Differential went out Tuesday - I/S

[twdurdentwd]

I knew it was because I could hear/feel a clack near the rear end. There seemed to be a sort-of 'skipping' of the shaft over what I imagined was a broken tooth on the shaft either near the u-joint out front or at differential in back...I had a 30 mile trip ahead of me and didn't quite make it all the way home.

After jacking it up, removing the rear wheel, I unbolted the differential from the swingarm and did the same on my "parts" valk which looked brand spankin (brushed nickel/stainless steel color) new compared to the one I pulled out of the I/S which came out with about 30grams of rust/gear tooth powder and the entire assembly looked rusty. I also took this opportunity to switch out the guts out of the wheel from the lower mileage "parts" valk. Entire job took about an hour minus the PITA aspect of lining up the saddle bags with the fender-well holes to drive those bolts through.

[Daniel Meyer]

Shaft/pinion cup? Easily replaceable and not expensive.

[Patrick]

Like Daniel said. Sounds like a simple shaft and cup replacement.

[Dusty]

Make your life easy. Next time you have those fender bolts out grind a taper on the thread end for about a 1/4". The tapered end will now act as a centering tool as you screw the bolts in the pieces of sheet metal and nut all magically line up. Just apply a little in force as you turn the bolt.

Dusty

[John Schmidt]

Another suggestion re. those fender bolts....change them out and make it a "quick drop" setup. Use the search feature for that. If you don't want to take the easy way out, then use Dusty's suggestion on tapering the ends and.....NEVER take all four out at the same time. The front is the worst so only remove one side first, let the bag mount drop and reinsert the bolt. Do the same on the other side, THEN remove the rear bolts. Reverse the procedure to remount the bags, starting at the rear.

[twdurdentwd]

Yeah I pulled the entire differential, pinion cup, shaft assembly from the parts bike and threw it on. All good.

I've been searching quick drop systems and have yet to find the one I'm looking for. I had it on my old valk but never considered purchasing those pins for my I/S.

Can someone post a link for the system they've found/had?

[Gryphon Rider]

all that rusty color you found was in fact "RUST" it was caused by either not greasing the splines at every tire change (a nasty habit some Honda dealers have) or not using moly 60 grease. moly grease sheds water and won't wash out In the rain, and cannot be pounded out by the torque in your engine. you will hear folks here advise you to use every kind of grease under the sun, don't buy into all that hype. Honda makes moly 60 for a reason, because it works.

also, I have at least 2 aquaintances on valks that have torn their rear ends out, both running car tires. I am not trying to get that argument started again, but I would advise extra frequent inspections of rear end gear if you are running tires not developed or approved of for motorcycles.

remember KISS

Moly 60 PASTE on the gearbox to wheel splines; 3% moly GREASE on the drive shaft to pinion cup splines; multipurpose grease on the u-joint to transmission output shaft splines, all per the Honda shop manual.

[Yfx4]

On a CT it is easy to forget to check the rear end lube/check bearings and dust seals/etc since they last so long. Not opening the argument, just one reason why it may have happened.

I tear them apart and check everything at least once a year. It works for my riding and mileage. But then I have 2 bikes so I am never without one to ride.