Rear shock linkage maintenance

[Fred W]

You'd just be leaving all of the other parts in their normal sequence (spacers, washers, etc) and flip the bolt itself end for end. The bolt doesn't have any axial load on it (ie in the direction of the threading), only lateral. It would have the same strength if it were a pin with no threads. The threads and nut are just there to keep it and the spacer/collars in place, and so it doesn't fall out. There should be no worry about flipping it.

Skooter was good enough to measure the clearances from the outside of the mounting tab to the closest sidestand interference on both sides. Anyone know how long the stock bolt is? (90101-10011-00 )

 

[LAF]

Here is what my top link looked like at 14 K. Looks new to me. It got lubed all the same. I will not be doing it again for a lot of miles. What a PITA to do.

 

[SkooterG]

Skooter was good enough to measure the clearances from the outside of the mounting tab to the closest sidestand interference on both sides. Anyone know how long the stock bolt is? (90101-10011-00 )

Approximatelty 3" or a bit over is my rough estimation. And is why I am skeptical it will work reversed and even with a couple threads cut off. But I mean to find out for sure when I do this in a few weeks - I have to wait for my forks to get back from Traxxion Dynamics before I can do it.

Oh, and I have a spare relay arm on it's way thanks to ebay. It shows coming with that bolt and spacer so I will be able to get an exact measurement when it arrives.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, I've got a spare relay arm too. That'll make the job go much faster, having those bearings all prepped in advance

I'll go down (into the very cold garage) and get an exact measurement on the bolt length in a while. Going to want to have a replacement on hand, anyway, if I'll be hacking the old one off.

 

[leedavis]

Here's my version of linkage lube using a Harbor Freight portable bike lift and tie downs. No way as nice as a full on lift but it's functional and cost is more in line for an occasional use tool. It reduces the misery index of such jobs from dreadful to a mere PITA.

Lee, how is the bike supported with the lift? Is there an attachment(s) to catch part of the frame / hard parts or just using the headers? Looks like a great alternative to a full lift and easier to store.

TIA

--G

Looks like it is only the headers and that's what kind of bothers me. I don't mind using the headers to lift the front of the bike when it is on the C-stand as the C-stand is still carrying most of the weight. But ALL of the weight on the header? Doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy. Though it seems to be working fine for Lee.

I shared your concern 1st time I lifted the bike on the headers and went about it very slowly checking for problems. I've not found any, however the headers aren't a wide base of support so you must use the included tie downs or you could end up with an FJR in your lap.

The lift gets used to raise the front of my lawn tractor for maintenance way more than the bike. Like everybody else, I find the FJR center stand sufficient for all but a very few tasks. Note that most of the user reviews for the lift on the Harbor Freight site are Harley guys. Without a lift they're SOL.

 

[Donal]

Yeah, I've got a spare relay arm too. That'll make the job go much faster, having those bearings all prepped in advance
I'll go down (into the very cold garage) and get an exact measurement on the bolt length in a while. Going to want to have a replacement on hand, anyway, if I'll be hacking the old one off.

Shouldn't be any need to hack the old bolt. If you just undo the nut and slide the bolt all the way to the right, you can get the relay arm out. You may need to 'work' it a little if the collar is seized and jamming it in place. Then make up the nut again and just keep tightening. The collar and bolt head will pass through the bracket. Probably a good idea to keep everything sprayed with penetrating fluid as you go! If you are a little bit concerned about side loading the bracket then just 'pack' it with a piece of (say 1/4") flat bar. It always works for me - I haven't found anything yet that will keep it lubed/sliding between services.

 

[Fred W]

OK, some accurate measurements made:

Total length of the 10mm bolt is 84mm. It looks like you could cut off the last few threads 4mm and still have all of the threads inside the nut.

The space between the left side frame tab and the inside surface of the centerstand frame is only 55mm.

Unless... Maybe you are able to buy some space by starting to insert the 80mm bolt into the left side tab on an angle, before swinging it up to perpendicular?

 

[Fred W]

Shouldn't be any need to hack the old bolt. If you just undo the nut and slide the bolt all the way to the right, you can get the relay arm out.

Not without removing the centerstand first. We are trying to come up with a way to do this on the centerstand vs. slinging the bike in the air.

I know what you are referring to, that is how far the (same) bolt goes before it hits the exhaust header (after removing the centerstand entirely), and at that point you can still wiggle the arm out. BTDT

 

[Fred W]

Zipped over to the local hardware and picked up an M10x80 1.25 pitch grade 8.8 bolt. Was only 2 bucks.

Put my Feej up on the center stand, loosened the upper pivot bolt and pushed it out all the way to the right to test if a new bolt would be able to be inserted from the left side. Test = FAIL! There is no way in hell that even a 75mm bolt could ever be inserted (from either side) with the center stand bracket still in place, at least not without grinding away a slot in the bracket.

I think that roadrunner must have been confusing the situation somewhat. With the center stand removed you still can't remove the 80mm bolt out the right side without also removing the header. The bolt will retract enough that you can wiggle the relay arm out though, as noted in the prior two posts. Or, if you cut off the bolt you can then insert a new bolt from the left side, as the clearance to the header pipe is sufficient on that side.

But, I've decided that inserting the bolt backwards may be a great idea. I was looking at the assembly and asking myself why the design engineers bothered to add the collar/spacer on the right side, but not on the left side. Why not just drill both holes to 10mm and use only a bolt. Probably just a means to take up all the axial clearances in the assembled pivot to keep the center bearing race from turning? Any way, when the bolt is in the normal orientation the threaded section of the bolt could fret away the inside diameter of the 10mm hole on the left side since they are bearing directly on the frame tab. If the bolt is reversed the collar would protect the tab on the right side from this happening. If the collar gets worn, no big deal, just replace the collar. But the frame tab would be considerably more expensive to replace.

I also looked closer at how much material needs to be removed from the center stand bracket and have decided to abort this mission entirely and go back to the old "tried and true" method of slinging the rear end of the bike up to get this job done. Seems like the best plan after everything has been considered.

 

[Fred W]

Shouldn't be any need to hack the old bolt. If you just undo the nut and slide the bolt all the way to the right, you can get the relay arm out. You may need to 'work' it a little if the collar is seized and jamming it in place. Then make up the nut again and just keep tightening. The collar and bolt head will pass through the bracket. Probably a good idea to keep everything sprayed with penetrating fluid as you go! If you are a little bit concerned about side loading the bracket then just 'pack' it with a piece of (say 1/4") flat bar. It always works for me - I haven't found anything yet that will keep it lubed/sliding between services.

I'll try this to get that collar out this time. Last time I just left it in place and reassembled with the collar still seized. I tried to get it free with tapping and penetrating lube but was afraid to hit it too hard as a broken off cast alloy tab would suck very badly.

 

[PhilJet09]

Fred, I just recently lubed mine up and came to the same conclusions...kept the bolt in the original direction and didn't grind on the center stand. I really wasn't comfortable removing that much material on that assembly. I didn't use a sling to support the rear of the bike though. I had my whole exhaust off and built a simple stand that went under the rear frame sliders - wish I would have taken a picture. Next time I'll probably have to sling it.

 

[Fred W]

Thanks Phil.

But now you have set the wheels turning again. Some sort of a subframe support jack in lieu of the sling and sky crane?

This is the stuff that makes winter in New England tolerable.

 

[PhilJet09]

My stand only works if the mufflers are off and because I have rear sliders. I'm anxious to see what you come up with.

 

[SkooterG]

Zipped over to the local hardware and picked up an M10x80 1.25 pitch grade 8.8 bolt. Was only 2 bucks.
Blah, blah, blah....... anal-retentive engineer attention to detail...... blah, blah, blah.

Thanks for doing the research on this Fred. I didn't think it was going to work. It was just too easy!

 

[Canadian FJR]

"I'll try this to get that collar out this time"

It took several days but I kept spraying penetrating fluid and a little tap several times per day......it finally broke loose. Cleaned, lubed and then put bacl together. Plan to regrease again over the next few weeks. I hope it is easier this time.

Just re-reading these posts, I never removed the header the first time that I did this job. I need to think about how I did this??

Canadian FJR

 

[Harald]

I removed my relay arm and centerstand about 30,000 mile ago and didn't use any fancy stand or lift straps. Going from memory from over 2 years ago, I'm sure I'll miss some detail. The way to do it is to have the bike on the centerstand and loosen all bolts that require removal ( so as not to jostle the bike later on). Then take the bike off the centerstand and rest it on the sidestand. Use a floor jack (and I think I used a wood block to get to the engine around the swingarm) to lift the bike by the rear of the engine, which will take tension off the rear shock and allow removal of all parts. I did cut one of the right side centerstand bolts (the one that won't come out due to the exhaust pipe in the way) using a die grinder/cutoff wheel and replaced it with a bolt going in the other direction upon reassembly (sorry - don't remember any details on the bolt type). I'm due for another relay arm lube and plan on documenting my procedure because a picture is worth a thousand words and I probably didn't use enough words to fully convey how my method works.

 

[Panman]

I removed my relay arm and centerstand about 30,000 mile ago and didn't use any fancy stand or lift straps. Going from memory from over 2 years ago, I'm sure I'll miss some detail. The way to do it is to have the bike on the centerstand and loosen all bolts that require removal ( so as not to jostle the bike later on). Then take the bike off the centerstand and rest it on the sidestand. Use a floor jack (and I think I used a wood block to get to the engine around the swingarm) to lift the bike by the rear of the engine, which will take tension off the rear shock and allow removal of all parts. I did cut one of the right side centerstand bolts (the one that won't come out due to the exhaust pipe in the way) using a die grinder/cutoff wheel and replaced it with a bolt going in the other direction upon reassembly (sorry - don't remember any details on the bolt type). I'm due for another relay arm lube and plan on documenting my procedure because a picture is worth a thousand words and I probably didn't use enough words to fully convey how my method works.

Harald, I'm doing mine now I have it hanging and dropped the pipes as I didn't want to spray grit all over. Not to hard to do but would like to see pictures of what your doing. I do remember reading a few years ago that you could cut that bolt if you didn't want to drop the pipes. Most likely what these guys were talking earlier for the relay arm.

 

[Fred W]

If you unbolt the right side exhaust pipe support bolts you can flex the exhaust header down enough to get that short center stand bolt out, save it and then re-insert it backwards later during re-assembly.

But you cannot spring the exhaust enough to get the 80mm long bolt out of the relay arm's front upper frame pivot all the way. That one, you either have to remove the header, leave it in place (shifted fully to the right) and wiggle the relay arm past it, or else cut-it-off and reinsert a new one from the left.

 

[Donal]

If you unbolt the right side exhaust pipe support bolts you can flex the exhaust header down enough to get that short center stand bolt out, save it and then re-insert it backwards later during re-assembly.
But you cannot spring the exhaust enough to get the 80mm long bolt out of the relay arm's front upper frame pivot all the way. That one, you either have to remove the header, leave it in place (shifted fully to the right) and wiggle the relay arm past it, or else cut-it-off and reinsert a new one from the left.

That 80mm long bolt will come out with the exhaust in the normal place but only if the 'collar' on the right hand side is free to come out and allow the 80mm bolt to drop. I have done this several times.

 

[Fred W]

If you unbolt the right side exhaust pipe support bolts you can flex the exhaust header down enough to get that short center stand bolt out, save it and then re-insert it backwards later during re-assembly.
But you cannot spring the exhaust enough to get the 80mm long bolt out of the relay arm's front upper frame pivot all the way. That one, you either have to remove the header, leave it in place (shifted fully to the right) and wiggle the relay arm past it, or else cut-it-off and reinsert a new one from the left.

That 80mm long bolt will come out with the exhaust in the normal place but only if the 'collar' on the right hand side is free to come out and allow the 80mm bolt to drop. I have done this several times.

Thanks. That was one tid-bit I needed to know.

First one's on me when you come to NEW England.