Shaft, Big Problem or Not??

[Anonymous]

I have an 82 GS 850 L
I was going over the bike and discovered some cracking in the boot that covers the Universal joint in the shaft drive.
While examining the cracks I discovered a hole. 8O

I have limited experience with cars and bikes but I do remember my 81 Sky lark that blew an axel because I did not pay attention to the CV boots.

Is it the same situation with the shaft??
Is this a don't pass go situation??
Should I fix it before I ride anywhere??

The Boot was
$20.00 on bike bandit but I don't know if this is a repair I can do myself, what do you all think??

[Bill + Karen]

Whoops did this twice, Bill

[Bill + Karen]

The boot is there to keep foreign material out of the shaft area, as with the C.V. joints. You have to remove the swingarm to get to it. It does not look that difficult reading in my shop manual, but it depends upon your experience and resources,like manuals, tools. Hope this helps, Bill

[twhite]

It isn't as critical as a CV boot on a front drive car. The CV boot covers exposed bearings and components that will destroy themselves in short order if dirt and road grimegets in them. The universal joint on the GS is similar to the exposed U-joints used in rear wheel drive cars and trucks. The needle bearings are "sealed" in the caps and dirt and grime aren't likely to get into them even without the boot. In automotive applications there is almost never a boot on the joint.

If you don't ride alot in really bad conditions(heavy rain and snow) I wouldn't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar tear in my boot and resealed it with some silicone. Its been well over 10K miles and no problems.

[Anonymous]

The boot is there to keep foreign material out of the shaft area, as with the C.V. joints. You have to remove the swingarm to get to it. It does not look that difficult reading in my shop manual, but it depends upon your experience and resources,like manuals, tools. Hope this helps, Bill

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Is the manual hard to get?? What kind of tools might I need? I've got wrenches and stuff but nothing special.

I want to learn how to work on my bike, would this be too big of a project for a beginner?

[Anonymous]

It's quite easy to do. Remove the rear wheel, brake and the shocks. Loosen the clamps on the rubber boot. Loosen the large nut on the swingarm bearings and remove the bearings. Now you can pull the swingarm out of the frame and replace the boot (While you're at it, put some new grease on the bearings).
After you've put the swingarm back in place, you'll have to adjust the bearings. You'll need an allen wrench to do this.
The swingarm has to be centered in the frame. Turn the bearings in (1/8 turn at a time) until there is no more play in the swingarm; it should move freely up and down though, almost without any resistance. Check if the swingarm is still centered! Measure the space to both sides of the frame.
That's all there's to it. Or you could get a bicycle tyre repair set and glue a patch on the hole.... That's what I did!

[Anonymous]

Hello, A year ago I had the same problem, I had a slight tear in the rubber boot. Since it was the end of the riding season(Nov 24) I decided to clean up the diff and recoat it and repaint the swing arm. Upon removing the swing arm I discovered why there was a tear in the boot, the 4 bolts that hold the drive shaft on had come loose and one bolt had come completely out and wreaked havoc. Upon closer inspection I found out there was no loctite used on these bolts so I guess it must have been assembled on a monday morning or friday afternoon. Good thing I decided to do some bright work on the bike hate to think of what could have happened. New boot,bolts and loctite and 29ft/lbs of torque and happy motoring again.