Guage cluster shake

[MACHV]

Another newb question. Sorry. I did a search but didnt find anything.
Since I live in Illinois and our roads were so thoroughly repaired via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Thanks Barry), I hit a fair amount of unavoidable rough spots. I do try to ride smart but cant avoid em all. If the jar is enough, the guage cluster shakes. It actually pivots toward me in the dash and makes a rather loud noise. Pretty sure the forks are NOT bottoming. Happened again yesterday crossing a Kane County Canyon. I cant see what couldbe causing this. I can only think cables are pulling or pushing up there somehow. They appear to have plenty of slack. Any ideas or is this common?

Thanks Again.
John

[FJmonkey]

The cluster is rubber mounted, might be worn grommets allowing extra movement, some bounce is normal when hitting hard bumps.

[SlowOldGuy]

As Monkey said, the gauges are rubber mounted.  There is a spacer that prevents you from overtightening the mounting bolts.  The rubber has probably shrunk up a little, allowing excess slop.

Grind a little off the spacer to tighten the mount up some.  Do not take too much.  Over tightening the gauges will cause them to crack.

DavidR.

[ribbert]

Another newb question. Sorry. I did a search but didnt find anything.
Since I live in Illinois and our roads were so thoroughly repaired via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Thanks Barry), I hit a fair amount of unavoidable rough spots. I do try to ride smart but cant avoid em all. If the jar is enough, the guage cluster shakes. It actually pivots toward me in the dash and makes a rather loud noise. Pretty sure the forks are NOT bottoming. Happened again yesterday crossing a Kane County Canyon. I cant see what couldbe causing this. I can only think cables are pulling or pushing up there somehow. They appear to have plenty of slack. Any ideas or is this common?

Thanks Again.
John

Aaaah yes, the FJ front end "clunk".  Yes it's common and mine used to do it, trouble is I forget what it was.
As previously answered, the instruments are meant to be loose mounted, within reason, but the movement your witnessing is not the source of the noise.

Noel

[Klavdy]

Another newb question. Sorry. I did a search but didnt find anything.
Since I live in Illinois and our roads were so thoroughly repaired via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Thanks Barry), I hit a fair amount of unavoidable rough spots. I do try to ride smart but cant avoid em all. If the jar is enough, the guage cluster shakes. It actually pivots toward me in the dash and makes a rather loud noise. Pretty sure the forks are NOT bottoming. Happened again yesterday crossing a Kane County Canyon. I cant see what couldbe causing this. I can only think cables are pulling or pushing up there somehow. They appear to have plenty of slack. Any ideas or is this common?

Thanks Again.
John

Aaaah yes, the FJ front end "clunk".  Yes it's common and mine used to do it, trouble is I forget what it was.
As previously answered, the instruments are meant to be loose mounted, within reason, but the movement your witnessing is not the source of the noise.

Noel

Spring clonk?

[MACHV]

Guess I can live with it. Thanks folks.
Again, I am more in love with this machine than any I have had. My dream bike is (or was) a 2nd gen FJR, but the FJ had a price point I could contend with. Did 4 mile round trip grocery run last night after an impromptu afternoon of cruising around and realized something. I have no fantasies about an FJR. I used to spend hours online researching and staring at pictures. Even have the little Maisto 5" long toy bike. If I had the cash to pay for brand new, I honestly don't think I would bother.

[FJmonkey]

It only takes one sip of the Kookalooaid...

[RichBaker]

Mine stopped clunking after the back 1/2 of the front fender fell off.....

[FJmonkey]

Mine stopped clunking after the back 1/2 of the front fender fell off.....

[markmartin]

My 89 did this when I got it.  I shoved a couple of rubber washers between the speedo assembly and the inner fairing assembly.

The next time I had the front fairing off, I tightened the mounting points on each side of the speedo assembly as much as I dared to, and this took care of the majority of the shaking.   

[fj11.5]

Guess I can live with it. Thanks folks.
Again, I am more in love with this machine than any I have had. My dream bike is (or was) a 2nd gen FJR, but the FJ had a price point I could contend with. Did 4 mile round trip grocery run last night after an impromptu afternoon of cruising around and realized something. I have no fantasies about an FJR. I used to spend hours online researching and staring at pictures. Even have the little Maisto 5" long toy bike. If I had the cash to pay for brand new, I honestly don't think I would bother.

, , much rather an xjr , more like a modern Fj than an fjr will ever be, they ruined what could of been a good copy

[moparman70]

one possible source of the clunking sound may also be the headlight assy -- San Dimas Mike had this and it turned out to be his headlight socket assy I believe --- he replaced the headlight assy and no more clunk.

As far as the shake for the cluster its normal what is not normal ( or shouldn't be ) is the state of the roads ..... come - onn ...what do we pay taxes for anyways..
stevecc

[fintip]

Yeah, XJR is my dream bike when we're talking modern toys... Man that's a hell of a bike...

Good roots!