My Saturday with the FJR.

[grumpypoo]

Hello internet!

Figured I would share what I did with the FJR this weekend.

So it all started off around 10 AM CDT. I woke up feeling great excited to work on the bike.

My to do list was as followed.

1. Oil & Filter change

2. Check all the hoses

3. Flush clutch & brake fluid

4. Check the splines and grease up if necessary

5. Change brake light

I started off with buying everything.

1. Oil - Mobile 1 10w40 synthetic (for race bikes, because the FJR is a Moto GP bike)

2. K&N oil filter - See race bike

3. Valvoline synthetic DOT 3 & 4 fluid - This stuff is gold

4. Mityvac - Ease

5. Honda moly 77 - I've read good things

6. 8 MM open end wrench (Out of all my tools this one was missing)

I pull the bike in the garage and start with the clutch. Fairly straight forward.

1. Remove the clutch reservoir cover

2. Pull the nipple cover off hook up the almighty mityvac

3. Crack the 8mm bleeder valve.

4. Then pump away.

5. WATCH THE FLUID LEVEL

Everything was going great. I began to really enjoy the work I was doing until I heard this sucking sound. MY GOD, I thought to myself. I thought for sure the mityvac was broken. So I release the pressure and declare the Mityvac a piece of crap. Then it hit me. THE FLUID! I looked and of course it was bone dry. In my desperation to attempt to turn back time I made a gigantic mess. So 45 minutes later and i'm confident I got all the air out of the system. I also managed to use a whole bottle of brake fluid in the process.

BACK TO AUTOZONE!

This time while at autozone I bought a gigantic bottle of the stuff.

BACK TO THE GARAGE!

The front brake fluid went much smoother as I was being completely guarded about the fluid. Took about 10 minutes for both left & right.

Then I get to the rear. MY GOD THE BOTTLE IS EMPTY! This would explain my brake pedal feeling so mushy.

I pumped the damn mityvac for almost 1 hour and still didn't get all the air out. F**K it.

Time for the oil change.

Another huge problem arose.

1. Drain bolt was tightened by the hand of God.

2. Oil filter was also tightened by the hand of God.

I finally got the drain bolt undone when I grabbed the trust breaker bar!

Oil filter? I put multiple wrenches on it to get it undone.

Wasn't having it. The filter was staying even if I said no!

Then it hit me. A SCREW DRIVER, I thought to myself. Grabbed the biggest screw driver and I was sending this oil filter straight to hell where it belonged.

A bunch of small turns later she is off. At this point i'm so exhausted because everything is going wrong.

I drain the oil out. Refill and manage to drop the god d*** funnel. F**K!!!!!!!!! Oil is now everywhere.

I lost a whole quart

At this point i'm ready to throw this bike off a mountain and forget about the whole day. I finally got everything nice and finished (well what I was doing that day anyways... or so I thought).

I decided against the drive shaft splines. If an oil change and brake fluid change was going this bad I couldn't imagine the drive shaft.

So I buttoned the bike back up and had the stare of someone who has been through world war 1 & 2.

I drove the bike around the block. GREAT A GRINDING NOISE!

Turn around and go home. Jerk the rear caliper off and what do I see? No fkn pads left. Most people will claim no pads left and still have a little friction material left. My pads was eating into the actual pad. It had lost roughly 2mm of it's height. Great rotor is now trashed and so are the brakes.

I thought to myself how did I not hear this? Then it all started making sense.

1. No brake fluid - Caliper was totally extended beyond it's limits

2. No brakes - mushy as could be

3. NO MORE FJR!

So I kicked the bike over and lit it ablaze and drank a nice cold beer.

THE END!

Just kidding. Ran to the stealership (Amazon was gonna take to long). Got new pads.

6. New Brake pads - $45 before tax (The wonderful stealership)

Get back throw those on and pray the rotor isn't warped.

No grinding no warp!

Then I changed the brake light. This took 2 seconds and was by far the most successful thing I did all day.

I'm interested to see how the valve change goes

** EDIT 1 - FORGOT THE DANG PICTURES **

 

[grumpypoo]

I'm interested to see how the valve change goes

I meant check, but whatever.

I will take a picture of the pads when I get home. After I took the picture of the oil my phone died

I have to say i've never had so many things go so wrong in such a short amount of time.

 

[rbentnail]

Word- speedbleeders. JSNS.

 

[dcarver]

You need a lift so you can dump the bike off it while 3 feet up. That too is a special moment! Thanks for the grin of a read!

 

[grumpypoo]

You need a lift so you can dump the bike off it while 3 feet up. That too is a special moment! Thanks for the grin of a read!

I'll be completely honest i'd probably just cry and declare the bike a total loss at that point.

All jokes aside to be fair I had a Harley Sportster (still do but it gets zero seat time now) and I was changing the oil. I thought everything was going smooth until I went to test ride and fell over due to my boots being slick. I never have recovered my pride from that day.

 

[Intech]

We all have days like that. There is always a point where you say no more. Save it for another day. Start drinking! Thanks for the smiles!

 

[its just rain]

You made my day, I thought that kind of stuff only happened to me. Thanks!

 

[grumpypoo]

Word- speedbleeders. JSNS.

Yes. I will install these eventually.

We all have days like that. There is always a point where you say no more. Save it for another day. Start drinking! Thanks for the smiles!

Always glad to make someone smile!

You made my day, I thought that kind of stuff only happened to me. Thanks!

Glad to have made your day!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Had days like those...sometimes you just have to give up, grab a beer and start over!

--G

 

[rbentnail]

Had days like those...sometimes you just have to give up, grab a beer and start over!

--G

Wow, you're way braver than me! When I have those days I grab a beer, shut the shop door and crank up the fire barrel. Hard to screw up a fire even when drinking, provided accelerant isn't used.

 

[Hudson]

That's never ever happened to me. With a brand new bike. Cough Cough...

 

[rogdeb]

I like reads like this

makes me feel not so incompetent. LOL

 

[Hotboot]

That was entertaining, another suggestion is not doing too much at once. I love the speedbleeders, smooth and clean maintenance at a cost less than a trip to Autozone one time. An oil service and brake bleed can be done in 30 minutes.

Good call on the special Moto GP FJR oil, that's 10 HP right there.

 

[grumpypoo]

That's probably my issue with the transmission.

Way to much horsepower for the stock tranny to hold.

 

[Hotboot]

Before someone chimes in....only 4T JASO wet clutch motorcycle oil is acceptable for the mighty FJR.

 

[rbentnail]

Before someone chimes in....only 4T JASO wet clutch motorcycle oil is acceptable for the mighty FJR.

If that's supposed to be humor you forgot the smiley. If not, I call bullshit.

 

[Salish1300]

Great post, thanks. That screwdriver trick is a great one to have in your arsenal. Learned it from my dad and it has come in handy a few times when having to take off factory installed filters or something I didn't put on myself.

There is no doubt that stuff steamrolls sometimes. Funny that. What did the Dead say? Sometimes the lights all shining on me, other times I can barely see. Indeed.

 

[Horsefly]

Mornin' all,

Any neat tricks for not making a mess when removing the oil filter?

 

[wheatonFJR]

Mornin' all,
Any neat tricks for not making a mess when removing the oil filter?

Check The FJR Tech website. It's linked in the FAQ section...it has all sorts of maintenance tips. It even has pictures!