Servicing drive shaft...

At the weekend I removed the rear wheel to check on lubrication and state of splines etc. The article here (https://www.bikes-n-spikes.org/maint/spline/spline.html) says in point 4 that when you remove the pumpkin, the drive shaft comes out as well.

When i removed the pumpkin, the shaft did not come out. it moves about 1/2 inch fwd/bkd but does not come out. Everything seems to run ok, but why might it not have been free to slide out?

Regards,

AArnie

To service the splines you want the pumpkin and driveshaft to come out as one piece - pumpkin AND driveshaft. Unless you want to change the seal or for some other reason, you don't want the driveshaft to come out of the pumpkin. Here's a link to the maint procedure Splines Check the 5th picture down, it shows the pumpkin/driveshaft together.

Jim

Edit - 03 - 05 and I "assume" the 06/07 are similar.

AArnie said:

At the weekend I removed the rear wheel to check on lubrication and state of splines etc. The article here (https://www.bikes-n-spikes.org/maint/spline/spline.html) says in point 4 that when you remove the pumpkin, the drive shaft comes out as well.
When i removed the pumpkin, the shaft did not come out. it moves about 1/2 inch fwd/bkd but does not come out. Everything seems to run ok, but why might it not have been free to slide out?

Regards,

AArnie

Click to expand...

You're mis-interpreting what Bounce is saying.... the driveshaft will typically NOT come out of the pumpkin housing!

From: FJRTech: Lubing the rear driveshaft



This is what the assembly typically looks like after removing the four acorn nuts and withdrawing the rear pumpkin housing.

+1 on what WC is saying. Only in rare occasions will the rear of the shaft come out of the pumpkin unless you intend for it to. Everyone was servicing the front of the shaft assemble (only) for quite a while until an FJR owner documented the process for pulling the rear shaft/splines to service the seal and surrounding area.

Personal opinion follows:

I don't know that I would service the rear splines every tire change, but a good clean, inspection and clean/lube or replacement of that rear seal is something worth doing occasionally. If that is every other tire swap or every other year, or whatever is something that's not specified by Yamaha and left to each owner based on the conditions they find the first time they do it.

Ok, re-reading my first post I didn't make myself clear - sorry.

What happens is, I remove the rear wheel, undo the four mounting bolts for the pumpkin. When I pull the pumpkin off of the four mounting bolts, the drive shaft does not come with it. I am left with the pumpkin in my hands and the drive shaft left in the swinging arm. If i pull on the drive shaft it moves about 1/2 inch and stops. it won't pull out.

I reassembled and gears/drive is still there. I am now even more concerned if the drive shaft should pull out *with* the pumpkin stll attached.

Is something screwed?

AArnie.

Possible that enough corrosion has built up at the front tip of the shaft, where it connects to the u-joint (and is exposed to the elements) to act as a "lock" and prevent the shaft from being easily removed. A good yank should free it-if not, you need to spray it down with enough penetrant to free it up.

the drive shaft fell out of mine the first time I serviced it - nearly got my foot!!

+1 w/Radman. Hopefully your driveshaft doesn't look like my axle did the first time I removed it:



Suffice to say I had a hard time getting it out....(the driveshaft, OTOH, looked great, came right out).

the front splines of the shaft should pull easily from the u-joint. but, as has been documented, the oem lube is minimal at best. how many miles/years are on the bike in question? is it still under warranty? i would put some effort into resolving the problem even if it means pulling the cans and getting a good look at the u-joint to service it and the output shaft, too (mainly to pull the shaft and u-joint as a unit if you have problems getting the shaft pulled even with pentrating oil).

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/ujoint/uj.html

The bike's out of warranty, and had been standing for a few months before I got it. It's done 14.5K mls. I'll give it another go this weekend and take a look at the UJ as well.

Cheers.

AArnie.

14.5k miles - one can assume that was without any service to the splines.

sitting for a few months under what conditions? Sitting isn't helpful if they splines already have corrosives in there (salted roads?). Worse if they were never serviced since purchase.

sounds like a good candidate for lots of penetrant oil before you go yanking on things.

Bounce said:

14.5k miles - one can assume that was without any service to the splines.sitting for a few months under what conditions?

sounds like a good candidate for lots of penetrant oil before you go yanking on things.

Click to expand...

He's a Britisher, from the land famous for corrosion. I hear more stories from there concerning frame rust out's etc. than from anywhere else, usually due to their proclivity to ride year round in all types of weather.

Corrosion it is.

I had a look tonight. Removed the side stand, foot peg/plate, and cover for the UJ, it's got a lot of surface corrosion on it, so I'm assuming that the spline is also coroded. I'll stick some pentrating oil in there over the next couple of days and then have a go at removing it at the weekend.

AArnie.

While we're on the topic, any tips on how to grease the knuckles of the u-joint properly. In the past I simply cleaned off the old grease and put new Honda Moly on the inside splines. I then forced some in behind the rubber boot to try and get a little on the knuckles.

Canadian FJR

I've got no idea, I can't even remove mine!

not that that really helps you

AArnie

I think the U-joint bearings are sealed -- no maintenance required. Standard grease on the U-joint splines is fine. No movement is occurring there. The grease inhibits rust development and allows the the splined joints to be disconnected easily.