Upstate NY - FJ Refresh

[imagelessJAKE]

All,

I might be going insane - but I have a 36mm on a 1/2 inch impact driver turning it lefty loosey to get it off - no dice.

Any tips?

[Old Rider]

All,

I might be going insane - but I have a 36mm on a 1/2 inch impact driver turning it lefty loosey to get it off - no dice.

Any tips?

apply the rear brake by sitting on the bike or with a piece of wood jamming the pedal down also you can put a piece of wood thru the wheel over the svingarm. If there is a lock washer
(I cant see one in the picture) bend the tabs down then use a long arm wrench while sitting on the bike with your heel pressing on the rearbrake . Or just use impact driver  .
Sometimes people has used loctite on the frontsprocet nut....bit i would not use a torchflame to free it because of the chain o-rings and the transmission seal
When replacing use a new lock washer place some grease on the splines and torque to 85NM.
It looks like you need a new frontsprocket too

[imagelessJAKE]

All,

I might be going insane - but I have a 36mm on a 1/2 inch impact driver turning it lefty loosey to get it off - no dice.

Any tips?

apply the rear brake by sitting on the bike....

Yeah! I tried a bunch of tricks - eventually I used the 2x4 jammed against the rear wheel and that did the trick. No lock washer and not torch!

Yep - sprockets coming out, new sprockets and chain for sure!

[Millietant]

Just out of interest, what sprocket teeth numbers did you go with - did you stay stock 17/40, or change them ?

[imagelessJAKE]

Just out of interest, what sprocket teeth numbers did you go with - did you stay stock 17/40, or change them ?

I bumped up to 41 teeth in the rear - I doubt it will make much of a difference.

Speaking of rear sprocket... two of the rear sprocket nuts were completely round  very fun to deal with...

good news: wheels are off the bike to get swapped - forks are off to get rebuilt. Before they go back I'll be placing all the new lines in there.

[Millietant]

Hmm.........interesting, unusual choice for a 1200  a

[Waiex191]

Hmm.........interesting, unusual choice for a 1200  a

Instead of looking for 6th gear, he'll be looking for 7th!

The bike looks great!

[imagelessJAKE]

Hmm.........interesting, unusual choice for a 1200  a

It mighttttt have been possible I ordered the wrong size on accident. Lets just pretend I did it on purpose  not my brightest moment.

I cant see it making that much of a difference - maybe 5 mph more? If it feels really sluggish it will be the first to go.

also on the fun side: when swapping the grips out - the internal keying for the bar end was also rounded out (thanks previous owner) a ratchet strap did the trick and a new set is in the mail. 

so it turns out basically all motorcycle shops in the region are about 2 months out to change tires - which leaves me on my own for swapping them out.

Cant be too hard... right?

[Pat Conlon]

No worries....You'll be fine with the 17/41 combo....my '84 came stock with a 17/42 set.

Do not go cheap on your chain. Get the best of the best. A bit more $$ at the start but cheaper in the long run.

FJ's eat cheap chains for breakfast.

[imagelessJAKE]

No worries....You'll be fine with the 17/41 combo....my '84 came stock with a 17/42 set.

Do not go cheap on your chain. Get the best of the best. A bit more $$ at the start but cheaper in the long run.

FJ's eat cheap chains for breakfast.

Completely agree - you trust your life to these machines, part failure mid corner can lead to a good case of the nasties.

I ran with a EK SRX2 chain from revzilla - I've had luck with EK chains before and it fits in nice on the sprockets (at least while its off the bike)

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/ek-chain-530-srx2-chain?sku_id=1272108 

[Waiex191]

so it turns out basically all motorcycle shops in the region are about 2 months out to change tires - which leaves me on my own for swapping them out.
Cant be too hard... right?

I've been doing it for years.  I bought a little balancer years ago also.  I've taught my kid how to do it.

A quick view of my balancer:
https://youtu.be/_x1eE5tipj4

My teenager changing his own tyres:


I suspect your sprocket choice will be fine.  It will give you slightly lower gearing so that should improve the acceleration a bit.  You may be RPM limited to 146 MPH or so.

[fj1289]

Yeah, believe it or not, not EVERYONE on this site is looking for FJR-like touring RPMs!

[Pat Conlon]

Yeah, believe it or not, not EVERYONE on this site is looking for FJR-like touring RPMs!

^^^ Said the man with the fastest FJ in the world....

[Waiex191]

... but I think quite a lot of us are looking for 6th gear.

[imagelessJAKE]

... but I think quite a lot of us are looking for 6th gear.

From what I hear about these bikes, I'll be happy to make it through 2nd