Middle drive whine, ideas?

[Bonz]

Hey all, can't find much on this by searching, so thought a new thread might bring out some ideas.

Spent some good time with a fellow XS'er this weekend who lives in my area. Met up yesterday at my place to finish the carb rebuild on my 80 SG, and his issue was a whiny middle drive. Took his 80 Standard for a ride, and sure enough, esp. in 4th and 5th gears, at light throttle cruise, there is a distinctive whine coming from what seems to be the middle drive. Roll on it and it goes away. My 80 SG has nothing like it, so from his and my standpoint, something technically isn't right on his 80 standard.

Anyway, what do you guys say on that issue? From riding it, I say it sure doesn't sound terminal or that it would do any harm long term, but it definitely is a whine that my SG doesn't have. Maybe on his bike it's just the way things fit together in there and his bike has it and mine doesn't.

He says all the fluids in both drives are at the correct level, and as well, he has lubed the splines that the zerk doesn't work for, so he knows his stuff.

What say you guys?

[bikerphil]

I've had a few that whine too, even with new synthetic gear oil. They turn up pretty cheap on eBay or thru Andreas. To me, it isn't worth trying to rebuild them, find another one. BTDT.

[Ken Talbot]

He says all the fluids in both drives are at the correct level

No offence intended, but I would check the levels again, and verify that both drives are filled with the correct fluid.

[Larrym]

Acoustics and Perceptions...

hbonser,

+1 on going through the motions of verifying that the fluids are at the correct level and the right type/viscosity.

After going through those ritual gestures myself, this is what I hear on my 79 special:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzNQLNQmajk

Best example is after 4:30 when the bike is on the flat and in 4'th and 5'th gears.

The "sound" first got my attention when I was in the Tucson desert (hot) and on an extended highway speed run.

Whether or not this is an indication that my drive is DOOMED or not is yet to be seen. May or may not be just a variance in the clearances and gear pre-load that was set at the factory. Bike has less than 17K on it and I'm not overly concerned. The sound hasn't gotten any louder or changed in any way.

Still, went on a ride with 3phase last week and I didn't hear his bike doing the same thing.

My Corrective Action for my situation: Continue to monitor fluid levels and keep listening for any changes.

Does his sound similar? Louder? Raspy/rough???

[Bonz]

Hey LarryM,

His bike wasn't raspy/rough, etc. It was just a gear whine that sounded a lot like the noise my 2004 Honda ST 1300 had. For the ST, it was just the way the bike was, and all of them did it.

CaptonZap doesn't have any debris in his middle fluid, everything about the bike is normal, except that distinctive light throttle gear whine that is audible in 4th and 5th gears especially.

He's like me, and any noise that isn't "normal" bugs him, so he's going to pull his drive to look at it closer and be sure nothing turns into a larger problem.