Article [13] ST1300 - U-Joint Removal and Replacement

Joined
Oct 3, 2009
Messages
757
Location
Brenham, Texas
Bike
'07 ST1300
STOC #
8073
U-Joint Removal and Replacement

First let me say that there is lots of information on the site for this job. I read all that I could find as well as the manual before I attempted this. I decided in advance to try to take photos to document the process for any that might want to try this themselves as well as for me for the next one. Thanks to Raymond for helping me confirm my suspicions that the funny vibration in my pegs on deceleration was indeed my u-joint failing after only 134,500 miles. If I borrow your stuff and don't credit you, well…sorry.

Remove:
- Rear fender.
- Both mufflers.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel.
- Hang the rear brake caliper with a wire.
- Right middle cowl.

Detach:
- Right step holder, leave it hanging.
- Rear ABS sensor on swing arm.
- Brake lines on swing arm.
- Rear shock from swing arm.
- EVAP canister, remove the two upper hoses and leave it hanging.
- Right rear engine hangar bracket. Opening the “front windowâ€.

Remove:
- Final drive (pumpkin) and the drive shaft.
- Locking nut with special tool, this can be homemade or purchased from Dan at DHS racing http://www.dhsracing.com/GL1800tools.htm .
- Swing arm pivot bolts using a 19 mm allen head.

Detach:
- Swing arm by pulling and wiggling rearward, watch the O2 sensor lines going to the exhaust. There is room to work with them still attached just be careful.


Remove:
- U-joint, mine stayed in the swing arm and I pushed it out with a long rod
- U-joint boot, mine just fell out

Both these can be removed in the space available from backing out the swing arm, once again be careful of the O2 sensor wires don't stretch or pull on them.

Clean:
- The internal portion of the swing arm with a magnet and cleaning rags.

“I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean.†Raymond

Remove:
- Drive shaft from the final drive, this can be done by pulling and turning back and forth, keep track of the spring that goes on the end of the drive shaft.

Lubricate:
- Output driven gear shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Drive shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Your new U-joint boot with silicon grease, makes installation easier.

Install: ( these next few steps are the hardest and may take a few manipulations from several different positions and angles, choice words helped me)

- U-joint boot on to the engine groove around the output gear shaft, the tab on this side of the boot needs to be up.
- The drive shaft into the swing arm.
- New U-joint on to the drive shaft, long end toward the rear of the bike. For me the U-joint had to be mostly inside the swing arm for me to get the swing arm back in place.
- U-joint on to the output gear shaft splines while slowly moving the swing arm forward.
- U-joint boot to the swing arm groove, this required pushing and pulling on the tabs from below, above and in front (through the engine hanger bracket window). Make sure it gets seated properly, it does not just seat itself by pushing the swing arm into position.
- swing arm pivot bolts, apply light oil to the threads before installation. I had to put these in before I could get the boot in position, these were installed loosely.
- Rear shock bolt and nut, easy to attach now. Torque 31 ft/lb.
- Torque right pivot bolt to 80 ft/lb.
- Torque left pivot bolt to 40 ft/lb, then back off and re-torque to 30 ft/lb.
- Locking nut, torque to 80 ft/lb.
- Spring on to drive shaft.
- Rear drive on to drive shaft and back of swing arm, turning the rear drive helps with this. Torque for these nuts 33 ft/lb.
- ABS cord and sensor.
- Brake lines to swing arm.
- Right step holder, torque 47 ft/lb on front bolts and 31 ft/lb on back bolts
- Rear engine hanger bracket, torque 29 ft/lb.
- EVAC canister.
- Right side middle cowl.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel, torque 80 ft/lb
- Brake caliper, torque 51 ft/lb
- Back fender.

Have a beer…

Remove:
- Rear fender.


.


Remove:
- Both mufflers.



Remove:

Right lower cowl.




Remove:

Rear wheel.




- Hang the rear brake caliper with a wire.




Remove:

- Right middle cowl.



Detach:


- Right step holder, leave it hanging.







And on the inside of the wheel well..



Detach:

- Rear ABS sensor on swing arm.





Detach:

- Brake lines on swing arm.








Detach:

- Rear shock from swing arm.



Detach:

- EVAP canister (from under the back of the middle cowl that you already removed), remove the two upper hoses and leave it hanging.





Detach:

- Right rear engine hangar bracket. Opening the ?front window? under this bracket. You can look in and see the u-joint boot.





Here is the u-joint boot.



Remove:

- Final drive (pumpkin) and the drive shaft. Here are two of the four nuts.




The drive shaft just pulls out with the final drive.

This photo is from Tom DeBoesser's notes.



Remove:

- Locking nut with special tool, this can be homemade (from a 1 1/4" socket and a Dremel tool or grinder) or purchased from Dan at DHS racing http://www.dhsracing.com/GL1800tools.htm .





Remove:

- Swing arm pivot bolts using a 19 mm allen head. A 3/4" threaded coupling nut is a cheap tool for this.







Coupling nut.



Detach:

- Swing arm by pulling and wiggling rearward, watch the O2 sensor lines going to the exhaust. There is room to work with them still attached just be careful.




Here is the output drive gear shaft. Note the groove on the outside of it's housing.



Remove:

- U-joint, mine stayed in the swing arm and I pushed it out with a long rod.



Remove:

- U-joint boot, mine just fell out.


Both these can be removed in the space available from backing out the swing arm, once again be careful of the O2 sensor wires don?t stretch or pull on them.





Clean:

- The internal portion of the swing arm with a magnet and cleaning rags.

?I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean.? Raymond





Remove:

- Drive shaft from the final drive, this can be done by pulling and turning back and forth, keep track of the spring that goes on the end of the drive shaft.





Lubricate:


- Output driven gear shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Drive shaft splines using Moly grease.



Lubricate:

- Your new U-joint boot with silicon grease, makes installation easier.



Install: ( these next few steps are the hardest and may take a few manipulations from several different positions and angles, choice words helped me)

- U-joint boot on to the engine groove around the output gear shaft, the tab on this side of the boot needs to be up.



Install:


- Put the new U-joint on to the drive shaft, long end toward the rear of the bike. The drive shaft needs to be inserted into the swing arm from behind to do this part. For me the U-joint had to be mostly inside the swing arm for me to get the swing arm back in place.


- Then put the U-joint on to the output gear shaft splines while slowly moving the swing arm forward.



Install:

- The U-joint boot to the swing arm groove, this required pushing and pulling on the tabs from below, above and in front (through the engine hanger bracket window). Make sure it gets seated properly, it does not just seat itself by pushing the swing arm into position. Here you can see it is not quite seated in the groove on the swing arm.






- Then install the swing arm pivot bolts, apply light oil to the threads before installation. I had to put these in before I could get the boot in position, these were installed loosely.

Now just reverse the process of taking everything off.


- Rear shock bolt and nut, easy to attach now. Torque 31 ft/lb.
- Torque right pivot bolt to 80 ft/lb.
- Torque left pivot bolt to 40 ft/lb, then back off and re-torque to 30 ft/lb.
- Locking nut, torque to 80 ft/lb.
- Spring on to drive shaft. Don't forget this, if you put it together without the spring in, the drive shaft locks into the rear drive and it has to be completely removed as a unit before you can pull it apart. Then you get to reinsert the drive shaft into the u-joint. Don't ask how I know this.





- Rear drive on to drive shaft and back of swing arm, turning the rear drive helps with this. Torque for these nuts 33 ft/lb.
- ABS cord and sensor.
- Brake lines to swing arm.
- Right step holder, torque 47 ft/lb on front bolts and 31 ft/lb on back bolts
- Rear engine hanger bracket, torque 29 ft/lb.
- EVAC canister.
- Right side middle cowl.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel, torque 80 ft/lb
- Brake caliper, torque 51 ft/lb
- Back fender.

Have a beer…

As usual this is one of the reasons I love this site and my ST. From others contributions I was able to get this repair done. A lot slower than Raymond's job of course, must of been all the time I took taking photos. Thanks to all that made useful comments on this repair and this is my contribution....
 

ToddC

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Re: U-Joint Removal and Replacement

HOLY Postings Bat Man !!! :bow1:

Nice job on the repair....two of three of my ST1300s have less than 40,000 and the other only 77,000, so I hope I don't need to reference your wonder documentation work done here...:bow1:

ToddC
 

Scooter

This space for rent...
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5929
Re: U-Joint Removal and Replacement

Jeff, was there any certain speeds that seemed to enhance the vibration or did you only notice it during deceleration?

Nice job. I bet that beer tasted might fine by the time you finished...
 
OP
OP
4jranch
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Brenham, Texas
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'07 ST1300
STOC #
8073
Re: U-Joint Removal and Replacement

The vibration was first noticeable at almost any speed when I just let off the gas a little. At first it was just a little subtle and I convinced myself it was nothing. It then became more noticeable, finally making a rattling sound at most RPMs at any throttle position. We tested it with the motor running on the center stand, carefully holding down the front of the bike. Then shifting into first, letting out the clutch and then gently off and on the throttle. It was very obvious at that point, shaking a lot. I was 90 miles from home. I did ride home with very ginger use of the throttle. The vibration getting worse slowly. I was very glad it didn't come apart as it would have caused some damage. It was barely holding together when I took it off, I was lucky. Next time with Lynne's bike I will try to catch it sooner...
 

dduelin

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
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Thanks for the effort to document this! I thought at 90 something thousand I would replace the U joint for good measure at 100K. At 100K all was well and so I thought maybe 125k. Now at 156K I monitor for any changes in vibration or "feel" and print or subscribe to threads like this one dealing with it.

FWIW a seasoned Honda tech now retired told me to place the heel of my boot against the RH step plate and you can feel for drive train vibrations during different drive train loads.
 

Mellow

Joe
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Great write-up Jeff thanks, I assume I can ignore your text about pictures?

I'm moved this to the article section and placed a permanent redirect in the previous spot.
 
OP
OP
4jranch
Joined
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Messages
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8073
Thanks Dave, Joe and Mike. My pleasure, really.



FWIW a seasoned Honda tech now retired told me to place the heel of my boot against the RH step plate and you can feel for drive train vibrations during different drive train loads.

That fits my experience, I felt the vibration first in my foot pegs...
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
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Webb City, MO
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2006 Aprilia Capo
Wow.

Great write-up. I'm in the process of wrapping up the replacement and halfway documented the removal on my blog.

You're right the most difficult part was getting the boot back over the swing-arm. Wish I had thought of utilizing silicone grease to assist.

Thanks again for sharing.
 
Joined
May 9, 2014
Messages
129
Location
Minneapolis, mn
I can't thank you enough for your write-up. I'm a visual learner and your pictures were worth a thousand pages of a service manual... I did take it one step further and removed the left tupperwear so I could unplug the oxygen sensors and remove the swing arm completely... I would recommend this to anyone doing a u-joint removal as it gives you a chance to inspect and in my case replace the bearings as mine needed new bearings..... For a piece of mind I bought new parts.... And from here on out I'll be pulling the rear apart and replacing said parts every 75K from here on out. Cheap insurance to protect an on road breakdown... I ride many miles with a pillion and occasionally pulling a 300lb trailer so your mileage may vary...
 

970mike

Mike Brown
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Well I took advantage of this great information today on my ST, it has 173,000 miles on it now and that darn U-Joint was worn out. Mine was not as bad as Jeff's and only had one of the swivels sticking. I could hear a grinding noise when spinning the rear wheel and was starting to feel a slight vibration in the bike. It was time to change it out. The hardest part about doing this job is getting the new rubber boot back onto the swing-arm side, I found lots of lube on the rubber and getting one part into the grove and spinning the rubber around making sure it was in the grove. Thank you Jeff for documenting this repair.
 
Joined
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Cochrane AB Canada
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I wisely decided this was beyond my abilities so I dropped the ST off at a friends shop to have it done. It’s showing 110,000 miles btw. So yes mileage may very. My last bike had about 160,000 when we parted company and was running just fine. I bought a new u-joint and should be out of the ER next week.
I checked out the descriptions but was unable to see the pics . Have they been moved?
 
OP
OP
4jranch
Joined
Oct 3, 2009
Messages
757
Location
Brenham, Texas
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'07 ST1300
STOC #
8073
Not sure about the photos, seems like they were there in January 19. If Joe cannot find them I might be able to reproduce them?
 
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