Relay arm, anyone ever remove it?

[BkrK12]

:clapping:

Dang good information. Dang good! Having not performed this service before, I had not considered the forces involved. Right then...I'll be building a suspension system as mentioned before. No bike jack for me. Thanks everyone!

FWIW, take a look here Click and here Click - might have some helpful info.

 

[Harald]

Very good points about loosening hardware while the bike is securely resting on the ground, but it's possible to accomplish this service with a regular floor jack. I know because I did it that way a couple years ago. Once all bolts are broke free, put the bike on the sidestand and then jack the bike from the rear of the engine. This will take tension off the rear shock spring and allow removal of the relay arm for service. I wouldn't rely on a floor jack if I was crawling under a car, but don't see a problem in this type of service.

 

[Andyfjr]

I loosened the centre stand bolts whilst the bike was on its side stand. As an aid to moving the bike you can cable tie the front brake and chock the wheels. Once the centre stand is off I used a large block of wood to support the opposite side at the back of the engine. Then everything just unbolts. Remove the linkage , clean, lubricate and reinstall.

 

[MajBach]

So, after much work, I get the swing arm off and try to pull the relay arm. Crap, can't pull the bolt out

without removing the center stand.

Perhaps someone else has pointed this out already but for future reference, the center stand does not have to come out. If you remove the forward most pair of bolts, the entire stand can then pivot down and free up enough room remove the relay arm bolt. Unfortunately -as has been pointed out, the exhaust is in the way to remove those bolts. Take the smart route and grind them off and replace them. I believe they are M10 x 1.25 (1.5 appears to work as well) and are approx 30 mm long. I ended up using imperial bolts as I couldn't source any metric but they fit fine. Of course, as already pointed out, you need to install the bolt from the inside (backwards from factory). From this point forward, it's only a matter of loosening two bolts to get at the relay arm in the future.

My bike has 60,000 on it and although the bearings were fine, the bolts were dry and corroded so I am glad I did the maintenance.

 

[DezzertRider]

I ran into the same issue. I didn't care for the idea of forcing the exhaust out of the way, so I cut the bolts off and then got shorter ones so that next time I can get them off. Not a lot of fun!

 

[Fred W]

You don't have to force the exhaust out of the way to get the longer suspension pivot bolt out. But you do need to somehow get the "collar" free, and that is usually frozen / seized in place with corrosion.

However, you do not need to extract either the bolt or the collar to get the relay arm out. Just pull the bolt out as far as it will go and wiggle the relay arm out. It will be bound in place by the tension of that previously mentioned collar, but it will come out and go back in without fully removing the bolt.

 

[RossKean]

If you buy a new relay arm
5JW-2217A-00-00
does anyone know whether it comes with the bearings, collars and oil seals in it?

I am assuming it does not, but...
All the bits and pieces add up to a fair amount of money - even from the on-line discount parts places. The relay arm from Boats.net goes for ~$140 and I would replace the whole thing if it included bearings etc.(cheaper).

 

[PhilJet09]

I doubt very much that it does. The parts fiche doesn't have a box around all those bits, showing that it comes as an assembly.

 

[RaYzerman19]

You can usually pick up a good used one on ebay for around $50........ way cheaper than buying all that OEM hardware. Inspect and grease up the used one and good to go.

 

[MNFJR]

I recently purchased a used relay arm on ebay for under $50 shipped. It came with the dog bones attached. Curiously the dog bones are over an inch longer than the ones on my 05.

The arm I purchased is from an 08, so I checked part numbers to see if there was a different dog bone on gen II. Nope, same part number as 05. I'm led to surmise that someone made their own longer dog bones. My question is: What would be the purpose for doing this?

 

[RaYzerman19]

I would say that bike was lowered........ a lot.

 

[MNFJR]

I would say that bike was lowered........ a lot.

Pushes the swing arm up I guess?

 

[MNFJR]

If you buy a new relay arm5JW-2217A-00-00

does anyone know whether it comes with the bearings, collars and oil seals in it?

Definitely not. If you want one, look for a used one.

 

[Fred W]

I recently purchased a used relay arm on ebay for under $50 shipped. It came with the dog bones attached. Curiously the dog bones are over an inch longer than the ones on my 05. The arm I purchased is from an 08, so I checked part numbers to see if there was a different dog bone on gen II. Nope, same part number as 05. I'm led to surmise that someone made their own longer dog bones. My question is: What would be the purpose for doing this?

Check again. Dog bones are different part numbers on 1st and 2nd Gens.

5JW-2217M-00-00

vs

3P6-2217M-00-00


And yes, the second gen bones are longer.