Final Drive Noise

by **deadinside85** on Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:20 pm

Yesterday after I rode my bike to work, with no problems, I went to pull my bike in. I kicked it down into first and it sounded like I dropped a wrench. I held the clutch in, moved my bike back and forth to check under it, hoping I forgot about the wrench in my pocket. There was nothing on the ground. I pulled my bike in, there was some noise. It sounded like something between a scrape and grind. I rode it around for a second in first gear, i could feel something happening at the rear wheel. Then, there was a god-awful noise mid-bike. I didn't dare ride it anymore, so I had my dad come out and we loaded it in his truck.

Today I rolled it out of the shed, put it up on the jack and looked in the final drive. No metal flakes, I spun the tire to inspect the ring gear, no noticeable damage. I pulled off the left-side chrome cover, hoping to get a look at the u-joint. There was a spare bolt in hanging out underneath the chrome cover, I have no idea where it came from. I used a mechanic's stethoscope to listen to the cross shaft/output gear, shaft tube and hub. No noise in output gear. There was a scraping in the shaft tube that could also be heard in the hub, but it seemed louder in the shaft. It would scrape and when I would up the RPMs it would start to kinda ping. Let off the throttle, the noise would go away for a second, then return to the scraping noise.

Any ideas?

by **Drywallman** on Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:30 am

deadinside85 wrote:Yesterday after I rode my bike to work, with no problems, I went to pull my bike in. I kicked it down into first and it sounded like I dropped a wrench. I held the clutch in, moved my bike back and forth to check under it, hoping I forgot about the wrench in my pocket. There was nothing on the ground. I pulled my bike in, there was some noise. It sounded like something between a scrape and grind. I rode it around for a second in first gear, i could feel something happening at the rear wheel. Then, there was a god-awful noise mid-bike. I didn't dare ride it anymore, so I had my dad come out and we loaded it in his truck.

Today I rolled it out of the shed, put it up on the jack and looked in the final drive. No metal flakes, I spun the tire to inspect the ring gear, no noticeable damage. I pulled off the left-side chrome cover, hoping to get a look at the u-joint. [color=#000000][color=#FF0000]There was a spare bolt in hanging out underneath the chrome cover, I have no idea where it came from.[/color][/color] I used a mechanic's stethoscope to listen to the cross shaft/output gear, shaft tube and hub. No noise in output gear. There was a scraping in the shaft tube that could also be heard in the hub, but it seemed louder in the shaft. It would scrape and when I would up the RPMs it would start to kinda ping. Let off the throttle, the noise would go away for a second, then return to the scraping noise.

Any ideas?

That's one of them bolts that the bike always seems to eat and you never find them.

Things to check: U-joint or another bolt your bike ate in the U-joint/driveshaft area bouncing around or your Flange Bearing has gone south and you need a new one. If you haven't taken it apart the you need to do this first to really insp everything.

by **deadinside85** on Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:41 pm

Thanks. I'm hoping to get the swing arm pulled off tonight. I was talking with a guy a work with, he thinks it sounds like the u-joint may have thrown a cap or snap ring. That made sense to me and made me calm down about the situation a little.

Is the flange bearing the one at the output gear, or down in the hub?

by **Drywallman** on Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:44 pm

These joints don't have caps or snap rings. If they fall apart, your not moving. Check your flange bearing before you take your swingarm off.

by **deadinside85** on Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:31 pm

Which bearing is the flange bearing? The one going into the hub from the shaft, around the pinion gear?

by **Drywallman** on Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:12 am

Flange bearing is # 10

http://www.hdlparts.com/fiche_section_detail.asp?section=182681&category=MOTORCYCLES&make=HONDA&year=2003&fveh=4118

The flange bearing is inside of the splined area. Stick your finger in there and roll the bearings around. If there is a clicking or a ruff notching feeling while turning then they need replacement. There are 2 bearing inside (inner & outer) The inner bearing usually goes out first then the outer fails. If you have to buy a new one, check first the bearing before you leave the honda shop it should roll smoothly without a clicking or being ruff while turning. Factory flange bearings are known to be bad from factory.

by **deadinside85** on Fri Jul 30, 2010 2:40 am

Ah, I see now. Thank you. Do you have to replace the whole flange assembly or can you get just the bearings?

I found this bearing kit, will it work?
http://www.hondadirectlineusa.com/vtx/product.asp?pid=6702&ID=927364831

by **deadinside85** on Fri Jul 30, 2010 1:10 pm

by **deadinside85** on Fri Jul 30, 2010 1:22 pm

The flange bearings felt alright, but I'll still replace them since I have everything torn apart already. I ran my bike trough the gears while on the lift to see if there was any noise, I still noticed some. So I pulled the hub, smoke was billowing from the shaft tunnel. At that point, i knew it was the u-joint. I pulled the swing arm, sure enough, that u-joint blew up.