Something snapped! A diagnosis.

[skids]

Hey Mes how many bolts are there around the cap of the middle drive? Three or four? I can't tell from the pix. I bought a middle drive off fleabay that was wrong as it only had holes there for three bolts. Same symptoms as what you had and are having. Sometimes it worked and other times it wouldn't "catch".

[BA80]

It most definitely seems as tough the problem somewhere between the final drive and the rear wheel.

If it were me I would pull the rear wheel and inspect the splines and the cushion drive, then pull the final drive and inspect......ect. ect.......until I found what's broken.

[mack]

noise

He says the noise is around the middle drive though. The only things in that area are the U joint itself and the drive shaft spines, the middle drive itself, the middle drive gear assembly and the countershaft drive gear lower down. Hopefully the last two aren't the issue but the countershaft drive gear can be replaced w/o spliting the cases. I'm not aware of anyway to work on the middle drive assy w/o splitting the cases. Hopefully, it's the drive shaft splines so pulling the rear wheel may be inevitable. Should be done anyway to ensure the final drive/drive shaft has been greased. But one thing at a time. Lets find the source first, fix that, then talk him through the required preventive maintenance aspects.

[BA80]

The sound may transfer to the middle drive area from wherever the problem is.

Might be a good idea to see if the u-joint is turning when things are slipping with the wheel on the ground.

That would say for certain if it's before, after, or in the middle drive.

[mack]

Drive train

Ok Mes. Here's what your looking at from end to end. Cuz your new I took the time to video all the components so you understand the complete system. Hopefully this will help you since we can't be there with you to see, hear or feel it.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwMkFsKfWA

[cajun31]

Mack

You are the best. Hands down..... that is what I was trying to accomplish with manual leads etc.... I have always lived by the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words... a video and your explanation ... priceless.

Mes.... there you go .... he made it as easy as he could for you to follow.

Get to wrenching and let us all know what is happening. The suspense is killing us and I am sure you as well.

[BillyRok]

Mack that torn apart motor isn't sitting on the good kitchen towels is it??

[mesmeridicus]

I saw the videos and they give me a different perception than I first had. I thought the drive train would bind up under power. What yours does is totally break loose no resistance. Before you get into the engine can I get you to verify one thing for me. You may have done this but if you have engine off put in high gear key off tilt on stand and see if you can by hand forcefully rotate the rear wheel. The other way would be to take the rubber boot loose to see the U joint and run the bike in gear and see if the U joint is spinning. I may have missed you testing this previous but with the problem getting worse and as little noise as I hear it could be issues with the final drive.

I did something similar several days ago. With the bike in gear (low gear though, I think), I rotated the rear wheel while pulling back the rubber boot and watching the shaft/joint.
While in neutral, the shaft/joint would complete full revolutions. While in gear, however, it would not. I can't remember exactly what was happening but I believe it would rotate about 180* when in gear. I can do this again to be sure and report back.

[mesmeridicus]

Hey Mes how many bolts are there around the cap of the middle drive? Three or four? I can't tell from the pix. I bought a middle drive off fleabay that was wrong as it only had holes there for three bolts. Same symptoms as what you had and are having. Sometimes it worked and other times it wouldn't "catch".

There are four bolts, with one being about 8" long, as described by James England.

[mesmeridicus]

Ok Mes. Here's what your looking at from end to end. Cuz your new I took the time to video all the components so you understand the complete system. Hopefully this will help you since we can't be there with you to see, hear or feel it.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwMkFsKfWA

Wow, thank you. I don't know what to say.

Unfortunately, I'm at work right now and will be until midnight tonight. I'm off tomorrow and will head over to my parent's house to check all these various ideas out on the bike in the morning. I'll report back as soon as I can.

[mesmeridicus]

Well Mes, your getting close to solving this riddle. As suggested, pull back the boot and diconnect the four bolts at the drive shaft connection. Start it up and listen to see if you still have the noise. If not, life is good.Probably the U-joint drive shaft connection. If so then you need to pull the middle drive off. Life can still be good. Start it again and see if you still have the sound. If not then life is good still. A middle drive swap is all thats needed. If you still have the sound while running in gear then life just took a down turn. It's most likely the middle drive gear and not the drive itself. This would not be good.

I laughed at "life just took a down turn."

I'll follow this process tomorrow.

[WMarshy]

The sound may transfer to the middle drive area from wherever the problem is.

Might be a good idea to see if the u-joint is turning when things are slipping with the wheel on the ground.

That would say for certain if it's before, after, or in the middle drive.

Exactly what I'm trying to say.

[vedgar]

get on with it !

These guys are here to help, open er up and find the problem.

[mesmeridicus]

These guys are here to help, open er up and find the problem.

I assure you, as interested as you are in discovering the problem, I am ten times as interested. I'll be getting to it tomorrow, at work now.

[ViperRon]

That rear wheel should not rotate as far as you were saying 180. At most maybe 5 or six inches with extreme wear in the drive chain. My thought is either a spline connection or the gear going into the final drive because these are common failure points. The only good way to lubricate them is by taking apart and hand packing. Many believe grease going into the zirk fitting lubes it but it will not. As mentioned download the manual from the web site on the final drive it will help you identify exactly what the problem is. If you find the gear or spline failed you really need to clean all of the assembly out. I have found the high pressure car wash sprayers work well and dry it with hair dryer. If you identify the actual final drive just get one off Ebay.