final drive -- dry !!!

hi there
just thort i should post this on here as it may be of some use to fellow rider's .
i do realise i'm in the uk but i don't think this should happen to the rocket no matter where you are !
i took the final drive unit off to attend to 'peeling paint' on the unit when i did this i found that the splined joint was dried out & full of what thought was red rust !!!
some of you guy's out there told me it's not rust it will be the grease that has dried out !!
MMMMMMM NOT GOOD !!!!
on closer inspection the 'stuff 'is a more maroon colour & smells funny.(thats about as technical as i get !!)
the bike has covered 20856 miles & i am the 2nd owner.
on further inspection of the shaft the Hardy Spicer bearing was found to be also dished-- well grease was leaking from 2 of the bearings & it was notchy !!
now the strange part
my shaft has a REPLACEABLE bearing ie held in by circlips !!!! i could'nt find any other rocket with this fitment ALL others seem to be staked or crimped so making the bearing NON replaceable !!!
my local car spares shop ,who i've been to numerous times, took the shaft & have sent it to Newcastle to a place that makes up drive shafts for custom cars trucks etc i'm calling this afty to see what the score is !

i do feel that as many as possible of you guys should at least check or indeed re-grease the shaft on your bikes because mine was in effect running dry, or was mine the only 1 ?????

i had no mechanical indication's of any problems, just was gonna repaint the final drive unit !!

great ride, keep them all shiny side up now !!!

Normally drop the diff and re grease driveshaft spline each tyre change..... not sure on circlips on driveshaft as all the ones Ive seen are staked..... someone must have had a play

And if you're running a car tire make sure you grease the splines regardless of tire change. Folks with motorcycle tires grease theirs every time a tire wears out. Not so much with a car tire.... they last a long time.

MOS2 (Moly) grease is what is usually specc'd for high pressure splines. Especially dry joints.
One of the major disadvantages of MOS2 is that it loves water. If the support medium (grease or oil) dries then it will absorb water and rust develops.
Like others I check my splines often. But living in the middle of a desert has advantages regarding water ingress.

Personally I'd prefer to see the splines in an oil bath (like gearboxes and my old Guzzi). But such is our lot.

7,700 miles, tire changed. Opened up housing to inspect and lube splines. Spotless in there. Really, no grease residue. There was a light residual film.

No damage or wear noted. I put on Sta lube high moly grease, liberally.

My 05' had circlips holding the u-joint together. I bought a brand new drive shaft from a place that makes trikes. $20 on ebay. On mine the rear spline was roached. The new one didn't have the front piece on it so I put the front piece off my old shaft on it (it was like new) has been working good for a couple of years now.

If I may butt in here a bit. I have a 2015 r3t. I am interested in doing as much of my own work as I can. When I had my two Valkyries, I used to enjoy doing the work, such as what you guys are discussing here. The forum had a lot of knowledge just like I see here. We had a section just for maintenance tasks that some of the experienced guys had put together. I learned from them how to do a job like splines and driveshaft maintenance. I got pretty confident doing a lot of things on my own.
With my Triumph, is my best source a service manual? I have tried some random searching here and there. Their just doesn’t seem to be as much of a following with the r3 as their was in the time of the Valkyrie.

Eric R. said:

If I may butt in here a bit. I have a 2015 r3t. I am interested in doing as much of my own work as I can. When I had my two Valkyries, I used to enjoy doing the work, such as what you guys are discussing here. The forum had a lot of knowledge just like I see here. We had a section just for maintenance tasks that some of the experienced guys had put together. I learned from them how to do a job like splines and driveshaft maintenance. I got pretty confident doing a lot of things on my own.
With my Triumph, is my best source a service manual? I have tried some random searching here and there. Their just doesn’t seem to be as much of a following with the r3 as their was in the time of the Valkyrie.

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Hmmm, I joined this site in 2009, and that is the first time I have ever heard anyone say there was a lack of information on this site.

Rocket Scientist said:

Hmmm, I joined this site in 2009, and that is the first time I have ever heard anyone say there was a lack of information on this site.

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Did you read my post, or just copy it and make a statement? I said that our r3 forum has a lot of knowledge when I compared it to the Valk sites I used to participate in. I didn’t say their was a lack of information at all. I’m talking about how on the VRCC board and other Valk sites, the guys had a catalog of maintenance tasks that was available to all that was useful to actually use as a maintenance procedure task list. Wheel removal, rear end maintenance, coolant changeout, things like that.
My comment about the lesser r3 following is in comparison to the old Valk boards. There were simply more members because the bike was so popular. I have a r3 tourer, and obviously, their are many more roadster owners here too.
This is exactly why I seldom post. Something is taken out of context so easily.
Thanks, and take care, Eric

Eric R. said:

Did you read my post, or just copy it and make a statement? I said that our r3 forum has a lot of knowledge when I compared it to the Valk sites I used to participate in. I didn’t say their was a lack of information at all. I’m talking about how on the VRCC board and other Valk sites, the guys had a catalog of maintenance tasks that was available to all that was useful to actually use as a maintenance procedure task list. Wheel removal, rear end maintenance, coolant changeout, things like that.
My comment about the lesser r3 following is in comparison to the old Valk boards. There were simply more members because the bike was so popular. I have a r3 tourer, and obviously, their are many more roadster owners here too.
This is exactly why I seldom post. Something is taken out of context so easily.
Thanks, and take care, Eric

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I wasn't dissing you. I see what your talking about. At work we have "SOP's" (standard operating procedures) for everything. I have written a few of them myself. Your right, in that we don't really have anything like that here in a centralized area. Usually there is only one person at a time, going through something major, and those that can, try to walk them through it. I'll agree it's sometimes difficult to go back and find those threads.