Lube the splines...

bcar00 said:

I don't mind a little extra service, but is there any reason we're doing this every 8000 miles? Have some bikes driveshafts worn out or showed signs of wear if not frequently lubed? I've owned several shaft drive bikes and never had this as an issue. Why wouldn't Triumph recommend it? I did some searching and couldn't find anyone saying there's a issue with this bike. Other big bikes are like ours, and don't recommend it at all, and if they do, it's more like every 16k miles.
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Just wondering if I'm missing something.

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Journeyman said:

At a little over 8k miles I thought it time to lube the splines on the 3R. I'm one of the few who went through a final drive and drive shaft on the older models and have tried since then to do this with every rear tire change or, at least, every other, so every 4 -8,000 miles. Although there was a thin coating on the splines, it looked like it was about time to add some moly. I also change the final drive fluid with each tire change- it's cheap and easy.

The process was pretty straightforward- see pages 1256 - 1264 in the manual. Basically, remove the wheel, rear caliper, disconnect the ABS sensor and the wiring for the license plate, and the four nuts to the bevel box- lube and reassemble.

Here's what it looked like.....

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bcar00 said:

I don't mind a little extra service, but is there any reason we're doing this every 8000 miles? Have some bikes driveshafts worn out or showed signs of wear if not frequently lubed? I've owned several shaft drive bikes and never had this as an issue. Why wouldn't Triumph recommend it? I did some searching and couldn't find anyone saying there's a issue with this bike. Other big bikes are like ours don't recommend it at all, and if they do, it's more like every 16k miles.

Just wondering if I'm missing something.

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LesL said:

I’m going to do mine (10k miles). Seen some YouTube’s where the splines look very dry and a bit rusty. I figure there in no harm in doing them. Only issue seems to be the studs breaks free of the drive before the nuts loosen. There is a good YouTube on the process.

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LesL said:

I’m going to do mine (10k miles). Seen some YouTube’s where the splines look very dry and a bit rusty. I figure there in no harm in doing them. Only issue seems to be the studs breaks free of the drive before the nuts loosen. There is a good YouTube on the process.

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LesL said:

Got the final drive splines cleaned an moly greased. Was more gritty inside than I expected so pleased I did it. The high Moly paste was £20 for 100g.

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mo8414 said:

Glad to see it all worked out for you. Did any of the studs come out?

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