Gravel in my drive gears...

[montmil]

...At least that's what it sounds like.

Just arrived home after fetching the R65 from my son's garage in Austin, Texas. This morning as we were rolling it out to the truck - engine off - we both noticed it was making the most gawd awful thrashing noises in the bevel gears or drive shaft area.

Made the four-hour grind up I-35 and got it home. Put it on the centerstand and turned the rear tire by hand. Yep. Gotta be gravel in there. Did an oil change on the bevel drive gear box. Oil was at the correct level but refreshed it all the same.

Drained the drive shaft lube and got all of 5cc's in the catch can! 5cc's! This can't be a good thing. Added 150cc's of 80W90 but no joy. Still sounds "expensive".

Comments? Ideas? Sympathy?  I could use 'em all.

It's like that first date with a new hotty girlfriend. Oh, she's just perfect. Wouldn't change a thing or dream for someone different. Couple months later. . .  

[airhead]

From personal experience, the only real way to isolate expensive noises from the final drive area is to pull the bevel drive from the swingarm and try it by turning it by hand. If it feels ok, pull the swingarm and UJ to expose the gearbox O/P flange.
If the gearbox flange turns smoothly and evenly, you're laughing. If the UJ is excessively notchy, there's your problem.
I've found a couple times on bikes, a couple things can be going south and the sounds manifest in several places along the drive. Using a stethescope in these instances can be misleading. Whatever the problem, gravel sounds there can't be good.
BTW, the driveshaft can run with minimal oil without too much problem, though obviously It's good to keep topped up.


Bill.......................;-)

[Bob_Roller]

There's an outside chance that the driveshaft to transmission output flange 12 point bolts are loose or missing.

Another possibility is that when the swing arm bearing bolts/pins were installed, they didn't get the u-joint centered in the driveshaft housing, and it's a possibility that the u-joint is contacting the housing.

All you need to do is loosen up the forward clamp on the rubber boot between the swing arm and transmission, and pull it back and take a look..

[montmil]

UPDATE: Re: Gravel in my gears..."

Lots of work handling PO's deferred maintenance items. The long list is getting a bit shorter even though I keep adding my own new 'bullets'.

As mentioned in my original post of 20 April, I noticed a strange and disturbing racket coming from -I thought- the final drive area. Delayed checking the racket as other things were ahead on the list.

Today, I pulled the rear wheel in preparation for some investigative work. Had previously pushed in on the u-joint boot and tried to feel any unusual movement or "gravel" as a helper rotated the rear wheel. The u-joint rotation felt smooth. Must be something else, he thought.

Strange. After eyeballing the bevel drive and brakes then reinstalling the rear wheel...  TaDa! The noise has disappeared. Yep, too strange. Nothing fell out that I saw.

Still a little concerned...  [smiley=smash.gif]

[nhmaf]

Did you change out the oil in the final drive as well as in the shaft ?

Maybe the brake shoe was dragging on the inside of the hub and/or loose and rattling ?

I'm glad that it isn't making the noise anymore, but I'd pay close attention to it and not just take off
on a 1000 mile journey just yet, but my wife says I am a pessimist.

[scuba]

nhmaf, I would say that You are an optimist, but with experience  

and for "grawel" stuff, take time and have a real CLOSE&DEEP inside look. I'm an optimist but...

[montmil]

Did you change out the oil in the final drive as well as in the shaft ? Maybe the brake shoe was dragging on the inside of the hub and/or loose and rattling ?...

Scuba quote: "...take time and have a real CLOSE&DEEP inside look."

Yes, all fluids changed. Suspect a brake component as the culprit. Still investigating. Thanks.