Jolene, Jolene, Jolene...

[Festus]

Pants, don’t feel bad. I wasn’t grasping how this thing was coming apart. I had it in my head that it split at the crank and that’s why the timing belt had to come off. Now, at the moment, I believe it splits at the crank, but the transmission comes off, so I don’t have to deal with that. Of course, I could be totally wrong. Will see, tomorrow is the day.

[HotRodZilla]

Does the post above explain why you were talking about replacing the timing chain? There's almost no reason to replace the chain. I don't know if anyone with an FJR has ever had to do that. The CCT is another story!

[LKLD]

This thread is a source of wonderful, grateful happiness for me. Thanks, Steve.

[Festus]

Does the post above explain why you were talking about replacing the timing chain? There's almost no reason to replace the chain. I don't know if anyone with an FJR has ever had to do that. The CCT is another story!

Yes! I think I’m going to understand a lot more tomorrow.

Rob, this entire story isn’t over yet! Best part is yet to come!

[wpbfjr]

bravo!


Sent from my TRS-80

[gixxerjasen]

Yes! I think I’m going to understand a lot more tomorrow.

Rob, this entire story isn’t over yet! Best part is yet to come!

We still don't know what kind of story it is though. Love story, comedy, drama, tragedy? Who knows, but the story WILL unfold.

[raYzerman]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I visited Jolene yesterday and am happy to report that she is in good hands. Festus is one determined dude, or at least he's not afraid to undo a bolt. Any bolt. Like ALL of them. It was a little difficult to see her in this condition, with her guts spilled around the room, but I'm confident she will be tearing around the backroads of Virginia very soon. Or at least by 2019. Maybe. If he can find all the parts.

Do not disclose the location of this adventure..... oface will want to visit, and he hides parts just to mess you up!
Well, not totally true...... sometimes he ADDS parts just to mess you up!

[Festus]

Yes! I think I’m going to understand a lot more tomorrow.

Rob, this entire story isn’t over yet! Best part is yet to come!

We still don't know what kind of story it is though. Love story, comedy, drama, tragedy? Who knows, but the story WILL unfold.

Never bet against Jolene!

Big day today, heading over there now. Hopefully we'll find the problem parts today.

[gixxerjasen]

Looking forward to a photo filled evening.

[raYzerman]

Yep, take lots of pictures and remember where stuff goes..... video even.

[Festus]

Can’t do pictures from here, but bad shift fork. Not bad. Engine looks incredible. Doing a little backtracking now. Tried to remove as little as possible and now that it’s split, I need to get the clutch assembly off to get to the plate that holds the rod the shift fork rides on. Everything went smooth.

More later.

[wheatonFJR]

What!

Where's the effen webcam!?!

Sounds awesome...I love watching real mechanics in action...when furniture isn't attacking me, right geek?

[Viper_Dad]

Festus has his hands full but I know you all are salivating so here's a few teasers until he can jump online and post more:

Undo a million bolts, secure the engine, and then lift the bike. Simple!


One upside down FJR engine


My son does his best Flintstones impression

[Festus]

A good day today. No surprises, no mechanical issues, other than my own ignorance of the situation and trying to figure out the least amount of stuff to take off since the manual has you taking everything completely apart.

The engine came out pretty easy. The one issue was that photo of the manual I posted days ago, asking people if we needed the special tool. No one answered, so I'll answer now- YES, it would be MOST helpful. It's a thread insert in the frame with a couple of notches. We ended up taking a 5/16" open end wrench, turning it sideways and letting that drive the notches. It mangled the wrench into a mess, but it got that piece loose enough for the engine to clear it. I'll try and take a photo and post that tomorrow.

As Viper Dad posted, we just lowered the engine until it was clear on the drive shaft, and then we lifted the frame over the engine. Super easy.

Engine out, flipped upside down on a pile of U-Haul blankets and it's all set to take apart.

Took the oil pan off and the inside of the engine looked great. 58,000 miles. Is that isn't a commercial for taking care of your bike with regular oil changes, then nothing is. Oil pickup screen was clean. I made a few critical errors today, mainly to my point of trying to take as little as possible off before splitting the case. I didn't take the clutch and clutch assembly. Mistake. It caused multiple issues. It caused an issue with trying to get the oil pump chain off. Ended up taking the bracket off that held that in place, which let us split the case, but it was a little bit of a pain because of that. We had to hold the case up and undo the bracket so the chain could slip off and the case could totally separate. Then it came to become a problem again when trying to get the shaft out that the shift fork rides on. The bracket that holds that in place was behind the whole clutch assembly. Finally took that all off and it made it clear that it would have been a lot easier if I had done that in the beginning.

Got the cases split, the whole gear set just lifts up and out. Within 10 seconds that was out and you could see the issue. Smoked shift fork.

Too soon?



Probably....









Ding...ding....ding....we have a winner....











The stack of gears together. These just sit in there. You can literally just grab them and pull them out. Careful, the pieces will slide off the shaft if you tip them one way or another.



You have to take this retainer plate off which sits behind the clutch assembly. This is why that assembly had to come out. Take this retainer plate loose and the shaft that the shift forks ride on slides right out. There is a spring in each end of the shaft, so be careful not to lose them. You can take this plate loose and just slide the shaft out enough to get the fork off. You can see the spring poking out the end of the shaft, which is pushing against the retainer plate, in the center, top area of the photo.



Time to order some parts....and a lot of gaskets and o-rings.

Overall, no drama. Good day. Thanks to Viper Dad for stopping by and helping out. I will note that he left before the hard work started. Just know that if you ask him to help

Heaven help me when it comes time to put this back together. I'm too old to remember all this stuff

[Cav47]

I cannot imagine undertaking a project like this. You are to be saluted! If you get it back together, you should be Knighted! Dilly Dilly Sir!

[Viper_Dad]

The Festus Overnight FJR Repair Shop was indeed in full swing today. That guy isn’t afraid to tackle anything, even making time to bust my chops. Just please note that I am the ONE person holding the entire engine/transmission while Festus waltzes with the frame. He may have the brains but we all know who the real manpower is on this job!

[raYzerman]

That shifter fork looks worn, but any idea how that (little to me) wear caused second to pop out? The dogs look good too..........

[gixxerjasen]

See now. You have those beautiful intake covers, and freaking painters tape all over the top of the engine. What a terrible contrast.

[Festus]

That shifter fork looks worn, but any idea how that (little to me) wear caused second to pop out? The dogs look good too..........

You're asking me? The guy who didn't know how to drain the coolant 4 days ago? I don't know how much wear starts to cause the problem, but the dog does look pretty bad to me and the gear is torn up deep enough to have some depth with your fingernail. The corner of the dogs probably had close to a 1/16" of a bevel on the leading edges. Is that enough to give you problems? I have no idea. I don't see anything else wrong in that entire area. All the other shift forks, gears, and dogs look good to me. This is the only problem area I see. If you have suggestions for other things to check, let me know, I'm happy to look further to make sure I'm not missing the real damage.

I checked the shift fork shaft. It looks excellent.



Here's a better photo of the dogs. Pretty gouged up, but whether or not it's bad enough to cause the problem, I have no idea. But I do know it's not going back in



Here's that pain in the ass piece that kept us from getting the engine out. It's the top back mount of the engine, on the right hand side. That had to be backed out before the engine would come free. It's straight above your right footpeg about 10"-12".



Not much going to happen with Jolene today. Batch of parts ordered, so it'll probably be late in the week or early next week before they show up. Unfortunately, the gears were showing 1-2 day before they ship, so the order won't go live until Monday, meaning it might ship as late as Wednesday, and depending on their location, I'll have them Friday or Monday/Tuesday of the following week.

It's going to be a slow news week on Jolene. Mainly just cleaning up things to get her ready to go back together.

On a different note, I'm not convinced the rear wheel and final drive needed to come out/off. The engine can't drop straight down because the universal joint coming out of the back of the engine hits part of the frame, so you have to get the engine forward a little. I think you could leave the final drive in and just slip the engine forward and you'd be fine. That's just speculation because I did remove it. If I had to do it again, I'd try it without removing that and if it caused a problem, then I'd take that off at the last minute, since it doesn't take much. Just something to consider. Hopefully I'll never need to do it again so I'll never find out.

You should take note in Viper Dad's photos where he's "holding the engine up". Yes, he's wearing gloves. My goodness, what has this world become? Gloves? Working on a motorcycle? This isn't changing lug nuts at a NASCAR race. I'm not sure I'm going to let you help me lift the engine to put it back in. If I do, you'll have to leave the gloves in the minivan.

[Viper_Dad]

#soccermomlivesmatter