Did I overfill the rear end?

[Fla. Jim]

And if I did, is that why I see fluid leaking onto my rear tire? Or did I not put something together correctly when I changed the fluid and re installed the rear tire?

[Chrisj CMA]

Who knows...........I guess one or the other

[Patrick]

I guess we could use a bit more info.

[Old Geezer Richard]

Hey Jim , did you have your bike straight up level ?? Because if your bike was leaned over on the kick stand , then there is a possibility you Over Filled the Pumpkin and the pressure is pushing out the excess out the breather ..... When you topped off the pumpkin was it straight up level  ?? and did you stop pouring gear oil when the gear oil started to weep out of the filler hole , right ??

[Jess from VA]

Did you measure, or fill to overflow?

If filled to overflow, was bike centered up, or on the kickstand?

If on the kickstand, you overfilled, and it is probably coming out the top vent (a little Sherlock Holmes should tell you if its coming from the vent).

Center the bike up, put down pan/rags, open fill hole (not drain hole), and all that comes out should come out (though it may already have come out).  Replace plug, clean up, done.

Clean any that got on the tire off, that is not good traction mojo.

[gordonv]

Only thing you have done, fill the rear drive?

Like already mentioned from others, where does the oil seem to be coming from?

Did you just re-lube your rear splines, and the oil is coming out of the new grease, so it's leaking from around the dust shield?

[Valkpilot]

Seal #32 will allow oil to leak if it is pushed too far into the housing around the spline cup.  It's counter-intuitive, but that seal should be no deeper than flush and should even be a little raised above the surface of the housing.

[bentwrench]

I thought my drive  was leaking once but it turned out to be the right shock.

[Fla. Jim]

I had the bike on a lift. I replaced the dampers. #20 came out while I was replacing grease on the splines. I pushed it back in. and all seemed well. I drained and refilled using the marks on the oil bottle as a measure. Just reviewed the bottle of rear end oil. Looks like I overfilled by almost 3 oz. As it's a qt. bottle and it's at 24 oz now. Guess I need to revisit wearing glasses when I need to read things! The oil is coming out of the bottom of the pumpkin at the opening. So I guess the question now is will the pumpkin drain excess fluid out the bottom or did I mess up the internal seal somehow? It's leaked about a "visual" oz maybe two and now seems to have quit weeping on the side stand .

[h13man]

I doubt that you hurt anything thats what the vent is for to keep pressure from building up. I done it on my Shadow due to wrong info in a Clymer manual thus I buy nothing but OEM manuals. Just monitor the fluid level to be sure.

[Tfrank59]

You probably didn't merely overfill the rear end, but like Valkpilot says it's possible that you inadvertently pushed the large oil seal (part number 32) into the housing too far and it's now leaking gear oil there.  Unfortunately, there is no shoulder in the housing to stop that seal from being pushed in, and so if it gets pushed in too far it causes a big leak, and you have to disassemble everything to reset it.  Kind of sucks, I know because it happened to me.   And if that's not bad enough, there's really no way to extract the seal intact once it gets pushed too far in, so I had to put wood screws into it and ruin it in order to pull it out to replace it.   Anyways, let us know what you learn, good luck with it.

[gordonv]

I take it the oil is fairly clear, so use your finger and wipe under the vent cap to verify if the oil is coming from there.

If not, then I also would be inclind to think you've moved that oil seal.

I think a seal puller used slowly might pull it out to where it belongs.

[Chrisj CMA]

You probably didn't merely overfill the rear end, but like Valkpilot says it's possible that you inadvertently pushed the large oil seal (part number 32) into the housing too far and it's now leaking gear oil there.  Unfortunately, there is no shoulder in the housing to stop that seal from being pushed in, and so if it gets pushed in too far it causes a big leak, and you have to disassemble everything to reset it.  Kind of sucks, I know because it happened to me.   And if that's not bad enough, there's really no way to extract the seal intact once it gets pushed too far in, so I had to put wood screws into it and ruin it in order to pull it out to replace it.   Anyways, let us know what you learn, good luck with it.

Why in the world would anyone want to try to repostition the old seal and rather than replacing it with a new one once that happens?

[gordonv]

Why Chrisj?

If the seal can be used for years and multiple wheel changes, and if it has only been moved but not damaged, then why not attempt to reposition it and continue using it?

Sure, pull and replace the $20 (?) seal and be done with it.

[Chrisj CMA]

Why Chrisj?

If the seal can be used for years and multiple wheel changes, and if it has only been moved but not damaged, then why not attempt to reposition it and continue using it?

Sure, pull and replace the $20 (?) seal and be done with it.

Just a basic principle, if its only 20 bucks to have a new one, I'd spend it rather than trying to reseal an old one that is now leaking

[Tfrank59]

It's not even 20 bucks for that seal – I think I paid about 12 for it – but it set me back a couple of days to get it.