Final drive 83-85

83-85 Deferential/final drive & drive shaft.

I have pondered the replacing of the 83-85 final drive and drive shaft with a 86-93 final drive and drive shaft but never had the need to do so. A friend has a 83 that the drive shaft/coupler was worn out and with no replacement available I decided to try. After

measuring the two drive systems I found no difference from in the distance between the axle shaft hole and the flange that meets the swing arm. Also the swing arms of the early & late models are exactly the same from the pivot to the axle so there was no reason not to use the 88 final drive and drive shaft in his 83. We replaced the drive shaft and final drive and after 300 miles there is no problem with the bike.

With the exception of the part number of the 1991 driveshaft witch changed in 91and reverted to the old number for the shaft in 92 – 93. Besides the fact that the 91 final drive that I have, will not let me put a spring on the holder at the end of the pinion shaft I can’t figure out what changed. Although I did not find a spring on the pinion shaft when I removed the drive shaft from the 91 final drive. So I would simply avoid using a 91 for this conversion.

The conversion is simply replacing the 83-85 final drive and drive shaft with a 86-90,92,93 final drive and drive shaft and never having to worry about greasing the gears again.

Enjoy

Fred Vogt #1037

Fred, I recently put a V-Max rear on my 83 and it is set up like the 86-up with the seal. This rear end also did not have the spring as my 83 did. With the seal on the driveshaft, I thought there may not be room for a spring as the driveshaft seats into the coupler. On the 83'85, I suspect the spring is to dampen any potential noise and with the seal on the driveshaft, it may do the same thing. I am not sure what year the V-Max rear end came from.

RandyA