Maybe Yamaha is Listening

[Wee Willy]

Well, I was worried about my drive train after seeing all the threads on how "badly" the drive shaft and final drive hub splines are lubed by the elves who assemble these amazing machines. So, last weekend I drove down to North Hollywood on a mission to secure a small tube of Honda Moly 60 for the upcoming maintenance. Yesterday, I decided to tackle the problem and in about 1/2 hour had the offending hardware lying in pieces on the work bench. Expecting the worst, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my drive train had been lubed very well both at the shaft and in the hub. The elves had not used a moly grease, but had slathered enough around so that nothing was even close to dry.

The well-lubed splines on the drive shaft.

The drive shaft even had a light coat of lube along its length to prevent any corrosion. The hub was also well lubed in the splines and around the seals.

Look closely at the splines...you'll see some excess grease.

The mating surface was also well lubed.

So I simply cleaned everything up, slathered moly 60 on the parts and closed her up confident that the elves had their act together. So here's my question...

If I were working for Yamaha and could get an excellent deal on my FJR, I would frequent this site and the others that cater to FJR owners and pay attention to the daily discussions of our problems and recommended solutions. I would bring home the great ideas and work them back into the manufacturing system. So who among you might be elves in the employ of Mammie Yammie? I suspect you're out there...

Curious,

W2

 

[GPRIDER]

Maybe it's just the picture, but the drive shaft splines don't look all that slathered to me. At my first tire change I took everything apart on my 08 to do the same thing. Looked better than the 04 did when I first took it apart. It was pretty dry. Probably not a bad idea to service it at every tire change unless you're a relentless Iron butter that goes through a set of tires in less than a month.

 

[rbentnail]

From a thread a while back-

Many years of working on overhead cranes with splined universal joints had taught me this: moly grease bad, dry moly spray good. Search and ye shall find stuff like this https://www.superior-industries.com/dry_tra...WID=52751800021. You can find good quality stuff that dries (so it doesn't attract dust/grit), won't wash out and won't sling off. It tends to be a little pricey, but WTH, I just steal some from work.

 

[Wee Willy]

Maybe it's just the picture, but the drive shaft splines don't look all that slathered to me. At my first tire change I took everything apart on my 08 to do the same thing. Looked better than the 04 did when I first took it apart. It was pretty dry. Probably not a bad idea to service it at every tire change unless you're a relentless Iron butter that goes through a set of tires in less than a month.

May not look like much in the pix, but there was plenty. All of the contact surfaces and seal contact locations were well covered. Any more would have been too much...a waste.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Maybe it's just the picture, but the drive shaft splines don't look all that slathered to me. At my first tire change I took everything apart on my 08 to do the same thing. Looked better than the 04 did when I first took it apart. It was pretty dry. Probably not a bad idea to service it at every tire change unless you're a relentless Iron butter that goes through a set of tires in less than a month.

+1
I saw what you wrote WW2, but for the drive splines it doesn't matter about too much. Even the rear wheel splines looked fairly dry. Believe me from mine, it had waaaaay too much from the previous owner. You could have used more easily without any ill effect.

Anyway, the good thing is yours had no rust.

Ya done good. Now get back to riding.

 

[Wee Willy]

I saw what you wrote WW2, but for the drive splines it doesn't matter about too much. Even the rear wheel splines looked fairly dry. Believe me from mine, it had waaaaay too much from the previous owner. You could have used more easily without any ill effect.

Anyway, the good thing is yours had no rust.

Ya done good. Now get back to riding.

That there's alot of goo.

W2

 

[FJRBluesman]

I saw what you wrote WW2, but for the drive splines it doesn't matter about too much. Even the rear wheel splines looked fairly dry. Believe me from mine, it had waaaaay too much from the previous owner. You could have used more easily without any ill effect.Anyway, the good thing is yours had no rust.

Ya done good. Now get back to riding.

That there's alot of goo.

W2

Ya need some? I'll let have the left overs.

 

[GPRIDER]

From a thread a while back-

Many years of working on overhead cranes with splined universal joints had taught me this: moly grease bad, dry moly spray good. Search and ye shall find stuff like this https://www.superior-industries.com/dry_tra...WID=52751800021. You can find good quality stuff that dries (so it doesn't attract dust/grit), won't wash out and won't sling off. It tends to be a little pricey, but WTH, I just steal some from work.

Moly Grease bad? WTF. They've been using this stuff on Goldwings for a long time. I don't remember hearing about any drive shaft failures on them from using this. I've got to think the engineers at Honda aren't that dumb. This product may be great stuff, but the Honda moly grease is a great product for FJR application. I used it on my 04 for 40,000+ miles and the last time I checked the splines they showed little wear.

GP :huh:

 

[johnny80s]

We pulled the rear end out of Coldcuts 08 Friday night and it was not dry. Seems like they might have fix that issue.

 

[SCRider]

We pulled the rear end out of Coldcuts 08 Friday night and it was not dry. Seems like they might have fix that issue.

+1, mine looked good as well.

 

[big ears]

Pulled mine at 13000 and it was ok also. No rust just enough grease on everything.

 

[Foxhuntr]

Mine was fine the first time I lubed it at 42000.

 

[rbentnail]

From a thread a while back-

Many years of working on overhead cranes with splined universal joints had taught me this: moly grease bad, dry moly spray good. Search and ye shall find stuff like this https://www.superior-industries.com/dry_tra...WID=52751800021. You can find good quality stuff that dries (so it doesn't attract dust/grit), won't wash out and won't sling off. It tends to be a little pricey, but WTH, I just steal some from work.

Moly Grease bad? WTF. They've been using this stuff on Goldwings for a long time. I don't remember hearing about any drive shaft failures on them from using this. I've got to think the engineers at Honda aren't that dumb. This product may be great stuff, but the Honda moly grease is a great product for FJR application. I used it on my 04 for 40,000+ miles and the last time I checked the splines they showed little wear.

GP :huh:

B/c grease never dries, it collects dust forming a very fine lapping compound when exposed like our drive units are. This will sand down your splines and gear teeth over time, especially on the nearly inaccessible gearcase output shaft that rarely, if ever, gets cleaned thoroughly by most riders, let alone the universal joint. Pulling the shaft out is easy and we see pics of those splines all the time but how come we never see pics of the universal? The spray stuff provides all the same lubricating qualities, at the same pressures and temperatures, but dries completely so as to not form gritty component-wearing compounds. Plus it won't sling out coating your wheel with grease.

So yes, IMHO, moly grease bad, dry lubricant good.