Driveshaft Lube . . near miss....

[kazjim]

G'day all, so glad i read a bunch of threads this week, and made myself good and paranoid.

I changed the final drive oil and it was quite dark, and VERY smelly, so it started me thinking about what other maintenance items might have been missed (Not the engine - the servicing seems to be immaculate there!)

So today, I ripped off the final drive to check the splines and . . . .

No real wear on the splines on the shaft either, but. ......
A good clean, degrease and then liberal application of fresh Moly grease should keep it alive for a while to come yet, but ****, that one was nasty looking!

Thanks all!

 

[Bedifferent]

G'day all, so glad i read a bunch of threads this week, and made myself good and paranoid.

I changed the final drive oil and it was quite dark, and VERY smelly, so it started me thinking about what other maintenance items might have been missed (Not the engine - the servicing seems to be immaculate there!)

So today, I ripped off the final drive to check the splines and . . . .

No real wear on the splines on the shaft either, but. ......
A good clean, degrease and then liberal application of fresh Moly grease should keep it alive for a while to come yet, but ****, that one was nasty looking!

Thanks all!

Wow! That is dry. As for dark and smelly, it's always that way. I have change mine 3 or 4 times with BelRay full synthetic and it always come out dark and smelly...but then again, not so much the last time.

 

[Mongler07]

Btw the smell is the sulphur in the diff fluid. This acts are both a cushion and as a aid in keeping stuff suspended in the oil.
That's one dried up old maid of a shaft!
I know what im doing next tire change!

 

[Journeyman]

Lubing the splines isn't even mentioned in the service manual for the new 2.5s and not sure how many people are doing it, or asking the shop to. I predict a lot of trashed final drives on the horizon with those bikes. With the Roadster and the 3R I do it every 10,000 or less. First time looked nearly as bad as yours. Glad you caught it in time.

 

[Starmanut]

Good Catch! That looks like it is the front end coming out of the engine, right? Never saw anything in the manuals about that one, that I recall. I pulled the shaft on the Suzuki Boulevard I just bought and this is what the final drive end looked like. Glad I found that, too.

How easy is it to get to this on the Rocket? Looks like it is the socket that the spline end of the drive shaft fits into, huh?

 

[Koko3052]

Good Catch! That looks like it is the front end coming out of the engine, right? Never saw anything in the manuals about that one, that I recall. I pulled the shaft on the Suzuki Boulevard I just bought and this is what the final drive end looked like. Glad I found that, too.

How easy is it to get to this on the Rocket? Looks like it is the socket that the spline end of the drive shaft fits into, huh?

No.... that is the bevel box end. To get to the engine end of the driveshaft you have to take the swingarm off, not much of a chore. My '08 Classic had 50K km. when I purchased this spring & when I asked if the driveshaft/bevel box had been serviced when the new tire was put on...all I got was the look of a deer in the headlights!
When I removed the bevel box my coupler looked just like the photo above but has some wear. The front spline to the engine still had what I believe to be the original grease which was a bright red, no sign of wear and no dust....clean as a whistle.

 

[Tripps]

If I recall, the original shop manual completely neglected greasing the splines, quite an oversight

 

[Koko3052]

If I recall, the original shop manual completely neglected greasing the splines, quite an oversight

But good for sales!

 

[Bob R]

But good for sales!

Only if they have the extra parts, if following the normal Triumph playbook of spare parts they probably made 3 a year for consumers.

bob

 

[Starmanut]

After reading this thread again, I was almost convinced to pull the drive on mine in the next few weeks when I change the oil for winter. I put a new tire on about 3 1/2 years ago and did all of the shaft and spline greasing then, but I don't remember doing that part of the shaft. However, I almost always take pictures of the projects I have done, so I thought I may have some from that time. Sure enough! I think I'm good till the next tire change, anyway...

I'm sure I greased this part pretty good, too. Whew!! Thank goodness for those pictures.