New guy working on Final drive

[Mval75]

I've had my Valkyrie for about a year now and have put about 6000 miles on her.  I'm getting ready for the second oil change, and I need new tires, So figured this is as good a time as any to do a full maintenance on her. So I have the rear wheel off and was looking at the splines and this is what I have.

I hope this picture works, I can post more if it does. Any help on getting an idea of how much more life I can get would be helpful.

https://instagram.com/p/BAfP2veEabZ/
https://instagram.com/p/BAfRw7YkafP/
https://instagram.com/p/BAfR9JyEafo/
https://instagram.com/p/BAfSMCLEaQP/

[Mval75]

Please let me know if links are working. Thanks

[flash2002]

Not sure of the picture, but the way I see it I would change it, is the differential side worn the same way.  If the diff side is good, it might be smart to change the flange. It's cheaper to change the flange then to repair or change the differential. Just make sure you grease it well and don't forget to grease  the drive shaft splines.

[Gryphon Rider]

I've had my Valkyrie for about a year now and have put about 6000 miles on her.  I'm getting ready for the second oil change, and I need new tires, So figured this is as good a time as any to do a full maintenance on her. So I have the rear wheel off and was looking at the splines and this is what I have.

I hope this picture works, I can post more if it does. Any help on getting an idea of how much more life I can get would be helpful.

https://instagram.com/p/BAfP2veEabZ/

I was able follow the link to the photo.  I don't know if it's possible to imbed an instagram image here.

My splines haven't worn that much yet, so I can't say from experience how much longer you can go with those splines.  If your bike were mine, I would be fine lubing them up and reusing them, but I would take a similar picture again at the next tire change for comparison, then decide whether or not to start sourcing new splines.  Be sure to follow reassembly instructions carefully.  There's an overabundance of advice here to be found via the search function and shop talk articles.

[hubcapsc]

You stuff shows wear, but looks fine to me - if you keep it maintained.

There's a lot of searchable info here on how to do the maintenance.

In my attempts to "follow the manual", I put too little grease in my
pinion cup more than once, and paid for it. Put enough grease.

"Enough" might be "cram it full", I know people who do that and their
parts look good.

I weighed out the amount specified in the manual and got this:



so... all grease doesn't weigh the same, but now I use a volume
of grease at least equal to about four quarters in the pinion cup, things have been
OK so far.

Your pictures only show the drive splines, you'll need to undo the "four nuts"
(you can search for "four nuts") and yank the final drive to see into
the pinion cup... it will leave you sitting on the side of the road just like
the drive splines will if they become dry and worn...



If you loosen the "four nuts", make sure you've read about the procedure/order
for retightening them...

-Mike

[Roadog]

  They look serviceable to me,   as had been stated before,  lube them down properly with moly waterproof grease and instell all new 'O' rings when reassembling .  You should be good to go.

Roadog

[Tfrank59]

I think your drive splines look ok.  Don't know how many miles are on your bike, but probably somebody neglected to grease the rear end at one time or another, or maybe they used the wrong grease (see posts).  I had 28K on my bike when I bought it, and the (male) drive flange splines looked worse than yours, due to PO's (or his mechanic's) neglect.  I had to replace my stuff.  Actually your differential (internal/female) splines look very good--it's the harder of the two parts intended to wear longer, the male spline being a bit softer (and cheaper) is the sacrificial part.

[Mval75]

Here are pictures of the pinion cup and shaft end.
https://instagram.com/p/BAfcNwfEaT_/
https://instagram.com/p/BAfcAP_kaTi/

Tfrank59- it has 69000 and some change. I bought from a dealer in Dallas who had no information on the service of the bike. When I took it off it had grease ( most dirty, gritty and packed in the bottom of the differential side), but looked like it was overdue. I could hardly even see the aluminum under all the old slung off grease.

Hubcapsc- how did you get that picture to show up like that? Here are the links to the parts you referenced, I thought they looked good, I've been wrong before. I've done a lot of reading on the forum, when you talk about the installation procedure, are you referring to the tightening the axle nut first then the 4 nuts. Or is there something else.

[Skinhead]

Your splines look fine.  At 69,000 miles(?) the wear that is present looks normal/acceptable.  Replace the o rings, lube everything up, make sure the pinion cup holes are open,  don't forget the thrust washer, check your dampers and shock bushings and tighten the 4 nuts last, you'll be good.

[hubcapsc]

Hubcapsc- how did you get that picture to show up like that?

I don't know how to share instagram pictures, they might not want to make it easy...

I just mashed printscreen, cropped out everything but your picture and put
it on my web page...

-Mike

[indybobm]

I agree about the splines, they do not look bad at all. One thing I noticed though, it is not necessary to remove the 5 nuts on the drive flange. Make sure that you replace all 3 o-rings and do not forget the thrust washer between the drive flange and the wheel.

[Ken Tarver]

Mval
I'm agreeing with everything said here several times over. I'm not going repeat everything said, but am going to second what Skinhead said about the wheel dampers, very important item to check. If you have any "slop" of the dampers in the wheel pockets then replace them.

Ken

[98valk]

for lubrication, first put a thin coating of copper anti-sieze as mine came from the factory then a moly paste with at least the % Honda requires. I use TS-moly which has the highest % I could find, it will not washout it is used in under sea water applications. I think the guard dog sponsor is from the same company and same product but is labeled for motorcycles.

[Mval75]

Thanks guys for the replies. I have the new o-rings already, my rubber dampers were shot so I ordered the I/S dampers. Waiting on parts to get her back together.

Two more questions
First- I got ahead of myself and did remove the 5 nuts from the driven flange pins. Am I good just to put these back on and tighten it up, or did I really mess up?

Second- on the u joint side of the drive shaft, do I need to replace the circ clip, damper spring, and oil seal every time I remove it?

[hubcapsc]

I've changed the circlip and spring on the occasion of getting
a new drive shaft, but not for any objective reasons.

As for the seal, I don't change it every time, but these pictures go
together...





-Mike