U-Joint Pre-Failure Indicator

I have a spare that I bought off ebay that I kept in the garage just incase mine ever went out. I think I paid 50 bucks for it, its yours for that price if your interested in it.
 
I was hoping to tear my ST apart to get a good look at my U-joint but I spent time riding instead. I did do some testing today after my ride and I feel confident that I shouldn't have any issues during my next few trips. I spun the wheel with the bike in neutral and it was very smooth with no noise. That should eliminate a frozen joint. I put it in 1st and moved the wheel back and forth- just what feels like normal gear slop, no clunking. While running it on the centerstand and in 2nd gear, when I went on and off the throttle I got a fair amount of noise that worried me, but after the other tests I think it is most likely just gear slop. I'm also really in need of a new cush drive (on order).

If I saw a cheap low mileage joint on ebay I would probably pick one up just to have on hand, but right now there is one that has over 20k miles and isn't much cheaper than new. For now I have other maintenance items that need my attention first.
 
I measured the play at the edge of the rim today at 1 5/8" inch. I could hear a sort of "soft" klunk at each end of movement but it was in the final drive not in the shaft tube. This play is a combination of U joint and driven spline. This is what the spline looked like at 96,xxx miles. There is some wear but very little. The bike is now at 119,xxx miles.

 
Last edited:
I installed the new Ujoint today and all is well. I checked the slop again with the bike up on the centerstand and running it slowly in first gear. Absolutely no backlash slop or slamming noise at all. Smooth as smooth gets and everything else in the driveline has 126,000 miles. I was a bit surprised at no slap noise at all.

I've read some of the others posts here on technique for the joint replacement. I must say I tend to take the simplest route on fixing the bike. I didn't remove the oxygen sensors from the pipes so the swingarm never came completely off the bike. It was completely loose including all the brake tubing off the arm and moved pretty free as far as the wires allowed. I also had the right side rear casting (peg mount) loose but did not remove the brake lines so the assembly was free to swing about a bit.

I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean. I had no trouble at all getting all back in place. Ujoint was slipped in easily from below and held in position with the drive shaft.

It was under 2 hours for the entire cleaning and installation and button the bike back up. I also just used a punch to tighten the swingarm nuts on both side of the bike. They came loose with one smack and went back together with a couple hammer smacks. I'm not as concerned as most on the gotta be perfect wrenching stuff and have been doing it for 45 some years now and have no doubt the bike will run just fine and safely. Save your sour comments, do yours your way as you see fit.

I just wanted to explain what I did to all to let you know if you're half way up the Alcan and the Ujoint goes bad you (I) can do this job on the roadside if you have normal tools. I used no tools that I don't normally use for a rear tire change other then the hammer and punch (a bolt would suffice). I plan to carry a spare down the road 75,000 miles or so..

Raymond
 
Now a question, did anyone who's done this before notice how uneven the swingarm "nuts" were to tighten? I was able to tighten the left up (seat the bearing) but it was not a firm tightness. I would guess I ended up with about 20 pounds at most of torque in the left lockpin as more then that just felt wrong.
 
fnmag said:
Good to know that with a spare U-joint and some std tools one can make the swap and be on their way again in a few hours.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the positive post so quickly. I expected nothing but off comments about how bad my methods would be.

Raymond
 
No pix as isn't much to photograph. Imagine the rear tire off and the rear end off with the rear shock bolt out. That's about it. Once the swingarm side pins are out the swingarm will move back a good 5 inches.
 
Raymond, if it works for you that's all that matters. Glad you got it knocked out and can get back to riding.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have the parts sitting on the shelf - maybe now I have the confidence to do mine when the time comes. Did you replace the rubber boot too?

Do you think you could measure the play in the rear wheel with a new U joint? I measured mine with a pencil taped to the top of a paper coffee cup. With the bike in 1st gear I moved the wheel to the limit of play and made a mark then moved the wheel to the other end of the limit and marked again. I measured 1 5/8" in a straight line between the marks.
 
W0QNX said:
Thanks for the positive post so quickly. I expected nothing but off comments about how bad my methods would be.

Raymond
Click to expand...

There are usually many ways to do the same thing. We'd be pretty closed-minded if we didn't at least look at other options. I had never thought it would be something that could be done at the side of the road in an extreme situation but now I suppose it's quite possible. You don't have to remove the o2 sensors from the pipes if you un plug the elec end from the connection points further forward but that adds the time/effort of removing the side plastic and engine hanger brackets to get to them, I like your approach MUCH better, even in a garage.

I'm sorry I don't remember any differences in the swing arm bolt/lock nut resistances, I torqued the center bolt then used my dremelled socket to tighten the lock nut after backing the center bolt out a little.
 
As a Comparison I measured mine with the method shown in the pictures. I measured, in first gear at 1.5 inches in a straight line. and in 2nd and 3rd gear 1.75 inches in a straight line at the edge of the rim. The bike has 117576 miles on it.
 
Last edited:
Tankereng said:
Not quite the response we're looking for here on ST-Owners my friend... Take it elsewhere.
Click to expand...
excuse me---I shall be more rigid and mature while posting. I forget about my twisted sense of humor, of course I imagine something like this could get silly if not controlled. My mistake.
 
That sounds about the same as how I did mine. The only real hard part I had was getting the boot back on. I just could not get my hands in there to pull it on.

W0QNX said:
I installed the new Ujoint today and all is well. I checked the slop again with the bike up on the centerstand and running it slowly in first gear. Absolutely no backlash slop or slamming noise at all. Smooth as smooth gets and everything else in the driveline has 126,000 miles. I was a bit surprised at no slap noise at all.

I've read some of the others posts here on technique for the joint replacement. I must say I tend to take the simplest route on fixing the bike. I didn't remove the oxygen sensors from the pipes so the swingarm never came completely off the bike. It was completely loose including all the brake tubing off the arm and moved pretty free as far as the wires allowed. I also had the right side rear casting (peg mount) loose but did not remove the brake lines so the assembly was free to swing about a bit.

I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean. I had no trouble at all getting all back in place. Ujoint was slipped in easily from below and held in position with the drive shaft.

It was under 2 hours for the entire cleaning and installation and button the bike back up. I also just used a punch to tighten the swingarm nuts on both side of the bike. They came loose with one smack and went back together with a couple hammer smacks. I'm not as concerned as most on the gotta be perfect wrenching stuff and have been doing it for 45 some years now and have no doubt the bike will run just fine and safely. Save your sour comments, do yours your way as you see fit.

I just wanted to explain what I did to all to let you know if you're half way up the Alcan and the Ujoint goes bad you (I) can do this job on the roadside if you have normal tools. I used no tools that I don't normally use for a rear tire change other then the hammer and punch (a bolt would suffice). I plan to carry a spare down the road 75,000 miles or so..

Raymond
Click to expand...
 
ScubaDave said:
That sounds about the same as how I did mine. The only real hard part I had was getting the boot back on. I just could not get my hands in there to pull it on.
Click to expand...

That was my problem. I finally bought some long needle nose pliers for the next time around but I had to have someone help me with this part, the rest is relatively basic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom