FJ-09 swingarm bottoming out on OEM pannier mount reinforcing bar

[stevesweetz]

I was doing a long overdue cleaning of my 2016 FJ-09 this weekend and noticed a little ding on the top of the "solid" area of the swing in front of the rear wheel.  It realized this was caused by the swingarm hitting the reinforcing bracket/bar that goes between the pillion foot brackets with the OEM pannier mounting system.

This could have been there for years and I only just now noticed.  The ding is pretty superficial and I'm not worried about is compromising the integrity of the swingarm or anything like that, but I'm curious if anyone else has run into this?

I found the instructions for the pannier mounts and double checked that I did indeed install them correctly.  So this just seems like a design flaw.

[1moreroad]

Don't have any good photos of that area, but, no, I have no marks on the brace. How does the swing arm even get all the way up there? I'm not in front of the bike, but I can't visualize this. 

[betoney]

Is it hitting the mount due to bottoming out the suspension?

[stevesweetz]

I'll get some pictures, I can definitely see it being hard to envision.  The area of the swing arm forward of the tire is pretty high on the FJ-09.  There's less clearance between that and the pannier mounting brace than between the top of the tire and the underside of the tail.

And yup, I've taken some pretty hard bumps on rare occasions.  Usually due to unforeseen PA pothole.  I keep my rear preload on the the 4th setting down from the max, but I've never had anyone to help to check my sag.  Maybe I need to go higher.  I just kind of figured if the bike is rated for 400lbs and I weigh 200lbs, I should probably be somewhere near the middle.

[stevesweetz]

I think this series should make it pretty clear.  Especially in the last shot, you can see how much it decreases clearance vs no mount.

Edited October 4, 2021 by stevesweetz

[piotrek]

2 hours ago, stevesweetz said:

I just kind of figured if the bike is rated for 400lbs and I weigh 200lbs, I should probably be somewhere near the middle.

At 200lbs (+ whatever else) I think you might want to crank your preload more for now. Are you within the correct sag numbers with you and the cases on the bike? Having said that... this brace is in a pretty unfortunate location. I don't think I've seen this issue reported before.

[stevesweetz]

Yeah for what's worth, that ding is very shallow and my guess is the swingarm hits that brace only like a 1mm before it hits the actual shock stop or the damage the swingarm would be worse.  You can see the ding doesn't even get through the height of the weld bead.

And just for completeness, here are the Yamaha install instructions showing that I did install the brace correctly, it's not supposed to go the other way around or anything.

[3banger]

Interesting; I just went out and check mine and its mounted the other way around.  It’s clear I followed the instructions incorrectly; this was done in the parking lot of a California Yamaha dealership before riding the bike back to CO.  So it was certainly a rushed process.  That being said the way I mounted provides a mm or two more swing arm clearance.  No marks on my swing arm from contact and I pretty sure I’ve bottomed they suspension.

Edited October 5, 2021 by 3banger

[stevesweetz]

Yup I noticed the one side of the brace was shorter and figured I must have done it wrong 5 years ago, but I'm glad I filed away the instructions. I mounted it as instructed.  Instruction mistake, design mistake, or the tolerances are a few mm off on my bike ¯\_(ツ)_/¯