A Funny Sound

[Chrisj CMA]

I heard a not very horrible clicky clanky sound today when I rolled the bike out. All the usual thoughts. Wheel bearing? pinion cup?  So I put her up on the lift and the clanking sound is coming from right where the U-Joint is. Drat. So I'll be replacing the U-Joint for the rest of the day. Good thing I have one!!

It's not quite time for a rear end service but she's getting one anyway.

I'll post my findings when I have it apart.

[Chrisj CMA]

Ok, so far my diagnosis is holding up. All these parts look great and it wasn't a wheel bearing.

[Chrisj CMA]

Confirmed. Early U-Joint failure. It's not ugly but definitely loose and clanky. Clearly the source of my strange sound.



Now it's just clean everything up and put it back together.

[Chrisj CMA]

Taking a break. The hardest part is now done. Re installing the U-Joint Boot!!!!  

[Chrisj CMA]

All done. No more funny sound. Should ride smoother. However, it's pouring so the test ride will have to wait. Took exactly 4 hours to change a U-Joint.

Being a little older means you feel this one. I feel like I was in a fight. But it's a good feeling to have it right again.

[LadyDraco]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

I will say my U-joints  have  a  zerk fitting on them..
Every time  I change the  oil  I grease  my joint  and drain  the  drool. 

[Chrisj CMA]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

Well I don't have any lambs. The rolling like a condom didn't work but getting it started and spinning it on did. Just took a half hour of inventing special words before I thought of it

[LadyDraco]

Glad  ya  got it  done ! 

[Joe333x]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

I will say my U-joints  have  a  zerk fitting on them..
Every time  I change the  oil  I grease  my joint  and drain  the  drool. 

Where do you get a u joint with zerks?

[Jims99]

Must be nice to work on a bike without getting dirty. lol.
I changed the u joint on the interstate in about 20 minutes. Slid the boot off and slid u joint back far enough to get off the front shaft. A little more difficult getting it lined up putting back on.
Anything new done to the Healy?

[LadyDraco]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

I will say my U-joints  have  a  zerk fitting on them..
Every time  I change the  oil  I grease  my joint  and drain  the  drool. 

Where do you get a u joint with zerks?

CSC was smart  and used a different u-joint  then an oem ..

[Chrisj CMA]

I've heard that the smaller Honda Cars use a compatible U-Joint to our Valkyrie

[Chrisj CMA]

Must be nice to work on a bike without getting dirty. lol.
I changed the u joint on the interstate in about 20 minutes. Slid the boot off and slid u joint back far enough to get off the front shaft. A little more difficult getting it lined up putting back on.
Anything new done to the Healy?

Dirt on a Valkyrie?  That would be a crime 

I've heard this before that the UJoint can be removed without removing the drivetrain. I have  pried the ujoint back to add grease before and the amount of force needed to expose half of the output shaft seemed too great to think I could manage getting the room required to R/R the joint. Not saying you didn't do it, I just don't think I could have. Anyway this time I was having a noise so I wanted to look at everything.

To answer the question on the Healey. I installed a couple fuel pressure gauges and adjusted the clutch. Other than that, just driving it mostly to car and coffee gatherings

[turtle254]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

I will say my U-joints  have  a  zerk fitting on them..
Every time  I change the  oil  I grease  my joint  and drain  the  drool. 

Where did you get your u-joint with zerk fitting from and part number?

[LadyDraco]

Don always  had  me  re-place  the  boot , as  I can do it  in 2  shakes  of  a lambs  tail..
I  have  my own trick..

I will say my U-joints  have  a  zerk fitting on them..
Every time  I change the  oil  I grease  my joint  and drain  the  drool. 

Where did you get your u-joint with zerk fitting from and part number?

As  I said  above  CSC= California Side Car
Changed  the  U-Joint . But they also don't use  all of the  OEM shaft as well..
   
I never  understood why Honda  never used  one  that could  be  greased..

[pancho]

What??  someone solved the timeless Valkyrie u joint problem? I'd like to hear the details.... inquiring minds want to know.
Like what u joint was used and what was done to the shaft.    I remember when there were no u joints available and several of us made attempts to rebuild/modify Valkyrie ones with very limited to zero success.

[LadyDraco]

What??  someone solved the timeless Valkyrie u joint problem? I'd like to hear the details.... inquiring minds want to know.

Only on Trikes...

[pancho]

OK,       my my heart started skipping.



Glad your back on the road with no problems with the repair Jeff.

[turtle254]

Ok, so far my diagnosis is holding up. All these parts look great and it wasn't a wheel bearing.

Looks like the corners are worn off at the bearings holders? Hitting the insides of the swing arm housing? That doesn't seem right!

[Chrisj CMA]

Looks like the corners are worn off at the bearings holders? Hitting the insides of the swing arm housing? That doesn't seem right!

I have no idea what you are referring to. Nothing is worn off

[Willow]

It's good to hear you got it back on the road, Jeff.  There's a good feeling that goes along with a job completed well and a ride to follow.

[Chrisj CMA]

It's good to hear you got it back on the road, Jeff.  There's a good feeling that goes along with a job completed well and a ride to follow.

Absolutely, especially if you can even find a reputable mechanic that knows Valkyries it would be a "pretty" price tag to get a u-joint replaced

[Challenger]

Looks like the corners are worn off at the bearings holders? Hitting the insides of the swing arm housing? That doesn't seem right!

I have no idea what you are referring to. Nothing is worn off

I think he is referring to the chamfers on the u-joint yoke by the caps. That is the way they were machined from the factory.  And what exactly were you going to clean up? 

[Chrisj CMA]

Looks like the corners are worn off at the bearings holders? Hitting the insides of the swing arm housing? That doesn't seem right!

I have no idea what you are referring to. Nothing is worn off

I think he is referring to the chamfers on the u-joint yoke by the caps. That is the way they were machined from the factory.  And what exactly were you going to clean up?  

I think you're right. He threw me off by referencing the photo WITHOUT the U-Joint. It's very possible those corners are a tad scuffed hence the "funny" sound due to being loose and floppy but still no serious wear

I had yet to clean all the old grease from the driveline parts.

[Chrisj CMA]

Well, finally!!  Couldn't do the test ride yesterday. Dr appointment in the morning and rain in the afternoon. There's Good news and Good news. First the Medical news. It was my oncologist. She said my blood work was so good I am ready for annual appointments instead of 6 mo. No sign of the CLL by looking at the labs.  That was a great feeling!

The bike. WOW!!  I guess I didn't notice a gradual change. SMOOTH and quiet. Like waterskiing on a glassy lake. Slow speed control is crisp again!  How did I not notice sloppy?  So, a few hrs of pain was worth it.   Ready to ride anywhere again!

[Jims99]

Great news on both. Always good to hear positive medical news. 
Need good news, too much yuck out there recently.

[LadyDraco]

Awesome  news !!!

Yes on the  boiling frog effect on bikes.... 

[Chrisj CMA]

Awesome  news !!!

Yes on the  boiling frog effect on bikes.... 

Great analogy 

[Chrisj CMA]

Can you believe it. After just doing the rear end for a bad u-joint I have to do it again. On today's ride something felt off. Kind of unstable in the curves. Not bad but definitely not my imagination.

Well, I got home safe THANK THE LORD. I rolled the bike in and started thinking. It really felt like a low tire pressure. But I just checked it the other day. So, I check again and HOLY CRAP the rear was at 7or8#.

I thought I'd find a nail, but instead the internal patch/plug I had installed to save this tire is leaking.

I know many of you would never patch a tire. In my 22 years this is the second one. First one held till the tire wore out. Not this time. Probably have 5K of tread left but it's coming off

No wonder It felt squishy

[Jess from VA]

The inside outside patch plug is the best repair.  Not a mushroom plug (I've had them leak too).

But you have to unmount the tire from the bike and from rim to to do it, and then you might as well stick on a new tire.  Now if the one that came off is still good, it can be repaired with the inside outside patch plug and serve as a standby tire. 

[Chrisj CMA]

The inside outside patch plug is the best repair.  Not a mushroom plug (I've had them leak too).

But you have to unmount the tire from the bike and from rim to to do it, and then you might as well stick on a new tire.  Now if the one that came off is still good, it can be repaired with the inside outside patch plug and serve as a standby tire. 

The tire was almost new when I had to patch it. It has a tad over 15K on it now with maybe 5K remaining. It was worth it

[Jess from VA]

The inside outside patch plug is the best repair.  Not a mushroom plug (I've had them leak too).

But you have to unmount the tire from the bike and from rim to to do it, and then you might as well stick on a new tire.  Now if the one that came off is still good, it can be repaired with the inside outside patch plug and serve as a standby tire. 

The tire was almost new when I had to patch it. It has a tad over 15K on it now with maybe 5K remaining. It was worth it

I agree.    

Except for my car tires, I never ever get 15K on a front.  8-9K is it (METZ 880s, then 888s, 40psi)

[rug_burn]

that thing is showroom clean.   How many miles you got on it?    
  It's beautyful...

[Chrisj CMA]

that thing is showroom clean.   How many mile you got on it?    
  It's beautyful...

Coming up on 190,000 miles

[Chrisj CMA]

Ok finally got the new Avon Cobra Chrome mounted on the spare wheel. Definitely putting the Ride-On inside this time. I think I will do the deed after church tomorrow.

[Chrisj CMA]

Finally all finished. New tire in service with Ride-On inside. Nice smooth test ride. All is right again. Thought it was last week surprise surprise

[HayHauler]

I changed the u-joint on my Valk over the weekend.  The dreaded boot wasn't the issue.  No matter how hard I tried to wiggle, jossle, raise, lower and even rotate the shaft when attempting to stab the u-joint with the drive shaft, it would not go.  I tried everything from starting low and wiggling while raising the swing arm up to putting a board under the swing arm to force it to be perfectly level, NO JOY.
After 2 days of fighting it, walking away and going to lunch, coming back and attempting it again... Sunday afternoon I finally decided to pull the u-joint and replace it (the one I was using was new in the package).  I pulled it, replaced it with another new one and even swapped out the drive shaft.
Once I replaced both of them, in 3 minutes it slid right in and then 10 minutes to seat the boot.

The only thing I can think of, is that the u-joint was not heat treated correctly from the manufacturer.  The splines inside the drive shaft end of the joint were rounded off and deformed.  I am sure this is from my jiggling/wilggling/tirning and anything else I could think of to seat that shaft.

One would think that no amount of drive shaft impacts/twisting/wiggling BY HAND, would be enough to deform the splines, IF they were hardened correctly.

I will post a picture of the shaft end of the joint in a while.

So excited that the shaft was seated, I polished the exhaust pipes!!

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Chrisj CMA]

Well, that's extraordinary but glad you got it done