final drive fluid drip and dirty rear wheel

[tbunder]

I have a spot on the driveline where there is a slow drip. It is where the four bolts connect by the rear wheel. It is not a bad one but it does drip on my garage floor and is irritating. I tried to put some permatex gasket sealer to try and stop it and it slowed it a bit but the seam is still wet after rides. Also, I am getting a "fling" of grease or something thrown on my wheel during rides. I do not think these are the same thing because the fling is throwing it on the center of the wheel and the drip is more toward the side. What seal is causing the drip and what is causing the fling? Is it the grease packed inside the drive housing surrounding the rubber thingy inside that helps with driveline lash? Can the leaky seal be replaced easily if the wheel is removed? I ask because I plan on installing a new rear tire next spring and would like to fix this as well. thx

[tbunder]

it's good to see we've got some views; how about some replies though.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

remove the final drive and look down the input splines of the pinion gear. Just behind the splines there's an oring. It's most likely cut in two. That oring seals the drveshaft slip joint. If it gets cut (common) you'll get the issue you have now. HTH, Steve

[RFH87_Connie]

Your other "fling" (flung) oil may be coming from the large (big as a CD) seal that is on the inside of the hub assembly.  If it gets really bad you will be pulling it sooner than you think - keep an eye on the fluid level.  Check it while on the SIDE stand, no measuring necessary, just fill it to the bottom of the hole.  Be gentle with the filler cap, they have been known to break when tightened too much.  That seal is not overly hard to replace - ignore the instructions in the book.  Basically you pop it out with a small screw and tap in the new one until it is flush.  They are never in stock so will have to order it.  Same with the o-ring Steve is referring to (get an extra o-ring to keep for later).

[Outback_Jon]

Check it while on the SIDE stand, no measuring necessary, just fill it to the bottom of the hole.

Per the user manual, the proper level is with the motorcycle on the CENTER stand.

[T Cro ®]

Per the user manual, the proper level is with the motorcycle on the CENTER stand.

 

While it might not be enough to make a catastrophic difference filling while on the side stand will result in lower than recommended level.

[T Cro ®]

Is it the grease packed inside the drive housing surrounding the rubber thingy inside that helps with driveline lash?

Could be if like many other bikes the wrong type of grease usually an EP2 gets liberally slathered in there.... The best lube to use is a thin sparse coat of Moly paste as sold by Honda Shops or Dow Corning.

[Summit670]

I replaced that drive shaft o-ring on the pinion with one from the parts store.  It was slightly fatter but has been working fine for many years.

[tbunder]

thanks for the replies. after I get back from Peoria this weekend, I will pull the rear wheel. haven't really eyeballed it much, but it looks like the pipes need to be pulled off in order to remove rear wheel? I've honestly never had a shaft-drive rear wheel off, so...........

[tbunder]

remove the final drive and look down the input splines of the pinion gear. Just behind the splines there's an oring. It's most likely cut in two. That oring seals the drveshaft slip joint. If it gets cut (common) you'll get the issue you have now. HTH, Steve

when you say "remove the final drive", what do you mean? I'm a newbie to shaft-drive but I'd like to learn myself. once I remove the rear wheel is it pretty much self explanatory? also, do I need to drain the fluid before removing the wheel/doing the recommended o-ring changes? thx

[Electroken]

It's actually easier to remove the rear wheel if you remove the final drive at the same time. Once the entire drive+wheel is far enough rearward for the 4 studs to clear the shaft housing the drive and then the wheel come right out.

[Pecker]

re the oil portion of the leak; mine was seal kawi part # 92049-1025 (NOT 92049A or B)

but that does not sound like the same location as you describe...sounds like you are describing the north end where the shaft goes into the gear assembly body. the seal there is the 92049B. I think the o ring everyone refers to in that area is 92055.

take apart rear end. Look at kawi fiche on their website.

good luck

[tbunder]

remove the final drive and look down the input splines of the pinion gear. Just behind the splines there's an oring. It's most likely cut in two. That oring seals the drveshaft slip joint. If it gets cut (common) you'll get the issue you have now. HTH, Steve

ding ding ding! give this guy a door prize as that was the exact problem. The o-ring was split in half. Now, can I just go buy an oring at home depot or does it have to be the oem Kawasaki o-ring? bike's tore apart so a quick reply would be highly appreciated. Thx

[tbunder]

I put a new o-ring in after finding the one split in two. I figured that would fix the slow drip but it's still dripping. As I was installing the rear wheel, I found out that I had to loosen the four bolts that hold the rear assembly on to get the wheel to line up square around the splines and then tighten the four bolts after I had the axle tight. Is this normal? I could not get the wheel centered on the shaft if the four bolts were tightened before the axle nut. any help would be appreciated. I do not like the lube on my garage floor. I've had three harleys and they never leaked a drop of anything. my dad has an '81 Spectre 1100 Kaw with the shaft and it's never leaked a drop either.
the o-ring I replaced was not oem but darn near identical. is there another o-ring that could potentially be broken? also, it will leak out just sitting on the sidestand. I cannot believe Kaw did not put some type of gasket where the rear housing bolts onto the swingarm with those four bolts.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Alright, ya gotta step back and look at the engineering design, and it all will make sense. First off, the oring in the driveshaft rarely fails. I've not seen or heard of it. There is, however, a matching oring on the final drive input shaft; it's way back behind the splines and just in front of the pinion seal. That oring gets cut in two quite easily when you remove the final drive and replace it. The orings are there to seal the self - lubing slip joint. If eather seal fails, then the leak occurs. There may also be an actual pinion seal leak, but I don't think that's anywhere near as likely as the Oring on the input shaft being the problem.

  Now on the 4 bolts, and axle misalignement. That' easy, too. look at the entire design. The axle hole on the brake side of the swingarm is fixed. the final drive side can be rotated a few degees when the 4 bolts are loose. So obviously it's really easy to put the final drive on and have it slightly misaligned if you don't have the axle installed to center it with the other side of the swingarm. Easy, install the axle, then tighten the 4 bolts.

   From a mechanics perspective, I can tell you that whenever working with an assembly that has multiple bolts, all the bolts need to be started befor any are tightened. This is no different. HTH, Steve

[T Cro ®]

Three HD's that never leaked a drop of anything? Now we really think that your........... Stretching the truth at least a little bit.


Once you actually FIX the problem be it an o-ring or oil seal an over filled housing or simply the wrong weight of oil your problem will go away! Your bike is an 01 so it is ten years old and has had at least 2 owners and who knows how many un-trained or un-skilled hands working on it as by your own previous admission this is your first bike with a drive-shaft yet this is all Kawasaki's problem?

As to the o-ring "dam near identical" is not going to cut the mustard; if it is not exactly the same cross section and diameter as the required o-ring it may leak just as badly as the failed o-ring that you removed. Also o-rings bought at your local hardware store may or may not even be compatible with oil and may fail for that reason itself.

Why would Kawasaki want to put a gasket where the rear end bolts to the swing-arm? If that location were sealed up the entire drive shaft tube would fill up with oil until it found its way to the forward end and begin leaking there.

[tbunder]

Three HD's that never leaked a drop of anything? Now we really think that your........... Stretching the truth at least a little bit.


Once you actually FIX the problem be it an o-ring or oil seal an over filled housing or simply the wrong weight of oil your problem will go away! Your bike is an 01 so it is ten years old and has had at least 2 owners and who knows how many un-trained or un-skilled hands working on it as by your own previous admission this is your first bike with a drive-shaft yet this is all Kawasaki's problem?

As to the o-ring "dam near identical" is not going to cut the mustard; if it is not exactly the same cross section and diameter as the required o-ring it may leak just as badly as the failed o-ring that you removed. Also o-rings bought at your local hardware store may or may not even be compatible with oil and may fail for that reason itself.

Why would Kawasaki want to put a gasket where the rear end bolts to the swing-arm? If that location were sealed up the entire drive shaft tube would fill up with oil until it found its way to the forward end and begin leaking there.

yeah you're right- I lied about my HD's being leak free; I have no skill working on motorcycles; the only o-ring that will work 100% is the oem one, that's why it broke in half; I absolutely put the wrong weight of fluid in, heck I may have put in brake fluid; every person who has worked on my bike was unqualified; and in fact this area was designed to leak otherwise the shaft tube would fill up with fluid and leak out the front. Oh yeah, it's got way too much fluid in it as well since I measured it precisely to the mL when I changed it.
I get it now, it all makes sense.
thanks for the helpful reply, it helped immensely.

[T Cro ®]

Use it any way you like but from the start of this thread you received good info from everyone  but instead you would rather dump on the bike and it's maker.

Good luck....

[tbunder]

Use it any way you like but from the start of this thread you received good info from everyone  but instead you would rather dump on the bike and it's maker.

Good luck....

no.....I am not dumping on the bike as I love the bike. MOST of the info. has been good but your post was condescending and not helpful at all. I was told to replace or look for a broken o-ring which I did. I found it and another member said that he did not have the oem o-ring and just found an "identical" one like I did and it fixed it. I inquired again because I thought maybe there was another o-ring that could have been broken that I missed. I am frustrated because the bike only has 28K on it and it's leaving deposits on my garage floor- something my HD's did not do whether you believe that or not. HD's are good bikes these days; the days of leaky HD's has come and gone- about 20 years ago.
I am asking anyone who may be willing to be courteous and helpful like most are around here as I've come to expect since I joined a year ago, if there may be another problem or o-ring I could replace to cure the problem.
I think Kawasaki should have at least put a flow-through gasket in between the two metal areas that line up and bolt together to prevent such leaks if indeed an o-ring did fail. your logic of if they had done that, that it would just leak out the front is like saying they intended that area to leak in the first place. that doesn't make sense. lose the "I'm and old pro" attitude, and the mentality that anyone who has never had a shaft drive motorcycle is unskilled and is the problem in the first place. it creates a negative atmosphere and doesn't help anyone. I'd welcome a solution to the problem since you seem to know so much about the system- like are there other o-rings that seem to fail in that area?

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Just guessing, but i don't think kawasaki made allowances for leaky final drives because they didn't design them to leak. Kinda like they didn't design the engine to hydrolock - but it does.

  If you want your own quick fix to let the oil out, you can do as I did on my voyager, I cut a small groove straight down between the 2 bottom bolt holes of the swingarm. Just enough to allow a weep hole. Voyagers have the same setup as our connies do, and the info I'd gotten from the voyager guru's was to lower the fluid level to stop the leak. HMMM. not so sure on that one. I started to explore the design, and found the orings and the sealed slip joint kawasaki had engineered, and therein was the problem - busted rear o-rings were the culprit, not fluid level. HTH, Steve