Locked shaft?

[my98xplorer]

As some of you read, my friends shaft locked up last week and he went down. I was looking at the bike today, and i checked the fluid on the actual shaft by the rear tire and there was a little bit of fluid in there. I checked the fluid on the tranny and it seemed to be dry. I added some in there and i can get the bike to shift through the gears and the bike still runs, but when its in gear and you let off the clutch, the rear tire still doesnt move. Its not the brakes that are locked, and the back wheel will move about an inch back and forth, but thats it. Does the shaft need to be replaced or do you guys think the tranny is messed up?

Thanks, Brian

[DMPLATT]

Not an expert here. But if it was bone dry, ouch.
First off, just to let you know what I would do. If you shifted thru all the gears and could feel it engaged, you may be alright there.

However, even in Nuetral, if the rear tire won't turn - the shaft and the splines on the real wheel have probably became one.
In other words, the shaft must come out. My money is the shaft and the gear at the rear wheel are both hosed.
Just my .02. Also, if it were my bike and I went down because of this, I wouldn't want to ride it until both were replaced. :?

Regardless of what you guys decied. The shaft has to come off, at least for inspection purposes. Til you get that far, everything else is just speculation.

[Planecrazy]

I've heard of this happening before, though VERY rarely. There are bolts connecting the shaft (I believe they are at the u-joint) that could conceivably have become loose and fallen out ... after a few bounces within the housing they eventually get jammed in the spinning machinery (or the ujoint comes apart and the shaft itself jams, causing a lockup condition.

I am NOT familiar with the exact workings yet (I have to dig into my own shaftie and check these), but I suspect this is a strong contender for the cause of the problem...

Good Luck,
Steve 8)

[focus frenzy]

this makes only the second occurrence of lock up I have ever heard and if there was no oil in the secondary gear box (one in the back corner of the transmission) then it is understandable.

the shaft it self does not run in oil, but spins dry in the torque tube/swing arm.
the oil level in the final drive (at rear wheel) needs to be level with the fill hole.
the oil level in the secondary gear box needs to be up to the "weep" hole.
above and behind the shift lever there is a small bolt (10mm head with phillips in the head)
you remove the small bolt used for checking level and add oil (90W or 75W90) till it starts to "ooze" from the opening.

if the secondary gear box was dry the bearings will have welded them self and be junk.
remove the back wheel the remove the final drive gearbox and see if it turns off the bike (the final ) if it is ok the problem will be with the secondary gear box and the swing arm will have to come out. (easy)

the secondary gear box output bearings and all are a assembly and cane be changed out as a assembly without to much trouble.