Suspension Replacement Parts
	Everyone knows that on a bike or in a car the key to good handling is quality suspension components. Oh, and the right tires but, you won't find those on this page. The FJ came out of the crate with a good setup on the early models, at least. It never was great, though. As the production run continued Yamaha did many things to lower the cost of producing the bike. The result made the bike's handling suffer. Now it should be noted that due to the FJ's evolution to a sport-tourer the more supple suspension that resulted from the changes might not be a bad thing. But, if you really want to ride the FJ aggressively
replacing the factory running gear is a good idea.

Fork Seals

I will not bore you to tears with too much talk about this topic. It should be touched on, though. The FJ is a heavy bike and it goes through fork seals fairly quickly if ridden aggressively. The most popular replacement fork seal seems to be the OEM part from Yamaha.  The one really useful trick that I have learned is that under the cap on the top of each tube you will find a reverse hex head cast into the thread on cover. It looks as though there might be an allen wrench made to fit it. But, why buy an expensive tool for only one purpose? The rear axle nut fits perfectly here. A number of folks have designed a tool to remove these covers that involves a piece of threaded stock and a couple of axle nuts tightened together. The total cost to make said tool is around 5 USD.

Fork Oil

The oil level can vary, depending on how you want it to control while topping out. Six inches from the top, springs out and stanchions retracted into the sliders is average. Make sure the level is the same in both forks. I don't remember what that level is in volume (cc's), but filling forks by volume is not as accurate or as easy as filling by level. Belray makes good fork oil, Mobil-1 10w30 is approx equiv to 15wt fork oil. Different weights can be used to adjust your rebound dampening. [Source: Joe M]

Steering Head Bearings

One of the causes of pronounced vibration felt while riding the FJ is worn steering head bearings. The best test to see if this is an issue with your bike is to get all of the weight off of the front end and turn the steering head. If you feel and ratcheting as the head turns it is likely that they need to be replaced. You can try re-torqueing the steering head to see if the problem can be eliminated without replacement. Steering head bearings are very sensitive to torque. Make certain that you exactly follow the manufacturers torque specifications when dealing with this issue.  Replacements can be had from CBR Bearing 1-800-769-5388, Yamaha or Honda.  The Honda part numbers are for a 1979 GL1000. The upper bearing number is 32005 and lower is 32006. The dust seal is 53214-371-010.  Thanks to Joe Megyes for the Honda part numbers! The method for removing the lower race, it's fairly involved. It requires a Dremel type tool to grind some slots into either a.) the face of the race or b.) the top edge of the bearing race. a.) takes the longest, as method b.) probably only requires very shallow slots. The point of the slots is to make two of them, opposite each other, and then make a strip of steel with sharp edges that will catch the slots when hammered down from above, so it will hook on to the race and allow you to force the race out. [Marcel Guldemond]

Frame Bolts

A source for vibration, the torque on all frame bolts should be checked every spring.  One of the FJ's design flaws is present here. The lower engine cradle is held in place by a set of bolts on either side of the bike just below the foot pegs. On the early models these bolts go through the aluminum foot peg brackets. On the later models they are behind the brackets. The later model bikes suffer from shoddy fasteners at this point. They can break or fall out resulting in serious vibration while on the road. There have also been complaints that the bolts that Yamaha used were 8 mm while the design specifications call for 10 mm bolts. Many owners re-tap these holes to accommodate the larger bolts. This helps to regulate the problem.

This was submitted by my friend Mazz as a base to work with when dealing with torque specs. Now we all know that this is not a perfect world by any means. So, at least 50% of the time you will be working with aluminum threads and a steel bolt or visa-versa. This provides a good frame of reference when you can find no other data. Though, the Genuine Yamaha Service manual should be used whenever possible.

8mm bolts					10mm bolts
Minimum Tensile Strength*	"Old" Metric Grade	Roughly Equivalent of US SAE Grade	Recommended Torque		Minimum Tensile Strength*	"Old" Metric Grade	Roughly Equivalent of US SAE Grade	Recommended Torque
71,160 PSI	5D	1 & 2	10 FT LBS		71,160 PSI	5D	1 & 2	19 FT LBS
113,800 PSI	8G	5	16 FT LBS		113,800 PSI	8G	5	31 FT LBS
142,200 PSI	10K	8	22 FT LBS		142,200 PSI	10K	8	40 FT LBS
170,679 PSI	12K	-	27 FT LBS		170,679 PSI	12K	-	49 FT LBS
* Of the bolt material					NOTE: These torque specs are for steel bolts threaded into steel. BOLTS THREADED INTO ALUMININUM (OR SIMILAR ALLOYS) MAY REQUIRE MUCH LESS TORQUE.

Aftermarket Swing Arm
	JMC is the premiere name in aftermarket swingarms for the FJ. They are each hand made in England from bulk aluminum stock to customer specification. The swingarm pictured to the right is 4" longer than stock with top and bottom bracing and a mirror polish. The price for this item was not much over $500 UK Pounds according to the owner Jon Jarosz. Chain adjusters come in three flavors: Eccentrics (pictured), Pro-Street P35 and Pro-Street P115. Click on the image to view their web page with a complete list of all available options and ordering instructions.

Swing Arm Bushings and Bearings
Here's what we start with: All of the major components that you will be working with except the pivot points, one of the linkage castings and the bearings are aluminum.  We all know that aluminum is soft and that it corrodes easily. So, if you do not possess a good tool skills and sound judgment when it comes to working on frustrating projects you may want to hire this one out.  The parts from Yamaha are going to cost around 200 USD. That is for the bearings, collars and dust seals. A few part numbers have been offered up but, they assume that you will be able to save the collars. If you are unable to keep the collars in tact during your disassembly you will have to buy them from Yamaha. You may want to consider, as well, that the slightest wear in the collars can cause the rear suspension to be as loose as it was when you found it. Inspect these parts very carefully before you reuse them. When I get around to doing this to my bike I will be calling a parts outlet to order the entire set of Yamaha part numbers. I would rather spend a bit more and have everything that I need on the bench in my shop. Anything to cut the frustration level!  Try CBR Bearing 1-800-769-5388 for these parts:  Swing Arm (2) TA2530Z (Shock Bracket) Shock (1) BKM2035JUU Linkage (2) BHK1730JU Frame (2) 1BBTM2412 Thank you to Hawke for writing these down when he repaired his FJ. He claims that they may be proprietary so I can make no guarantees to their validity.  Disassembly: There are a number of ways that you can get these parts to separate. I would advise starting with less invasive techniques and working your way up.  The most civilized way to remove the bearings and collars come from a suggestion by long distance rider Hawke:  You have to drive them out. I pulled a couple out with a bearing puller but it would only work on but a few. They normally break up or are damaged when you remove them. [Hawke] Barry Edwards is obviously more in favor of buying all of the replacement parts from Yamaha as he suggests:    The old bearings collapse pretty easily, if you're handy with an old, solid screw driver. [Barry Edwards]          (I would advise caution if you chose to do this as you might scar the aluminum surfaces that the bearings are pressed into.) Andy Pugh owns an older FJ and it would appear from this post that he got into a bit of a mess when removing his rear suspension:  t took me three days to get the bolt out that connects the shock-frame link to the frame. On my model year the bolt goes through a collar. The bolt was corroded to the collar. They both turned freely in the link and in the frame... In the end I had to take off the rear subframe to get access (not difficult) and saw through the bolt between the link and the frame with a junior hacksaw.  All my collars, spacers, bolts and shafts are now stainless. [Andy Pugh] The fourth solution if you cannot pry, press, or cut the offensive parts out is the smoke wrench. This is not a kind technique especially when you start talking about using it on aluminum parts but it has been stated that the bearings will just drop out if this is done right. I would not do this to my bike, so, you are on your own.  You can pretty much figure that getting all of the bolts loose and the bearings pressed/ broken out of these assemblies is going to be an all day job if you have an average shop.  Reassembly: The reassembly options are all pretty much the same when you get right down to it. Most of us do not have a bearing press sitting in the corner of our garage so we fake it. Hawke's solution is the best of the bunch when it comes to offering all of your options: I didn't have a press to install them, so I used a threaded rod with two large heavy washers and nuts to push them into the swing arm and shock bracket. I put the bearings into the freezer first and warmed up the mating piece with a heat gun. On the smallest ones my bench vise worked out well to squeeze them in. They can't be hammered and driven in because they are easily damaged and they might cock and collapse. There have been conflicting bits of information on whether the heating and freezing is really necessary. You can make you own judgment call on this. The washers, nuts and all tread to install is a beautiful thing. The best of the best if you can pull it off. The rest of the group suggested using a vise. This is a perfectly expectable solution just take care that the parts remain square and that they do not get marred by the teeth on the vice's jaws.  This extra bit from Dave Kingsland has been observed a number of times. His solution is good but I would advise caution if you do get your pivot axle onto a lathe. Using anything more aggressive than an emery cloth could cause the part to become fouled.  First, make sure you have dust covers for both sides of each bearing. My FJ only came with dust covers on the inside, although the service manual showed dust covers on both sides. I ordered an extra pair to help keep the dust & water out. Second, I found that my pivot axle OD was larger than the bearing ID when I first pulled the swingarm. I found the bearings to be lubed, not rusty or contaminated. The axle just wouldn't fit into the bearings without serious pounding, and the pivot shaft was gouged/worn just like yours. I ordered a new pivot shaft and new bearings, and the new parts were almost as bad as the old ones. The dealer would not refund my money, so I ended up having to spin the shaft in a lathe and remove just enough material to fit using emery cloth. Hopefully your replacement parts will fit better than mine.  [Dave Kingsland] Thanks again to the guys on the FJ list for all of their advice.
Bearing Removal My Way....
Well I finally got around to doing this. At the time I am writing I have not yet removed the bearing races from the swingarm but, the project is going well. I ordered everything to do the job plus from Tracy's including the steering head bearings. The total cost was around $230 USD. All parts are Yamaha replacements.  I tried Barry's advice for removal first and I have to say, what does he eat for breakfast? I could not get any of these parts to move by just pounding on them. All I managed to do was bust up the races just enough that there was nothing left to hammer against but a thin wall of
material. Hats off to you, Barry! You are better than I if you can beat these things out with a screwdriver and hammer!
The Reinstall
Well I got around to putting the thing back together. The report is kind of funny and scary in the same breath. I found that there are always dozens of wrong ways to do a job but, only one right way. Well... I reinforced that piece of learning for the millionth time.
Upgrade Parts and Conversions from Other Bikes (The Street Fighter FJ)
I leave much of the explanation of this section to our resident expert Barry Edwards. There are three tested options for the complete replacement of the front running gear. Each one offers a wider 17 inch rim, better brakes and improved forks. They are all excellent choices for someone who is wanting to get more out of their FJ, however, each one has it's own disadvantages. An expert mechanic is required here. Do not attempt this unless you are completely certain of what you are doing and how you intend to accomplish it. Click on the images below to see more about the options.

1989 FZR1000 EXUP	1997 YZF600	1991 FZR1000 EXUP UD

CBR900RR Rear Shock

This minor modification makes the FJ sit slightly taller in the rear. In order to make the shock work  machining a new clevis is required (the RR has an eye-eye arrangement, 89-93 FJ's has eye-clevis). It is about 25-30mm longer than the stock shock, so, longer dog-bone links are needed and the center stand must be removed. Most owners put a stiffer spring in once the modification is complete.

Replacement Brake Parts
	The stock 84 - 87 FJ is really lacking in this department if you ask me. The factory calipers are two pot units that look like they would be more at home on a 500cc sport bike than on the FJ. There are a few options for improving or replacing the stock brakes including a few bolt on products that replace the entire caliper. In additional there are options presented that
are excellent regardless of what year FJ you own, like braided steel lines and replacement rotors.
More options can be found on The FJ Modifications Page.

ABS

The 92 and 93 FJ1200's came with ABS as an option. It added extra expense to the sticker price and was not very reliable in the long run. Despite these facts there are still a great number of ABS bikes on the road today. Most owners disable the ABS system when it fails due to the high cost of replacing components. There have be instances offered to indicate that some ABS malfunctions can be repaired just by cleaning the sensors. This should be looked at before completely disabling the system if there is any interest in repairing. It has also been noted that, if one is interested in changing out the rear rim, the ABS system can get in the way. I know of no one that has managed to complete a rear rim swap and retain the ABS.

Bleeding

There are a great number on us that use a Mity-Vac to make the process of bleeding and swapping the fluid simpler. There will always be those that prefer doing things the old fashioned way. For them I present an interesting approach to getting rid of stubborn air bubbles that was offered by Mark Lum. Let the bike sit overnight in the (dry inside and not too humid outside) garage with the master cylinder lid loosely on, just to keep debris from falling in, but the rubber "seal" removed from under the lid ofthe reservoir. Wiggle the heck out of all the lines, being careful not toslop brake fluid out. Turn the handlebars all the way to the left, withthe bike on it's center stand. Letting it sit overnight will (hopefully) letthe little bubbles migrate up to the top of the system. The next day goout and wiggle the hoses once again. Then pull the cover off the mastercylinder and look inside. VERY SLOWLY pull in the brake lever, but ONLY about 5% of it's total travel. Do this a number of times, pulling it in alittle further each time. When I did this, I got small bubbles to (visibly) float up and out of the system on the first few lever pulls. I did nothing further and the brakes are nice and firm. [Mark Lum] Understand that this technique was used after installing new braided steel lines. The brakes were then properly bled. After completing these tasks this was done to remove residual bubbles that were causing the brakes to still feel soft. This technique was arrived at through trial and error testing. It is, therefore, not the best or only way to accomplish this. Though, it worked for one person, with proper caution it could work for you.

Fix for a Notchy Front Brake Lever

For a while, I have noticed that my front brake lever was notchy. I would get hard to pull midway through the stroke and then let go quickly. I call it notchy, like dragging a chain through a notch. This had been going on for quite a while and had been getting worse.  I bled the brakes, check pads, etc. My front rotors are getting thin, 81,000 miles but nothing looked bad enough to cause the problem.  This morning I found that the adjusting screw for the lever had worn a crater in the plunger of the master cylinder. I rotated and greased the plunger and it's now fine. [Jack Sutherin] Of course, this is not the best of solutions. The best thing to do would be to rebuild the master cylinder. This was noted later in the post from Mr. Sutherin. Though, if it got you through the last couple days of riding season who would complain! I plan to put this item on my list of things to inspect periodically.

Rebuilding the Master Cylinder or Bleeding (Something to Watch For!)

A member of the list wrote in complaining that he had just rebuilt the master cylinder for the front brakes on his FJ and the brakes had locked up on him while he was riding. Ouch! He did not wreck but, that would make me nervous! Bob Voll replied with a useful little bit on what might cause this:  Aside from an incredible buildup of crud, I couldn't think of a way for the slaves to bind, so it almost has to be the master. And the only thing that the master can do to cause this is to not allow fluid to come back to the reservoir through the compensating port (the little one). Although it hasn't happened to me, people occasionally report that port getting clogged with crud. Other than that, if something is keeping the brake lever from returning far enough, the compensating port won't be opened and you'll get lockup. This is Far More Likely, IMO. Easy to check, though. Take a caliper off and squeeze the piston while watching the open reservoir. You should be able to see the jet of fluid coming back out of the little hole (if the fluid is a little dirty or the level is low). Otherwise, just the fact that you can push the slave cylinder in, and the level of fluid in the master rises, would tell you the port is open. If you can't press the cylinder back in, I'd check in this order: Lever resting position  Crud keeping master cylinder piston from returning all the way  Crud clogging the compensating port  Something you did at the caliper ends: cocked seals, corroded grooves, pads not free, caliper not floating.  [Bob Voll]

More Advice on Master Cylinder Rebuilding

It was noted that there is a small snap ring that is difficult to reach on the front master cylinders. Conventional snap ring pliers will not work here. Before you begin this job you may want to get tooled up to avoid frustration in the middle of the process. What you want is a small set of long nosed snap ring pliers, or so a gather from the posts.  Several years ago, I bought an internal/external snap-ring pliers set from, I believe, J. C. Whitney. They were cheap, and looked cheap, but they handled every (small) snap-ring I've run across, including the FJ master cylinder. Or you could try Autozone. [Mazz] When I rebuilt my clutch master cylinder, I ground down a $5 set of 8" needle nose pliers (about 3 1/4" from pivot to tip) to a fine point and used them. They worked great - I couldn't find snap ring pliers long enough either. [Rheltyr] I filed a set of snap-ring pliers down so that they could get in there and grab the ring. I also had to "back-cut" the tips a bit so that they kept a firm grip as I pulled the ring out. [Jeff Earls]

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