U-Joint Experts? Suspected U-Joint Failing@152K

Quote by tdeboeser
The special tool is a large locknut wrench. A UK ebay guy has them for about $50 shipped. Not bad really, but I think I might try cutting/grinding a big socket.
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That's what I thought, and what I did. Dremeled the socket into submission, loosened the swingarm pivot, then had to grind the hole open so a 17 mm allen could be used to set the preload. Then I had to tighten the whole deal with a strap wrench, but nothing has fallen off in better than 10,000mi.

I've had two 4x4 Ford PU's that went through u joints with stunning regularity. Abuse, in that case:)
 
tdeboeser said:
:confused:

Others? Is this a problem for the ST? Something Beemer riders can point to, like we point to their FD? :D

Seriously, should this turn into a poll? Is this something all ST owners need to be concerned about?

Tom
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After 150,000 pretty hard miles are you serious about asking if this is a concern? I'm counting my lucky stars that it's the only thing that's broken on the ST in all those miles besides the rear shock. Things are going to fail eventually. There's no getting around that. I probably have a different perspective on this than others but to me I'm perfectly happy with the performance of the bike. Chances are I'm not going to need another one for the rest of the life of the bike. 300,000 would be great to see but I'm not sure I'll get there on this bike.

Curt
 
crazykz said:
After 150,000 pretty hard miles are you serious about asking if this is a concern?
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Well, I ask only because I'm not sure 66k is a lot of miles for a u-joint failure. 66k surely isn't alot for a ST. Yeah I ride hard, but not wheelie hard :D.

crazykz said:
Things are going to fail eventually.
Curt
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I agree, this is way of life of moving parts. But you mentioned others who've had the same problem. Do they have the miles you have ( High mileage ), or were they at random mileages?

Just wondering, the u-joint thing is new to me.

Thanks,

Tom de
 
tdeboeser said:
I agree, this is way of life of moving parts. But you mentioned others who've had the same problem. Do they have the miles you have ( High mileage ), or were they at random mileages?

Just wondering, the u-joint thing is new to me.

Thanks,

Tom de
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The others I have talked to have wings and they were failing at the same mileage. So it's something to keep an eye on but 66K I think you're pretty safe for quite a while. If you start to feel a vibration in the pegs at high speeds that's most likely an indication of it starting to fail. It's not a buzzing type vibration. It will be more pronounced than that. The vibration comes from the fact that the driveshaft is slipping off center so you'll feel it more at higher speeds.

Curt
 
crazykz said:
The others I have talked to have wings and they were failing at the same mileage. So it's something to keep an eye on but 66K I think you're pretty safe for quite a while. If you start to feel a vibration in the pegs at high speeds that's most likely an indication of it starting to fail. It's not a buzzing type vibration. It will be more pronounced than that. The vibration comes from the fact that the driveshaft is slipping off center so you'll feel it more at higher speeds.

Curt
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Your description is exactly what I'm experiencing.

Thanks for your insight Curt,

Tom de
 
I'll chime in here, Tom.

I've got 118K on the clock and have not seen or felt anything close to what Curt is describing. Granted, I'm not quite as heavy on the wrist as Curt is, but I get down the road at a pretty good pace.

Hard acel/decel is probably as much a factor as anything else.

My $0.02
 
A U-joint assembly is about $115 at a dealer. Goldwing part comes with the driveshaft for about $215. My buddy's Vulcan driveshaft was going to cost him nearly $500!!
 
This should be easy to diagnose. Put the bike on the centre stand, place it in first gear and rotate the rear wheel back and forth. You should only have about 3/8"-5/8" travel and a light tapping sound should come from the final drive unit. If you have more travel than that and a much more solid clunk coming from further forward, you'll have a faulty universal joint.
 
DeSTy said:
This should be easy to diagnose. Put the bike on the centre stand, place it in first gear and rotate the rear wheel back and forth. You should only have about 3/8"-5/8" travel and a light tapping sound should come from the final drive unit. If you have more travel than that and a much more solid clunk coming from further forward, you'll have a faulty universal joint.
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I'll have to check mine now but when we did that test before I took it in the wheel would move at least 1/4 to a 1/3 of the way around. We both looked at each other and said "That's not good" in unison. :)

Curt
 
crazykz said:
I'll have to check mine now but when we did that test before I took it in the wheel would move at least 1/4 to a 1/3 of the way around. We both looked at each other and said "That's not good" in unison. :)

Curt
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Maybe not good, but quite amazing you were able to limp along like that!
 
I just did the check that DeSTy mentioned on my '04 ST1300, with 16k easy miles. The total travel of the rear tire is 2". Although I've not measured it in the past, I did notice when it was new that it has a lot more play than my '98 ST1100 did.

Anyone else check theirs yet?

-John
 
jbaker940 said:
I just did the check that DeSTy mentioned on my '04 ST1300, with 16k easy miles. The total travel of the rear tire is 2". Although I've not measured it in the past, I did notice when it was new that it has a lot more play than my '98 ST1100 did.

Anyone else check theirs yet?

-John
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My '08 w/around 12k miles has almost exactly 2" as well.
 
I'm beginning to think that the rubber bushings in the hub are going to contribute to the slop as they wear out. Someone can tell me I'm full of it though if they want.

Curt
 
Curt showed me a pic of his worn out U-Joint on Saturday. Amazing that he made it to the shop with that _very_ broken piece. A testament to Honda's over engineering?

Then again, it prolly shouldn't have failed in the first place.
 
I don't think 150kmi is premature failure. Of course, my ex wives all considered me premature, and I didn't agree with that, either.

I think the cush drive could contribute to failure. Next time I have the swing arm apart, I'm going to see how much turn there is in the u joint.

I hope I never have the swingarm apart again, but you never can tell. I might help somebody else change their alternator and I could check on theirs:)
 
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Curt does a not of LD riding so lots and lots of hours on the drive train. Given that, I still think it's a premature failure however, the good news is for the rest of us I can see 250k miles before seeing this kind of issue given typical average riding..
 
Guys...I have Steve from Wisconsin at my house (he came down for the GP) and was hearing/feeling a vibration in his bike friday on the way down. Saturday when we went to the track it got worse so we took it to the dealer to have them take a look. He just called me and said the dealer called and his U-joint is toast. They ordered a new one and should have it tomorrow and get him back on the road. He plans on going to Maine and Nova Scotia before returning home.

By the way, he has 48,000 miles on his 06 ST1300.
 
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