Rear Drive air vent QUESTIONS

[anarchy18]

Went to a party this weekend and after being really far away from home and parking my bike I saw that my rear tire was soaked in Oil!!!! SURPRISED I DIDNT WIPE OUT!!!!!

So I started looking around and looking for causes of the problem and noticed something like a air vent on my rear drive ON THE TOP! How do I know if its plugged up or not? How important is it and what can happen if its stopped up??? Can I pull it off to see what I need to see without removing the whole rear end like I've read before?

Also my drain plug bolt is stripped. Cant get a good seal anymore so it drips so Good 'Ol TopCat off the forum here sent me a replacement plug within a plug (I forget what he said it was called) that I can permanently screw in the old plug hole so I have a new plug hole but its way too big and of course the threads go in the other way. How do I get it in there? YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT?

[James England]

The vent plug is meant to be open, not plugged up. If it's complete, then it won't leak oil at all. Yours is not just a hole in the top of the FD, is it? There should be a cap on top of it.

By the sound of it, the oil on your tyre is what's is dripping from the damaged drain plug. A constant, small drip will be enough to soak your tyre (eg a Scottoiler on a chain driven bike).

Have you topped up the oil again? You don't want to be running that FD without enough oil in it.


You say the drain bolt is stripped. Do you mean the bolt hole threads? Or the actual bolt? If it's the bolt, then buy a new one. If it's the bolt hole threads, then.....

If I were you, I would buy another FD off eBay. They are cheap anyway and I've bought several for under $20 each. The danger of any botched repair on that drain plug is that, if it suddenly breaks, you may lose a lot of oil in one go. Or you may neglect to keep the oil topped up, especially since it's constantly leaking. Your FD then stands every chance of locking up and destroying itself, the bike and possibly you too, depending on how fast you're going and where you are. IMO it's just not worth risking a broken spine or whatever, just to save $20 and a few hours tinkering.

[WMarshy]

Dont attempt to remove the vent on the top of the f/d, they were never made to the come off. If yours does then its broken. Like James said, if its not broken then oil will not come out of it. In all likelihood your probably leaking from the drain bolt. GL

[anarchy18]

Thanks guys. The caps still on it. It looks complete. I just wanted to make sure it wasnt clogged and working right since the PO painted over it but I couldnt seem to pull it off and thats why I asked before i pull too hard!

Im sure my leak is through the drain hole. The threads on my FD are stripped!!! TopCat sent me a type of bolt that you force screw on and then it has a another removable bolt in the middle of that. I just wanted to know how to put it on? $20 for a FD on Ebay your kiddin me where at???? THAT AINT BAD

So it can actually just lock up and make me go flying?

[CatatonicBug]

That vent is a press-fit, but it's pressed in REALLY well. I replaced one with a NOS unit, but I had to destroy the old vent to get it out. The cap was the first part to break off.