Dond, Final Drive Alignment?

[Mellow]

I thought I saw you post what you did a while back but I couldn't find it.

Is there something in the Manual showing how to re-align the final drive?

Trying to figure out why the bearings are going out so soon, thanks for the re-alignment...

[dond]

Mellow, I don't really know if the proceedure is in the book or not. I've heard it's in there but I've not seen it. It is well documented in the ST/shaft drive world as an important STep to a longer laSTing final drive.

The book is sprinkled with contradictions and mis-info (gasp) so don't take everything as gospel.

It is a bit time consuming but the time is better spent now than later replacing those very pricey parts.

[Mellow]

Well, hopefully, I have a bad wheel or something....

That sure would be a better explanation for my bearing woes...

I'm thinking the bearings weren't seated properly when the other dealer replaced them at 19K miles.

I looked at it and the inner 'long' sleeve had some play in it and that didn't seem right. One thing about the bearings, without removing the wheel you just can't tell if they are bad, mine were falling apart and I had metal shavings everywhere but, when the wheel was on the bike, it had no side to side play that I could detect. That's probably because the other two bearings were holding up, I don't know.

I would have kept riding on it another 500 miles except I have my Big Bend trip coming up and I wanted to change the tire for that. Also, on my way home from work that day I heard a scraping noise like I'd run over something and it was stuck between my tire and the fender. If I was listening to my MP3 I would have never heard it.

Looks like I'll be taking my wheel off every 5k along with oil changes until I have a history of good bearings.

I have tons of metal shavings to clean out of the final drive spline area, any chance those have gotten into the final drive itself?

[dannyk]

Mellow, don't know if this has any bearing on your problem or not. I had a 84 GL1200 that ate the rear bearings out of it. When changing the first rear tire, the axel would not go thru both sides of the swingarm without some gentle persuasion from a hammer or block of wood. This was done at the dealership where I worked, didn't think anything about it at the time. A couple of tire changes later the bearings and gears were noticed to be somewhat worn. I had to get the rear end rebuilt, and upon reassembly the axel of course wouldn't go thru the swingarm, come to find out that the flange that the rear end was bolted up to was welded on misaligned from the factory instead of being level thru to both sides it was off by a little so you couldn't push the axel thru, it had to be tapped (forced) with a little persuasion, end of story new swingarm installed no more problems.

[Mellow]

Danny,

Thanks, I'll see how easy the axle goes through once I get the wheel back.

[dond]

Mellow, there's no way way for those shavings to get into the final proper. I had a discussion with a Honda Rep from Torrance (insert choir music) regarding this issue. The piece involved is really juST a carrier and is pretty much juST along for the ride (especially in relation to other bearing equipped parts), In his (and my) opinion, the failures are from improper inSTall and in my case there was that grease in the no lube area that was inhibiting the parts from coming together properly. The grease was packed 1/8" thick into the recess where the offending piece goes, We all know liquids do not compress. True, worn cush rubbers whould tend to load this assy somewhat too. I replaced mine at 47K as a pre-emptive measure, the old being only slightly compressed and not torn or cracked.
Let's all carefully inSTall these bearings and inspect them from time to time for damage. I will be removing my front for a tire change this weekend and MAY take a look at the rear also.
I do spin (and always have) my wheels often when parked on the CS..A good habit to develope IMO. Looka and liSTen!


Flashback:
Before removal, the dealer inSTalled bearings were rough. After I removed the bearings from their recess, they were now smooth. After I assembled the unit, the new bearings were smooth and silent. We shall see, They now have about 6K on them.