Yesterday when I was installing my new wrap-around form LEDs, where of course you have to lift the whole bike up on a rear paddock stand and front steering stem lifter, remove the front fender, pull away the calipers and remove the front wheel...

Anyway, when I went to loosen up those four bolts (two on each side) that clamp the lower end of the fork tubes around the axle, I found that the two bolts on the right side were "hand loose"...the left side was tight but not nearly to torque spec...

I have never had the front wheel off on this bike (2010)...I have on the other GEN2s that I had but not this one...

When I looked at the bolt threads, I could clearly see that there was no loc-tite on them...not that, that would make 100% sure that the bolts wouldn't loosen up, if they were torqued down to spec...or for that matter the torque wouldn't necessarily ensure that they stay tight either...

My point here is that, you may want to just check those bolts and perhaps others when you are cleaning or doing maintenance on the bike...

It could be a "one-off" thing where, my dealer did the crate setup improperly...but no sense worrying about that now...

And as far as my case goes, there was never any danger of things coming apart, as the left bolts were partially snug as was the axle itself...

I just thought I would post this so that folks could be aware to check on occasion for possible loosening hardware...which has happened on other hardware on the GEN2...

Art

Absolutely Art I posted up recently how both my Hitch pins were missing on the L-front brake pad cross shaft and a Pad came off in my driveway , I did my brakes over 5 K ago so just some weird things , I went to West marine and bought a bag of 1.6x12.7 MM
shorty stainless cotter pins I am loosing all the hitch pins I no longer trust them . And will check all the front end bolts while I have it on the lift table.

I found this to be common when I worked for the guy with the car collection even on his newer Hi end sports cars changing out
to CF or some other mod he wanted done would come across loose bolts QC I suppose .

Thanks Art

Well how about some LED pics

capt bob wrote:
Capt.,
I missed your thread on the brake pins but will look now at my calipers...

As for the LED pictures...I only took a few pics in the garage after I finished the install and added two pictures to the Integrated Taillight and Wrap Around Fork LED thread...

When I get some free time, I will take some daytime and nighttime pictures and videos of all the lights and post them in that thread...

As Mark (itgoes) mentioned in that thread, I too am liking the "thinner" look of my GEN2...without the ugly wing looking OEM turn signals...I kept the rear red and front amber reflectors for the time being until I get the straight skinny on the law, here in "Never-Never Land" from the CHP...

Art

Thanks for the heads-up Art!

I will say one thing for Yamaha....at least they marked areas with a fine yellow line everywhere on the bike...not sure if it means torqued...but at least someone checked something!

I put the wrap-arounds on a while back and didn't see any issues with bolts with mine.

Ken

890209 wrote:
Ken,
I think that perhaps my dealer tightened the two left side bolts...went to lunch and forgot to tighten the two right side bolts...those sorts of things happen all the time even with the best QA practices in place...

But as you mention...by marking the QA'ed parts with chalk, makes for better QA...

BTW...that "Yellow" QA marking is not unique to Yamaha...it is a Japanese thing originating from the Ministry of Transportation vehicle test centers that require that all hardware on trucks be yellow chalked after the dealerships or vehicle repair shops prep the trucks to be taken to the test centers for the vehicle registration inspections...

Unfortunately, that practice is not used across the board and the world...well at least not at my dealership, it would seem...lol...

Thanks for the post...

Art

An area I watch is the "brass" inserts under the top cover at the meter area. You got dissimilar metals there and it will lock up the screws pretty easily. I had a little conversation with it first time I tried to remove both of them...glad no one was around....it wasn't plesant! I put new screws in and the one started corroding again...then after that I put a little anti-seize on it.

Ken