Servicing relay and pivot arm:how to clean and repack

[MajBach]

Hi, folks. I have my 09 with 90,000 miles on it all apart for a good tune up. I'm servicing the rear suspension right now and wondering how you would recommend cleaning all the parts with the bearings in them and what type of grease to use. There is a lot of gunk built up on the relay arm but the sleeves move in and out freely. I want to take some varsol to the parts to clean it up but concerned about if thats the proper way to repack the bearings. Do you take the sleeves out and clean the insides with a solvent then allow to dry and repack or do you try and keep the bearings free from contaminants and just add grease to the sleeves?
I was also a little surprised to read in the manual to use lithium grease. The existing grease in the bearings is reddish which would suggest wheel bearing grease.
Thoughts?

 

[CollingsBob]

Or….you can hunt down Russell Holden who modifies the relay arms by installing zerk fittings so that they can simply be lubed in the future with a grease gun…

 

[CollingsBob]

Hi, folks. I have my 09 with 90,000 miles on it all apart for a good tune up. I'm servicing the rear suspension right now and wondering how you would recommend cleaning all the parts with the bearings in them and what type of grease to use. There is a lot of gunk built up on the relay arm but the sleeves move in and out freely. I want to take some varsol to the parts to clean it up but concerned about if thats the proper way to repack the bearings. Do you take the sleeves out and clean the insides with a solvent then allow to dry and repack or do you try and keep the bearings free from contaminants and just add grease to the sleeves?
I was also a little surprised to read in the manual to use lithium grease. The existing grease in the bearings is reddish which would suggest wheel bearing grease.
Thoughts?

Vancouver Island huh…will we see you in Nakusp in June?

https://www.attacktheroad.com/cfr/

 

[MajBach]

Vancouver Island huh…will we see you in Nakusp in June?

https://www.attacktheroad.com/cfr/

HaHa. Thanks for the invite. I may not make it this year. Funny, the last time I went on a rally it was in 2014 in Castlegar and we headed up that way. Good times. I'm tuning up the same bike and headed south in a couple weeks never to bring it home again. Aiming for the Keys for the fall then shipping the bike off to Europe. I've run out of roads in N America.
I bought a second FJR last year on am going to customize it and tune it up but probably wont have it ready by June.
Incidentally, I learned the hard way that the needle bearings in the pivot arm etc aren't actually held in with a cage or anything. Rather, the grease holds them in. Decided to soak all of them then clean out the excess grease before repacking using compressed air and rags. That's when I learned how easy they fall out. Luckily, I found them all, cleaned them up and managed to put them back in place with a generous helping of grease. Good as new. The old grease had almost turned into a rubber cake which gave the illusion of a cage of sorts. Live and learn.

 

[Boston]

Because the swing arm and the dog bone are high pressure parts. I don't like using a grease that will wash out like lithium soap based grease.
I pack swing arm bearings and pivot bearings with Yamaha Yamalube Molybdenum Disulfide Grease.
It wont wash out and stays put. $0.02

 

[rbentnail]

For mine I used a sticky, good quality marine grade wheel bearing grease. Never hardens, won't wash out. StaLube and Lucas are 2 that I've used over the years. Schaeffer 229 Ultra Red Supreme Waterproof grease is top of the line stuff, it's what I use now. NLGI #2 for our applications, NLGI #1 is runnier. Shop around, it can be had in smaller quantities.

 

[SkooterG]

If you do a little searching there are a plethora of threads on this subject on this forum. BTW, there is a 'cage' that holds the needle bearings in, but it is a flexible plasticky thing that can be damaged somewhat easily. Still, when I did this job on my '04 FJR waaay back I didn't know any better either and mistakenly removed the bearing 'cage'. I put nearly 200k miles on that FJR after that with no issues.

Now, when I do this job, I just clean the old grease out as best I can with those blue shop paper towels. No solvent or anything. Then, as recommended to me by a fart smeller on this forum with a lot of dirt bike experience constantly servicing his dirt bike suspension, I repack the bearings with Jet-Lube Marine Moly grease. Clicky Thingy

In fact, when I lose self control as I too often do and buy another FJR, one of the first things I always do is service those suspension linkages no matter how little miles the FJR has on it. As far as I am concerned, the factory lube is minimal. After putting in the Marine Moly, my bearings and collars always look good thousands of miles later.