91,000 miles on these splines

[solo1]

Regular good maintenance on Doug's (Six2Go) Valkyrie by a great Honda dealer and also by Mark (Mad6Gun) kept these splines looking like new.  

Doug sometimes went 20,000 miles between spline cleaning and relubing.

[doubletee]

They look like new!   
Which dealer?

[fudgie]

They look like new!   
Which dealer?

My guess is Hayden Honda.

I didn't think he had that many miles on that thing. Looks good as day 1.

[bigvalkriefan]

Wow, are they using Honda moly paste?

[fuzzy2bucks]

That's utterly amazing.  Look like brand new splines.  Must of been Honda moly since it was probably a Honda dealer?   

[solo1]

Fudgie, it WAS Hayden Honda in Kendallville Indiana (plug) and yes, it was Honda's moly lube all the way.

I'm always amazed as to see some of these pics of worn out splines showing a red rusted mess.
Doug and I were talking about that.  I wonder if some rear ends were washed with high pressure car wash hoses. I would think that hot high pressure soapy water could just blow the grease out and start the rust process.

[fudgie]

Does he ride in the rain alot? I do about a dozen times a year. I use the standard gargen hose noozle. Once a year I use a pressure washer only cause thats all that is availible. Mine look good after 58k, as of today. Not sure if a pressure washer could get in there to wash out all the grease, but I have bags on and make it hard to reach.

[solo1]

If you look closely you can see some burnishing at the bottom of the splines, no big deal.

Today, I watched while Mark pulled and cleaned the rear end.  I couldn't believe it either!

Doug does ride in the rain quite a bit and he never has washed the Valk with the Hp Car wash hoses.

[Tundra]

That's really good to see I only see the ugly one's. Boy that makes me feel like I've been abusing mine, when I look at them in comparison. Maybe mine were made on a Friday?
  Seriously, that's good to see someone with that kind of milage with splines looking that good.

[Daniel Meyer]

It's assembly order, not the particular grease. Hayden Honda must know what they are doing. Very refreshing.

With proper assembly they should look like that in another 100,000 miles.

We're doing this at the Saturday tech session at Inzane for anybody that want's the "secret".

[¿spoom]

It's assembly order, not the particular grease. Hayden Honda must know what they are doing. Very refreshing.

With proper assembly they should look like that in another 100,000 miles.

We're doing this at the Saturday tech session at Inzane for anybody that want's the "secret".

How is whatever the other dealers doing letting everything rust up? Just curious.
I use the FelPro C5A colloidal copper anti-seize in VERY generous amounts on mine every tire change.

[six2go #152]

A couple of answers. First, I'd like to thank my Buddy Solo1 for posting the pics of my splines(I still haven't gone digital). For the 1st 80,000 miles the only person(s) to R & R my rear wheel was Hayden Honda. I asked one time and they told me they do use the Honda Moly Paste. About 10,000 miles ago I got concerned about the splines because so many were having the dry & rust problem. So Mad6Gun tore down the rear end & we found the splines to be in very good condition(almost like new). I had ordered some Guard Dog Moly Paste & some of their Moly Grease. When we put it back together we used the paste on the wheel splines & the grease on the driveshaft. I had decided to keep the Valk so I decided to "freshen" things up a bit. Today, Mark replaced my u joint,drive shaft,pinion cup,rubber dampeners & metal inserts as well as cleaning the splines & replacing all 3 O rings. On reassembly we used the Guard Dog lubes again since everything had shown virtually no wear in the last 10K. I do get caught in the rain for a day about every time I go to the Smoky Mts. but I don't ride in the rain on purpose. I had a new clutch installed last year, so now I have a practically new drive train with some very serviceable parts for spares. I can understand people who ride harder than I do having more wear on the splines, but I don't understand the "dry & rusty" problem. I have had 3 sets of tires go 20,000 miles and I never opened up the rear end between tire changes. Guess I'll just keep on doin' what I have been for the 1st 13 yrs.

[Daniel Meyer]

It's assembly order, not the particular grease. Hayden Honda must know what they are doing. Very refreshing.

With proper assembly they should look like that in another 100,000 miles.

We're doing this at the Saturday tech session at Inzane for anybody that want's the "secret".

How is whatever the other dealers doing letting everything rust up? Just curious.
I use the FelPro C5A colloidal copper anti-seize in VERY generous amounts on mine every tire change.

If you don't torque the axle before tightening the 4 nuts that hold the pumpkin to the swing-arm you stand a good chance of misaligning the splines. That introduces side to side wear instead of just lash. With lash, they will last forever. Side to side wear will tear the o-rings out in a matter of miles and throw some of your lube out and let dust/grime/sand in for good measure. Misalignement of these things can destroy them inside 5000 miles.

It is the misalignment, not the choice of lube, that determines whether these things last. We learned this way back in the 80's on the early gold-wings. The reason it's an issue on the Valks is they didn't properly highlight this procedure (or WHY you do it) in the manual. Even many dealers don't do it right. You'll find the ones that do were also very good on the old 'wings (pre 1800).

The VTX has the same issue...if you put enough miles on it.

Come Saturday, and I'll show you why.

[Valkpilot]

I just posted similar pictures, but only 58k miles.  Also a '98. Also nothing but Honda Moly Paste.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,18257.0.html

Also, like you, I found that getting one point started on the rear of the boot and then working your fingers around and kind of screwing the boot on is much easier than trying to pull it on using the tabs. I used silcone spray to lube it up first and it almost pops itself on using this technique.

But, what's most coincidental is that I bought the bike from Hayden Honda in June 2003.  They had sold it new and then took it back with just under 5000 miles after the previous owner had had it for amost 5 years.

[Daniel Meyer]

Oh, and hey, a clarification...I'm not dissin' anybody's lube...good lube is never a bad thing...or so I hear... 

But, as in all things, technique is at least as important. 

[F6Dave]

Daniel is absolutely right.  The drive splines wear out because the final drive and axle are torqued in the incorrect sequence.  The lube has very little to do with it.  The pic here is of the splines on my '98 Tourer taken at nearly 100K miles.  The O-ring is the original, and the only lube I ever used was some Valvoline multi-purpose grease from a metal can I bought back in the early 1970s.  The bike now has over 146K miles on it and the splines looked the same at the last tire change.

If you torque the axle first, the wheel and final drive mate squarely and there is virtually no movement between the drive and wheel splines, kind of like the way lug nuts attach the wheels on your car or truck.  You could probably use WD-40 as the lube and they'd still last forever.

On the other hand, if you tighten the 4 nuts on the driveshaft tube first, there's enought slop in the holes the studs go through that there's a chance the final drive face won't be perpendicular to the axle.  Then the splines are forced to function like a U-joint, grinding away at each other with every rotation of the wheel, and they'll wear themselves down to dust in no time at all.  Even the best lube will only delay the destruction for a few miles.

[fast black]

Yep, ditto F6 Dave and Daniel Meyer.  My splines look as new with 83,000 miles and I use moly grease. 
fast black

[¿spoom]

Thanks, hadn't thought of the 0-ring connection. Haven't had any probs in 150k+ miles doing it like you mention