Shaft drive newb question

[doctorgonzo]

If I recall correctly, you have to remove the swing arm and pull the shaft out the front end of it.

.

Yes, or (as was my case) remove the engine then it will slip right out with the swingarm still in place.

[lurch12_2000]

Soak in gas and clean off to see...

GOOD black color spline that holds up...from an '80 850G


BAD gold color spline that wears out from an '83 1100G:

[lurch12_2000]

Mid model year of 81 they switched over...

Though the NEW splines you can get (they still use this same drive design in a few of their current shaft drives) are GOOD. mid 81 and on STOCKERS are trash. I blew thru 2 of them in less than 10K miles.. 79 and 80 units are fine. Can be had on Ebay as well...

Josh,
Not sure about mid year switchover?...my '81 850G with 33k has a 12/80 mfg date on the frame but has a gold spline that still looks ok...but I am in the market for a replacement spline if you know of any. I let my spare spline go to a forum user in IL, thinking I was done with the G models.
I stopped by CycleMart(bike parts place) in Manchester, NH, because they had an '80 or '81 850GL parts bike...but that had a frame mfg stamp of 1/81 and I didn't want to go through the hassle of tearing the rear wheel off to find out for him whether it was good or not.

[Nessism]

The splines in question are in the WHEEL, not on the rear end so unless you are taking the rear wheel, the splines don't matter.

Regarding interchangability of the rear end, all 850 and 1100G rear ends interchange. The drive shafts are different in some way although I don't know the break point - some time in 1981 maybe.