greasing shaft

[SiP]

No not a porn reference
I see the grease nipple on the shaft (still no porn honest) and was wondering:
1. How often should it be greased'
2. What grease to use.
3. Should anything be cleaned up/out first.

Thanks

[psycoreefer]

I put some in mine, then I read around and it seems that the fitting is poorly placed and really doesn't get grease to the intended area, which is the splines between the drive shaft and final drive input. Most recommend taking the final drive off and greasing it manually.

[DiverRay]

Si,
As psycoreefer stated, the grease fitting does NOT work. I've found that pulling the four bolts that hold the final drive and greasing the splines every tire change works well. I've put over 60K miles on daily ride in the past four plus years, and am still running the same drive shaft. I DID replace the final drive last year with a 750 unit, so it has started from there.

[XSPastor]

Don't forget to grease both ends of the drive shaft while you have that final drive off... Honda makes a really good grease for that called Moly 60 paste. 60% Moly!! It's about 10 bucks for 3 ounces.

Tim

[XSPastor]

Just saw your other questions. Most guys agree that greasing the drive shaft at every tire change is a reasonable service interval. Always clean up all the existing grease before re-greasing. Give the shaft a good eyeball to when you get it cleaned up to make sure the gear teeth and splines look good. Also check the splines in the final drive - especially of you have excessive wear on the shaft teeth. You can still get drive shafts on ebay for around 20 bucks. I have a spare just in case.

Tim