Just read this......

[Psycheonabike]

How important is the following procedure - do you think not following this might cause the Drive Shaft to be out of alignment?

".........the service manual says to mount the wheel and tighten the axle prior to tightening the final drive flange nuts on the studs...."

Thanks

[ekvh]

It could, but (IMO) it shouldn’t be enough to cause what you’ve been describing. That said, it sure won’t hurt to loosen everything up and follow the procedure.

Just thinking now and remembering my conglomeration of parts. I have a 1200 swingarm in a 1000 frame. I have to have the swingarm centered quite a ways to the left or else the knuckle of the front of the shaft contacts the inner housing of the swing arm. I don’t like it because the 1200 came with a set of unaligned wheels. The back is about 1/2” left of the front. Hard to see, but get the bike set up straight and crawl under and look at the wheels, you’ll see what I mean. Or better yet, stringline them. If you try and correct this by using the swingarm adjustment, it hits. If this was your issue, I think you’d see some evidence on the housing. I know you’ve checked inside for the integrity of the u-joint; did you look over the housing for wear marks? Worth a look.

[Psycheonabike]

Hi and thanks!

I wasn't even aware there was any adjustment available on the 1200 swingarm?

[ekvh]

I don’t think there’s supposed to be. The manual says: here, read it.

So Honda says move the swingarm left until you hit 58-87 ft lbs. Then tighten the other side. I’m guessing, non-engineer that I am, that the bearings have to have the proper “squeeze” on them. The pins which the bearings are on have a fair amount of leeway. (See diagram- click on pics for clear view)

Since my setup is a loooong ways from what Honda designed, it’s what I did.

A worn swingarm bearing or a not-properly seated bearing will affect swingarm placement, which affects wheel placement, which affects shaft placement, which could lead to clunk, clunk, clunk. As I mentioned, I attempted to get my rear wheel more aligned with the front wheel. But the u-joint hits the swingarm.

You have some investigating to do...... again. You’re probably getting pretty sick of it, but hang in there.

If your bike is a bagger, getting the swingarm out seems daunting, but you can just loosen the final drive and shocks and allow it to move back enough to disconnect the ujoint, then remove the swingarm pins and let it drop down enough to access the bearings. (Bike on a jack or platform) Check them for looseness, clean, regrease, and reinstalling is fairly easy. Harder to get the shaft realigned for me than getting the pins restarted. This is considered routine maintenance for these older bikes.