Final drive noise

[Zorakz]

Bike was fine heading to work but Coming home from work last week, had a loud clanking noise coming from the final drive.
couldnt hear the noise in first gear, showed up in second gear. especially decelerating. got worse in third. seems to go away if i pull in the clutch.
when i pulled the final drive off the splines on the final drive definitely had some serious wear.
i blame my use of bottom shelf moly grease(cheap harbor frieght grease) gonna get the real stuff this weekend, but was also worried about possibly missing a spacer on the rear axle.
1981 gl1100 interstate, i have just one spacer(inbetween the caliper mounting bracket n wheel) and a washer inbetween the caliper n the frame. doing more research (this forum is a goldmine) seems like later models had a second spacer inbetween the caliper mounting bracket n the frame. wheel has no side to side play in it.

[WingAdmin]

Your splines may well be worn, and if they are worn enough, they could slip...but a clanking noise like you describe is usually indicative of a failed/failing universal joint. I would remove the driveshaft and inspect the universal joint for free play.

[Zorakz]

Scott, when people ask where I get my information on gold wings I tell them that I refer to my shop manuals, and the goldwing guru himself!
When I saw your YouTube video “I’m thinking of quitting motorcycles” I thought to myself this can’t be! But I understand. I live in Austin and other drivers are always a worry for me. As for selling your goldwing and thinking you need to back off the forums because of not having one, pump your brakes son! You are the goldwing guru! I couldn’t have gotten this far in my rebuild without you, and I can’t thank you enough for being such an invaluable source of information!
When I get home from work I’m going to pull that drive shaft out n check out the universal joint. I have the next three days off n I’ll will post pictures. Hoping to get back on the road this week
Thanks again

[Zorakz]

i pulled the drive shaft out to get a look at the U joint, and with my untrained eyes it seems fine. Doesnt seem to have any play in the joint itself.
On second inspection the splines on the final drive housing seem alright as well. there is a little bit of play inbetween the final drive splines n the wheel splines.
now could the loud clacking under load n deaccelerating be caused by poor fitting of the wheel to the housing?or bad fitment between the drive shaft and the final drive houseing?
Which brings me back to the lack of the second spacer on the rear axle.........
when i had everything assembled last there wasnt any play in the wheel side to side or otherwise, everything seemed in order
lemme know what cha think
thanks again
cheers

[Zorakz]

upon further inspection it would seem the final drive splines are more on the triangular side.
im back to thinking its the final drive housing

[WingAdmin]

Those splines are definitely worn. Is the grease on them grease that you put on? It does not look like the correct type of grease.

Regular grease will stay in place like you see on your splines, but it provides little to no lubrication.

The correct grease is high-moly grease. When this grease is used, the carrier is squeezed out and lost, while the thin lubricating molybdenum layer remains. The fact that there are still gobs of wet grease everywhere makes me suspect it was lubricated with the wrong type of grease.

As for the U-joint, you want to try to bend it in directions it isn't supposed to bend, and try pulling it apart and pushing it together (pull and push the ends apart/together). You're looking for free play, which there should be none.

[Zorakz]

You get what you pay for and the black “moly” was garbage. I have bought Honda m-77 that I’m going to put in when my new final drive shows up in the mail.
U joint seems solid no play in it.
Thanks again

[Zorakz]

So turns out the final drive wasnt causing the noise. the splines on the old drive were worn from my use of improper grease yes, proper grease n new drive didnt resolve the issue. with the suggestion to check the drive shaft, i took a closer look at my swing arm and sure enough the bearings were shot. you could move the swing arm in a circular motion. the noise was caused by the driveshaft hitting the inside of the swingarm. New bearings in the swingarm took all the play out(no side by side motion) and resolved the issue

[joecoolsuncle]

So turns out the final drive wasnt causing the noise. the splines on the old drive were worn from my use of improper grease yes, proper grease n new drive didnt resolve the issue. with the suggestion to check the drive shaft, i took a closer look at my swing arm and sure enough the bearings were shot. you could move the swing arm in a circular motion. the noise was caused by the driveshaft hitting the inside of the swingarm. New bearings in the swingarm took all the play out(no side by side motion) and resolved the issue

in your opinion, what is the reason for the swingarm bearing failure?

[Zorakz]

I believe that the bearings were the original bearings so about41 years old. when i removed them i soaked em in gasoline for a day or two to get all the crud out. they barely spun. but i may have damaged them removing the rear wheel at some point. hard to say. once i knew what to look for(side to side play in the swingarm) i was able to narrow it down to the bearing. getting the old bearing races out was a pain , took me a couple of weeks to do. i bought a blind bearing puller , but they still wouldnt budge. i saw a video of a dude removing his by welding the inner portion of the bearing race to get it to heat up to pull out. which baffled me, i kept thinking how do you remove something by welding it? theres not much room for error, if your weld is off the bearing race it will weld it to the swing arm. but this also didnt work. what i did was cut a groove in the race with a dremmel, being careful not to touch the inside of the swingarm, then used the blind bearing puller to pull em out.

[joecoolsuncle]

I believe that the bearings were the original bearings so about41 years old. when i removed them i soaked em in gasoline for a day or two to get all the crud out. they barely spun. but i may have damaged them removing the rear wheel at some point. hard to say. once i knew what to look for(side to side play in the swingarm) i was able to narrow it down to the bearing. getting the old bearing races out was a pain , took me a couple of weeks to do. i bought a blind bearing puller , but they still wouldnt budge. i saw a video of a dude removing his by welding the inner portion of the bearing race to get it to heat up to pull out. which baffled me, i kept thinking how do you remove something by welding it? theres not much room for error, if your weld is off the bearing race it will weld it to the swing arm. but this also didnt work. what i did was cut a groove in the race with a dremmel, being careful not to touch the inside of the swingarm, then used the blind bearing puller to pull em out.

soaking in gas to get the crud out sounds like the bearings were never serviced and the oem grease dried out? thanks for the reply.

[Zorakz]

yea this goldwing was in someones back yard for a couple of years had not run in at least 5 years. the swingarm pivot bolts are usually capped by covers and they were missing when i got it,the PO had covered them with tin foil. A red flag to say the least. I replaced the bearings last week and forgot about this post, and personally i cant stand it when i find a post about an issue im trying to resolve and there is no "misson complete" post. i hope this helps you or anyone searching for anwsers.
cheers

[joecoolsuncle]

it helped! it helped me remember an area of my bike that i havnt had to rebuild yet! gee thanks! lol.
take care, peace.

[Rambozo]

i saw a video of a dude removing his by welding the inner portion of the bearing race to get it to heat up to pull out. which baffled me, i kept thinking how do you remove something by welding it? theres not much room for error, if your weld is off the bearing race it will weld it to the swing arm. but this also didnt work.

That technique is used all the time to remove press or shrink fit items, like bearings and valve seats. Yes you do need to be accurate. A TIG welder is ideal but anything that can heat the part to transition temp will work, even oxy-fuel. When you heat something to it's transition temp it will shrink as it cools. This is the same reason parts distort when welded. The weld shrinks and pulls on that area. Two or three small welds are better than a large weld. You don't need to add filler if your process allows for that. When the part cools it will just fall out. This is a permanent change, not like the temporary change from heating or cooling parts for shrink fitting.