What have I done?

1 week ago today I changed oil & final drive gear grease. I met Pianoman in Leavenworth and rode for a time after that. I rode to work a few days this past week and have put a total of 166 miles on since the service. I had a hard time finding the exact Mobile product for the final gear drive grease designated in the manual or that which was discussed in a "Gear Grease" thread. I gathered from the discussion that there are "3" properties of the final gear grease that are critical: Synthetic oil, meets or exceeds GL-5 requirements and is of a viscosity of 95W. I studied the properties of "Royal Purple Max Gear high performance automotive gear oil" and it met all the above. Although it (Royal Purple) is rated at 75W-140, all other specs seem to meet the requirements. I knew from Flips comments not to run "thick" gear grease in cold weather, which I do not ride in temps below 40 to 45 so I though I'd be safe.

Today (late morning) I went to roll the Babe out of the shed but had extreme difficulty getting it to "roll" backwards. I blew it off that I just didn't get enough momentum to carry me out the door. I did what I needed to do (without starting her) and went to push her back in (as I have done many times) but could not get her to roll up the slight grade into the shed. I really hate starting the girl just to run her for 5 seconds to put her in the shed. I had me son assist pushing and we got her in & put to rest. Later in the day I needed to get her back out to finish the project but again had great difficulty getting her out of the shed rolling backwards. I started thinking something was up but focused on a possible brake dragging. I finished the project & let her sit during the afternoon hours. I had a short trip to make & the sun was shining so I thougt I'd take the girl for a spin. I had only gone a short distance & could tell something was holding her back. Not sure what to think, I snatched the front & rear brake a few times to see if I could break the "what ever" loose to get her to roll freely. No good! I started to turn on the "detection" senses and heard a strange noise coming from the rear gearbox. Kind of a hollow, dry (not good) noise. I had only gone a few blocks so I headed straight home & put her away.

I took note of the milage & have traveled 166 miles since the gear grease change, which I'm really thinking is the issue here. OK, 166 miles with gear grease which is potentially not meeting the criteria. Have I used a gear grease which is causing a problem, and have I driven enough miles to say I'm at the point of no return? Anyone out there have any suggestions as to where to go from here?

My plan it to acquire the Mobile product specified, put the bike on the centerstand, run the engine & let the rear wheel turn long enough to warm the grease (while under no load) and drain the Royal Purple & replace accordingly. Fill with Mobile produce, run more, drain & replace again.

Any other suggestions? Thanks team.

I kind of doubt that the final drive is "holding" your bike up. Just logically thinking, if the gear lube caused a problem, I would think that it would cause excessive wear which would make things looser. I suppose it could have ruined a bearing which might be locking up, but I doubt it.

I have to say, your description of the problem almost sounds like a flat tire, or a tire that has just a few PSI in it.

If you have any kind of bike lift get the front tire off of the ground and spin it by hand and see if it spins freely. Then, lift the back tire, put the bike in neutral and see if that spins freely. It might help you isolate the problem. If they both spin freely I would check those tire pressures. Also check to see if you have calipers locking up, just applying the brakes won't free those up. You may have to use a prybar to spread pads apart to get the wheel to spin. If a caliper is locked up, replace it.

I also (although I did not state it) thought of a low tire pressure delima. Feeling the tires & kicking them settled my mind that is was not the issue. I do like the suggestion fo putting the bike up (in my case, on the centerstand) and seeing that each wheel spins freely. First thing tomorrow, that is the next step in the troubleshooting process. If they don't spin freely, I'll focus on the "clamping" action of the calipers to see if I have one dragging. I'm still concerned about the "hollow" noise coming from the rear gearbox. No doubt it is a sound that has not caught me attention in the past. Any other input about the potential of a wrong gear grease usage?

Thanks Tomo, in my deep dark demise, I didn't put that into play yet. My appreciation of those "thinking clearly" is what I am after.

See ya.

rusty said:

I also (although I did not state it) thought of a low tire pressure delima. Feeling the tires & kicking them settled my mind that is was not the issue. I do like the suggestion fo putting the bike up (in my case, on the centerstand) and seeing that each wheel spins freely. First thing tomorrow, that is the next step in the troubleshooting process. If they don't spin freely, I'll focus on the "clamping" action of the calipers to see if I have one dragging. I'm still concerned about the "hollow" noise coming from the rear gearbox. No doubt it is a sound that has not caught me attention in the past. Any other input about the potential of a wrong gear grease usage?

Thanks Tomo, in my deep dark demise, I didn't put that into play yet. My appreciation of those "thinking clearly" is what I am after.

See ya.

Click to expand...

Rusty they have these new things out called tyre gauges, about 12000 miles ago i to had a problem rolling the bike out for a cleaning, checked the rear and found only 10psi plus a finish nail in the tyre(it was needing replaced anyhoo) When you talk about "grease" I take it you mean rear diff oil(I use Mobil1 75w-90 syn gear lub) Hope it is nothing serious and I will see you in ES.

Does pulling the clutch in make any difference?

Egg on my face! Don't count your chickens before ...........

"Humiliation" is the word of the day. I should have checked all the obvious things before sending out an S.O.S.

Tomo & Scot, you both hit it on the head. After I got myself around this morning, I "muscled" her out of the shed again & put her on the centerstand. Rear tire spun free (with the exception of a modest brake pad contact noise) and the front spun free as well. I stood there pondering what I had done & was walking around her as my mind could not accept this. Then I took her off the centerstand & as I was sliding the stand out from beneath, I noticed the rear tire looking a little squished.

AH HA! A quick check with that little thing called a "tire guage" (Thanks Scot) revealed only 10 PSI. A shot of air, a test ride & all is as it should be. The sound that was coming from rear (as I looked down at the final drive) concerning me yesterday was only the sound of a low tire. A search found a nail in the depths of the tread, pretty much straight in. Mushroom plug time!

OK, I hope everyone has a good laugh, but that is a fine price to pay for my "urgent" issue which didn't pan out. Me Happy!

I'll leave the Royal Purple in & see how it does, unless there is a post stating otherwise.

See ya.

Say What?

Glad to hear that's all it was. I'm surprised you didn't use "Mr. Talking Device" sooner.

I'm that way with most things and I find it's a lot like a logic problem. You have a tendency to look for the complicated answer when it's usually just stepping back and going back to basics.

Lord knows, I've missed the boat many times when it comes to diagnosing a problem but thank goodness the mechanics at Engle save me.

Tires loose about 1 psi per month under constant temperature climes. Add to that another 1psi for every 10 degrees of temperature change from the temperature at inflation to required PSI. Temp at inflation 90. Ambient temp drops to 60 = 3 psi down. Inflate tires no more than 3 miles (debatable) of cold temp.

I run 42 in my darkside and it works great.

How does one get to 10 PSI without a nail

The Stop n Go mushroom kits are a saviour. Quite the little utility. I suggest a drop of oil in the nozzle to facilitate the process. A drip from your dip stick will do.
Or if you have slimy spit that will do also.

HeR3tic said:

How does one get to 10 PSI without a nail

The Stop n Go mushroom kits are a saviour. Quite the little utility. I suggest a drop of oil in the nozzle to facilitate the process. A drip from your dip stick will do.
Or if you have slimy spit that will do also.

Click to expand...

That slimy spit can work wonders!!
Glad there was nothing bad going on, Rusty.