Final Drive Trouble

[deadwood]

So while enjoying a cool fall riding day in the Greenbay area I started getting an occasional loud bang and jump in the drivetrain. Happened several times either while downshifting, upshifting of just rolling off the throttle. It was not specific to any gear.  Would be fine for a 100 miles then happen again.
Finally got it home and decided to look at the usual suspects: Final drve splines, pinion cup and u-joint.

Drive splines and u-joint are fine, however I can’t get the drive shaft out of the pinion cup. Lots of persuasion with a rubber mallet also did not help. There is also a lot of red “dust” in the back end of the driveshaft housing and pinion cup area.

Per my manual, the driveshaft is supposed to just pull out of the cup.
Am I missing something?
I’m wondering if the driveshaft splines and pinion cup splines striped and somehow welded them selves together.
Anyone ever see a failure here before?

[Valkpilot]

Per my manual, the driveshaft is supposed to just pull out of the cup.

It pulls out, but usually needs a fair amount of persuasion.  It helps to have someone hold the pumpkin while you jerk on the driveshaft.  Or, clamp the pumpkin between your feet and jerk upward on the shaft.  (Looks interesting while you do it -- make sure there are no "friends" with video cameras around.)

[John U.]

They do fail. The lubrication, either grease or gear lube getting in there from the rear end was lacking. There was a long thread on this subject a couple of weeks ago. Use the search button at the top of the page, plenty of opinions, pictures and info related to your problem.
The drive shaft will come out, get some pentrating oil down in there.
Removing the pumkin from the bike might allow you to get some leverage on it. If you see rust, it won't be pretty when you get it apart.
Replacement parts are available, all is not lost.
Good luck

[RP#62]

It will come apart without too much trouble if its wet with lube.  If its dry, its a b!tch to get apart.  Try displacing the oil seal and squirting some oil into the joint.
-RP

[GOOSE]

my 99 had the same trouble 3-weeks ago... i knew the drive shaft was toast, so i put the drive shaft in a vice while still attached to the final drive.  mind you i left the final drive hanging down toward the floor, then with me holding the final drive, a friend took a rubber mallet and tapped lightly on the final drive....it fell right off in my hands.

[deadwood]

Any magic to replacing the pinion cup? Looks like just removing a nut, replacing the cup and torqueing the nut back up?

Please also tell me it wouldn't have made it 1300 miles home so I can justify in my mind the u-haul rental!

[Valker]

Use an impact wrench on the cup and you never know when it will finally let go. It MAY have made it home, but then again, you might have lost it in the middle of nowhere.

[sandy]

With the original symptoms, I'd look at the U joint. Rust in the pinion cup is suspect, but may not be the root cause.

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

I dropped mine on the way to work one morning. It gave no warning and with a quick shift into second and some throttle it was gone. New shaft and cup and about a hundred dollars later up and running again. Bike had about 85k on it at the time.

[Ricky-D]

deadwood,

How about some more information and history about your Valkyrie!  You know, the usual stuff.

***

[deadwood]

2001 Interstate
63,000 miles.
Last 12,000 have been darkside.

[tybme]

I had the exact same problem getting mine apart. It took ALLOT of persuasion before it finally gave in. The splines in the pinion cup and the shaft had eaten away at each other without lube. he red rust was also present. Not a terribly expensive fix.
Good luck

[Jay]

Same red dust here.  Sprayed some Kroil into the pinion cup and the propeller shaft came right out.

[Ricky-D]

Pretty normal for you bike with that kinda miles to still be fine with no problems of the kind you are worrying about.

I think you have a shifting problem and it is having an affect in the transmission.

What you are experiencing is the dogs, that are on a gear, are slipping in and out of the corresponding slots.

Most times this is from a shifting problem such as the lever being out of adjustment or maybe an aftermarket heel/toe shifter that is installed incorrectly.

Other causes can also be found in hesitantly shifting the transmission.

One thing to stop doing is using the downshift and the motor to slow down.
This should cut the problem by half: The Valkyrie brakes are top of the line and you cannot hurt them by using them exclusively to slow down and stop.

There are those that may take exception to the above, but "Old School" is totally unnecessary with the Valkyrie.  That's from the time when there were drum brakes on motorcycles and the bike needed help stopping!

***

[deadwood]

u-joint looks and feels new

With the original symptoms, I'd look at the U joint. Rust in the pinion cup is suspect, but may not be the root cause.

[PapaHotel]

You are lucky the U-joint is OK, They are on a nation-wide backorder. Expected ship date for me is Feb 2011. Mine went out in June, I have a new one in, loaned from a gracious fellow Valk rider.

[Valker]

I have a similar problem, I have already fixed these things:
u-joint thrust washer and o-rings new 7/10 (70K), rear wheel dampers  and new damper plate in clutch (due to rivets) (64k) 8/09, Bike has 72k now.

I can hear and audible clunk sometimes, not when shifting but when letting off the gas and then getting back into it, what really bothers me is when I am trying to maintain a steady speed in high gear, if I let off the gas, I can feel not hear, a clunk or flutter in the drive line. I do rear wheel maintenance every 8-10k and the drive shaft splines looked good when I did the u-joint.

My bike has always had some play in the drive line, I complained to the dealer where I bought it new in 98, twice. Both times they rode it and put it up on the lift and told me there was nothing wrong with it. But this clunk flutter thing started about a year ago. Not sure where to look next.

Have you looked at the 'rubber baby bumper thingies' in the wheel itself? (I have no idea what they're called. Some kind of dampers.)

[SPOFF]

You are lucky the U-joint is OK, They are on a nation-wide backorder. Expected ship date for me is Feb 2011. Mine went out in June, I have a new one in, loaned from a gracious fellow Valk rider.

Maybe I should order one just to put on the shelf in case I need one, say, 10 years from now. I wonder what other parts will disappear, perhaps forever? My new rear drive is in perfect condition at the moment. But to keep it that way, I'm resigned to a complete teardown, inspection, and lube of the entire drive train every 8,000 miles.

It's ironic that this shaft drive needs more frequent attention than the chain drive on my dirt bike. I lube that every 5,000 miles, adjust it at 10,000 miles, and replace it every 5 years for $100.

[Valkpilot]

It's ironic that this shaft drive needs more frequent attention than the chain drive on my dirt bike. I lube that every 5,000 miles, adjust it at 10,000 miles, and replace it every 5 years for $100.

I guess I don't understand the irony.  The service interval for the rear drive line is every 10,000 miles or when you put on a new tire, whichever comes first, with no interim attention.  If done per the maintenance specs, the rear drive will last almost indefinitely. 

Plus we get to generate enough HP and torque to motivate half-a-ton of bike and rider all day long at 85 MPH.

[Ricky-D]

This thread has been completely hijacked from deadwood.

Why not just simply start new a thread with your topic and not be so unfriendly to deadwood.

Right is right.

***

[valkmc]

Sorry Deadwood

[deadwood]

My issue is fixed and I’m ready to go back together.
The drive shaft splines and pinion cup splines were virtually gone. I think rust was the only thing holding them together for the last few hundred miles. The jumps I felt and the clunks I heard were the splines slipping and catching.
I was lucky enough to find a local independent shop who does trike conversions who had a u-joint, drive shaft and pinion cup laying around with only 9000 miles on them (My stuff has 63,000), They even disassembled and reassembled everything for me and installed my new GATT on the rear wheel.
So I am ready to go back together tonight with a good drive train and an extra u-joint. I’ll also be pulling the gearcase off at every tire change from now on and giving it a good look over and servicing.
Thanks to all here for the help.

[Bone]

Great news I'm glad you found the problem and the replacement parts.

This past May I rode to Los Lunas to visit a friend who had to relocate due to her job. Beautiful country there in NM.