U-Joint

[Dag]

A buddy called me yesterday evening and told me his transmission was ruined.
He was very depressed and thought the whole season was ruined.
He explained the sympthoms and I told him to get his bike on the lifting table and remove the rear tire and I would be there within two hours with spare parts.
The symptoms he explained to me was simular to what Dave in Frisco experianced at GOTF.
I have never changed the U-Joint before, so I called Dave in Frisco and asked how it was possible to get the new one in without loosen the swingarm. (I tried for 1/2 hour to get it in from below)  
5 hours after my buddy called me the bike was on the road again.

I dont think I will get more comments from my buddy regarding all the spareparts I have.
"Why did you buy this, -- you will never need that, -- waste of money etc... "  

[Joe Hummer]

DAMN...that one is TOAST!!!

I had to change my U-Joint out in Colorado at InZane 9.  It is amazing what you can do with a car jack and some jack stands.   

Joe

[Disco]

And it was on a Bumblebee!      What's up with that?   ???

Great job, Dag.  I think your 5 hours beats my repair time.  Of course, I had the wonderful distraction of HG BBQ!   

[Larry]

Changed mine out a couple years ago to tighten up my drive line and it took two or three hours, 30 minutes to remove and 30 minutes to put in the u-joint and two hours to get the boot back on! 

[Dag]

The 5 hours was from he called me until the bike was ready.
When I arrived he had already removed the rear wheel.
Three hours work to get the new one installed and ready to ride. I spent half an hour trying to get it in from below.
I must have been lucky with the boot, because that was the easyest part. Right on, no issues.

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

two tricks for the boot 1 get swingarm level and 2, get bike off jack and back on side stand to give you more room to work the bottom of the boot. with bike on ground swingarm is in normal position. bent needlenose pliers also help

[lee]

Can't really tell from the photo,  But did a bearing fail or did the housing break?

[Wildman]

The right yoke in the picture looks distorted. Don't know if you can tell what strated it when it's totally apart.
Mine failed by letting a bearing go. It never separated like the one in the photo.
Mine was a sudden unexpected failure from good to thumping, with no recent abuse to cause the failure.
When I replaced it I noticed that the boot wasn't seated well all the way around.

maybe water helped it along. There was no rust evidence for this, but something had to bother the bearings enough for them to find a way out.

[Dag]

Can't really tell from the photo,  But did a bearing fail or did the housing break?

Two bearings. It has been very warm, they were dark blue.

[MP]

typical bearing failure in a u joint.  If not caught early enough, that pic is exactly what happens.  As the bearing comes apart, it allows the yoke halves to separate.

MP

[Sodbuster]

Out of curiosity how many miles were on that u-joint ??  How many miles can a person expect to get out of one ??

[houstone]

When this happens, is it a "graceful" failure?  Are there any controllability issues if it lets go at highway speeds, or do you just coast to a stop?
Thanks,
Jeff

[Dag]

Out of curiosity how many miles were on that u-joint ??  How many miles can a person expect to get out of one ??

This one had only 30K

[stude31]

Rubbing alcohol is your friend... works great... and roll the boot back onto itself and then butt it up against the shaft and "flip" it back on.  Works like a charm... My .02.

[NiteRiderF6]

I struggled with the boot on mine for about 10 minutes, then put a heat gun on it to heat it up a bit sprayed a little silicone on the mount and slid it back on easily. Eureka moment!