Part fall-off at 300 miles

[Orbitr]

Oh, NOW I see the New Owners post about tightening the mirrors, and suggesting nylon lock nuts. Sadly, I hadn't got there by the time I hit 300 miles on my new 07 FJR (i.e., on my second ride). The mirror dang near fell off. One nut (the completely impossible to reach nut... you know the one...) was completely missing, and the other one had vibrated nearly all the way off.

Needless to say, I was less than amused. :blink: An extra penny for 4 nylon nuts would solve the problem. I wrote Yamaha a letter. Concise, polite, and clearly miffed.

A Yamaha Customer Relations flack, Ms. [name omitted to protect the asleep-at-the-wheel] sent me back a lovely form letter about how I must appreciate that it's not possible to accommodate every possible customer's preferences. As if I was complaining about the freakin' paint color, not a serious and truly embarrassing (for them) safety hazard.

My next letter went to Akira Sano, President of Yamaha Motor USA, at the recommendation of the rather horrified person who answered the phone at Yamaha. I explained that I started off merely frustrated, and ended up both frustrated and insulted. Right about now, I hope Ms. S**t-for-brains is having her *** chewed out. And someone in QC is buying nylon locknuts.

Then again, if this has already been duly noted on the FJR forum, what are the chances???

 

[jestal]

If the person who installed the mirrors didn't tighten the nuts what makes you think that they would have tightened nylock nuts.....???? The problem is that the nuts were not tightened, not that the wrong nut was spec'ed. Address the problem.....

 

[Barabus]

Had the same problem with my new 2006 with under 1000 miles!! Right side mirror almost fell off. Easy to fix, but didn't feel like I should have had to fix it.

 

[madmike2]

Why are you not addressing the dealer who "prepped" (or not?!?) the bike before you picked it up? I thought THEY were supposed to catch really complicated things like loose mirrors, fasteners, low tires, no coolant, etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum. I would assume the person who washed/ cleaned the bike before you received it would have noticed loose mirrors.

Personally, I would be discussing this issue with the service manager at the dealer from which I purchased the bike.

 

[TheAxeman]

Tightening the mirror nuts was one of the few things that my dealer got right.... :glare:

I've had a few conversations with the "experts" at Yamaha about different things and it seems that one is about as "informed" as the next when it comes to the FJR. The last reply I got from one of them is that "its not that popular a bike" thats why they couldn't answer my question.

 

[Farkles]

Gave check list I found on this site to dealer and they copied it. Said everything on list was accurate.

Sometimes you just have to prod them a little bit.

 

[FJamR]

+1 on my 06' also. One side came loose, so I went to tighten it and discovered only one nut was there. Added another nut and lock-tited them both. Same thing later on the other side. When I finally gained access to the mirror fastners inside the bodywork, this little guy was sitting in there

 

[odot]

Mmmmmmmmmm..........a snack comes with workin on the scoot? Bonus!

 

[Orient_Express]

Oh, NOW I see the New Owners post about tightening the mirrors, and suggesting nylon lock nuts. Sadly, I hadn't got there by the time I hit 300 miles on my new 07 FJR (i.e., on my second ride). The mirror dang near fell off. One nut (the completely impossible to reach nut... you know the one...) was completely missing, and the other one had vibrated nearly all the way off.
Needless to say, I was less than amused. :blink: An extra penny for 4 nylon nuts would solve the problem. I wrote Yamaha a letter. Concise, polite, and clearly miffed.

A Yamaha Customer Relations flack, Ms. [name omitted to protect the asleep-at-the-wheel] sent me back a lovely form letter about how I must appreciate that it's not possible to accommodate every possible customer's preferences. As if I was complaining about the freakin' paint color, not a serious and truly embarrassing (for them) safety hazard.

My next letter went to Akira Sano, President of Yamaha Motor USA, at the recommendation of the rather horrified person who answered the phone at Yamaha. I explained that I started off merely frustrated, and ended up both frustrated and insulted. Right about now, I hope Ms. S**t-for-brains is having her *** chewed out. And someone in QC is buying nylon locknuts.

Then again, if this has already been duly noted on the FJR forum, what are the chances???

I'm with you man - when you pay that much for a motorcycle, you shouldn't have to worry about parts falling off the darn thing.

Your dealer should have stood by the product and addressed it for you. If they didn't, I'd be finding a new dealer.

Look - I'm a Yamaha guy, but even they make mistakes. The way it's handled by the dealer makes all the diff in the world.

 

[Orbitr]

Why are you not addressing the dealer who "prepped" (or not?!?) the bike before you picked it up? I thought THEY were supposed to catch really complicated things like loose mirrors, fasteners, low tires, no coolant, etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum. I would assume the person who washed/ cleaned the bike before you received it would have noticed loose mirrors.
Personally, I would be discussing this issue with the service manager at the dealer from which I purchased the bike.

Mirrors were tight when I picked up the bike. The nuts backed off from simple vibration (I assume) -- probably because they weren't locking nuts, and were merely finger-tightened. This isn't an issue of the nuts not being tightened--it's an issue of them not being tightened enough...and being the wrong kind of fastener for that application. It's a design and assembly problem, not a dealer prep issue, IMO

If the person who installed the mirrors didn't tighten the nuts what makes you think that they would have tightened nylock nuts.....???? The problem is that the nuts were not tightened, not that the wrong nut was spec'ed. Address the problem.....

In my experience, nylons don't back off like non-locknuts. Too much friction....they generally stay put, even if not gorilla-tightened.

 

[Lake Powell]

If the person who installed the mirrors didn't tighten the nuts what makes you think that they would have tightened nylock nuts.....???? The problem is that the nuts were not tightened, not that the wrong nut was spec'ed. Address the problem.....

I guess I just don't get with your responses to members questions or comments, it seems you have to go to the negative side and slam people. Is it because of your superior mechanical capability that you need to impress upon the other members?

 

[Rickster]

If the person who installed the mirrors didn't tighten the nuts what makes you think that they would have tightened nylock nuts.....???? The problem is that the nuts were not tightened, not that the wrong nut was spec'ed. Address the problem.....

I guess I just don't get with your responses to members questions or comments, it seems you have to go to the negative side and slam people. Is it because of your superior mechanical capability that you need to impress upon the other members?

The fact is that Yamaha factory does not install the mirrors -- either the dealer does it, or the dealer pays someone else to prep (PDI) the motorcycles.

The dealer is responsible for properly torquing the fasteners -- and there is a sheet with ALL the fasteners that the dealer is supposed to tighten and check!

If the nuts were properly torqued - there would not have been a problem.

Nylon locking feature, interference threads, threadlocking adhesive, etc. are not required in this application. All that is required is that the bolt be properly torqued.

The point is that there may not be a design issue, but there is certainly an issue with the assembly at the dealership.