Help! Bike won't move! Shaft? U-joint? Splines? Solved!

[desertrefugee]

Great to hear you're back in business.  Just read through the entire thread.  Makes me want to go out to the garage and pull my wheel and check the splines ... (and I greased them myself during the last tire change).

One of the easiest - and most neglected critical maintenance items.  I wonder if those guys jacked up the dampers or if they just gave up after 70k miles...?

[Hooter]

Savage, gotta hand it to you, you win the prize for having the absolutely worst splines I have ever seen come out of a Valkyrie.

I would guess the shop quoted you around $2500 to fix it. 

Get that bike home and fix it yourself for $500 or so.

If the drive shaft is good at both ends, all you need is a new drive with its flange $500-$600 used

Hey,  those were greased when it was new!   

[gordonv]

Thanks for the follow up, nice to come to a conclusion.

[Alberta Patriot]

Dear Friends

I was returning from Sequoia National Park through the CA-190 from Springville heading to Porterville when at an intersection I reduced the speed and when I changed the gear I heard a horrible metal grinding noise and even though the engine was on and I had the bike on gear, there was no power being sent to the rear wheel.

I managed to glide the bike to the roadside and called a tow truck to bring the bike to Porterville. After calling all the local shops to no avail, I decided to rent a uhaul truck + trailer and drove the 250 miles back to the SF Bay Area.

I guess this was in a way a blessing in disguise, as I was heading to Lone Pine (CA) and next would cross the Death Valley (and boy, the forecast was for 120F today). Being stuck at the side road is bad, but that would be death (no pun intended) if that happened in the Death Valley National Park.

Getting back to the bike: it is an I/S 99, has 78K miles (I put the last 14K) and never had any major problems until now. Maybe noteworthy to mention that I brought the bike to a local shop to have the tires changed before the trip (and rode something around 300 miles after the tire change until the bike crap out).

I recall some time ago someone posted a link to a video with a bike with the same symptoms: wouldn't move when in gear and a horrible grinding noise coming from the shaft area. But I was unable to find the post.

An important question: could a botched rear tire change (thus wheel removal) cause this kind of damage? I'm asking because took 3 guys in the shop working from 2PM to past 7PM to do the job (as the main mechanic wasn't around town that day).

Best regards


Savago

Your experience has me wondering what kind of shape my dampers are in.
I recently put a new tire on and cleaned and re-lubed the splines but I didn't pull things apart to examine the dampers very close.
I have a mild vibration back there that can be felt at different speeds...kinda comes and goes.
I am going to go through the whole final drive this winter just to make sure my upcoming riding years are trouble free.
My last bike was a belt drive so I didn't have all this to think about.

[Beardo]

Dear Friends

I was returning from Sequoia National Park through the CA-190 from Springville heading to Porterville when at an intersection I reduced the speed and when I changed the gear I heard a horrible metal grinding noise and even though the engine was on and I had the bike on gear, there was no power being sent to the rear wheel.

I managed to glide the bike to the roadside and called a tow truck to bring the bike to Porterville. After calling all the local shops to no avail, I decided to rent a uhaul truck + trailer and drove the 250 miles back to the SF Bay Area.

I guess this was in a way a blessing in disguise, as I was heading to Lone Pine (CA) and next would cross the Death Valley (and boy, the forecast was for 120F today). Being stuck at the side road is bad, but that would be death (no pun intended) if that happened in the Death Valley National Park.

Getting back to the bike: it is an I/S 99, has 78K miles (I put the last 14K) and never had any major problems until now. Maybe noteworthy to mention that I brought the bike to a local shop to have the tires changed before the trip (and rode something around 300 miles after the tire change until the bike crap out).

I recall some time ago someone posted a link to a video with a bike with the same symptoms: wouldn't move when in gear and a horrible grinding noise coming from the shaft area. But I was unable to find the post.

An important question: could a botched rear tire change (thus wheel removal) cause this kind of damage? I'm asking because took 3 guys in the shop working from 2PM to past 7PM to do the job (as the main mechanic wasn't around town that day).

Best regards


Savago

Your experience has me wondering what kind of shape my dampers are in.
I recently put a new tire on and cleaned and re-lubed the splines but I didn't pull things apart to examine the dampers very close.
I have a mild vibration back there that can be felt at different speeds...kinda comes and goes.
I am going to go through the whole final drive this winter just to make sure my upcoming riding years are trouble free.
My last bike was a belt drive so I didn't have all this to think about.

Yeah, 7th_Son, this is my first shaft drive bike too. I read all the time in bike reviews that a bike has an awesome "low maintenance shaft drive".  I've done more maintenance on this shaft drive in 1 year than my last 5 chain/belt drive bikes combined. 

[indybobm]

Sounds good Savago. If you bought the final drive and drive flange that I pointed you to I hope everything works for you. The pictures looked real good and the final drive and drive flange came off of the same bike so the wear pattern would be good.
I went through the same thing 5 years ago when I bought my second bike. I think the previous owner saw some wear when he had the rear wheel off and threw it back together to sell. Unfortunately he did not put the thrust washer in between the drive flange and wheel and it ruined everything including the wheel.
Everybody that buys a used Valk should immediately pull the rear apart to inspect and lubricate.
Also, check every nut and bolt to make sure that they are tightened to spec and is the proper fastener. That is something I am guilty of, going down the road at speed on a new-to-me bike that was previously worked on by someone I do not know. Scary!

[Steve K (IA)]

Great to hear you're back in business.  Just read through the entire thread.  Makes me want to go out to the garage and pull my wheel and check the splines ... (and I greased them myself during the last tire change).

One of the easiest - and most neglected critical maintenance items.  I wonder if those guys jacked up the dampers or if they just gave up after 70k miles...?

I replaced the dampers on my '97 at around 45,000 miles.  On my I/S, about 60,000.  Not sure what the average mileage is for changing them out. 

[Ricky-D]

There is no average mileage for changing out the dampers. Depending on your riding style (aggressive to sedate) those dampers are a lifetime component and should not need changing. You can check for looseness of an individual damper and find looseness even on a new damper, but install the star and feel by hand for looseness and you will find very little to no looseness. They all work together and in unison as designed. Naturally, there will be some who disagree with this statement.

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[hubcapsc]

dampers are a lifetime component

You have around (or over) 100,000 miles on your bike, don't you?

You have the original dampers?

-Mike

[Bagger John - #3785]

Glad you got your bike back on the road.  

As far as driven gear and spline wear goes: How long should these parts last? Assuming a re-lubing every tire change or few years, whichever comes first.

I'm thinking about buying a few extra pinion cups, gear sets and drive flanges to keep on hand in case I encounter problems years down the road, and have been buying or making all the tools required to rebuild a final drive. I don't let any of my shaft drive bikes go more than 10k before pulling the entire rear end off the bike and inspecting/cleaning/lubing things; earlier if I see moly film on the final drive and rear wheel...which is indicative of failing O rings.

One of our Ohio members once paid a shop in NEOH to re-lube his splines and service the final drive when it was in for a tire change. We had a Tech Session a couple weeks afterward and he complained of a sloppy rear wheel, which prompted me to pull the rear end and examine things. I'll leave it to the imaginations of the readers of this thread to visualize what we found. Suffice it to say, he was NOT a happy puppy.

[Ricky-D]

dampers are a lifetime component

You have around (or over) 100,000 miles on your bike, don't you?

You have the original dampers?

-Mike

Yeah, well over a hundred and the dampers are still in very good condition.

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