maintainance

[bob duke]

hi there

i have bought a 2004 with 50K miles and doing a litlle maintenance.

I lubed driveshaft and joint splines with moly paste .Do i need to lube driveshaft spline  on final drive end? There is a big rubber seal there..Its oil inside?

Also lubed the needle bearings on  swingarm, steering head, and rear link,except one...(the difficult one).Read rumors about dog bones brake on FJRs..Its real?

 

[infrared]

hi there 
i have bought a 2004 with 50K miles and doing a litlle maintenance.
Read rumors about dog bones brake on FJRs..Its real?

Bob,

I haven't heard anything about that, but if you worry a lot, you can probably install two factory-stock dogbones, on each side.  There should be enough room for that trick using the stock hardware, or simply use longer bolts

.

 

[FJRay]

I've been around FJR's since the beginning and don't recall dog bones  ever breaking. It's one of the most dependable platforms available. Ride more stress less. unk:

 

[Fred W]

No need to lube the rear end of the drive shaft.  As you mentioned, it is bathed in gear lube.  Front end spline only needs grease to keep it from rusting and getting seized in place.  There is no lateral motion in the front splined joint.  All lateral motion is at the rear end where it is spring loaded and Inside the rear housing.  
 

As Ray said, these are well engineered bikes. You seldom hear of a final drive or drive shaft failure of any kind.

That said, I would plan on getting that difficult 3rd pivot in the relay arm out and lubed.  Those bearings do get a lot of road spray and can get crusty, especially if it has never been done before.  I had the relay arm off my old ‘05 (for the 3rd time) at 100k miles.  Because I greased them early on, then regularly there after, I still have all the original bearings in there.

 

[RossKean]

I've been around FJR's since the beginning and don't recall dog bones  ever breaking. It's one of the most dependable platforms available. Ride more stress less. unk:

Seems to me that I heard of a break but not sure if it was dogbones or relay arm.  I think it was a case where the pivots in the relay arm had frozen up completely due to corrosion and a total lack of maintenance.  I think it might have been in England with someone who rode in all kinds of weather all year long.

Certainly nothing I would expect to have happen to any bike that was maintained reasonably.  AS both Fred and Ray indicated, the FJR is one of the most reliable motorcycles out there today.

 

[dcarver]

I've only heard of one dog bone break.. 

...but the rest of the bike was totaled too... 

bad wreck.. rider was ok.

 

[FJReady]

I'm remembering the same story as RossKean.   A rider in England had the dog bones fail (metal fatigue I suspect) because they couldn't rotate freely relative to the relay arm. Sounds like a seized collar within the relay arm.   

Result:  Tire crashes into subframe, probably locks up and bike goes down.   Not a pleasant surprise.

Do your PM.

 

[Canadian FJR]

https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/9-fjr-technical/13834-stuck-france-help.html#/topics/13834

https://www.fjclub.co.uk/buying-a-fjr1300/4546979445

 

[RossKean]

https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/9-fjr-technical/13834-stuck-france-help.html#/topics/13834

https://www.fjclub.co.uk/buying-a-fjr1300/4546979445

That was one of the ones I recalled.