Final Drive Work Today

[Bob_Roller]

Got to work on the LS final drive today, replaced the output oil seal, paper gasket, and o-rings for the brake camshaft .

A few observations, as this is the first time dismantling a final drive .

The are two holes drilled and tapped through the final drive cover, at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions, these are for small bolts, you thread them into the holes, and they push the cover off .

Get the cover plate warmed up, with a heat gun, (I just put it in the sun, as it was 85 F. in the garage today), before removing the ring gear, softens up the oil seal .

Don't be too surprised if a large stamped sheet metal part falls out when you remove the cover from the final drive, it looks like some sort of oil deflector .

Get the new oil seal good and warmed up for installation in the case, it goes in easier, and lube up the seal before pressing it into the cover .

Put a heavy tape over the final drive splines before reassembly to prevent any cuts in the new seal .

Heat the cover plate with a heat gun, as it makes reinserting the bearing on the ring gear into the cover .

The paper gasket that goes between the cover and final drive housing, only goes on one way, so figure out how it goes on, before putting any sealant on the gasket .

The cover bolts are torqued to 13-15 ft/lbs .

[Yikes]

How long did that job take you, Bob?  Would you guess that a backyard wrencher could manage the job or does it take a skilled mechanic like yourself.  Of course, I would use a multiplier of at least three to to estimate how long it would actually take me to do.

 John M

[Ed Miller]

Thanks, Bob.  You do nice, clear write ups of procedures.  My final drive needed to come apart much farther as it had a bearing going out.  So I had a local airhead-friendly shop do it.  

[Bob_Roller]

It was about two hours, not including having to take the ring gear back out of the cover, due to my over sight of not reinstalling shims between the bearing and cover .

It's a pretty straight forward job .

About the only thing that may cause you some problems, is pressing the oil seal out, and reinstalling it .

It's about three inches in diameter, and I had to use the cast aluminum oil filter socket for my oilhead, didn't have anything else suitable to use .

Also noticed that the final drive splines are worn to about 60%, so it looks like a spline rebuild is in the future for the bike .

Spent the remainder of the afternoon cleaning the mating splines in the rear wheel, they were a mess .

Got short changed on o-rings for the brake camshaft, needed 4 only got 3, so I need to get into the local dealer, and order up 5 more, one for the LS, and 4 for the '81, It's starting to leak gear oil from around the gap between the rear wheel and the final drive cover .