So, I had a MuckenFonday and decided to take a nice long ride.
I notice that when slowing down from 65, the bike developed a horrific front wheel shake, I swear it would of caused me to wreck if I was more of an idiot than I am.
Gold Wing riders would often come in and tell me "When I let my hands off the handlebars, the front end shakes!" and I'd offer simple advise -
Keep you hands on the HANDlebars!
Anyway, this bugged me, and it would be a great addition to the winter list of things to do.
I'm not wanting to dump a bunch of money into it, thinking about changing the oil, maybe some springs.
Checking the alignment of the wheels, and those steering head bearings.
Might as well check the rotor's as well - I guess one could be warped, I hope not....
Idea's, I'm all ears!
True, the snap answer is "Don't take your hands off the bars." The real answer is "Find and Fix the problem before it kills you!!" Probably won't be that expensive, either. If it only happens when braking, yeah, check the rotor and pads. If it just started and happens when not braking, check the tire for bumps and bulges, and to see if a tire weight has fallen off. Then on to the other things. Loose axle nuts, bearings, etc.. Important that you fix it.. :bomb:
I had the same problem. Notably decelerating as coming off the freeway and applying brakes on an off ramp. Big time shakes. I made a lot of changes so I don't know which one fixed it but I adjusted the head bearings (they didn't feel that bad), replaced the front wheel bearings they were "stiff" not freewheeling. I had the rear end jacked up quiet a bit. I adjusted the forks to close to factory specs and lowered the rear end. My rear is about 1" +- higher than stock. I also rebuilt the front forks, new springs, emulators and oil. Used the same tire, no changes there. I run at max pressure. With out looking it is about 38PSI.
At any rate she is in trim now and all is well. Wish I had one single answer. Have you made any suspension changes lately ? Lowered the front end, raised the rear end etc.? Probably not much help but I did have the problem and it is fixable. :drinks: Didn't want you to feel like you are alone.
George
Good call on checking the front brakes Novaraptor. :good2:
+1 on all the above!
I will add that in my case, it has been the front tire causing the issue.
With the full rebuild in 2012, I had fresh Racetech prepped forks, new head bearings adjusted in my typical OCD ways :biggrin: , new front wheel bearings, the RPM fork brace, stock ride height front and rear, but an old front tire. I got a repeatable front end wobble decelerating from 50MPH through about 38MPH. Didn't matter if I used the brakes or engine braking. Scared the b-jezus out of me! I replaced both tires with a fresh set and it was smooth as glass!
For the WCR 2014, I thought I would wear out a set of used Avon Roadrider tires that came on a set of stock FJ wheels I bought. They looked fine, plenty of tread...just needed a re-balance (they were WAY out). Everything looked okay, so I got on the freeway to head north and I got a SEVERE speed wobble! :shok: I considered turning around and mounting a fresh set of tires I had in the garage, but I was riding with another FJ-er and meeting three more that afternoon. Not wanting to hold folks up, I rode it. By the time I got 200 miles north, I was starting to get blisters from the death-grip I had on the handlebars. By the time I got to Monterey, I knew I had to find a dealer for a new front tire. Ended up running all the way to Willits like that and had a dealer in Ukiah mount up a new tire. Rock solid, ZERO wobble at any speed.
Check everything out that has been suggested...If all looks right, consider that front tire.
+1 on the front tire. My fzr1000 developed a severe speed wobble @135mph. If I accelerated hard through it, it would come out of it @ 140. If I tried easing through it. It would turn into a tankslapper. Tire looked fine. Replaced it, and it went away.
I had a deceleration head shake on a BMW K75 that turned out to be a bent rim. Easy thing to check...
Just a thought,
Dan
It's done this before, so I'm leaning towards bearings (wheel/steering stem adjustment) -
I'll check the wheel balance while I have it all apart.
I also need to change the fork oil, it's probably original....
Fricking Gold Wings, they would do it brand spanking new.
Forgot what it was, at first I thought it was from the owner doing wheelies on them.....
Thanks everyone!
Timing is good, but, well, I may be opening pandora's box here.
A headlight adjustment knob arrived today, mine broke, and I've been wanting to pull the fairing just to check the condition of everything.
Easy to remove the forks (maybe springs, oil for sure), and thus the wheel (check balance & bearings), and everything I need to be checking anyway (steering head bearings), "the dreaded headshake" needs to go away.
Now I'm thinking brake lines, master cylinder (which one do I want again? FJR1300?), maybe calipers but I've read just the master will "master" the brakes. :rofl2:
And the grand finale, the motor mounts - I believe they may be due for replacement, been sensing more vibration than usual, what kind of a job is that?
Which mounts, 5 of them? Made of unobtainium?
and I'm also learning towards replacing the footpeg dampers, they seem to of lost their resilience - and I can't find them on the parts list.
Maybe a extra washer to firm 'em up.
Oh boy, sounds like a project's brewing
Steve, Steve, Steve, you are falling into the FJ pit of no return :lol:. Kudo's for jumping in and doing it right. With these 20-30 year old machines you just have to strip her down a bit and do some maintenance. It will be interesting to find out what you discover.
I am trying recall, on that adjuster I think I replaced the JIS mounting screw with a bolt so that I could change it out in the future by only removing the right side dash panel. Something like that anyhow.. :drinks: Trivia.
With the fairing off it is a good time to add any extra wiring up there for misc. stuff and perhaps adding in the coil relay mod :)... Am I helping.......... :lol:
Cheers George
....and don't forget about the horn relay mod and the headlight relay mod and........ :sarcastic:
OH ! yea also you will never have a better time to convert your cluster lights to LED's (except the low fuel light). And make sure the polarity is correct. Check the lights before you put the fairing back on..... :good2: New speedo cable while it is apart just because. They are cheap.
George
I've got a bunch of these, probably be a good time to install one (or more)
Where do I get the LED Speedometer Cable relay at? :sarcastic:
Your Powerlet looks good. These days it is handy to have power up front for cell phones etc. It would be handy to have an adapter to convert to a USB port. Powerlet probably has them. I have an old fashion outlet and a USB adapter in the tank bag.
Also a good time to think about a small digital volt meter to be mounted up front. I find that handy as IMO the FJ is not over powered when it comes to the battery and monitoring the voltage regulation is nice. Another reason I have converted to LED headlight, LED cluster bulbs, tail light and my running lights are LED. Haven't converted the turn signals yet but will sometime in the future.
Rough wire in power for heated grips if you don't already have them ?
I don't know about LED's for your speedo cable but hey, anything is possable ! :wacko3:
George
.
Also a good time to think about a small digital volt meter to be mounted up front.
======================================================
In daylight all I can see with those is 8888. Analog volt and ammeters for moi.
I like the ideal of going LED's everywhere. And the volt meter!
If anyone is interested, I have a few of those powerlet outlet's somewhere.
I could get a count and a delivered price - deal of the day!
Quote from: motohorseman on October 23, 2014, 05:42:41 PM
I like the ideal of going LED's everywhere. And the volt meter!
If anyone is interested, I have a few of those powerlet outlet's somewhere.
I could get a count and a delivered price - deal of the day!
Burns comment about reading the LED has merit. I do have a hard time in some light conditions but it is not a prime gauge to watch and depends probably where you mount it. I am just using a cheap digital volt display off flea bay. I like analog meters but my experience with other bikes is that they don't seem to hold up as long due to what I assume is vibration. But they are also in expensive to replace and in the end it doesn't matter. Its the information you are after.
A while back because I had a volt meter, I observed over a short period of time the charging voltage at 15 volts and then 15.1 and then 15.2 which told me that my regulator was malfunctioning. I was able to fix it before it did any damage. Also you can judge your battery condition some what by observing the charging voltage.
George
the marine instruments seem to hold up better. I'm a bit red/green color blind (and about half-blind any way) so this may be more of an issue for me than others. An ammeter needle position is a LOT easier to catch at a glance.
I have three of the Powerlet Military Style Outlets that I'll offer up to members of the forum for a very low cost.
If you're interested, let me know
A Digital voltmeter does make sense - now, to decide which one, which color....
3-wire-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-DC-0-30V-Red-LED-3-Digital-Display-Voltage-Voltmeter-Motorcycle-3-Colors-/281418922956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4185dffbcc (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-DC-0-30V-Red-LED-3-Digital-Display-Voltage-Voltmeter-Motorcycle-3-Colors-/281418922956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4185dffbcc)
Or 2 wire -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/P4PM-Two-Wires-Digital-Voltmeter-LED-Display-DC2-5-30V-Voltage-Meter-/201169132323?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2ed69d5b23 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/P4PM-Two-Wires-Digital-Voltmeter-LED-Display-DC2-5-30V-Voltage-Meter-/201169132323?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2ed69d5b23)
Uh oh, or even -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-0-30V-Car-Digital-Voltage-meter-voltmeter-Temp-Sensor-Kit-Time-Temp-Voltage-/161431482096?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item259610eef0&vxp=mtr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-0-30V-Car-Digital-Voltage-meter-voltmeter-Temp-Sensor-Kit-Time-Temp-Voltage-/161431482096?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item259610eef0&vxp=mtr)
Temp reads to 257 degrees (125c) - makes for some interesting possibilities....
I've bought some of that stuff before, I wish I could say the stuff was crap, but I can't.
Quote from: motohorseman on October 25, 2014, 07:02:36 AM
I have three of the Powerlet Military Style Outlets that I'll offer up to members of the forum for a very low cost.
If you're interested, let me know
(http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12748.0;attach=3117;image)
These will ship boxed and I'll send them to Australia, one would be $15.00 delivered.
US, $5.00 delivered for one.
I think that's a low cost :wacko2:
That is a very good price for those. I bought a plastic one a few months ago, paid $6.00 IIRC. I bought a plugin digital voltmeter at the same time. I hadn't installed it before my crash, I really didn't see any place to mount it that I was really happy with. Now I just have to decide where to build and mount a bracket for the plug socket.
Joe
I'm leaning towards this one, if there is a place it fits - If so, need to decide color of LED...
(http://img03.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i3/105079348/T2aTd6XrFaXXXXXXXX_!!105079348.jpg)
(http://img01.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i1/105079348/T2nEezXu0XXXXXXXXX_!!105079348.jpg)
(http://img02.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i2/105079348/T2j5mzXrFXXXXXXXXX_!!105079348.jpg)
(http://img04.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i4/105079348/T22RqAXu4XXXXXXXXX_!!105079348.jpg)
(http://img03.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i3/105079348/T22y9tXxhXXXXXXXXX_!!105079348.jpg)
If I could get a digital led combo display that does both volts and oil temp, I would find a place to fit it...
Quote from: Country Joe on October 25, 2014, 10:16:28 AM
That is a very good price for those. I bought a plastic one a few months ago, paid $6.00 IIRC. I bought a plugin digital voltmeter at the same time. I hadn't installed it before my crash, I really didn't see any place to mount it that I was really happy with. Now I just have to decide where to build and mount a bracket for the plug socket.
Joe
Here is a concept.
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/6/1651_04_03_14_5_54_11.jpeg)
George
Quit showin' off, George!
Actually, you have to appreciate the amount of work and attention to detail that is represented in your bike. Very professional!
Steve
Quote from: movenon on October 25, 2014, 02:08:02 PM
Here is a concept.
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/6/1651_04_03_14_5_54_11.jpeg)
George
Thanks Steve, but it wasn't meant to show off. It was just meant to throw out an idea. I have since added a small LCD oil temp monitor. I am waiting until the next oil change to install the temp sender in the pan.
George
Nicely done!