I Have this same issue beginning to happen also, though it is not as dramatic as the image from the original poster. The indents are not as pronounced and they are both from loosening and tightening, which leads me to think the specced torque is too high. I was at a local repair shop today picking up chain lube and showed it to a mechanic I trust who's been working on bikes and riding for 25+ years and he said the same thing. I know I was surprised when I went from my Vstrom to the FJ I had to buy a new torque wrench, as my old one didn't go over 100 ft.lbs. Who knows, maybe the new wrench was mis-calibrated from the start.
I'll probably try the Gilles tool as well. Personally I think to stock adjuster is just a bad design with too soft aluminum.
Hey everyone-
Well this is sort of embarrassing but I figured I would share with the group so the same mistake isn't made. I had a bad experience with my rear axle after and chain adjusters after remounting my wheel after getting a new tire. This was my 4th time (or so) putting the wheel back on the FJ. I've done this before on many dirt bikes and other street bikes, so I thought I knew what I was doing.
Upon torquing down the nut, the opposite side of the axle starting eating into the softer material of the chain adjuster. Apparently the axle wasn't lined up flat against the chain adjuster nor pressed in all the way against the adjuster. See the picture below.
I rode the bike like this for a month and a half, 90 miles a day. I thought that I had torqued down the nut/axle enough, but it was apparent there was still some slop. There would be a clunk when using the rear brake when first riding the bike. I also tried taking off the nut but after a half turn, it felt really soft, like it was cross-threaded. Gulp.
I did some searching and settled on buying the Gilles GYTR chain adjusters. They were reasonably priced from an eBay vendor. I also went and ordered a replacement axle, nut and washer from a local dealership since I knew the originals were not in working order. Once everything was received, I went ahead with the replacement.
This is where the fun started. It was really difficult to unscrew the nut, since it was in fact cross-threaded. Also, the axle head started eating the top of the OEM chain adjuster. It started shearing off the material from the top, due to the loosening motion. Eventually enough material gave way and the axle spun freely. My dad and I had to get creative in order to keep the axle from spinning while giving a solid base to continue to loosen the nut. For this, we laid flat a large open end wrench (over 1.5 inch) under the flat slide of the axle head and the drop outs of the swingarm. Didn't get a pic of this unfortunately. It fit snug enough to get a cheater pipe over a breaker bar on the nut and I put all my force into moving it. It came off eventually.
What a mess. It was a relief to finally get the broken parts off. The new Gilles chain adjuster will not allow the same problem to happen in the future. The head of the axle sits in a perfectly machined space that surrounds the entire head. There is a slight draw-back to this particular model of chain adjuster, you can only screw/unscrew the adjuster a half or quarter turn with the little provided driver. Once you're set, it isn't a huge problem though.
You can see in this picture below, the damage leftover from removing the original axle. You can also see the new adjusters.
Moral of this story: haste makes waste. Be sure that your axle is pushed in ALL THE WAY before torquing down. Also make sure the head of the axle is straight up and down against the OEM chain adjuster. I do believe it is a partially bad design or metallurgy, but also the blame lays with me. The system on the other bikes I've owned is a little more thought out, but the stock system should do if you're careful. A word of warning.
Rear axle and chain adjuster issues - a story
in FJ-09 Known issues and solutions
Posted
I'll probably try the Gilles tool as well. Personally I think to stock adjuster is just a bad design with too soft aluminum.
Jul 15, 2016 17:13:08 GMT -7 [span][span]toonbobo[/span][/span] said: