Rear end, driveshaft R&R

Make sure you get a pre 2006 shaft. They are different lengths, the 2006 and up are longer if I remember right.
Molly on the splines
Make sure the spring is on the stub shaft on the rear drive.
The drive shaft will pull out of the front and will with a little finesse slide right back in.

Before removing the caliper remove the whl and loosen bolts on rotor. Also don't try to handle the drive with rotor attached. Rotor makes it heavy. Remove right muffler and proceed.


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It's already mentioned to remove the right side muffler. If you don't already have one you will need a 17mm 12 point box end wrench to remove the 4 nuts holding the final drive. It really isn't a bad job. Good luck.

Wayne

drive shaft and final drive

Since no one already mentioned it, get a new trike take-off ( cheap and easy to find ) from a trike shop and if you call several of the larger trike builders, you might find one with a low mileage drive shaft also. Since most of the 01 - 05's are getting old, finding a new or very low mileage one could be a problem without going to mother Honda. I think the final drive goes bad more often that the drive shaft. If you can't find one, I have one with about 60K on it you can have really cheap.

drive shaft and final drive

When putting the new final drive on, make sure you have installed the drive shaft first. Then make sure you install the stub shaft on the final drive into the drive shaft while sliding the 4 studs on the final drive into the holes on the swingarm. Oh yea, make sure you have the dowels in place before sliding the final drive on.

k7lvo said:

My '03 with 136k on the clock has developed a vibration. It doesn't become very noticeable until 60-65 mph. It's worse under engine deceleration than when accelerating, and disappears when there is no load on the engine. It reminds me of a driveshaft universal joint going bad on a car. I've got 7-8k on a set of Bridgestones; I swapped rear wheels, just in case - no change.

It looks like it's pretty easy to change the rear end, but the manual only mentions the driveshaft incidental to removing the swing arm. So, I'm looking for hints and tips about R&R of the rear end and drive shaft, and thoughts about other things to look at. All (constructive :lol comments appreciated. TIA!

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Removal is pretty straight forward, remove rear wheel, R muffler, disconnect brake hoses & ABS (if equiped) from final drive, four 17mm bolts and remove final drive. The drive shaft then just pulls out, lube the splines with moly before installation. Pull the input shaft from the old final drive and use that to help re-install the shaft. Once the shaft is back in remove the input shaft from the shaft and install the final drive, I put the bike in gear to help alighn the splines. Finding a 01-05 drive shaft might be a little harder than a final drive, most trike shops reuse the shaft.

Installing drive saft

Post #9 in this thread http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?366257-Got-the-drive-shaft-out-now shows how I put the drive shaft onto the engine output shaft.

Ron

can't ya do like on a car and replace bearings -unless you beat the he:: out of shaft should be easy/cheap fix ! ??? just asking-

UNCLEJOHN said:

can't ya do like on a car and replace bearings -unless you beat the he:: out of shaft should be easy/cheap fix ! ??? just asking-

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Until very recently all I have heard about that is "No". But earlier today I encountered a post on the General Board covering TECHNICAL issues about Alternators where a responder got on a tangent and mentioned having his drive shaft refitted with a universal joint from a Honda cage, I believe he mentioned CRV or some such model designation. Install done at a drive shaft shop. However, in the pics shown by the OP in this thread, the yokes are beat all to h377, so a I agree with his option to replace the whole shebang. Also consider the splines and the rubber internal shock core, new or practically new take-off is best option.

prs

UNCLEJOHN said:

can't ya do like on a car and replace bearings -unless you beat the he:: out of shaft should be easy/cheap fix ! ??? just asking-

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I've replaced lots of uj's on driveshafts that were built for replacement in my driving career, (mostly back when UJ spiders had grease fittings on them) but I had one go out on a little car that was, like the Wing, not designed for replacement. When I took it to my local driveline shop, they built me an entire driveshaft, rather than try to repair the original.

Anyway, for two reasons I decided to go with a new factory part: 1. As previously mentioned, the yoke was beat up, and 2. I want another 100k+ miles out of it.

k7lvo said:

I've replaced lots of uj's on driveshafts that were built for replacement in my driving career, (mostly back when UJ spiders had grease fittings on them) but I had one go out on a little car that was, like the Wing, not designed for replacement. When I took it to my local driveline shop, they built me an entire driveshaft, rather than try to repair the original.

Anyway, for two reasons I decided to go with a new factory part: 1. As previously mentioned, the yoke was beat up, and 2. I want another 100k+ miles out of it.

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That shaft definately looks bad from my view. Like we said removing it wasn't that bad of a job.

Wayne

When the Driveshaft on my 2006 went bad.. the right mirror vibrated at speed. When I pulled it out, the springs in the U Joint were broken. The only thing I can think of is I had dumped it down into 1st from third in a senor moment and when I dumped the clutch, it must have strained the U Joint and the springs causing them to snap.

Matt

This one looks like it went dry and started grinding the needles to dust. I bought the bike with 2 miles on it, and the boot chewed itself up in the first 500 miles. I had it replaced, but it came off shortly after that and it was a little while before I discovered it. I suppose that some road grime could have gotten into the housing while the boot was loose, and eventually worked its way into the UJ...

i would have have dug into it sooner, but the Bridgestones have been noisy and buzzy. The front tire buzzed so loud from around the 3k to the 5k Mark it almost sounded like the playing card in the bicycle spokes when I was a kid. It was almost embarrassingly loud. My first, and last, set of Bridgestones.

That is not typical of B'stones. Sure it was not the U all the while? Early year model boots needed to be perforated with a hot awl to keep them from vacuum wrapping and self destructing. Honda eventually vented them.

prs

Pigeon Roost said:

That is not typical of B'stones. Sure it was not the U all the while? Early year model boots needed to be perforated with a hot awl to keep them from vacuum wrapping and self destructing. Honda eventually vented them.

prs

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:agree:

I'm sure it was the front tire. It was loud from 15 mph on up, and at low speeds it was definitely coming from the front. It lasted 2-3k miles and gradually went away. Last heard 3k or more ago. I'm glad to hear it's not normal for them.

Front tire should have 40/41 lbs air in it . On 2nd bt45 n no where near as loud as e3 was 23,000 on first one .

I discovered that when I upgraded my front end with progressive springs and a fork brace I was able to run 34-36 in the front and get even wear. That definitely makes the front much less jolty, (new word). I've since upgraded considerably more but I have to conclude that the weak stock springs must have something to do with needing the front pressure that high. Just my experience.