Righteous, clean living brings good karma...

[Warchild]

So I was replacing the factory chain after 27K miles, when I spied from above that one of the oil line keepers for the Pro-Oiler had come loose on the swingarm.

When I got under the swingarm to fix it, I discovered that the loose keeper was the least of my concerns...





Holy fucking shit, how does a big, beefy 14mm steel locknut just back off from vibration and cause you to loose the long steel bolt?! That shiny steel spacer that is now wedged between chassis and linkage is the only thing holding the linkage in place! Fuuuuuuuuuuuck me, this could have ended badly.

Ordered up new hardware, and thankfully none are backordered, Yamaha has all the needed hardware in their Georgia warehouse, I should be able to reassemble this upcoming weekend. The damning thing is: I have a 5-day, 5-state 2500-mile run planned in exactly 10 days... if there is any delay, it might cause a distinct attitude problem.

 

[Cyclepath]

Are you sure you haven't been robbed?
How the hell would that long bolt work its way out without you noticing until now?

 

[Warchild]

You got me.... that wedged-in steel spacer was acting for the bolt, keeping the linkage from moving about - it wasn't offering any "clunk" noises or movement, so it wasn't detectable.

 

[SkooterG]

The Moto Gods have smiled upon you my son.........

 

[Bounce]

Some new hire was on the line that day. Former HD employee.

 

[PhatAir4Me]

Pucker moment, considering the what if's...

 

[Rocnsanman]

Could have been much worse. You could have done that 2500 mile tour and THEN bad things could have happened.
Count yourself lucky and then go find that bastard that stole your nut!

 

[RossKean]

Where is the chain in the first post on an FJR?

This is his MT10 project - "Other Bike" discussion.
https://www.fjrforum.com/threads/long-distance-endurance-mt10-project.179685/

 

[Warchild]

Follow-up on this situation.... decided that I only wanted to do this rear suspension work once. So while I had the replacement bolt to reconnect the factory shock, I decided to wait for the new Penske arrived, and just swap them out then.

Removing the factory shock from this tiny racebike chassis was not very fun. At all. Thank the Road Gods for youtube videos on this task:




Factory vs the Penske with its gorgeous blood-red Eibach spring. The Penske 8983 Double Clicker is one serious piece of Man-Candy!




Replacement hardware arrived, let's get to it!




Installation was not quite as bad as extraction. but still not a fun task.





The red Eibach spring matches the red aux fuel valve handle - I am all about cosmetics! lol




Holy fucking shit, I can not adequately explain how this new Penske has literally transformed the bike's handling! The ability to maintain a precision line in a downhill triple-digit sweeper - even when heavily loaded - is just stunningly effortless compared to before. While the shock was a bit spendy, it is absolutely, positively worth every penny!