Rear wheel drive spline wear

BTW, moly paste is available at most auto supply stores. They call it CV grease. It has the required % moly in it. It comes in a little pack that costs about $3-$4. Might save a trip to the Honda dealer.

Here is a good link for all you gearheads out there. There is probably info. in this link somewhere to figure the amount of wear on those splines. The wear doesn't look too bad to me either.

www.cadtekk.com/files/reference/mach_hndbk/yl.pdf

Here is pic of my splines at about 55K miles :

Rear Wheel Drive Plate Splines.jpg
 
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If this is neglected from day one and never lubricated or replaced o-rings how quickly will you discover that something is wrong, thinking in mileage?

The worst cases you will be able to feel it with the bike on the center stand and in 1st gear … thinking moving the wheel back and forth to feel how much slack there is … Or am I thinking wrong here …
 
This is simply one of those maintenance points…if you’re buying one of these bikes and it runs well and there’s no driveline lash, it’s probably all good. It’s good economy to pull the rear wheel and take a look. Not hard to do at all. Re-grease, maybe swap the O-rings (there’s a link to that in this site), and ride on. It’s one of those things you can never be truly sure about unless you take a look. I would say the splines may be worn (as well as many other components) in the event the prior owner(s) were completely inept when switching tires and just swapped the tire, put the wheel back on, never re-greased, and kept riding. Or, in the event the bike was normally in the wet (as a UK/Euro bike used for daily commuting) whereas the splines could more easily get wet and rust/deteriorate.
 
increasing said:
The worst cases you will be able to feel it with the bike on the center stand and in 1st gear … thinking moving the wheel back and forth to feel how much slack there is …
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Such will primarily show you if there is any wear in the (rubber) hub dampers & aluminum inserts...
Those are the "consumables" and are supposed to wear down (depending on payload, usage, road surface, etc...)

Wear of the spline tooting (as shown in the pics above) can mostly only be *felt* as marginal play, hence be masked as (the sum of) play in the final drive, prop-shaft, torque couplings, output shaft...
Its true extend only unveils after removal and cleaning the tooting (and its counterpart in the ring gear)...
Same for wear on the bearing-boss of the wheel...

Time/mileage? Dunno...
The form of damage has been brought in conjunction of pressure washing and/or use of wrong/no lubricant...

My first '92 ST1100 "ate" a drive spline + a rear hub during its 130,000km...
My current '00 ST1100 still runs its OEM set at 150,000km with no noticeable wear pattern on the tooting...
 
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increasing said:
If this is neglected from day one and never lubricated or replaced o-rings how quickly will you discover that something is wrong, thinking in mileage?
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Erdoc48 said:
Or, in the event the bike was normally in the wet (as a UK/Euro bike used for daily commuting) whereas the splines could more easily get wet and rust/deteriorate.
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Definitely true about UK/European use when being used in nasty conditions!

You will notice it when it goes bang and graunch and your bike has no drive....

Mine after recovery.

DSC_0219.JPGDSC_0220.JPG

Approximately 100,000 miles on this drive always pulling a sidecar, moly and seals always replaced by me on tyre changes but the wheel was removed by a dealer when replacing the exhaust about 3,000 miles before it destroyed itself (having just completed a trip to Denmark and Norway!). When I pulled it apart the one item missing was the thrust washer (no 6 on the diagram) which would have meant that things weren't seated quite properly which could have helped in it's severe wear, so it's another thing to make sure is in place when removing and repacing the wheel!

1747394608054.png
 
There are clearly several things to be aware of that only the owner or a Honda mechanic can be familiar with to get this done correctly.

It surprises me that previous ST1100 owners I have met use the nearest tire shop to mount tires, they usually only do tires on cars.

The positive thing about the ST1100 I am now considering buying is that the owner has used the Honda shop for tire changes.
 
increasing said:
There are clearly several things to be aware of that only the owner or a Honda mechanic can be familiar with to get this done correctly.

It surprises me that previous ST1100 owners I have met use the nearest tire shop to mount tires, they usually only do tires on cars.

The positive thing about the ST1100 I am now considering buying is that the owner has used the Honda shop for tire changes.
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IIRC (which is doubtful:rofl1:) Larry said he has seen damage from using the wrong moly paste in a few thousand miles.

Based on my personal experience w/ my local dealer, and posted horror stories about what 'certfied Honda mechanics' at dealerships do, (anecdotal evidence and not necessarily statistically significant) I question your conclusion that using a Honda shop is a positive thing.
 
I don't know why anyone thinks that a Honda dealer is any better than any other powersports dealer. If anything, I'd bet the the name brand dealers higher less experienced techs to save money.

I only have the dealer mount my tires, I give them the wheels and reinstall myself. There's no way I'd trust any of those guys to do it correctly.
 
increasing said:
I have had very good experience with this particular Honda workshop myself.
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What ? Change the oil? . There are lots of post "took it to honda, drove it home and it's the same problem." If they can't plug a lap top into it the computer won't tell them whats wrong. Just read the recent alternator post.
 
increasing said:
If this is neglected from day one and never lubricated or replaced o-rings how quickly will you discover that something is wrong, thinking in mileage?

The worst cases you will be able to feel it with the bike on the center stand and in 1st gear … thinking moving the wheel back and forth to feel how much slack there is … Or am I thinking wrong here …
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Wrong
 
Al st1100 said:
What ? Change the oil? . There are lots of post "took it to honda, drove it home and it's the same problem." If they can't plug a lap top into it the computer won't tell them whats wrong. Just read the recent alternator post.
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This is not unknown... Being a satisfied customer at a motorcycle repair shop or car repair shop is not many, especially not those with technical insight and knowledge about what needs to be done. But if you have a newer vehicle and want to keep the warranty, there is no way around it.
 
increasing said:
This is not unknown... Being a satisfied customer at a motorcycle repair shop or car repair shop is not many, especially not those with technical insight and knowledge about what needs to be done. But if you have a newer vehicle and want to keep the warranty, there is no way around it.
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When it under warranty they fix it for free, you don't have to have them change you oil just keep receipts , records and do it according to service manual. After that you can do what ever you want.
 
increasing said:
I have had very good experience with this particular Honda workshop myself.
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Excellent. You are one of the lucky ones.

I did not mean to say or imply that ALL Honda dealers are stealers. It is probably more accurate to say that the 90% of lousy Honda dealers are giving the remaining 10% a bad name. :rofl1:
 
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