NotVeryCreative16

Never mind. I’m an idiot. I needed to back the preload all the way out before installing the fork caps.

No, I haven’t. That would be the next step. I just figured someone from this forum might have a simple answer. I didn’t have this issue when I originally installed the cartridges so I’m assuming I’m just making a dumb mistake.

I’m not sure if I installed something in the wrong order/orientation or if I’m just not doing something right but I can’t get the fork cap to screw back on. The part with the threads in that picture doesn’t seem to be sticking up far enough for me to thread the fork cap back onto it. Any help is appreciated.

That’s very interesting. Makes total sense now that I think about it that way. With the pinch bolts loosened, it was comically easy to crack open the fork top caps. I appreciate the input from everyone as always.

Wow, I’m such an idiot lol. Makes sense I guess but it’s crazy that a pinch bolt tightened to 19 ft lbs is enough to make it impossible to spin the fork cap. Glad I asked before I completely stripped the thing trying!

It doesn’t sound silly because no, I didn’t loosen either pinch bolt. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I don’t understand why this would stop the fork cap from turning. I did install them myself but that was 2 years ago and I really don’t remember how tight I made them. I do know I tightened them with the same spanner that I’m trying to loosen them with though so it shouldn’t be this difficult. I’ll try it with the top pinch bolt loosened. I guess the compression is enough to stop the cap from turning? I appreciate the advice.

I have K-Tech 20IDS carts installed on my 2015 FJ-09 and can’t for the life of me loosen the top caps with the spanner (https://www.ktechsuspensionusa.com/p-19860-k-tech-suspension-front-fork-tools.aspx). I’ve tried WD-40 and heat to no avail. I was going to try to use a piece of pipe as a cheater bar for more leverage, but on my last attempt, I chipped part of the top cap with the spanner so I thing k cheater bar is probably just going to make it worse. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong like the preload or rebound/compression should be set to a certain setting. I’m thinking I need to get one of these sockets: https://www.ktechsuspensionusa.com/Yamaha-FZ09-2015_p-19765-k-tech-suspension-front-fork-tools.aspx Thoughts?

Okay, I was wrong. This hole is where coolant was leaking from at the end of my 2 hour drive yesterday. I just dropped the radiator guard to get a better look and it is actually squirting from the very top of the front of the radiator, underneath the hole. There doesn’t appear to be any damage to the radiator though so this is confusing.

My coolant has been boiling up out of this small hole in the top of the radiator. The engine does not overheat until the coolant level is low. It was only a little at first and I noticed it at the end of the first day of a 3 day trip so I just added coolant at the end of each day but it has gotten much worse. I limped it home which was a 2 hour drive and noticed the coolant just boiling over and pouring out of the hole in the top of the radiator by the radiator cap. Does anyone know what could be causing this? Thanks in advance.

Can you give me a quick run down on the APE tensioner kit? Is this something I should do while I'm in there and am currently in need of the #33 bolt that's like $50? I've thought about this, but it seems like I'd have to take the cylinder head out to have it machined properly. At that point, I might as well just replace the damn thing cause I'd have to order the whole cylinder head to get the camshaft cap. What do you think about the high temperature JB weld? It's a 7 ft lbs torque bolt so I'm not asking much of in that regard but obviously it will have to withstand the heat and oil. It's rated to be able to withstand continuous 2400 degrees.

Yeah, I'm realizing now this is probably not the best solution since it is aluminum and the welding would probably warp the cap and mess with fitment. I'm strongly considering high temperature JB weld to make new threads as it only needs to hold 7 ft lbs. I've read about others having this same issue with a valve cover bolt hole and fixing it with jb weld with no issues for years. Thank you for your detailed reply. Helicoil and high temperature JB weld are the two solutions I'm considering at this point. The problem with a helicoil is that the collar around the bolt hole is broken, so I think I would have to put JB weld around that portion so there's not a portion of the helicoil exposed. Or perhaps this wouldn't be a problem? I'm really not sure what to do at this point, but I can imagine that purchasing a new motor and paying someone to swap it for me would be slightly out of my budget.

The problem is it's not the valve cover that is broken; that would be a $130 fix and I would probably just eat that. It's the camshaft cap with the broken collar/stripped threads which the bolt that goes through the valve cover secures into. I would have to replace the entire cylinder head assembly which is almost $600 brand new. I'm going to swing by a couple when I have time this week and see what they think and how much something like that would cost. They were closed today for Memorial Day. I am going to call them tomorrow, but I'd be shocked if they offer any resolution - worth a try though. The shop is about 4 hours away from where I live now so I don't know how feasible taking them to court will be, but I will certainly threaten them with that option. I will call Yamaha also and see if I have any lucky there.

Yeah, that's definitely a concern of mine. I'm probably going to take it to a fabrication or welding shop tomorrow and see if they can fill the hole/crack and then drill/tap out new threads. I'm fairly confident that it was done during the CCT replacement also, but I can't help to worry that the piece that broke off the collar didn't fall off until I was removing the valve cover and is now floating around somewhere in the engine.

Perhaps I wasn't clear with my wording. The broken bolt hole with the collar is for the bolt that goes through the valve cover and the camshaft cap. All 16 of the bolt holes going just through the camshaft caps are fine. You're correct that they would not have been touched during the CCT recall work. The broken bolts are the ones that would have been removed when removing the valve cover. Perhaps. That's definitely a thought.

After taking some time to clean out the various parts and play around with them, it seems like I'm just going to need to get the one bolt hole fixed (the one in the 3rd picture) as the other ones are not stripped like I originally thought; the one just had the broken piece of bolt that I was able to remove and the other two just needed to be cleaned out - I jumped to a conclusion a little prematurely when I found two broken bolts. The concern is whether or not the bolt hole in the 3rd picture can be repaired properly since it is split down the side. My bike is currently disassembled in my garage so I would just be taking the one camshaft cap into a machining/milling shop to hopefully have it repaired. If I was paying someone to disassemble everything like you mentioned, I would probably lean towards your solution. You may be right that a helicoil won't give me satisfactory repair job in this exact instance, but I have read countless reports of people using helicoils in their camshaft covers and cylinder head covers with no issues. I do appreciate your input. I'm going to wait a little longer to hear if others think it can be repaired properly and will take the camshaft cap to a shop or two to hear what they have to say. If it can be repaired, my only issue is whether or not any of the metal shavings/pieces have fallen into the engine. I'm not exactly sure what to do in that regard. I would assume that it will drop into the oil pan at some point, but I'm not sure if I would have to run the engine to get it to do so and if I run the risk of damaging something in the process.

Thanks, but I'd rather not go that route if I can avoid it. I edited my post after doing some research and it looks like using a helicoil kit is going to be the best resolution, but I still have some kinks to work out.

So I'm performing my first valve clearance check/adjustment on my 2015 FJ-09 at 25k miles and things are not exactly going as planned. When I removed the valve cover, two of the allen key bolts holding the cover in place were broken completely in half (red arrows in the first picture). The bolt hole going through both exhaust camshaft caps are pretty badly stripped with one of them completely split through the side of the hole (2nd and 3rd pictures). EDIT: I originally thought that the hole in the second picture was stripped, but it turns out that there was just a bunch of metal shavings around the threads; this is confusing because the bolt is in perfect condition with no galling and when I cleaned out the threads, it now appears perfectly fine with no damage and the bolt screws in perfectly. I'm not sure how this can be explained honestly as the shavings definitely looked like aluminum and not some sort of Loctite or other adhesive (4th, 5th, and 6th pictures below). PXL-20210530-213853169-2 Image PXL-20210530-213853169-2 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210530-182657557-2 Image PXL-20210530-182657557-2 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210530-171407814 Image PXL-20210530-171407814 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210530-184722466-2 Image PXL-20210530-184722466-2 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210531-024801841 Image PXL-20210531-024801841 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210531-021656083 Image PXL-20210531-021656083 hosted in ImgBB Also to note, the valve cover bolt (one of the two bolts that broke in half) on the top left (when looking from the front) that goes through the intake camshaft cap has this oddly shaped washer (1st picture below) under it that seems to be what others have described the dealer using when performing the recall work on the cam chain tensioner. The washer I'm referring to can also be seen in the 2nd picture below (white arrow) along with the camshaft cap that it came from which still has the other half of the bolt inside it (red arrow). The blue arrow in the second picture is pointing to the same bolt hole from the 3rd picture above that is split down the side. PXL-20210530-171936132 Image PXL-20210530-171936132 hosted in ImgBB PXL-20210530-171034879-2 Image PXL-20210530-171034879-2 hosted in ImgBB I reached out to the previous owner who I bought the bike from and he said that this CCT recall work was indeed done and he believes that he remembers a valve cover bolt being replaced also (this adds up with what I'm seeing). He provided me with the paperwork that lists the job as "M2016-004A FJ09/FZ09 CAM CHAIN TENSIONER NOISE - KIT #1." The only parts listed, however, are the "TENSIONER KIT 1" and "GASKET, TENSIONER CA," but if you look at the second link below with the 2015 FZ-09 diagram, the Tensioner Kit 1 includes the new bolt, gasket, and funny shaped washer that they call a collar (#33-35 in the second link below). He also said that when they did this work, the CCT was immediately leaking and that he now knows that this dealer is known for hiring cheap labor and providing poor service; he added that he thinks the tech probably just drilled the bolts beyond spec and stripped the threads - this was my initial thought also, but I can't help but to be concerned that this may somehow be related to the extremely tight valves or from the issue that was supposed to be solved with the new bolt/washer that was replaced during the CCT recall work. For reference, the exhaust valves were all very tight (0.11-0.13 mm) and the intake valves were on the tight end as well (0.11-0.12 mm). I'm not sure how relevant the following information is, but for context: I do often ride the bike pretty hard at high-end RPMs and I also have an after-market exhaust with the ECU flashed by vcyclenut. The spark plugs look great, however, with no signs of the bike running rich or lean. The spark plug gaps are within spec and I'd damn near consider not replacing them if they weren't so cheap and difficult to get to. So with all that being said, I have a few questions: 1) What would you do in this situation? I plan to reach out to Yamaha with detailed pictures and the recall paperwork from the dealer; should I reach out to the dealer that performed the recall work also? I can't find anyone else complaining about this exact issue so I have to believe that this was just incompetence by the tech at the dealership who over torqued the bolts and stripped the threads. I don't know if I would just be wasting my time with this and if the single stripped bolt hole is repairable, it should be a quick and easy fix. 2) I've done plenty of research and it seems like my best bet at this point is to just replace the broken bolts and use a helicoil kit on the stripped threads. I'm going to call around and see what different machining, milling, or motorcycle shops would charge to drill out and place a helicoil as I feel like this isn't the best time to learn how to use them. However, I'm worried that this may not be a sufficient solution for the bolt hole that is split down the side - any thoughts on that? 3) Another huge concern of mine is the metal shavings on the bolts and the thought that some of those shavings may have made their way into the engine while I was removing them. I would think the small shavings would just drop to the bottom of the oil pan and I can just drain the oil again soon to remove them, but if the piece from the 3rd picture was broken off while I was removing the valve cover myself, that would obviously be a major issue. I would think that I would have heard it snap so I feel like it was done by the dealer 10k miles ago with the recall work, but it's definitely a concern. Any thoughts? If you made it this far, I really appreciate any insight/information you can provide while I try to come out of this with a running motorcycle while not going broke in the meantime. Thanks in advance! Just a moment... Just a moment... EDIT: I think what I'm going to try to do is use the Extreme Heat JB Weld to fill the hole and repair the cracked part of the collar and allow it to cure with the bolt covered in wax inside. I watched a video of a guy doing this with a completely drilled out hole and it held to 8 or 9 ft lbs. If I do this inside of a hole that still has most of the threads inside (just damaged, not completely drilled out like the video I watched), I'm hoping that I can get it to hold the 7 ft lbs that the bolt requires. If the threads fail, I will take it to a shop to have someone drill and tap the hole and place a helicoil

So the pictures will probably explain better than words but I installed a steering damper that moves around when moving the handlebars. I know that it's normal for them to have a couple of ball joints to allow them to move some but this one has mount with a hinge that allows for a ton of movement which seems to not allow the damper to do its job. You can see in the first two pictures how much movement there is when moving the handlebars and the third picture shows the hinge on the mount itself. Maybe I installed it wrong but I just can't see how this would work with this hinge allowing so much movement. Hopefully someone here has had a similar experience in the past. Thanks in advance.

The bolt isn't rotating though, just the nut. I marked the bolt to make sure.

So just as I've read about from other owners on several Yamaha forums, I managed to strip one of the rear sprocket nuts and/or bolts when torqueing it down even though I was only torqueing to 30 ft lbs. I'm not sure if this is because I should have been using new nuts or what. When I try to loosen the nut, it just spins. How do I get this off? I've never stripped a nut or bolt before so I really don't have any experience in handling it. If the bolt threads are stripped, I'll just replace the cush drive as I've found a 2014 and 2016 FZ-09 cush drive on eBay for about $30 and I'm sure that would be easier than dealing with changing out one of the bolts. I have a 2015 FJ-09. Would one of these fit?

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