Lube the splines...

[Journeyman]

Youre rear ends aint goin out because of pasties, you are a hooligan rider

Says the pot to the kettle....

 

[Journeyman]

Just did the clean and lube again today while changing the rear tire. Wondering how many people are bothering to do this? Final drives are expensive....

Lots of dirt in there in the area surrounding the splines that enter through a mystery hole on the bottom of the swing arm. I forgot to do the ear plug idea @stingray suggested on page3 of this post, or I did and it fell out - I forget . Going to this time.

Also, figured out an easy way to get the FD back on without a lot of bad words Build up wood blocks to just barely beneath the drive when removing. When reinstalling you will be already nearly in alignment. Grease on end of spring holds it in drive shaft. Use your left hand to lift and turn the shaft to align it with the final drive while lifting with your right hand the needed extra little bit. Goes right in like prom night...

 

[sunny]

i had really hard time when I did try to lube the splines last year,
the issue i faced was using the nut method remove and re-install the stud, the nut were not up to the quality( tried buying from 3 different sellers) and kept slipping on me and i started having a lot of issues, i kept ordering nuts to match the stud thread size but they didnt, barely few of them matched and i was somehow able to finish it,

unless I find a reputed stud remover and install kit which will fit the thread size on this differential stud I am not touching that.

 

[Einar]

Lots of dirt in there in the area surrounding the splines that enter through a mystery hole on the bottom of the swing arm. I forgot to do the ear plug idea @stingray suggested on page3 of this post, or I did and it fell out - I forget . Going to this time.

Isn't the mystery hole just a drain, so water doesn't fill up the tube portion of the arm, since the front end is partially open and it's angled downward to the rear?

 

[TURBO200R4]

Isn't the mystery hole just a drain, so water doesn't fill up the tube portion of the arm, since the front end is partially open and it's angled downward to the rear?

it would also serve as a way to drain if the yoke seal went bad at the front of the driveshaft.

 

[Journeyman]

You all may be right and perhaps best left open, but as is it introduces a whole he11 of a lot of dirt in there- see early posts.

The Roadster has a hole much further up the arm

 

[AzRocketman]

At a little over 8k miles I thought it time to lube the splines on the 3R. I'm one of the few who went through a final drive and drive shaft on the older models and have tried since then to do this with every rear tire change or, at least, every other, so every 4 -8,000 miles. Although there was a thin coating on the splines, it looked like it was about time to add some moly. I also change the final drive fluid with each tire change- it's cheap and easy.

The process was pretty straightforward- see pages 1256 - 1264 in the manual. Basically, remove the wheel, rear caliper, disconnect the ABS sensor and the wiring for the license plate, and the four nuts to the bevel box- lube and reassemble.

Here's what it looked like.....

Journeyman,
Nice post, it looks like I need to perform this maintenance, I always change the deferential gear oil at every oil change.
I have 8100 miles on my 3R.
Thanks

 

[Koko3052]

You all may be right and perhaps best left open, but as is it introduces a whole he11 of a lot of dirt in there- see early posts.

The Roadster has a hole much further up the arm

Well as I see it, when the hole is farther up the tube, and the diff holds so little oil, all the oil could be in the tube and you seize up the diff anyways. Not a good situation! I would install some sort of course foam, maybe an ear plug to keep the dirt out but allow “a drip or two” as a warning of something amiss!
As for an indicator that the front seal is gone….I can’t see that, as it would eventually fill the tube…..AND LUBE THE SPLINES!
For those that don’t check the engine oil regularly….the oil pressure gauge should take care of that!

 

[Journeyman]

Well as I see it, when the hole is farther up the tube, and the diff holds so little oil, all the oil could be in the tube and you seize up the diff anyways. Not a good situation! I would install some sort of course foam, maybe an ear plug to keep the dirt out but allow “a drip or two” as a warning of something amiss!
As for an indicator that the front seal is gone….I can’t see that, as it would eventually fill the tube…..AND LUBE THE SPLINES!
For those that don’t check the engine oil regularly….the oil pressure gauge should take care of that!

I had two FDs go out in my Roadster (I think I have the record). Both times I didn't know the seal went bad until I went to lube the splines and disconnected the FD.

 

[cootertwo]

While on the subject.... I think I asked a long time ago, but I've been running one of my Roadsters for months, "without" the spring on the end of the driveshaft. Not on purpose, just a long story. Anyhow, I was wanting opinions on the purpose of that spring. I think it's to keep the yoke pushed up all the way on the spline, right? I will put one in on the tire change I need to do. Oh to be young again..........