Rear end oil leak

[n79196]

I just changed tires and found the rear end is leaking while sitting on the side stand. Any ideas?

[R J]

Either more description or pictures to let us understand what you are saying.

Thanks.

[salty1]

What orfice is it coming out of? Give us a little more description of what your seeing. Have you changed the final drive fluid? Maybe it was over filled.

[hubcapsc]

Did you change or check the oil in the final drive?

There's a big lip around where the drain plug is. There's
probably some drips of oil still in there, even if you think you
cleaned it out...

-Mike

[Chrisj CMA]

If its over filled it will be a big mess and coming out the vent on the top.  If you damaged the main oil seal it will be dripping from between the wheel and the pumpkin.  If you left the drain plug loose it will be dripping from the bottom and may be hard to tell its coming from the drain plug

[n79196]

I didn't change the gear oil. It's coming from the bottom of the dust cover. I ordered the 3 0-rings and oil seal. I hope it goes well and stays dry.

[hubcapsc]

I didn't change the gear oil. It's coming from the bottom of the dust cover. I ordered the 3 0-rings and oil seal. I hope it goes well and stays dry.

Well, I hope you didn't mess up the seal Jeff was talking about, though it is not too
hard to replace it.

If you ever held the final drive upside down or crossways or whatever some oil could
be stuck in your dust ring that could show up later as some drips on your floor...

I'm just going down this train of thought because I once had some oil caught in my
drain plug lip that made me think I had a leak, and I also drizzled a bunch of
oil out of a final drive once that I had off the bike by holding it such that
oil could come out of the vent plug...

-Mike

[bentwrench]

I found a drop of oil on the final drive once,but it came out of my progressive shock.Leaked down the  inside of the housing/swingarm and looked just like it was coming from the f.drive.It was right after long trip trip through maine and nova scotia.Those roads were worse than our Pa. minefields.

[Highbinder]

If you put too much grease in the splines, it will melt and may appear to be oil...I've had that happen serveral times, if thats the case just clean the wheel and it will stop shortly...

[Jess from VA]

My experience with leaks of any kind is to first resist the impulse to clean anything up.  You have to play Sherlock Holmes, and you don't clean up the evidence.  Gravity is in play (and so is wind at riding speeds), and the trick is to follow the evidence to it's source.  Sometimes you need to make it leak more to find it.  Good light is helpful, but sometimes using a flashlight at night is more helpful in following greasy, shiny fluid to it's source.

I've had rear shock oil on my final drive, I've had excess lube following tire change all over the place, and I've had fork oil all over my timing cover and pods (and very little on my forks).  I lost over two quarts of trans fluid from my car, but not a single drop on my driveway.  

Some mysteries are more entertaining than others.

[gordonv]

Open up the fill hole and check the oil level.

Too much, and it'll leak out. Not enough, top it up.

Most likely as already said, the grease is leaking oil and it's finding it's way out.

Clean and check again, to try to verify the type, amount, and location of the leak.

[Tfrank59]

I just changed tires and found the rear end is leaking while sitting on the side stand. Any ideas?

Since you just reassembled and it leaks on the side stand, it is probably not just overfilled.  You Might have pushed the oil seal into the pumpkin housing--I know, I did it too – sucks.  There is no shoulder in the housing to stop that seal from being pushed in too far. I guess make sure you got gear oil leaking, not some other lubricant. If it is the large oil seal, it's probably a fair amount of gear oil dripping.  Let us know what you learn – pretty sure you're going to have to disassemble to make sure. Good luck.

[hubcapsc]

When I thought I had a leak, I went right home and took the final drive off.
It was very apparent that the seal was not leaking just by looking at it.

If it is not the seal it is either one of the silly things we've mentioned in this thread,
or a catastrophic failure of the case of some kind...

-Mike

[Valkpilot]

You Might have pushed the oil seal into the pumpkin housing--I know, I did it too – sucks.  There is no shoulder in the housing to stop that seal from being pushed in too far.

This gets my vote too. The main oil seal should be no deeper than flush with the housing, else it will leak.

[n79196]

I think Tom hit the nail on the head. The oil seal was pushed in too far. I had changed all 3 O-rings about 4 yrs ago but I ordered a new seal and the O-rings. As long as it's apart, I might as well change all of them.

Thanx!!!