Euro 550 Gear linkage

The pic in the link shows the gear linkage (same as euro 550) mine is now quite sloppy at the front pivot point so either the shaft and/or the lever is worn - any how-brew remedies for this..? The shaft (16) is available from CMSNL it seems (but not the lever(12)) so that might help..

https://www.cmsnl.com/yamaha-fj600-1984-usa_model9022/partslist/C-12.html

Cheers all

 

Wow; so your 550 has the rear-set pegs of the FJ600s? Sweet. Your link didn't work, so I'm looking at the USA '84 FJ600 fiche. And you're saying the pivot hole in the actual shift lever itself and/or its pivot shaft are worn? With the lever unavailable, all I could suggest would be to replace the shaft and "discover" how badly the lever itself is worn. Since the wear will be relative to the type/quality of metal used in each part, I suspect the shaft is probably the hardier of the two, which doesn't bode well for the lever. You can always try to find a less-worn* lever on eBay; or have a machine shop bore the lever out to allow a bushing or sleeve to be fitted.

*Tip for eBay shopping for used parts: if the seller parted out a whole bike, try to find their listing for the instruments and check the odometer for a clue as to the condition of the other parts.

 

That's right - all Euro 550s (and 500s) have the 'rearset' arrangement afaik - I think I did the pic. right this time..

In fact I thought I might adopt the US arrangement just to simplify things (I have a feeling if you swap the foot rests form left to right this puts them forward.

Yes indeed I should take it apart to inspect, some kind of bushing or shimming was on my mind but I was hoping someone had don it before..

 

Mannn... unfortunately, you can't just flop the footpegs/brackets left to right on a North American market bike to "rear set" them, I tried. I've always been kind of jealous of the factory Euro rear-set setup; never considered that with Yamaha's propensity to increasingly let the bean-counters make the material decisions all that extra mechanism might be subject to wear. I suspect the frames are probably the same; you could probably just swap with North American market stuff if you really want to do that. Give me a day or two and I'll unbolt the left footpeg/bracket from my Seca and get a pic so you can compare the attachment points.

I suspect you've put a lot more miles on your Yamaha than they might have anticipated. If you've outrun the recommended service interval chart in the book, then... (good going)

 

Hey BF thanks. Not sure about the mileage - The bike has about 41k on it. but the linkgae/sprocket cover could be off another machine - the motor certainly is as its a Radian or FZ600 I think.

 

yeah, and did the linkage that's on there stay with the bike or come with the transplanted motor? Clearly no way of knowing. Yamaha obviously thought nobody would ever put enough miles on the bike (41K qualifies) to wear out the shift lever pivot, or (one would hope) they would have designed it better. The lever should have had a bushing, sleeve or bearing; but I'm sure they weren't anticipating enough gear shifting to wear it out, or just didn't care because it would never be a warranty issue.

A REALLY SLICK fix would be to bore out the lever and fit a small caged needle bearing; but I suspect the metal the lever is made of would still need a sleeve for the bearing to run in to prevent similar wear.

The first three digits of the "shorty VIN" on the top of the transmission case should provide a clue as to what the motor came from...