Brake problems with only 2,500 miles? Dangerous

SuperTforme

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Jun 12, 2019
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The bike is shipped new in the crate with the front wheel off and the dealer has to install it for delivery. It strongly appears that the axle nut was not tightened, which would cause everything else to make sense. When not tightened, the inner race can spin on the axle, which we can see, plus the wheel can wobble. It beats the hell out of the races and seals to create the black residue seen in the video. The wobble of the wheel pushes the brake pads in, causing the original brake feel problem.

You'll be fine and it won't cost a fortune once you replace the two front wheel bearings. You also could probably get away with a quick check that the pads are not worn away or contaminated by the bearing grease, but it never hurts to replace them.

You're not the first and won't be the last to have a poor set up and being 2 years old the dealer will disavow that they had anything to do with it. Regardless, I'd suggest checking every other bolt for tightness.

fwiw, I've been an airplane mechanic for 44 years, worked on motorcycles for 58, and there are people on this forum with more experience than I've got.
I appreciate it. After removal of the wheel it does seem that everything was put together correctly. I was looking for an excuse to blame the dealer when removing but it looked perfectly fine. I’m not sure the tq value on the spindle but it was tight as hell
 
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ballisticexchris

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That’s crazy!! It is a reason I do my own PDI on each and every vehicle purchased.
 

EricV

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I doubt a PDI would have caught this, if it existed when the bike was new. You mentioned some off roading. It is simply possible that the bearing got damaged during riding off pavement. My first thought after reading your original post was wheel bearings. I've had one fail and know what the symptoms are. That said, Yamaha wheel bearings quite commonly last over 100k miles. Anyone can get a bad bearing, but 90% of the wheel bearing failures on Super Tens were due to off pavement riding incidents. I recall a curb hit incident as well. Hey, it happens.

I sent a scathing letter to Yamaha when my FJR's front wheel bearing failed at 149,992 miles. :mad: I told them I fully expected to get 150,000 miles from it. :D What junk!
 

SuperTforme

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I doubt a PDI would have caught this, if it existed when the bike was new. You mentioned some off roading. It is simply possible that the bearing got damaged during riding off pavement. My first thought after reading your original post was wheel bearings. I've had one fail and know what the symptoms are. That said, Yamaha wheel bearings quite commonly last over 100k miles. Anyone can get a bad bearing, but 90% of the wheel bearing failures on Super Tens were due to off pavement riding incidents. I recall a curb hit incident as well. Hey, it happens.

I sent a scathing letter to Yamaha when my FJR's front wheel bearing failed at 149,992 miles. :mad: I told them I fully expected to get 150,000 miles from it. :D What junk!
Quite possible. I was on some fairly harsh trails that I didn’t intend on being on. That’s the reason I got the bike tho because I don’t have to turn around. So is the bearing scary...yes. But I’ll replace it and keep riding her hard. Still the best bike I’ve owned. Could someone give me the torque values of the spindle, 6mm spindle set bolts, caliper bolts, and speed sensor screw? Think that’s all. Need to get that manual myself!
 

WJBertrand

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Looks the all the hw is correct as well
Did the right side spacer come out with the axle as pictured? That spacer has always remained with the wheel when I’ve removed it. Can the spacer even fit through the axle opening in the right fork leg? It kind of looks like the spacer was installed outside instead of inside , I.e. between, the fork leg and the wheel. That would chew up the bearings for sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

SuperTforme

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Did the right side spacer come out with the axle as pictured? That spacer has always remained with the wheel when I’ve removed it. Can the spacer fit through the axle opening in the right fork leg?


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No it did not. I just cleaned and stuck in on there to keep up with and orientation.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Looks the all the hw is correct as well
Question? When you got the bike did you remove the wheels at all? Reason I ask is because the axle looks dry? I'm just curious as to what owners do after taking delivery of their machines. One of the first things I do is remove the wheels, grease axles, grease brake caliper sliders, and check every nut/bolt I can get a wrench on.

I wonder how many owners simply ride their bikes without ever checking out the basic safety items themselves.

I doubt a PDI would have caught this, if it existed when the bike was new. You mentioned some off roading. It is simply possible that the bearing got damaged during riding off pavement.
That would be very odd. Off road riding alone is not going damage a wheel bearing with so few miles unless there is some other underlying issue. I am willing to bet that something was assembled incorrectly at the factory or missed by the dealer when wheel was installed.
 

SuperTforme

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Question? When you got the bike did you remove the wheels at all? Reason I ask is because the axle looks dry? I'm just curious as to what owners do after taking delivery of their machines. One of the first things I do is remove the wheels, grease axles, grease brake caliper sliders, and check every nut/bolt I can get a wrench on.

I wonder how many owners simply ride their bikes without ever checking out the basic safety items themselves.



That would be very odd. Off road riding alone is not going damage a wheel bearing with so few miles unless there is some other underlying issue. I am willing to bet that something was assembled incorrectly at the factory or missed by the dealer when wheel was installed.
The picture was taken after cleaning and inspecting. The wheel had not been off since I picked it up from the dealer. When I buy a bike I check things but I don’t take things apart to that extent. If I felt I needed to then I would have chosen a different dealer. Again, everything was in order on removal....no evidence of anything I can blame on the dealer. Yamaha just had a bad bearing
 
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ballisticexchris

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Fair enough. Even with a good dealer my life is dependent on a safe bike. So I'm very picky. I can always find something missed at the factory or dealership. On my Super Tenere the axles were not greased, caliper sliders were almost dry, and my handlebars were almost 1/16" off center. Also the brakes were not up to my standards as far as feel. I can almost always get the lever much more solid by getting residual air out of the lines that the factory cannot.

I have to admit this is a first for me hearing of a bad bearing from the factory of any manufacturer. I am shocked the dealer did not notice it when they spun the wheel before installing on the bike.
 

Boris

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]Sump plugs - 20NM
Oil Filter - 17NM
Shaft Drain - 23NM
Shaft Filler - 23NM
Fork axle pinch bolts - 21NM - inner/outer/inner
Front Axle - 72NM
Rear Axle - 125 NM
Front calipers - 40 NM
Rear caliper -
Rear Swing Arm axle pinch bolts - 25NM
Rear brake torque arm - 30NM both ends.
Rear and Front shell speed sensors - 7NM
]Top Yoke pinch bolts - 25NM
Lower Yoke pinch bolts - 20NM
4 Acorn nuts on driveshaft - 41NM

Top and bottom dog leg - 59NM
Bottom shock bolt - 49NM
Top shock bolt - 40NM
Suspension joint to frame - 59NM
 

EricV

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Could someone give me the torque values of the spindle, 6mm spindle set bolts, caliper bolts, and speed sensor screw? Think that’s all. Need to get that manual myself!
Sorry, I was out doing some errands today. Much of the info is available on the forum in the Technical Discussion section. (third heading from the top)

Front wheel removal procedure

And yes, do get the paper manual. Very user friendly and handy to have. I sold mine with the bike so the new owner has that resource, or I'd have helped sooner.
 

SuperTforme

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With that mileage shouldn't the dealership be addressing this? They eff'd up something.
I will be contacting them tomorrow. They are in PA and I am in southern VA so regardless it would have being a situation where I’m driving 10 hours for something I can do myself....but like I’ve said ZERO evidence of it being an installation fault. We just don’t like to except the fact that things fail. I can’t tell someone they did something wrong when I have no evidence. I am going to contact them though regardless. Thanks for the reply. I’ll update there response
 

Don in Lodi

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That's what warranty covers, any little thing that out and out fails and needs to be seen and documented. There may be a whole slew of bikes out there with the same bearings out of the same batch that need to be taken off the road immediately. When I used "they", somebody upstream from you failed in their task. It's probably metallurgical, crap metal in the bearings, wrong heat treating. Might even go so far as to have that government agency notified so they can keep tabs on the issue. 2500 miles on a 100,000 mile bearing scares the hell out of me.
 

SuperTforme

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That's what warranty covers, any little thing that out and out fails and needs to be seen and documented. There may be a whole slew of bikes out there with the same bearings out of the same batch that need to be taken off the road immediately. When I used "they", somebody upstream from you failed in their task. It's probably metallurgical, crap metal in the bearings, wrong heat treating. Might even go so far as to have that government agency notified so they can keep tabs on the issue. 2500 miles on a 100,000 mile bearing scares the hell out of me.
I only have the one year warranty and it ran out earlier this month. I didn't get the YES warranty because I am deployed 6-8 months out of every year so I didn't think I would put enough miles on the bike in the 30 months during YES that I would be home to have a serious issue (Contracted aircraft Mech with Army). Obviously I was wrong there. I ride ALOT more than I thought I would. Im hoping they will reimburse me for the bearings and seals though.
 

jeckyll

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I only have the one year warranty and it ran out earlier this month. I didn't get the YES warranty because I am deployed 6-8 months out of every year so I didn't think I would put enough miles on the bike in the 30 months during YES that I would be home to have a serious issue (Contracted aircraft Mech with Army). Obviously I was wrong there. I ride ALOT more than I thought I would. Im hoping they will reimburse me for the bearings and seals though.
Good luck! Having the photos you took may help
 
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