on my 2010 in 90 degree heat yesterday. Not one mention of a special Cartridge removal tool anywhere, Bottom bolt just kept spinning.

there are several threads on here that show you what tools you need to do a fork rebuild and how to make them. You need a 26mm socket and piece of 1/2" tube to make the socket to hold the cartridge from spinning.

 

[Dan Cooper]

I found that out the Hard way on my 2010 in 90 degree heat yesterday. Not one mention of a special Cartridge removal tool anywhere, Bottom bolt just kept spinning.

Actually, the FSM specifically indicates a tool for removing the cartridge and retaining bolt on page 4-77. And installation on page 4-78.

Damper rod holder
90890-01447
YM-01447

Easy enough to make something yourself.

dan

 

[RossKean]

I found that out the Hard way on my 2010 in 90 degree heat yesterday. Not one mention of a special Cartridge removal tool anywhere, Bottom bolt just kept spinning.

Did you look at the link I provided in Post #11?
https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/ForkSeal-BushingReplacement.pdf