FINGERS CROSSED

[cajundood]

The weather on this mardi gras tuesday was beautiful.75 degrees and sunny, so i went out on a ride. about 30 miles into the ride i noticed a clanking sound when i would turn or take off, which quickly got worse enough that i could feel it in the pegs. I started limping home and realized i had better pull over before i really screwed something up. returned with my trailer and called my mechanic. i told him i thought perhaps it was my clutch coming apart but he seems to think its my universal joint or drive shaft. in any case he doesnt go that far onto the motor and suggested i take it to the stealership.
so now all i can see is $$$ flashing in front of me. so bike is at dealer and tomorrow or next day they will tell me what the damages are. my local mechanic said that if its just the shaft, it can be replaced for a few hundred bucks. but clutch or universal joint require much more work/manhours/money to fix. so fingers are crossed.....

[John U.]

That doesn't sound like the way a clutch acts as it's heading south.
Universal is more likely, feeling vibration in the pegs is typical when they go. Or it could be the drive shaft and pinion cup are dry and ground up. Neither of those possibilties involve the engine. A new universal joint is about 70.00 if you buy it from Honda Directline. From the dealer lots more, plus that very expensive but highly skilled labor. 
If the drive shaft and pinion are shot it will be more in parts and labor but less than a clutch would be.

The worst likely possiblity is the final drive spline gears are ground up due to lack of lube. In that case you might be better off to buy a used final drive from Pinwall. They list parts on Ebay but you can contact them directly.

It's a ggod idea to see the problem parts the dealer is telling you about. You can search for drive splines and pinion cup on this site to find pics of worn out parts so you'll have a better chance of not being BSed.

[John Schmidt]

I'm sure the dealer will want to remove the swingarm to change the u-joint. It's not necessary but they'll argue that point till the Rapture....that and they don't have to pull the exhaust either. The link tells how to pull the u-joint the easy way.

http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/ujoint.html

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

If it the u -joint or the pinion cup and driveshaft your problem is easy to repair and is pretty cheap . Average mechanical ability and help from the board and your in high cotten. Should be plenty of valk riders in southern La. to help you.

[MP]

If it the u -joint or the pinion cup and driveshaft your problem is easy to repair and is pretty cheap . Average mechanical ability and help from the board and your in high cotten. Should be plenty of valk riders in southern La. to help you.

+1

A MC jack and average mechanical skills, and is easy to do yourself, following the link above to Shoptalk.

MP

[cajundood]

any links to a u joint for reasonable price? checked directline, can't seem to find the part.

[Disco]

Your symptoms sound like what happened to me.  You can do this yourself.

From hdlparts.com Swingarm fiche

Part number 1

JOINT, YOKE
Part number: 40200-MZ0-A00
RETAIL: $84.84
YOUR PRICE: $64.39
   

[cajundood]

  excellent
pinwall wanted $60 for one with 70k on it. 

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Check on the La. board you may find someone in your area to give you a hand. I'ld gladly help you but I'm about 135 miles from Lake Charles.

[cajundood]

don't know if its "good news" or "bad news"
my mechanic couldn't find anything wrong.  he put the bike on the stand with rollers and ran it on the stand, then he rode the bike up and down the street......would not make any nooise, ??? now theres one little thing i didnt do when i switched over to the c/t two weeks ago.......loosen the 4 shaft bolts. that could be it.
now i know i ain't hearing things...I'm gonna pick up the bike tomorrow then pull the rear wheel as well as the final drive and look over everything.

[Ricky-D]

Taking loose a few bolts is all that's needed in order to be able to inspect the universal joint.

Take the rear brake foot assembly loose, tie it up and support it well along with the reservoir and

Pull the swing arm boot loose to reveal the universal joint.

With a good and studied look at the universal joint you ought to be able to see something amiss if that indeed was the part making the noise.

This is the same process you'd want to do if you were replacing the universal joint.

***

corrected the context

[cajundood]

I don't know.  ???  Got it bck from my mechanic, took it out and everything seems fine. But yet I am hesitant to go on rides cuz i know what i heard initially. May just have to pull everything and inspect just to ease my mind.