My bike pulled some nonsense on the highway!

[MattySull]

Thanks for all the help/suggestions guys I really do appreciate it.

I do intend to put synthetic gear oil in the trans and drain it every 500-1000 miles to keep it in the best condition I can.

The rotational play in the driveshaft seems common for the shaft drive airheads.

I'm going to fill up all the oil and continue to diagnose the problem by riding and paying more attention to the driveshaft trans area.

[montmil]

You may or may not enjoy using synthetic oils in your Airhead.

Quite a few 'heads have developed oil leaks after switching to the non-dino lubricants. The issue concerns the oil seals inside our scooter's engine-trans-final drive assemblies; the OEM seals of the era are of a rubber compound that will swell ever so slightly when in contact with conventional oils. The synthetics don't play that game so the synthetics find their way past the seals and leave their sign all over the place. Returning to conventional oils seems to make the leaks go away after the seals swell.

I tried synthetics in my '81. never again.

You mileage may vary. Either way, if your trans is making metal, high dollar synthetic oil will not heal it. [smiley=2cents.gif]

[MattySull]

You may or may not enjoy using synthetic oils in your Airhead.

Quite a few 'heads have developed oil leaks after switching to the non-dino lubricants. The issue concerns the oil seals inside our scooter's engine-trans-final drive assemblies; the OEM seals of the era are of a rubber compound that will swell ever so slightly when in contact with conventional oils. The synthetics don't play that game so the synthetics find their way past the seals and leave their sign all over the place. Returning to conventional oils seems to make the leaks go away after the seals swell.

I tried synthetics in my '81. never again.

You mileage may vary. Either way, if your trans is making metal, high dollar synthetic oil will not heal it. [smiley=2cents.gif]

I've heard the argument before with cars too. I do not intend to use synthetic motor oil but I would like to try it in the trans/shaft/final drive area.

I know there is no fixing a transmission without a rebuild but a change of fluid and more frequent intervals whether synthetic or dino should help it last as long as it can manage.  

[montmil]

Hope it works for you. I tried it in the transmission of my '81 R65...

[tvrla]

It's hard to say on this one - but like I said, you need to remove the driveshaft first to inspect anything else, so might as well start there. If it's not the shaft, then take a close look at the final drive.

If that aint it, then it's time to pull the transmission.