shaft-drive grease

[stal871]

i pumped nearly a full tube of grease in to the zert on my 81SH. where the heck did it all go?? i thought you were supposed to pump your gun until it started to seep around the edges a little, then you know you are full. am i wrong?

thanks

[Ken Talbot]

When you pump gease in here:


it comes out here:


Bascially, it goes into the space around the driveshaft and spline. Pump enough and it will fill up all the way back up the driveshaft tube and come out at the rubber boot at the swingarm pivot point. To properly grease the spline that connects the final drive to the driveshaft, you need to pull this joint apart and pack it by hand.

[stal871]

thanks ken, makes sense. so now my drive shaft tube is full of grease that really doesn't need to be there but it's not hurting anything either. my joint is surely adequately greased, and each season i should still give her 3-4 pumps from the gun as a proper maintenance practice. RIGHT??

[TopCatGr58]

Stal87,

No, that's not right!! There are bearings around the shafts and in that joint area, and the grease isn't getting past there, so it's NOT getting into the FINAL drive splines. You will need to take the final drive somewhat apart to be able to get the grease in there to the splines behind/posterior to the bearing joint.
T.C.

[edgo]

Aren't the final drive splines the issue here with the grease? I took mine apart and packed the splines. There looked to be plenty in the shaft housing. Do I really need to make sure that the shaft housing tube is packed with grease around the shaft? At the midpoint of the shaft it's just hanging there not touching anything. Why would it need a lot of grease?

Thanks,
Ed

[stal871]

i understand the final drive spline thing. i have greased that manually. but like ed said, the drive shaft housing doesn't need to be totally packed full of grease does it?? shouldn't 3-4 pumps from a full sized gun do the trick on a seasonal basis?? like i said, i pumped an entire friggin canister in to mine. that just didn't seem right, so i consulted the good-ol owners association and once again without fail, you guys have helped me understand another component of our beloved machines. THANK YOU!

if i ever need some grease on the road-side, i know where i've got some stored.

chris

[Pat Kelly]

I think the point is that the grease fitting is supposed to drop grease on the driveshaft splines, it dosen't.
When you remove the rear wheel put some grease on the radial splines between the rear drive and the wheel.
While the wheel is off, remove the 4 bolts that hold the driveshaft tube/swingarm from the rear drive. Put some grease on the inner driveshaft splines where they go into the rear drive.
This 10-15 minutes of work ensures that things are 'slicked-up' until next time (1 to 2 years in most cases as the rear tire wears and gets replaced).
Yes, over time the grease could accumulate to the point that the entire driveshaft tube is filled with grease. But that's if you never do the above procedure and wipe-off the old grease. Even at that it would probably take 237 years to fill the tube following the manuals recommended amount of grease and frequency of service.
This would be a good topic for the "XS 1100 Ultimate Fixer DVD/Video"

[stal871]

thanks pat. sounds like you are saying basically, if you do the inner- greasing by hand at regular intervals whenever the wheel is off, you shouldn't ever really need to use your gun on the zert.

[Ken Talbot]

That's about it, stal87. It might give you a warm and fuzzy feeling thinking you're looking after your ride the way Yamaha intended, but it's really not helping. For most people, this is something to look after every time you change the rear tire.