83 850L Oil Leak from Drive Shaft Boot

[Sniper]

thats not so good news - lots of work to get to that one o ring
before pulling things appart i d double check the tightness of the crankcase bolts at the back first
if they re not tight enough that may be contributing to the problem
the o ring in question is not under much stress (mechanical or temperature or oil pressure) so its unusuall that it d go bad just like that

That's a good point psyguy, I'll definitly check that first. I'm assuming they are ok, but definitly worth the few min to check.

You worry too much. There is a reason that these bikes are called 'bullet proof'. If it was running okay before you pull the shaft out what makes you think it will be worse after you put it back in?

Pull the wheel, swing arm and shaft, replace the o-ring, grease all of the components and bearings whilst you have the back end apart and put it back together.

Don't forget to bleed your rear brakes when it goes back together.

I only worry about things that aren't usually discribed on here (as they are usually problems that require extensive work or $$$$), but your point about it running well before is a good one, thanks.

I did see on another thread about removing the rear wheel (which I've obviously been looking into now that I have to perform this, and thanks to basscliff for the pitorial) that someone made a point about checking the fluid levels at each end of the drive before tearing into anything to see where it is coming from. As my bike has been resting on the center stand for some time now, is there a possibility that oil may have leaked down the shaft from the final drive? I will be checking fluid levels tonight regardless, but just wondering if anyone has a thought on this.

[psyguy]

As my bike has been resting on the center stand for some time now, is there a possibility that oil may have leaked down the shaft from the final drive? I will be checking fluid levels tonight regardless, but just wondering if anyone has a thought on this.

theoretically, if that one oil seal at the final drive gear is shot the oil could leak down the shaft, but this is not likely to happen (me thinks) just from the gravity force, i d expect the shaft would have to be rotating to push the oil down
again, that oil seal is in a well protected place with minimum wear only from the rotating shaft so unusual to see it go off

but keep us posted, you ve got a very cool problem there :-D thank god it's not yet another carb prob :-D

[robsGS850]

Any luck finding the source of the leak? I think I've got the same thing happening on my 850G. Small, consistent quantity of really dark oil dripping from the boot...

[ronnyferrell]

boot leak

you know I was just looking at my 82 1100G and noticed that after a short ride my boot would leak.Upon closer inspection i noticed a small tear/hole and just put some black ATV on it and no more leak.

after reading this thread and finding out that there should be no gear oil in there at all,I wonder what the deal is with mine?

also the fluid that came out was like the consistency and color of melted runny peanut-butter.

It no longer leakes from the old hole that i sealed but insted around the boot to transmision area

very weird

[ronnyferrell]

needless to say i changed bolth secondary and final drive gear oil

[psyguy]

also the fluid that came out was like the consistency and color of melted runny peanut-butter.
very weird

swingarm bushings grease?

[ronnyferrell]

swingarm bushings grease?

yea well it came out of the drain plug for the secondary

I wonder what kind of problem I got???

[Sniper]

Sorry guys, havn't been on here for a while since I was out of the country for work, so needless to say I have not worked on the bike for some time. So, once things settle down a little, I'll start taring into her again. Oh, and the boot will take a while to get to since I was drilling/tapping to replace the bolts for the pipes and the tap broke off in the hole on me. I had a few choice words going along with that break! So now I have three broken bolts and a tap to get out of the engine, plus a leaking shaft, fun times!!!