Shaft and Final Drive Hints Tips and Clues

[BossHogg]

Hello Everybody,

My question today is, Im working on the Shaft and Final Drive and Eventually going to change the oil in the middle gear drive(for the First time Ever ) ive got the 4 bolts that hold the shaft to the Middle Drive however i dont know how to disengage the shaft from there , the manuel says you can do it with out removing the swingarm, but how? i can see on the one im replacing it with that theres a groove and some sort of clip however with the dust boot in the way its hard to see anything and my fat hands and fingers dont allow for much mobility. anyway how do i get the shaft to pull back out of the swingarm also once i have that done are there any tips you guys have after that, that deal with the shaft, final and middle drive's

Thanx for the help

[randy]

Brandon,

There are four nuts that hold the final drive to the swingarm. Remove them and pull the final drive to the rear. The shaft will pull out the same direction and the u-joint / dust boot will come out toward you.

As far as tips go, make sure you apply grease to the splines on the shaft where it meets the final drive. There is a grease nipple there, but it is hardly located in the most effective position, so don't depend on that nipple to do the job, do it by hand.

Also grease the splines on the wheel hub where they meet the final drive.

[BossHogg]

Thanx Randy ive got the final drive off im trying to pull the shaft out of the swingarm but its connceted to some sort of bracket under the dust boot and i cant get it to release from that ive got those bolts removed i just cant get the clip loose thanx for the help

[randy]

That 'bracket' is the universal joint. Looking through the U-joint, you can see the end of the drive shaft. get a small hooked pry bar ( or bend yourself one from an old screwdriver ) and use it as a lever against the end of the driveshaft, it should pop out. you'll need a bit of effort because there's a spring clip inside the u-joint so it won't pop out on it's own.

Do you plan do re-grease the U-joint? I recommend it. The joint is N.L.A. and if you want it to last, re-grease it. Unfortunately, Yamaha didn't put a grease fitting on it, so it has to come apart to re-grease it.

[randy]

See 36, 37, 38 below.

[BossHogg]

Thanx Randy, Got it, i thought there was some kind of Clip holding it, It just knocked straight through So now on to Greasing the U-Joint and Packing all the splines and putting it all back together do you guys have any tips on the Swingarm i removed it to get a better understanding of it and the Shaft.

keep the tips coming please and thanx for the help

[jwoell]

I just wanted to resurrect this thread as I am currently going through the final drive cleaning things up and replaceing any seals, etc. that look bad. While I'm cleaning this stuff up is there anything I should look at on the swingarm itself? I wasn't sure if it had a couple bearings in there or anything that I need to inspect or possibly replace.

Thanks for the help.

[mro]

look at on the swingarm itself

To do it "right" need to remove wheel and shocks, then can see if there's any PLAY (should be no noticeable swingarm movement when trying to move it left/right or twist the arms (no movement at the bearings, and as you move the arms up and down, no binding or "bumps", should move freely)

Measure gap both sides between swingarm and frame, should not be more than 1.6 mm difference.
If you need to adjust the gap, loosen the "long" side half a turn, then tighten other side 43 to 52 inch pounds, recheck. If it needs to go further repeat. When done torque lock nuts to 72.3 foot pounds.


mro

[jwoell]

Thanks for the reply mro, that's what I was curious about. Is there any reason to pull the bearings out and clean them/replace them or anything? Any seals I should be looking at? Maybe I'm making this too big of a deal huh?

[mro]

If they don't bind or feel "bumpy" the bearings should be good,
no seals etc...

If you go that far, good time to clean/paint any rust that becomes easy to get to. Sometimes half my time fixing something is spent cleaning


mro

[jwoell]

Cool, thanks for the info mro. I agree, a lot of my time fixing on stuff is just cleaning and painting.