My latest dilema!!

[dspshemp]

So, now that my engine is top notch, head rebuilt, running on all cylinders, my brakes are rebuilt and functional, rear tire replaced, carbs rebuilt and 10X cleaned, I have a new problem. I hope someone can shed some light on this for me, as I have not had a chance to check it out. (By the way, I hope noone can tell me this from experience!) I was driving down the highway today on my way to work, doing about 50-55 MPH, and without warning, my rear tire locked. I skidded about 100 feet until it finally stopped, and somehow managed to keep it upright. After I checked my shorts (pucker factor of about 9), I tried to move out of the busiest intersection on Route 1 in my town. The bike would not move. It will start, however it will not properly shift into a gear. It will not move even with the clutch depressed. I horsed the bike out of the way of traffic by myself, picking up the back wheel, then the front, etc. Thank goodness for friends with trailers, as 4 of them were there within 15 minutes to help me out!! What I think is it has more to do with the driveshaft than the transmission, but hopefully someone has some info on this. At this point, I might cut my losses, and make it one less XS11 on the road. It kills me to say that after all the work I put into it. Please help me!! Thanks. RB

[TopCatGr58]

Frozen Rear Wheel

Hey there Dave(isn't it?),

Well, it could be the middle gear section, and it could be the tranny, and could be the rear wheel final gear. The clutch just separates the Crank from the Tranny and the rest of the drivetrain, so just because it won't roll with the clutch pulled in doesn't help in the "Rule out" dept.! You can start by draining the oil from the Middle gear and look for metal shavings. Hopefully you knew about the separate middle gear section from the Engine/Tranny section and the different oil requirements. The middle and final gears take 80-90wt hypoid oil.

It's going to be a little tough to separate the Drive shaft from the middle section since being able to turn the back wheel to rotate the shaft connection around to gain access to the 4 bolts holding the shaft to the U-joint flange of the middle gear has very little working space!! But if you can separate the drive shaft from the Middle gear, then you can see if the rear wheel will turn, if it does turn easily, then you've eliminated the Rear diff as a problem. Next, you can then pull the middle gear section off, and then you can try to shift with the ENGINE OFF, into gear and see if you can turn the engine crankshaft by hand/wrench via the left timing cover shaft(pull the plugs for easier turning), and observe the output shaft that connects to the middle gear, if it turns easily, then you've probably eliminated the Tranny, and the middle gear is probably your culprit. Several folks on the list will have spare middle gears they can sell/send to you. I've got one I got from Brian Shepley, thought I was going to need it for an XJ I was working on, but didn't, so it's a SPARE available!!

Good luck, and keep us posted. My bet is on the middle gear, a relatively easy fix and not very expensive, so you can still keep your XS on the road!!!

[dspshemp]

Thanks for the info!! I will try all of that on Monday, as it is my day off next week. It isn't Dave though, it's Randall. Thanks again. Nice to 'meet' you!! RB

[strom]

Middle drive bearings if you ask me...

Same thing happened to the prev. owner of my bike... thaught the engine seized, pulled the engine, but the engine was fine.
The oil seal in the rear middle drive was leaking oil, and middle drive dried out.


BTW: Got me new handlebars today (LSL Z900).... and grips and front brake lever and fork oil seals and fork oil seal protectors and... Just need that middle drive and left crank oil seals...

LP

[skids]

It isn't a locked-up rear brake, is it?

[Bill]

Re: My latest dilema!!

dspshemp wrote:

I was driving down the highway today on my way to work, doing about 50-55 MPH, and without warning, my rear tire locked. I skidded about 100 feet until it finally stopped, and somehow managed to keep it upright.

It sounds like TC is on the right track. OTOH... I had a very similar problem caused by the rear brake freezing up.

The easiest check is to crack open the bleeder screw and let out a little fluid. If that permits your rear wheel to turn, then the fluid return "spooge" hole in the master cylinder may be blocked. See Brakes Not Releasing?.

Keep us posted on your progress!

[dspshemp]

Thank you all!! I will keep you all updated!! RB