Shaft drive help..?

[sam6942]

This bike is my first shaft drive.. I printed off CB's dipsticks and filled appropriately, but I found a grease fitting near the joint between the middle shaft housing and the final drive. Not sure what it's for (component wise. It's for grease, duh!), can't find it in the manual and I'm pretty sure I used too light of a grease because my garage floor has a shiny new topcoat!

So. What grease am I supposed to use and how much?

[DAVINCI]

Sam,

That fitting is designed to apply grease to the final drive splines. It was a poor design, don't use it. The best way to re-grease the final drive splines is to remove the final drive unit. I know, sounds nuts, but that's the way it is. Do it each time you change the rear tire

[Axel]

grease fitting

That grease fitting is almost for show only . To properly grease the shaft at the end where it needs it you must remove the whole rear housing (after you remove the rear wheel)at the 4 bolts visible from the outside near the fitting . Moly grease IIRC . Best to do it soon if you never have otherwise I do it at every rear tire change . There are posts with pictures on here somewhere and possibly in the oem repair manual .

The rear drive (pumpkin) hypoid (80w90) oil level on mine is filled up right to the filler plug when full . I use the dipstik I got from Yamaha but when properly measuring quantites of fluid and no leaks I dont have to check between changes ( 6 months or so ) . The middle drive especially picks up moisture quickly and needs regular fluid changes . I have used AMSOIL synth but DINO 80w90 works great too .

[natemoen]

That grease zerk is for the thick bearing type grease that comes in tubes and gets put in a grease gun. BUT that zerk is worthless and does not get the grease to the spines like its supposed to so the only way to lease those splines is to remove the FD.

The dipsticks though are for the middle drive and the final drive, nothing to do with the shaft. The middle drive plug is near the rear of the engine just a bro left of center. FD plug is at the back of the unit in the center. Both have a Allen head plug on them and originally had a plastic cap filling the hole.

[sam6942]

Yup, yup. Got the MD and FD lubed with a bottle of 80W90 I had sitting around. Just the fitting was what I was wondering about. (Zerk?! Never heard that one before. Nipple, maybe. I also know what a Zarf is.) It is also a brand new tire- still has the little thingies sticking off of it and everything. I don't much wanna take it off if I don't really, really need to.

[cywelchjr]

You can pull the FD without removing the tire, just the axle has to come out first. I actually found it easer to remove the tire last time by removing the FD first, but that's just me.

[Iron Duke]

Zerk's,shaft,final drive splines

Used grease gun(w/grease) on the final drive after changing the Zert(k) out and replacing it with one from auto-zone, it took the grease so maybe I solved the problem,know it took 3-4 onces or so(how much lube do thay take?)whats ya all say to that?

[Axel]

You can pump all the grease you want in there but it wont reach the splines where its needed ( and will save your driveshaft) .

[CatatonicBug]

(Zerk?! Never heard that one before. Nipple, maybe. I also know what a Zarf is.)

Courtesy of Wikipedia - "The patent for the Zerk fitting was granted to Oscar Zerk in January 1929."

[cywelchjr]

Yup, what he said. When you pump the grease in through that fitting, it just goes on the outside of the collar instead of the inside of it where it's needed. And putting more in doesn't do any good, it still sits on the outside and gets pushed away from where it's needed as the shaft spins. I know everybody says that the 1100 system for lubing the shaft is better cause you use grease, but at least the 750 and 850 got lube in there under normal operation, you gotta do it manually on these beasts, and you MUST remove the FD to do it.

[DGXSER]

That fitting puts grease around the housing, but outside the sleeve of the FD that slides in there. The driveshaft is inside that sleeve (the coupling really). I recently worked on another members bike where someone had put ALOT of grease in that fitting, probably emptied an entire tube into it. When we pulled the drive shaft out it was covered from one end to the other, except where it goes into the FD.

So, it is about as useless as can be. Pull the FD off, grease the teeth on the inside of the coupling good, and slide it back on.

[sam6942]

Courtesy of Wikipedia - "The patent for the Zerk fitting was granted to Oscar Zerk in January 1929."

Fair enough, I've gained some knowledge.

[James England]

I took a spare final drive off the swinging arm tonight..... loads of grease on the collar but very little on the splines.....

I wonder if there's a modification to put one of those Zerk things in such a way that grease will be deposited nearer the splines??

[rover]

grease

I took a spare final drive off the swinging arm tonight..... loads of grease on the collar but very little on the splines.....

I wonder if there's a modification to put one of those Zerk things in such a way that grease will be deposited nearer the splines??

Really doubt that, or some of our members would have done that and posted a modification on here. Be safe, do it like all the above said.

[DGXSER]

Yeah, the problem is that the internal parts in there all rotate, so you need to keep a good clearance from them. And yet, the slot you need to get the grease into is pretty small. So I do not see how you could do it.