How many K's for a shaft drive

[indue]

Well, next time I will try that if there is a next time as I put enough grease in there to last 20.000 miles. I am not putting as many miles on a bike as I used to but headed on a 1000+ mile trip this morning to the mountains in the north. Will post the pictures when I get back.

[drifter-paul]

indue,

when I re-fit the swing-arm, I have it still attached to the wheel. I have done it 3 times, initially with 2 people, then solo (yes solo, I am not being a smart-arse or big-noting myself) , the 3rd time, I a had a mate helping but it took longer than the 2nd time because I had forgotten the tricks -

To take off - remove hydraulic & electrical lines and mudguard, loosen nuts, remove swing-arm bolt, and roll wheel backwards.  Inspect etc.

Put a fat gob of Moly on spring and squeeze onto final drive position. Insert Uni/shaft loosely into swing-arm

Roll wheel forward.

Slip Uni on to forward (engine side) cog. Roll wheel forward to Mate up - TURN ENGINE COG BY FINGERTIPS, while pushing until shaft slips in to final drive . Press shaft back to ensure , there is spring resistance & fitted correctly. Voila. I can't believe I kept rolling the whole wheel back and forth the first time instead of twisting the engine cog.

Having the tyre on the swing-arm  also makes it easy (2 minutes) to slip the swing-arm bolt across.

[indue]

Yikes!

[drifter-paul]

Answer is between 126,000 and 162,000 Kilometers( with enthusiastic use, but not enough for Police attention)  Good at 126 when I did cams etc - no so good at 162.

Check the pictures. I reckon 1 fistful short of major grief.

[Bucko]

It would be nice to have a zerk fitting in the u-joint but you would still need to take the swing arm off to get at it. ...

Not sure how feasible it is but a hole drilled in the swing-arm, protected by a black plastic cap, could allow for convenient access to grease a drive shaft U-joint without having to remove the swing-arm.

[drifter-paul]

Cobblers,

Vibration got suddenly worse, and then too much noise to be camchain rubbing on the guide. Will strip down over w/e , either Uni is near shot, or one of the 3 bearings in the driveline is done.

Rode home 15 miles at 30 mph sidesaddle.

cobblers,cobblers,cobblers

[drifter-paul]

With old Moto Guzzis, fettling is just part of the character 

[indue]

It would be nice to have a zerk fitting in the u-joint but you would still need to take the swing arm off to get at it. The u-joint appears to be a quality product as the bearings? in it are quite smooth. However if they are not, it needs to be replaced. I simply put a lot of moly grease on the u-joint and tried to press it in with my fingers. The biggest problem I had was aligning the swing arm bolt with where it is threaded into the propeller shaft cover/swing arm. It is definitely a two person job. It took my brother and myself close to an hour to get it threaded right as you definitely don't want to cross thread it.  Another thing is I let that rear tire go way too long (almost 11,000 miles ME880). It was really affecting the handling and safety as it was squared off. Am also replacing the rear brake line with a Spiegler as they have them ready made for the Drifter in all sorts of colors. I couldn't believe how fast the shipping was. I ordered on Wed. shipped same day and arrived Sat. Ohio to California. They also have all the banjo bolts in different anodized colors. Will be adding the clutch and front brake cable next month. Incidentally drifter-pail I've had Guzzi V11 (custom) and a 2002 anniversary EV (white) and currently have a 1970 Ambassador which unfortunately 3rd and 4th gear don't work. I am getting really tired of working on things...

[greenbarn]

I got a recent new vibration in my 1500 as well, so thinking about checking that u-joint.  Too bad (like most OEM) they just didn't put a zerk in there.

[drifter-paul]

Ahhhh, Indue,

Moe too Gootsie - bellissimo, bellissimo !!

I had

- two Larios,
- one standard Monza (500cc) (for the girlfriend, but I was tempted to buy the local mechanic/dealer's  650cc Lario powered/Monza framed  special for her)
- and lastly a California III

Put a Zerk fitting on the the Cali, then ended up selling it !!! , to get the new generation BMW Telelever Boxer RS1100RS.

My rear swingarm/hub was dry , first time I changed the tire!

Will check and grease all of the mentioned items.

Thanks, good if this resolves it cheaply.     

[indue]

Here are pictures of the swing arm. I found no grease in the u-loint and propeller shaft spline and very little left in the sliding joint (the remnants of white lithium were previously used). The u-joint works fine. All splines are in excellent condition. Everything just needs grease. When disassembling I made the mistake of pushing in the pin while pulling the swingarm out. Almost lost the pin. That does not need to be done. Just pull on the swingarm (after taking the bolt out) and the propeller shaft will stay in place then you can remove it by pushing in the pin. The propeller shaft (10-6 final drive manual) can be lubricated somewhat by just pulling back the rubber boot and spraying a white lithium grease into that area for maintenance between tire changes. I recommend that it be done according to the manual or every rear tire change. Whichever comes first.

[indue]

Oh BTW, I am at 21,000 miles and I do notice a vibration at certain rpm's probably from the U-joint. Also when you re-fill the rear drive unit use a high quality synthetic or natural oil and put in the recommended dose of Moly which can still be ordered through MGCycle (Moto Guzzi). Do not put in any Moly to your engine oil! You can on Moto Guzzi because they have a separate gearbox.

[indue]

I'm just about to put on a rear tire (ME888) and while I'm at it I am also going to pull swing arm/driveshaft off and re-lube. When the U-joint does not have any grease  in/on it it will create a vibration. I have had a couple of Moto Guzzi's (still have one) and they were notorious depending on the day of the week and whether they were on strike, that many of the U-joints did not get lubed properly. That kind of changed with the V11 which had fittings to insert grease in although one was almost impossible to get to. Also since I used Guard Dog Moly (no longer in business-a shame) spline grease on the spline on the rear wheel it smoothed out considerably.

[drifter-paul]

Have developed a thrrruummm at certain times - if I change gears I can make it go away. Feel it thru the bike as well. Sounds/feels like something rubbing while it rotates. Sounds a little like, when as kids we used to attach a piece of cardboard to the bicycle spoke to make noise. I had a Moto Guzzi throw a universal drive shaft joint , and I was picking up on it before it happened.

Head bearings and front wheel bearings recently changed.

Anyone had similiar problem