The odyssey begins !

Rocket Scientist said:

A WORD OF CAUTION !

Got the rocket out yesterday and gave it a bath so I could ride it to work. Headed off to work. At the first stop sign about a mile down the road, I noticed the oil light blinked on as I took off. Immediately turned around and limped home. Looked in the oil tank and it was almost empty ! Almost no oil return at all. Though about it all afternoon at work. Thought just my luck, the scavenge pump failed, the one you have to split the cases to get at. Got home that night and figured I'd pull the pan and have a look. Removed the drain plugs and got about a teaspoon of oil out of each. WTF ? There already was no oil in the tank. Where the hell did it go ? Found out when I dropped the pan and had oil everywhere. Got most of it in the drain pan. It was all in the pan. Checked the screens. They had some metal in them as I expected. But they also had some gooey stuff in them as well. Upon further investigation I determined it to be red lint from the shop rags I used to clean everything with. You can't see it, but it must stick to the rough castings. I use new shop rags and when they get dirty I throw them in the woodstove an burn um' when it's cold. Because they are new and have never been washed they must have a lot of lint on them. The oil has to go through the screens (or in my case not) to go out the drain plugs. This time I sprayed everything down with carb cleaner and let it air dry before reassembly. Don't use rags that have lint on internal engine surfaces ! Put it back together this morning. Went for a hundred mile ride. So far so good. Drained the oil when I got home, and it came out fine. I'm going to pull the pan one more time tomorrow just to make sure it's clean.

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HansO said:

you might remember I mentioned to use a container of "engine flush" to make sure you get it all on next change

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warp9.9 said:

Sump pan
Yellow 21 mounting bolt holes
red areas debris can collect in the one with the x is up front under the clutch basket.
green sump screen top plates.





under side of sump screen yellow is the drain plugs you pull when draining oil.
red is the galley passageways that will still contain oil after a change unless you pull the pipe plugs.
Caution if you pull the pipe plugs do not over torque when re-installing these are NPT tapered pipe plugs) and you will not like it if you crack the sump plate!!!!



below is a shot of the screen under the plate this is where the machining swarf from the engine gets trapped all engines have machining swarf when delivered its not bad but it is almost impossible to get all the machining swarf out until she has been run a while and you drop the sump and clean these screens which is where the oil is drawn through before going through the engine




below is a shot with the screen off so you can see the drain plug. the two screen have drain plugs and the tank has the long drain plug.

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jake shaw said:

Congrats on the job. It is a long tricky job. Just completed mine also. Took a 1000 km ride & seems to be fine. I also detect less drive lash.

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Rocket Scientist said:

You should remove the bevel box at each tire change or no more than 10,000 miles if you run a darkside. When you pull it loose from the swing arm you can the see the end of the drive shaft up in the swingarm tube. THAT is the spline that really needs the moly grease. I use the Honda moly grease, you can buy it on eat-me-bay. When you reassemble leave the four bolts that hold the bevel box slightly loose until you tighten the axle. Then tighten them. That makes sure the bevel box is aligned properly and not stressing the rear wheel bearings.

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Dawg68 said:

Stupid question...should this be done if you don't run dark side? The manual states that the drive shaft is maintenance free and only the bevel box fluid levels need to be maintained. I haven't removed the bevel box from the drive shaft to grease the splines. I grease the wheel driven flange with moly at every tire change but now I'm wondering if I need to do more? Or am I looking after things correctly?
Thanks

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