What is wrong with my left mirror?

[karstenp]

Just purchased a used an 07. Noticed that the windshield is rubbing on the left mirror when retracted (actually right side mirror when sitting on back). A closer look indicates that the windshield is not the problem. Appears that the left mirror is tilted. When I place the bike on the centre stand, I measure a difference of about 1/2" from the floor to the seam at the base of the mirror (left side being 1/2" higher than the right side). I was going to take the plastic off to gain access to the inside base of the mirror where it attaches to the fairing to see if it could be adjusted. I know that on my FJ1200 there is no way to adjust the base. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to adjust the base to fix this? You can see in the pictures that the left mirror swivel seam is not horizontal like the seam on the right side mirror.

 

[v65]

It can't be adjusted, the mirror bolts to a front subframe. It looks like yours was tweaked somehow. The good news is the folks have bent theirs back from worse than that. There is a link around here on how to do it with breaking the frame.

 

[karstenp]

It can't be adjusted, the mirror bolts to a front subframe. It looks like yours was tweaked somehow. The good news is the folks have bent theirs back from worse than that. There is a link around here on how to do it with breaking the frame.

I was afraid of that. The bike only has 3300 miles and is in showroom condition. Looking closely at the mirror, it does not appear to have been tweaked. Almost looks like a manufacturing defect but hard to believe it could be that far off.... will some searches for posts described.

 

[Hit the Road Jack]

Your windshield is not stock. Appears to be an extra-wide Cal Sci.

I would suggest removing the W-cover and loosening the seven windshield retaining screws. Then see if you can center the windshield as required to not contact either mirror. Alternate tightening the seven windshield retaining screws such that the windshield remains centered. That might help.

 

[wfooshee]

If you remove the black inner dash panels you'll find the mirror mounting hardware on the inside of the bodywork. It's a simple job to remove the mirrors. There bolts are part of the mirror base, and nuts inside the bodywork retain the mirror. When the nuts are off, the mirror just lifts out. You might then be able to use a drill to elongate the holes and then be able to mount the mirror just a touch forward of where it sits. The holes will be in a tab on the subframe, the plastic has a large opening and you won't be bothering that. Unless you let the drill slip really badly.

 

[karstenp]

Great suggestions. Will check the windshield first.... and then look into elongating the holes if required.

 

[RadioHowie]

The bike only has 3300 miles and is in showroom condition.

JEBUS...they get THAT dirty in a showroom!

 

[karstenp]

The bike only has 3300 miles and is in showroom condition.

JEBUS...they get THAT dirty in a showroom!

The showroom (aka garage) was a week, one rainstorm and 400 miles ago.... this bike will no longer be abused and will be ridden!

 

[SockMonkey]

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

 

[karstenp]

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

I will have the front fairing off this winter so I will look at staightening then. What exactly could need to be replaced? Would the entire sub frame need replacing or are there individual pieces?

 

[omnislash]

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

I will have the front fairing off this winter so I will look at staightening then. What exactly could need to be replaced? Would the entire sub frame need replacing or are there individual pieces?

I'm riding an Gen 1 model and I have this problem when i installed a Gen III mirror. It only happens to the left mirror. I tot it was a combination of my mirror and an aftermarket windshield that caused this problem.

One freak accident and the entire mirror is totally out of place. After some sourcing, I realized I had to replace the fwd stay. Wala, the chaffing problem no longer exist. So my deduction is that the mounting bracket for the mirror bends after each knock/drop.

Mine is a Gen 1 and the fwd stay cost me SGD $280. The mounting bracket for the mirror is welded to the fwd stay so it comes as an entire piece. Your construction should be similar. The bracket of interest is about half an inch thick.

 

[mcatrophy]

QUOTE (karstenp @ Oct 19 2009, 12:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE (SockMonkey @ Oct 18 2009, 11:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

I will have the front fairing off this winter so I will look at staightening then. What exactly could need to be replaced? Would the entire sub frame need replacing or are there individual pieces?

I think if it's a replacement it's the whole frame.

I had an event that required replacement of my right mirror (amongst other things).

(click on image for larger view)



I took a few pictures of my repair, this one shows the mirror nuts.



There's a whole sequence of pictures here, they may be of some help (I believe my '06 is the same as your '07).

 

[Geezer]

If it turns out that the front stay is bent, which is likely, then you can bend it back into shape by removing the black dash panels, remove the two nuts that hold the mirror to the stay, then bolt something else in place of the mirror that you can use to form (bend) the stay in the right direction. Be careful not to break or bend something else in the process.

When I had this problem on my '05, from hitting a Bambi, I used the broken mirror as the pry bar.

 

[SockMonkey]

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

I will have the front fairing off this winter so I will look at staightening then. What exactly could need to be replaced? Would the entire sub frame need replacing or are there individual pieces?

If you replace it, it's 1 piece, listed as "Stay 1" (p/n 3P6-28356-00-00) on the "Cowling 1" parts fiche (line item 36). Cycle Parts Nation has it for US$ 308.43. As it's steel and not aluminum, I'd think that a good auto body or precision metal shop should be able to straighten the original piece if it's removed from the bike.

 

[mcatrophy]

... As it's steel and not aluminum...

The bit that holds the mirror is aluminium (at least, that's how easily mine straightened).

 

[SockMonkey]

... As it's steel and not aluminum...

The bit that holds the mirror is aluminium (at least, that's how easily mine straightened).

You might want to take another look, but as I recall it's light guage steel. I'll get another look at mine in a couple of weeks when I pull the fairing off to replace a panel.

 

[JamesK]

Nope, absolutely not a manufacturing defect. Sorry to have to tell you this, but that bike has been dropped on its right side. The previous owner likely replaced the mirror which would have taken the brunt of the fall, but didn't go to the trouble of straightening the fairing subframe. You will need to pull off the front fairing to straighten it (or just replace it...).

From my experience with the CalSci screen (similar size to yours: Medium Windshield) it is NOT a manufacturing defect or a dropped bike problem. I have had/tried my CalSci screen on two (2) separate Gen II FJRs, and '06 Euro spec and an '07 US Spec (not that this should make any difference). Both bikes were brand new, with me being the 1st/original owner and had NEVER been dropped. In my case this screen clearance problem occurred on the LHS, and was exactly the same as yours, were the CalSci screen would rub the mirror post hard enough to scrape the paint of off the mirror mount all the way to the white undercoat if/when I tried to lower the screen all the way down. This problem persisted until I finally gave up on the defective CalSci screen and replaced it with a Cee Baileys screen (of similar dimensions, +2 +2 w/flip). Btw, I even tried before giving up on the CalSci to elongate the mounting holes in the screen in the hopes of getting it to shift a little over to the right. Also worth noting is that CalSci refused to acknowledge any problem with the screen. The other telltale sign is that screwing down the W bracket was always a total PITA, again due to the whole screen being off-center IMHO.

With the Cee Baileys screen I have NEVER had ANY fitment or mounting problems right out of the box and with no changes to the bike.

I still have that CalSci screen lying around in my garage gathering dust, so you're welcome to try it out, just pay the round trip shipping. At least this way you'll be able to match the paint scratches on both mirror posts

 

[v65]

With the distance from the mirrors to the floor if the bike is even slightly off vertical your measurements will be off. Can you get some measurements relative to the bike, ala

?

From the pic it looks the mirror on the left is off kilter with the one on the right, but hard to judge from a pic.

 

[mcatrophy]

QUOTE (SockMonkey @ Oct 19 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...You might want to take another look, but as I recall it's light gauge steel. I'll get another look at mine in a couple of weeks when I pull the fairing off to replace a panel.

While I'm not taking mine apart again to look at it, these pictures (click on image for larger view)



show the metal with the holes the mirror mounts to is about 4mm thick. I thought it was going to be a right POS to straighten, I bolted on a piece of aluminium about 3/8" thick.



In the end, it took almost no effort to straighten, just a gentle lean. I'm sure mild steel of that thickness would have been much more difficult.

If I'm wrong, my adrenalin level must have been far higher than I realised! (I am not particularly strong, getting weaker by the ever increasing number of years

.)