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I recently purchased a 1980 XS1100G, I am working through the quirks, here is one of them:
The rear tire is hard to spin while the bike is in neutral and on the center stand, a good healthy tug gets 1/2 a revolution of the tire. My buddy has a 1982 XV750 Virago when I spin his tire with the same amount of effort I get two full revolutions.
I took the wheel off and checked the wheel bearings, they spin fine. I tried to turn the final drive and it was very stiff. I removed the final drive (what a boat anchor that is!) and started to play with it. It is harder to turn from the wheel side as opposed to the input side (the side that connects to the drive shaft), but both sides seemed stiff.
I put it all back together and drained the fluid (I previously checked the fluid level and it was fine). The fluid was a dark pinkish brown colour - looked like synthetic, but it had that strong gear oil smell. There was a layer of foam on top of the oil in the drain pan that I assumed would dissipate but it didn't, even after a day the frothy foam was still there. On the magnetic drain plug there was a dark black thick greasy substance. It looked like and had the consistency of shoe polish (the middle drive had the same thing going on).
I filled it up with some 75w90 GL4 synthetic and went for a 120km ride. When I came back, I let the bike cool down for a couple of hours and put it on the center stand to see if the new oil made a difference; it did. I can now spin it a full revolution with the same amount of effort.
Could the old oil be the culprit? Has anybody ever heard of something like this? Should I change the oil again soon? Maybe the ring and pinion is coated with that black gunk? Thanks
The rear tire is hard to spin while the bike is in neutral and on the center stand, a good healthy tug gets 1/2 a revolution of the tire. My buddy has a 1982 XV750 Virago when I spin his tire with the same amount of effort I get two full revolutions.
I took the wheel off and checked the wheel bearings, they spin fine. I tried to turn the final drive and it was very stiff. I removed the final drive (what a boat anchor that is!) and started to play with it. It is harder to turn from the wheel side as opposed to the input side (the side that connects to the drive shaft), but both sides seemed stiff.
I put it all back together and drained the fluid (I previously checked the fluid level and it was fine). The fluid was a dark pinkish brown colour - looked like synthetic, but it had that strong gear oil smell. There was a layer of foam on top of the oil in the drain pan that I assumed would dissipate but it didn't, even after a day the frothy foam was still there. On the magnetic drain plug there was a dark black thick greasy substance. It looked like and had the consistency of shoe polish (the middle drive had the same thing going on).
I filled it up with some 75w90 GL4 synthetic and went for a 120km ride. When I came back, I let the bike cool down for a couple of hours and put it on the center stand to see if the new oil made a difference; it did. I can now spin it a full revolution with the same amount of effort.
Could the old oil be the culprit? Has anybody ever heard of something like this? Should I change the oil again soon? Maybe the ring and pinion is coated with that black gunk? Thanks
........and if you decide to go with synthetic, 75-140w IS what would replace the conv. 75 or 80-90w.
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