This is Part 2 in a three part story:  Part 1 or Part 3 of this drama.

Following up on Hecho en Pasco and talking with a TIG welding expert on the huge amount of electromagnetic interference generated while welding I became convinced it was a more prudent choice to remove the subframe before welding. This was new ground for me on the bike and there wasn’t the handy-dandy write-up like so many other parts on FJRTech.com. In fact, I’ll probably submit this for inclusion.

I guestimated it to take 3 or 4 hours and would require removing the airbox, ABS unit, and who knows what. In hindsight it probably took 2 hours of work including the photo documentation. Hopefully reassembly will go more quickly.

Remove seats, sidebags, and rear rack.


Remove front plastic including black pieces under tank and side gray panels.

Remove rear plastic (two bolts and six plastic screwserts underneath). Picture shows plastic slid backwards about 4 inches.


A view of the cracked subframe and the single 6mm hex bolt that holds on the tail light assembly. It’s a 5mm hex. Undo the plug, two zip ties holding the wiring harness, and snake the connector from the left side of the frame.

Taillights removed. Notice rubber grommets left and right. This is where the pins from the tail light assembly sit. Also viewable is the electrical connector to the cluster on the left side. Also, my first view of the crack from the back side.

Now the serious work starts. Unscrewing and unbolting bolts I’ve never done before. What I wondered is how much of the parts inside the subframe would have to be removed? Did the airbox have to be removed, the ABS unit, the tool tray, the computer, the seat release cable, etc.?

In hindsight I would have done things roughly in this order:

Remove the rear tank bracket from the frame. 4 bolts into the frame. I don’t believe you need to disconnect the two over the air box. The tank doesn’t move a significant amount with these bolts removed.

Remove the two 6mm hex on each side holding the exhaust bracket to the subframe. In my case I have a Wilbers preload adjuster in between. I just let it hang.

I removed the tool tray with two bolts into the subframe and then three Phillips screws that attach the tray to airbox. I think you need to remove the tool tray and attached computer because you’ll not want to leave it attached to the subframe for welding. Also I removed the two nuts holding on the seat lock bracket in the left of the screen.

Picture of the removed tool tray and computer showing the three screws holding it to the airbox.

The underside of the wheel well plastic (the large chunk of plastic that runs from above the rear tire to points inside the guts of the bike) is held on by 2 bolts in the rear and 4 to 6 screwserts on the bottom tube of the subframe.

Also held on by screwserts is the outer cover of the airbox. It might be possible to leave it on and remove just some of the screserts, but I removed it entirely.


I also removed the crosspiece that houses the shock absorber hardness settings. Again, I have a Wilbers so I don’t have the adjuster, but suffice will need to unbolt the bracket. It’s held on by 4 hex heads….3 mm I think. If you have ABS…it’s worthy to note that the ABS unit is attached to this bracket.

Final piece to remove is the rear brake fluid reservoir. It’s held in with a single Phillips screw and then let it hang freely by the ABS unit.

You’re now read to actually remove the subframe. It’s only held on by six fasteners. Two 8mm hex heads (one on each side) with a nut on the backside as I show here with an allen wrench and end wrench. I don’t believe these were loctited:


And the four 6mm hex heads (two each side) on the upper part of the subframe near the tank. They were Loctited with green and came loose with a loud “Pop” and flex of the allen wrench. These willl be critical to retorque when reassembling.

At this point the subframe should be free and will probably pull itself away from the bike a bit. Try moving it backwards a few inches and see if you’ve missed anything. Again, I believe you shouldn’t have to remove the airbox (except for maybe the cover), you shouldn’t have to remove the ABS unit. I purposely left on the reinforced plastic for the sidebags. Nothing electronic in there to worry about frying with TIG welding.

Here’s a funny sight. Rear subframe dettached and hugger plastic resting on the tire.

An angle of the subframe free of the bike. The blue wire is a special ground I run for my aux. fuel cell.

A close-up of one of the cracks.

And a shot of the subframe I’m taking to the welder. I put back on the taillights so they’d know about critical tolerances when they repair and strenghten the frame.

Finally a couple bonus shots of things one doesn’t usually see because this area of the bike isn’t torn apart often.

Shot of seat release cable:

ABS unit and free-hanging rear brake reservoir. In need of some wipe-down before reassembly.

The wiring harness for the computer….after I had wiped some of the greasy crud off of it. Still needs more wiping.

Ever wonder the handhold is like? It’s an add-on piece of reinforced plastic….the kind they make Rollerblades out of. It has a distinctive almost metallic “tink…tink….tink” sound when you tap it. Solid stuff. Same material for the bag slots just viewable on the right edge.

Next installment…..Fijo en Kennewick: The $6,000,000 Subframe