Upstate NY - FJ Refresh

[Old Rider]

Safety wire that petcock elbow....

It is hard to see in the pic but it is safety wired

[imagelessJAKE]

Oh boy, big weekend - long post.

Took Old Tires off and put the new ones on - This was a major pain! I eventually used my brain and used the vice grip to break the bead. Wrestled with it with some tire irons for a couple hours and finally got both off. Using copious amounts of soap got the new ones on - then balanced accordingly! Also annoying - I thinks someone drilled out where the stems go - so no fancy 90* fittings - trip to the local bike shop had what I needed!
Also irritating - I bought a all balls rear bearing/seal kit from another website Its missing a smaller seal on the sprocket/cush drive hub   cant place the rear wheel on till I get that!

Took apart the old forks Drained what looked like old sludge? just dark grey and nasty stuff coming out. Installed new seals and wipers. Weirdly enough the spring had a spacer on it that looked like it was somebodies scrap PVC they had lying around... I'm going to pretend I didnt see that. Replaced everything and stuck it back in. Used 5wt fork oil instead of the 10 as called for in Haynes - is this a huge deal?

Brake/Clutch lines So I bought the Front Brake Line Kit (Alt. No Anti Dive 86-87) from RPM and was confused when I didnt have all lines - then noticed the no anti dive part. Following Randy's instructions over email bypassed the anti dive units. Clutch was even easier - although my stock rubber line holders are not as snug anymore. Brake lines look a bit long - too long really - going to reach out to randy for advice (maybe I ran them wrong?

Leaky petcock So after noticing that my petcock was leaking - I used a rebuild kit from RPM for the petcock - then noticed a bend in the rim of the filter element where it meets the petcock - so it does not stick to the petcock like it should. A thin layer of epoxy did the trick. Safety wired the elbow to the body of the petcock as well.

New Fuel Level sender unit plug In my previous post - I mentioned how my fuel level sender unit had been corroded away - went to sparck moto and got a connections kit and made a new 3 to 3 connection. (please forgive me replacing green/red with yellow - i dont have multicolor wire!)

New mirrors! Need I say more?

Whats to come:

• Brass pivot bushing in the clutch handle
• New Air filter
• New fairing mounting hardware
• Rear Luggage Mount
• new reservoir rubbers
• new brake pads - EBC FA88V

Thanks for reading and hope you all had as good a weekend as I did! Hopeful to get this puppy back on the road soon!

[imagelessJAKE]

OK, so after a quick call - I've learned that the lines from Spiegler I received are intended to bypass the junction and bolt directly to the master cylinder.

Has anyone had any issues with this type of setup? do they need to be tied to the triple tree at any point?

[Waiex191]

There was some discussion on my thread starting on this page:
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19343.45

I think the short answer is the two line setup is good.

[imagelessJAKE]

There was some discussion on my thread starting on this page:
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19343.45

I think the short answer is the two line setup is good.

Thanks! - yeah after some quick browsing it looks like a non issue.

Any idea why an all balls bearing kit only comes with 2 seals but 3 bearings? which side is supposed to be missing the seal? is this intentional?

Very confused!

[RPM - Robert]

There is no seal between the sprocket carrier and the actual rim where the rubber cush drives are. Seal goes on the outside of sprocket carrier and the brake side.

[imagelessJAKE]

There is no seal between the sprocket carrier and the actual rim where the rubber cush drives are. Seal goes on the outside of sprocket carrier and the brake side.

Holy Cow! Thanks - I would always assume that every bearing gets a seal.

But you know what they say about assuming....

[imagelessJAKE]

Took a quick weekday trip to the shop:

• Moved the brake lines to hook up direct to the master cylinder and bled (much easier without the junction)
• Ordered new brakes (EBC FA88V)
• Cut and mounted the chain (it was the snapping bolt master link - very weird)

Bled the clutch line - just about finished and heard a massive POP sound - The rubber seal had failed and fluid started spraying everywhere (fun times!)
Thankfully - one from RPM is on the way.

That should just about finish the bike pending any other major problems I see - the only thing I can think of being worn out is the disk's themselves.

That leaves me on the hunt for a new front fender and belly pan fairing. If I cant find one within a reasonable price range I might try to make a mold of the beat ones and try to make them myself from fiberglass - lets hope it doesn't come to that.

[f4fwildcat]

I was reading through your posts and I seen you mentioned the forks had a PVC spacer in it. Sometimes if the springs are replaced with aftermarket parts they also include spacers to increase the preload or to take up extra space if the springs are shorter than stock. Might be worthwhile checking you have the original springs installed as they maybe needed if its an aftermarket setup. Could also be a case of the previous owner wanting stiffer front forks so they increased the preload with the PVC spacers.

[imagelessJAKE]

I was reading through your posts and I seen you mentioned the forks had a PVC spacer in it. Sometimes if the springs are replaced with aftermarket parts they also include spacers to increase the preload or to take up extra space if the springs are shorter than stock. Might be worthwhile checking you have the original springs installed as they maybe needed if its an aftermarket setup. Could also be a case of the previous owner wanting stiffer front forks so they increased the preload with the PVC spacers.

Yeah, I'm familiar with this kinda tomfoolery - I'd like to try riding it and seeing how it feels. If it is too hard/soft I might try to replace it with OEM springs and remove the spacer. I know the tubes/lowers are stock because the seals/wipers fit perfectly inside - also if I do like the setup might go to the local fabricator and get some metal cut to the size of the PVC - a bit overkill but I really dont like the idea of relying on plastic.

[Pat Conlon]

..... also if I do like the setup might go to the local fabricator and get some metal cut to the size of the PVC - a bit overkill but I really dont like the idea of relying on plastic.

The compressive strength of that Schedule 40 PVC spacer will surprise you. It is exponentially stronger than any compressive forces the fork springs and front end will deliver. You are perfectly fine.
If worried, go with a heavier wall Schedule 80 thickness of PVC.

[imagelessJAKE]

Time for something exciting:

Ponied up for a pyramid plastics bellypan and decals from RD decals. If I'm understanding correctly I can just paint the bellypan white and the decals will do the rest - then clearcoat over it.

Can you buy the heat blanket stuff in the bottom of the pan?

[imagelessJAKE]

..... also if I do like the setup might go to the local fabricator and get some metal cut to the size of the PVC - a bit overkill but I really dont like the idea of relying on plastic.

The compressive strength of that Schedule 40 PVC spacer will surprise you. It is exponentially stronger than any compressive forces the fork springs and front end will deliver. You are perfectly fine.
If worried, go with a heavier wall Schedule 80 thickness of PVC.

Yeah - it was a little shocking at first. I guess I was worried what a few years bathing in fork oil would do to the plastic of it - but it seemed structurally sound.

The spacer was maybe 6 or 7 inches long? 

Hopefully in the future we can move our fork spacers over to pex (kidding!)

[aviationfred]

Time for something exciting:

Ponied up for a pyramid plastics bellypan and decals from RD decals. If I'm understanding correctly I can just paint the bellypan white and the decals will do the rest - then clearcoat over it.

This is the White that you want. I have used this paint and it looks great.

https://www.colorrite.com/product/yamaha-00ge-silky-white-sw-1752.cfm

Fred

[imagelessJAKE]

More good news!

• New Brake Pads
• New Clutch Slave

Got the bike filled up with gas and it started up! It was dark when I finished so the maiden voyage will be this weekend! Very excited.

Tried installing the Rentec sports rack/carrier and I cant figure it out. I know one mount needs to go to the blinker mount - and the other goes to the "grab bars"

Are they talking about the bolts mounted vertically underneath the tail/spoiler plastic? I'm unsure if it needs to go above or below?

if someone has the rentec rack - could they please post some pictures?