U-Joint....How much is too much

[Rio Wil]

Just doing a bit of maintenance on the old gal and pulled the ujoint.  It has a pretty fail amount of side wiggle and one bering cap is is loose enough to turn when the joint is flexed.......so this one is toast, 115K miles so not unhappy.
I have another one that has a tiny little clunk (you don't hear it, you feel it in the fingers) as you slowly flex the joint.....

So, question is, is it OK to have a tiny little clunk,.. I can't feel any radial looseness at all...am wondering if a new one with say 5K miles will have a tiny amount of "looseness".  Any opinions welcomed.

[John Schmidt]

I wouldn't. You shouldn't feel any such thing if it's in good shape. I have a slightly used one as a spare, just a few thousand miles and there is absolutely no movement or the feel of anything when flexing it. If there was, I would have tossed it, you don't know how soon it will give up on you. Just my two cents.

[Rio Wil]

AAArrrggg....I just chucked one end up in a vise and grabbed the other side with a pair of channel locks and there is much more movement than I was detecting just by moving it by hand.....so its toast.

Thanks for the inspiration...there goes another $100 bucks....

Actually, I am not complaining, its been a great bike for 115K miles!

[Jay]

My buddy has a 98 Tourer with 83,000 miles.  He has been noticing an intermittent very loud "clunk-clunk..  sound, most times when decelerating.  He said that he hadn't noticed any vibration or anything in the foot pegs.  I suspect the u-joint, so I pulled the boot back to look, and the boot was not secured over the swingarm.  I could see that a little bit of grease had slung out of the joint, but didn't notice much slop when rocking the bike back and forth in gear.  I plan on taking it apart to check the u-joint, and replace.  Does this sound like familiar symptoms of a u-joint going bad?

[Rio Wil]

If there is a clunk noticed when riding, I wouldn't ride this bike another foot without pulling the ujoint for inspection.  Mine was a tiny vibration felt in the feet mostly.  Two of the pressed in bearing cups were loose and rotating in their seats.  If the joint comes apart while riding, it could be nasty. I suspect you will be amazed at how bad the joint is when it is remove.  I am off to buy a new one today..

 

[1FAST6]

The clunking on accel and decel could be from worn dampers in the rear wheel.  That's what mine did.  In either case, you have to pull the rear wheel to check and it's not that much more to pull the u-joint and inspect.  However, if it blows, the u-joint is NOT a roadside fix so I would get it on the jack ASAP.

[Jay]

I have a u-joint ordered from HDL.  His bike is deadlined until repairs are made.
Thanks for replies.  I also searched archives, sounds like others have had similar symptoms.