How to lubricate the splines in your rear drive

[WingAdmin]

The splines of the rear drive transmit the torque from the rear drive into the wheel itself. While the splines themselves move very little in relation to one another, there is some movement, so they must be greased, or else severe wear will occur. Once the splines are worn, you will experience driveline lash, and it will get worse as time goes on. There is no way to fix this other than to replace the rear drive - so this preventative maintenance is worth the time!

This is what happens if you do not lubricate these splines - these should be square, not triangular, and notice the chunks missing:





Because of the rotational forces within the rear drive, regular grease would be slung off the splines. Therefore, special Moly 60 paste should be used:



The ONLY grease that should be used on the spline is genuine Moly 60 paste. This is not the place to cut corners!

**NOTE: Honda has discontinued the original Moly 60 paste shown above, and replaced it with high-Moly M-77 paste:

Honda M-77 Paste

The drive side spline has a splined gear that extends outward, and rotates as the driveshaft rotates:



The wheel side spline has a splined gear that accepts the drive side spline:



The procedure explaining the removal of the wheel and drive unit, and applying the Moly 60 paste is covered in detail in How to remove and reinstall your rear wheel. You should lubricate your splines every time your rear wheel is removed!

[tech1]

I'm headed to my dealer tomorrow for the lube and try that.
Thanks I will post the results.

[BENJEE2112]

Hey Wingadmin, Should I be putting red loctight on the threads of final drive,flange nuts? I had one missing and one loose when I removed it. also. Why are they different sizes? Thanks Ben

[WingAdmin]

Hey Wingadmin, Should I be putting red loctight on the threads of final drive,flange nuts? I had one missing and one loose when I removed it. also. Why are they different sizes? Thanks Ben

Are you talking about the three nuts that hold the final drive to the swingarm?



If so:

- I'm not sure for the reason of the different flange sizes - possibly due to clearance issues?
- Properly torqued, they should not be coming loose, or require thread locker

The flanges on the nuts have small serrations that work like lock washers, to prevent the nuts from backing off when properly torqued:

[BENJEE2112]

thanks for the quick response. do you think it's okay to use thread lock anyway. just for backup?

[WingAdmin]

thanks for the quick response. do you think it's okay to use thread lock anyway. just for backup?

It's certainly not going to hurt anything to use it.

[BENJEE2112]

Thanks again. I've been down for 3 weeks and will be riding tomarrow. I rebuilt all 3 calipers.changed the rear tire. properlly molly'd the final drive. changed all caliper boots.including the anti dive boots.changed out the radiator.changed fork-oil (ATF).now all I have to do is throw the body parts back on today. I love this site.And apreciate all the help.

[SteveB123]

Hey Wingadmin, Should I be putting red loctight on the threads of final drive,flange nuts?

Red loctite is the permanent stuff. You'll need a torch if you want those nuts off again. Ever.

The blue stuff is what you want.

[BENJEE2112]

Thanks Steve Thats what I thought. I even asked the dude at the auto store about that. I'm going to get the Blue.I will definatly be removing them again,for tires-brakes ect...I'm glad it started raining earlier,because I stopped working out there,and it would have been done. so thanks for saving me the grief.. This Site Rocks

[stevo7108]

I must say the article and pictures made the job easier. Started out just changing brake pads but decided to check drive shaft and final drive splines while I had most everything off anyway. The pictures of the worn and rusted out splines were a good motivator! Good thing I did as I discovered an o-ring on the final drive to drive shaft coupling was partially cut. According to the parts list it took a 60mm but found out it's actually 47mm x 2.5mm. The local dealer didn't have the part but found one at: Coffey County Honda in New Strawn, KS (620)-364-2285. They have some parts for older GW's as they were the 5th Honda dealer in the US.
Splines are in good condition as they were lubed in the past.

[linkbelt]

Thanks for the step-by-step. I had my saddle bags off to remove my rear brake system chasing the phantom brake drag so after reading this I figured "what the heck, I've come this far" and removed my rear tire and had a look at the drive shaft and hub splines. This is the first one I've seen but it looks alright to me. I figure I can just clean it up re-lube, change the drive oil and be ready when my rear master comes back. (Maybe rub on things a bit)

[roadwanderer2]

hey wingadmin, i have a question to ask you about the moly paste....can this product also be used....http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Catal ... 0006410103

stuart.

[Aussie81Interstate]

Stuart,

no way I would use that moly.

If you look at the data sheet - it only contains .2 to 1% moly. Honda specified 60% - so it is a LONG way away from what is required.

I wouldn't want my scotch diluted to that extent..

[roadwanderer2]

Stuart,

no way I would use that moly.

If you look at the data sheet - it only contains .2 to 1% moly. Honda specified 60% - so it is a LONG way away from what is required.

I wouldn't want my scotch diluted to that extent..

well, its too late, its in and everything is back together. i'll take it back apart and go thru it again about a week before i leave for Florida. not surprisingly to say, when i got it apart, it was a mess. everything was brown in color, but all the splines were still in good shape. i don't know what the PO used in it, but it was almost bone dry. believe it or not, that's where all my scraping noise was coming from. i thought it was from the clutch or the transmission, but it was the final drive that was making all that noise. now that it has all that paste in it, its nice and quiet, the way it should be. i worked on it a little at a time all day starting at around 8:30 this morning and got everything back together again around 4pm.

stuart.

[WingAdmin]

Yeah, I wouldn't run that stuff in my splines for more than a few days. Unlike Moly, which is designed to lubricate under tremendous pressure (which is why it is specified for this application), that Napa grease is mostly just...grease, with a tiny, tiny amount of Moly. The pressure of spline on spline will squeeze it out very quickly, leaving you with no lubrication at all.

[roadwanderer2]

Yeah, I wouldn't run that stuff in my splines for more than a few days. Unlike Moly, which is designed to lubricate under tremendous pressure (which is why it is specified for this application), that Napa grease is mostly just...grease, with a tiny, tiny amount of Moly. The pressure of spline on spline will squeeze it out very quickly, leaving you with no lubrication at all.

i'll pull it apart again before i leave for Florida and redo the moly with the proper viscosity.

stuart.