Drive shaft seal leak

[David Morrow]

On a recent cross country trip, I noticed that occasionally, I was finding oil dripped onto the ground below the joint where the final drive connects to the drive shaft housing. Oddly, it was not consistent each day. Some days I would see it mid-day at a lunch stop and at the end of the day. Other days there was nothing. I watched the crankcase level and over the course of about 8,400 miles I added about 3/4 of a quart of oil. IIRC, I added oil on 3 or 4 different days.

When I got home, I double checked the final drive fluid and it's right where it's supposed to be - just where it was when I left on the trip. I haven't pulled the final drive yet.

So, has anyone else had this and how big of a deal is it going to be to replace the seal ?

My bike is a 2003 FJR with about 285,000 Km's / 177,000 miles on the odometer.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Smell the oil..... gear oil has a distinctive odour. If engine oil, maybe you have a seal leak at the intermediate gear drive.... you'd likely see oil at the left footpeg area. Pull the final drive off and take a peek is what you have to do to further diagnose.

 

[Canadian FJR]

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/135066-driveshaft-gear-coupling/?hl=%2Brear+%2Bcoupling

I hope this helps Dave.

100,000 km since this repair was done and all has been well.

Canadian FJR

 

[Canadian FJR]

One more link for your reading pleasure.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/162580-final-drive-seal-failure/?hl=coupling&do=findComment&comment=1220337

Canadian FJR

 

[C&C]

Was there oil at the joint; it wouldn't have to be a drip (but wet)? If no, I wouldn't worry about it; if it dropped a so-occasional drip, I wouldn't worry about that either. I'd leave it alone.

 

[Auburn]

how about a picture of the area the oil is landing on?

 

[ionbeam]

The Forum has seen a couple of engine output seals leak. I have ridden with a guy that had an engine output seal leak that was leaking real bad, it was hosing his rear tire making for a scary ride. The area around the universal gets oil thrown everywhere. The fix is difficult enough that we will assume it's not your problem until proven otherwise

 

[David Morrow]

I just pulled the final drive (FD) and had a good look around inside the shaft housing and the end of the FD. While it looked a bit oily throughout, it tended to be wettest at the FD end. I would call that good news at this point. I have a ride planned in September so, I gave the whole works a really good cleaning to give me a bit of a baseline for future inspections. I took a toothbrush ( sure hope my girlfriend isn't reading this ), clamped it to a stick and with some degreaser made it all spic & span.

PS : Cdn FJR, I rode right past your door a couple of weeks ago on my way from Cape Breton to the Pictou ferry to PEI.

 

[Canadian FJR]

And I was on vaca. I could have showed you some nice roads and bought you a coffee.

Be sure to touch base if in my neck of the woods again.

Good luck with your leak.

Canadian FJR

 

[David Morrow]

Canadian FJR, when you removed the coupler from the pumpkin, how did you lock the gears so the nut would turn?

I tried putting the wheel on the bench and putting the pumpkin on the wheel, and locking the wheel down but the pumpkin spins. Locking that down is a little tougher.

I just found this page detailing the tear down of a Venture final drive. It appears to identical to the FJR. Very informative. But, they use a special Yamaha tool to lock down the gears to remove the nut.

https://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/?action=article&cat_id=001006&id=383