Drive Shaft and Final Drive Spline Lube

[slipring]

I'm a first-time motorcycle motobrick mechanic and I thought I'd share a few things that I learned while performing drive shaft / final drive spline lube.  Note: I picked up most of these tips/tricks from excellent posts on motobrick.com and other blogs.

After unbolting the final drive unit from the swing arm, there's about 3/8" of drive shaft sticking out of the end of the swing arm.  Attach a Vice-Grip, or similar, locking pliers to the shaft (Vice-Grip handle will be perpendicular to the shaft).  Hold a piece of wood (say, 3/4 x 3/4 x 6", or longer) against the Vice Grip (parallel with the drive shaft).  Hit the opposite end of the piece of wood, sharply, with a hammer.  This action breaks the drive shaft free from a snap ring connection at the transmission output shaft.


Here's what my transmission output shaft male splines looked like with the drive shaft removed (this view is looking into the empty swing arm with flashlight and camera at 2x zoom).  Everything looks good and "wet" to me.



Clean and inspect the female splines on both ends of the drive shaft and the male splines at the final drive unit.  Mine were all in very good condition.  Apply a high molybdenum-content grease, like Guard Dog GD-525, to drive shaft and final drive splines.  In this photo, you can see a little bit of the Hylomar "Blue" joining compound (used for sealing threaded ring threads) poking out.  For more on that topic, see my post "Replacing Pinion Oil Seal in K75 Final Drive".



Reinstall the drive shaft into the swing arm - universal joint end first - and make sure the splines are partially engaged.  The drive shaft should now protrude about 9/16" from end of the swing arm (see "before" photo below).  Note: If the splines are properly engaged, you won't be able to turn the shaft by hand if bike is in gear.  Place a block of wood over the end of drive shaft and "send 'er home" with a sharp hammer blow.  The drive shaft should now protrude about 3/8" from end of the swing arm (see "after" photo below).



Slide the final drive splines into the drive shaft and bolt the final drive unit to the swing arm.

(are we ready for the yeeehaaaaw moment yet?)

[chico]

Thanks for posting. Every photo and explanation helps when tackling it for the first time.

 :2thumbup:

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Nice photos.  Is that the Guard Dog grease in photos?  Looks "greasier" than the Honda Moly 60 stuff I use.

[slipring]

Yes, the close-up of the final drive splines shows a thick coating of the Guard Dog GD-525 product. It has a shiny silvery-grey appearance. I was going to apply with a brush,  but the stuff is so thick that I dug in and applied with a finger.

The photo looking into the empty swing arm shows grease that was applied by previous owner - I don't know what product was used... I was just happy that it wasn't dry up there.