Driveshaft sloppy

[RoyalRider05]

Hello all!

 

I have done some research and sort of figured out the slapping in lower gears when accelerating may be the u-joint? Anyone else experienced a delay and hard slap in the rear when accelerating after a shift?

 

Thanks all!!

[djh3]

Once in a while I will hit it just right and it seems to have quite a bit of slack. I really think its more backlash in the ring gear than u-joint. the driveshaft would also give you the same thing on deceleration also with a "bang or clunk"

[RoyalRider05]

Is this anything to worry about? Should i pull the shaft and grease it?

[djh3]

I certainly would think greasing the shaft is not going to hurt anything. You can kind of check how much play in the splines by dropping it in gear and when you get the diff off the back see how much twist you can get out of the shaft.

[Midnight]

I'll follow this thread as I had a similar experience..

My 07 did something similar to what you described a few weeks ago. It was like something slipped. Was accelerating hard from first to second.

I wondered about clutch plates but had been through that already a while back after experiencing slip in high gear and resolved it by doing the clutch upgrade. Cant seem to recreate it. I wondered about the rubber inserts the hub pins slip into to?? 60000 miles on bike. Have greased driveshaft splines and hub pins regularly. JR

[RoyalRider05]

I am taking off my rear wheel now. Ill check the dampers. I will post back up for everyone. If the dampers are good i am going to remove the drive shaft and inspect. I have new clutch plates i am installing as well.

[Eck]

You sure its not your clutch slipping.......?

[RoyalRider05]

No slipping

[RoyalRider05]

OK.....pretty sure i found the issue: My Gears are starting to wearing significantly. After taking this video below and speaking with a mechanic friend of mine, i believe its my gears.

 

1-2 gears (ALOT OF SLOP) as showed in the video..

3- reduced slop

4-5 gears (almost no slop)

 

Let me know what yall think....and thank you for taking the time to read

 

[frankd]

Please don't get upset, but is there any possibility that you're shifting the bike too lazy? When you shift too slowly (time duration of shift, not bike speed), the engine slows down too much and when you let the clutch out and then crank on the throttle, all that play you see is quickly taken up and the gears jam together making a 'clunk'. How I shift is about 1/10 second before I pull the clutch in and close the throttle, I pull up on the gear shift lever. What this does is to move into the next gear much quicker and cleaner. Then about 1/10 of a second before I start to release the clutch, I roll on the throttle slightly. THen I gradually let the clutch out and then the slop is slowly taken up and everything is quiet. Another thing....what oil are you using? When my 83 was brand new (and remember that 1st and 2nd gens engines/transmissions are about 98% identical inside) I complained to the dealer's mechanic that it shifted like a truck. I wasn't a new rider, and this sounded way worse than my XS-750 Yamaha did. He asked me what oil I was using and I told him that I was using 10W-40 Valvoline car oil. He asked me to use Yamalube next time I changed the oil, and if the clunking persisted he'd look into it. I was sure it wouldn't shift any different, but I used the Yamalube next oil change. Within 100 miles, the bike shifted great and quiet. Now I use Valvoline Motorcycle oil, and the 83 & 89 both shift quiet.

 

It's normal for the geartrain play to be a lot less in 5th gear than 1st. 5th gear has a straighter path in the transmission and the gears are designed a bit different so there is less play in 5th. 1st has the most play, and each gear change gets a little better, until 5th, which gets a lot better. I wouldn't worry about anything inside the engine, if you have something ready to fall apart it'll be the u-joint, the front yoke bolt, or the rear yoke bolt, all of which give you play in the driveshaft. Put the shaft unit and drive shaft back in, and have somebody rock the clutch basket back and forth and hold the rear brake on. Then you look into the rubber boot and see if everything looks tight there.

 

Good Luck,

 

Frank D.

[RoyalRider05]

Thanks for the reply Frank!

 

I drive it like normal. The lag is when going from decel and then giving it gas...it will buck sometimes and then slap hard when a lot of gas is applied. I am going to limp it through til winter and prob pull the gears out......

 

Going to try some thicker oil to protect from more damage

[Freebird]

I'm curious about how many miles you have on the bike? It is strange to hear of the gears going bad. I know of some second gens with 200,000 miles but have never heard of a transmission problem I don't think.

[RoyalRider05]

55K

[Freebird]

That is very strange to me. Like I said, I've seen MANY of these bikes with 100,000 miles and a few closer to and a bit over 200,000. Never heard of one of the transmissions wearing out.

[buddy]

First off you'll get slop as you have nothing holding the main gear your drive line leaning against the wall doing you no good your u-joint gonna flop around put the drive line back in and retest you theory

[RoyalRider05]

Once i get it back together ill post back up....

[RoyalRider05]

The bike is almost back together. Ill post up some pics n such. I added some lucas oil additive. I will run and see what happens with this transmission.

[RoyalRider05]

Hey yall....i wanted to report back i just took a 2400 mile trip. Its still sloppy but i put in a new clutch and run semi-syn with lucas oil additive. Seems much smoother. I think i am going to pull it again this winter and get a clutch basket.

[clawed]

My experience.....went form yamalube @3000 miles to amsoil....went from clunky, noisy, and tuff shifting, to quiet,smooth shifting. I do not use my clutch 80% of the time, while shifting. R U lugging the engine....cuz at low r's that gear/shaft slop is really exaggerated! keep us informed...........clawed:cool10: