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Drive Shaft

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
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Anonymous

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Hi everyone. I have been away for a while but now I am back. The bike is almost compleated I took it for its first ride last Tuesday and had an absolut blast. All I need to do is get the new tires on it and pay the reg. I have been told I should tear the drive shaft down and lube it. How dose this work? Dose the shaft get oil from the secondary gear box or dose it have its own grease? The only way I can see to do this is to tear the whole rear end out of the bike is there an easyer way?
 
As far as service check the gear oil. And grease the drive splines. It requires removal of the rear wheel. There is a splined gear mounted on the rear wheel that fits into the rear dif, it should be lubed every 10K miles or any time the rear wheel is removed.
 
Lynn is correct on both counts.

All you have to do is change the gear lube in the middle box and in the rear end. Use any 80W-90 lube GL-5 available at auto parts stores. I use Walmart's brand, and change it just once a year.

Greasing the drive and driven wheel splines is extremely important. If allowed to dry out, you'll wear down the teeth and then be stuck in the middle of nowhere, (like I did back in July 1987).

Do this and enjoy.

Nick
 
I'd rather spend 20 min. every thousand miles or so lubing my chain. Sounds like a hassle to me! 8O
 
Michael, that's silly. The splines are lubed, a 15-second job, every time the rear wheel is off. One doesn't take off the rear wheel to lube the splines; one takes the rear wheel off the put on a new tire. Then, with the wheel off, I take a little dab of moly grease and lube the splines. No big deal. How often is this done? Twice a year on the average.

As for changing the gear lube, I do it once a year only because it makes me feel better. I could easily let it go for two. It's an oil bath anyway, so the lube goes nowhere, and every year it comes out clean. This year I'll let my mechanic do it during the annual late fall tune-up, just so I don't have to get down there on my old hands and knees. It's cheap enough.

Lubricating a chain every X number of miles is a hassle for those of us who've been through that. I'm glad some of you are willing and able to do it. As for me, I've been there, done that. No, thanks...

So, go ahead and lube the chain. I'm just glad I don't have to do that crappy job any more, not since 1979 when I got my Guzzi! The hassle you talk about is yours, not mine, or anyone else who rides a shaftie! :wink:

Believe me, those of us who own and operate shafties that are ridden long and hard have it much easier than you chainies. I'm glad y'all are happy with the chain; I sure wouldn't be! I've been there!

I just want to clear up some misconceptions some folks may have about shafties. They really are much easier to own and maintain than you may think. On the other hand, having owned chained bikes for my first 11 years of riding, I know chains are fine too. Never had any problem with them. Still, shafts rule -- matter of opinion, of course.

Nick
 
SHAFT.....Shafts are so good they even named movies and TV series after them!!! :twisted:
 
Nick Diaz said:
Greasing the drive and driven wheel splines is extremely important. If allowed to dry out, you'll wear down the teeth and then be stuck in the middle of nowhere, (like I did back in July 1987).

Do this and enjoy.

Nick
Click to expand...

Greasing the spline and changing gear oils are trivial jobs compared with constant hassle of keeping a chain lubed and cleaning the rubbish it throws around.

I can agree with the stuck bit when mine failed due to lack of maintenance by previous owner(s). You don't have to be in the middle of nowhere though. A block up the road on a slight grade was too far when it happened to me. Heavy little critters.

Maintain a chain. Enjoy a shaft.
 
You're right. It's more likely to happen, according to simple probability, near home than far away from home. It happened to me 150 miles away on a Sunday morning at 8. It was July 1987. I learned my lesson about lubing splines! Yes, the damn thing is heavy to push!
:(

That was the last incident I had with stripped splines. It's heavy moly grease for me, every time the wheel is off.

Nick
 
Chains are a hassle compared to a shaft. Greasing splines is no big deal.
 
saaz said:
Chain drives are lighter to push when they break down tho!
Click to expand...

But if you didn't have the chain, it wouldn't have broke down!!! :twisted:
 
Gawd, I love this place. Chains vs. shafts. How about Chevy vs. Ford? Coke vs. Pepsi? Levis vs. Wranglers? Camels vs. Marlboros? McDonalds vs. Burger King? Budweiser vs. Coors?

Anywho - probably a bit of useless information, but If my emberassment saves someone some hassle, I'm all for it.


What I learned about lubing shaft drives from my CX500, or what not to do with a jug of gear oil.....

You can get gear oil in a 1-gallon jug at most auto parts stores and discount stores like Wal-Mart, as Nick mentioned. Since it's a significantly thicker oil, a lot of companies include a pump on the jug of oil, with an output hose that's actually of usable length. It's pretty convenient - you just drain, re-cap, pump. That's it. BUT - remember that since gear oil is thicker than regular oil - it's more likely to create its own siphon in the hose after you're through pumping. Make sure you pull the pump out of the jug of oil when you're through, and pump what's in the tube back into the jug for storage.

Or, you can follow my example, and simply clip the hose end back to the pump body and put the jug up on a shelf in your garage when you're through. Go about your normal business, have a couple of beers, eat some barbeque, then head back out to the garage later in the evening and find a 1-gallon puddle of gear oil scabbing up menacingly on your garage floor...

It took every rag I had in the house to get that crap up, and then numerous cycles in the washing machine to clean it out after I washed the rags. To this day, I CANNOT stand the smell of gear oil.....

Glad I could brighten your day - feel free to point and laugh now. :oops:


-Q!
 
QuaiChangKane said:
It took every rag I had in the house to get that crap up, and then numerous cycles in the washing machine to clean it out after I washed the rags. To this day, I CANNOT stand the smell of gear oil.....

-Q!
Click to expand...

That stuff does have a lingering stench! The lube for limited-slip diffs is even worse, glad it came out of the washer for you :lol:
 
Dude - I just noticed you're in Carmichael - we should hook up sometime, maybe with jskellington who's in Oakland...
 
I don't know what all this hassle is all about anyway. I have ridden nothing but chain driven motorcycles off and on for the better part of 37 years. Chains are not and never have been a hassle to adjust and lubricate for me. Seems like other bike maintainence like changing tires, lubricating cables, changing fork seals, adjusting valves, removing and refilling the battery, changing engine oil are all more time consuming than any dealing with a chain. Heck if you find chains a hassle I think you miss out on a major part of joy of cycling. And that is the part where you get a little greasy and feel a little tingle of satisfaction when you're done. If the only reason you have a bike is just to get on and ride and to not be bothered with the hassles then in my opinion you missed out on what endears people to their machines. Cars in my opinion are the hassle free transportation. One barely has to remember to do the periodic maintainence on them. You just get in and drive. Motorcycles on the other hand seem to demand your undivided attention and makes us tend to think of them as personalities give them names. To me it's like having a child but finding that changing diapers or wiping noses are too much of a hassle! What's the point of being a parent if you don't get your hands a little dirty :roll:
 
A few points, Michael:

1. If you ever get yourself a shaftie, the first thing you'll wonder is how you put up with chain maintenance, lubing, etc., all those years. :wink:

2. Most of us on shafties once owned chains; most of you on chains have never owned a shaftie.

3. Shaftie owners, contrary to what you're implying, do lovingly care for our machines, and derive the same source of satisfaction you do. We just don't like getting down on hands and knees every thousand miles or so and messing with that stuff. Chain maintenance is not an inherent part of motorcycle maintenance and its joys. A thousand miles is what some of us put on a bike in no time at all; very often on a long weekend ride. Changing gear lube once or twice a year certainly beats getting down there and lubing that chain -- to some of us anyway!

So, enjoy lubing your chain. I'll keep on riding. :wink: :wink:

Nick
 
I can put this beaten horse to bed right now. Chain or shaft is the same maintenence. Unfortunately, most people don't care for a chain the correct way, which is the same way a shaft drive is maintained. Once a year, when the tire is off (as Nick said), clean the chain off and coat with gear lube. I take it a step further and get the chain hot with a heat gun first. Then wait a few hours before riding. This is how the factory preps thier chains before delivery and how pro race mechainics do it. Of course there is the Pillage School of WD-40- good for chains, bolts, the waffle iron, squeaky shoes, bug repellent, bad breath...

Chain or shaft is the same s#!t. No better, no worse. Next topic...
 
Jethro said:
I can put this beaten horse to bed right now. Chain or shaft is the same maintenence. Unfortunately, most people don't care for a chain the correct way, which is the same way a shaft drive is maintained. Once a year, when the tire is off (as Nick said), clean the chain off and coat with gear lube. I take it a step further and get the chain hot with a heat gun first. Then wait a few hours before riding. This is how the factory preps thier chains before delivery and how pro race mechainics do it. Of course there is the Pillage School of WD-40- good for chains, bolts, the waffle iron, squeaky shoes, bug repellent, bad breath...

Chain or shaft is the same s#!t. No better, no worse. Next topic...
Click to expand...

Hate to say it bro, but you have to lube that chain more than the one time you take the tire off...and you can grease the shaft splines in about 5 minutes. heating the chain, etc takes longer....same topic still... :twisted:
 
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