1 Some thoughts on rear splines. Tue 29 May 2012, 14:46
sidecar paul
Life time member
It occured to me when I last had my bevel box off, that the centre line of the universal joint is on the centre line of the swingarm (and, of course, that's where you would expect BMW to put it).
This would mean that the rear splines do not slide as the suspension moves, which is the commonly quoted reason for the splines to wear.
To confirm this hypothesis, I set up a dial gauge yesterday and moved the swing arm as far as it would go in each direction and, sure enough, there was no flicker on the needle. The end of the shaft is nicely supported in my oil seal mod. I'm sorry, I can't do videos....too complicated.
Now I've only done about 2K miles since I last greased the splines and although they were still quite 'wet', most of the grease was spread around the inside of the housing. As I now know that the two parts of the drive don't move with respect to each other, then it would be feasible to put an 'O' ring over the male spline which would seal the joint and keep the grease in the right place.
If my oil bath mod doesn't work for any reason, then I'll try this next.
Do you think I need to see a shrink?
Paul.
This would mean that the rear splines do not slide as the suspension moves, which is the commonly quoted reason for the splines to wear.
To confirm this hypothesis, I set up a dial gauge yesterday and moved the swing arm as far as it would go in each direction and, sure enough, there was no flicker on the needle. The end of the shaft is nicely supported in my oil seal mod. I'm sorry, I can't do videos....too complicated.
Now I've only done about 2K miles since I last greased the splines and although they were still quite 'wet', most of the grease was spread around the inside of the housing. As I now know that the two parts of the drive don't move with respect to each other, then it would be feasible to put an 'O' ring over the male spline which would seal the joint and keep the grease in the right place.
If my oil bath mod doesn't work for any reason, then I'll try this next.
Do you think I need to see a shrink?
Paul.
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'84 K100RS (0014643) (owned since '85), 86 K100RS (0018891) with Martello sidecar (built as an outfit in '88),
'51 Vincent (since '67),'72 Montesa Cota (from new), '87 Honda RS125R NF4 (bought 2015)
....No CARS never ever!