If it aint broke, fix it till it is......

[Goldenponyboy]

So I thought it would be a good idea to take the rear end out of my bike and lube up all the splines with fresh moly. I did this back in the winter. I drained and filled the rear end with new gear oil. The bike still has less than 40k Kms!!!!!. I never took the swing arm off as I didnt have the 4 pronged socket to get the pivot bolts out at the time. I do have the socket from park tools now. Anyways. It all went back together fine. But right after I did it I noticed that in 3rd 4th 5th when coasting there is a rattle from somewhere. It sounds like gears grinding. Under load it does not do it. So I drove like that for a while and just tried to not coast. Well a week ago I noticed that when I slow down and right before stopping there is a weird shudder rattle click noise that happens and gradually stops when the bike stops rolling. Like a rubber baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle. When I was putting it back together I did pull on the drive shaft to try and get it to come out of the rear end so that I could fit it into the ujoint. It never did come out. I wonder if I pulled too hard and now it loosened it some how? I managed to just have the ujoint flopped onto the bottom of the tube and centered the drive shaft as I slid it all forward and eventually it went into the ujoint. I am going to take it all apart again and see if the ujoint is toast. But at 40k how could that be? I have peeled the boot back but I can not see the actual joint part of the ujoint. I just see the front half. Any ideas? I have searched on here and found threads that relate to the clicky rattle noise on 4th5th coast speeds that say it is a ujoint issue. But no threads that talk about the dull shudder thud click noise when coming to a stop. I just want to ride.

[winguyjo]

i am quite familiar with the process of fixing something 'til it breaks.
if there was no issue there before you commenced the work, but started immediately after your work ... it's time to check your work.

[CrystalPistol]

So I thought it would be a good idea to take the rear end out of my bike and lube up all the splines with fresh moly. I did this back in the winter. I drained and filled the rear end with new gear oil. The bike still has less than 40k Kms!!!!!. I never took the swing arm off as I didnt have the 4 pronged socket to get the pivot bolts out at the time. I do have the socket from park tools now. Anyways. It all went back together fine. But right after I did it I noticed that in 3rd 4th 5th when coasting there is a rattle from somewhere. It sounds like gears grinding. Under load it does not do it. So I drove like that for a while and just tried to not coast. Well a week ago I noticed that when I slow down and right before stopping there is a weird shudder rattle click noise that happens and gradually stops when the bike stops rolling. Like a rubber baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle. When I was putting it back together I did pull on the drive shaft to try and get it to come out of the rear end so that I could fit it into the ujoint. It never did come out. I wonder if I pulled too hard and now it loosened it some how? I managed to just have the ujoint flopped onto the bottom of the tube and centered the drive shaft as I slid it all forward and eventually it went into the ujoint. I am going to take it all apart again and see if the ujoint is toast. But at 40k how could that be? I have peeled the boot back but I can not see the actual joint part of the ujoint. I just see the front half. Any ideas? I have searched on here and found threads that relate to the clicky rattle noise on 4th5th coast speeds that say it is a ujoint issue. But no threads that talk about the dull shudder thud click noise when coming to a stop. I just want to ride.

If the driveshaft never came out of the final drive, you didn't pull hard enough.

Sounding to me like a U-joint.

You might be able to slip the boot off the engine case at the front of the swing arm & feel back in there with a finger. Was the U-joint "loosely" flopped or was it a little stiff. New, they are a little stiff, even after miles they don't usually "loosely" flop. If it is a U-joint, in my '85 Aspencade, it was easily removed through the swing arm tube, pushing off the engine / trans output shaft, using the driveshaft & FD as a "handle" of sorts. I think I read someplace that the Ltd's swing arm had a ring in it preventing easy removal like that, but I don't recall for sure.

A worn U-joint (rollers dry, sometimes rusty looking dust) that hasn't come apart yet will try to self center under load, like acceleration or down shift, but rattle & vibrate like crazy in coasting no load conditions, in my experiences.

[Goldenponyboy]

So I ended up taking it all apart to see what was up. I didnt really find anything worn out or broken. The ujoint is in great shape and the drive shaft did pull out of the rear end with a good tug. It all looked fine so I figured all I could do is put it back together. And this is where I think I messed up the first time. I didnt follow the instructions perfectly when I put the swingarm pivot bolts back in last time. Sooo maybe the swingarm was shifted to one side? I got it all back together and took it for a 40 min ride and did not hear one noise. So hurray! On the plus side I took the time to put some lock washers on some of the sidecase, rear fender fasteners. Hopefully this will stop things from falling off. I even double nutted some bolts. Thanks for the replys to my issue. I really am loving this bike. And this forum.