Drive Shaft

[marc]

As part of my 60K service and the changing of the FD fluid I thought I'd pull the drive shaft to check out the conditions of the U-joint.

Here it is coming out of the swing-arm. It's a tight fit and only comes out in one particular position.



The tranny side U-joint is what interested me. It feels and looks fine.



The FD side U-joint was the same. I didn't need to pull the drive shaft just to find that out, though.



The drive shaft is a one piece unit with a rubber (?) cush separating the two ends to absorb some of the drive line snatch.



And finally a picture of the entire shaft.



It took me about 30 minutes of futzing around to figure out the key to putting it back... do it by feel. There's room for a couple of fingers at the tranny end and with the proper orientation you can guide the shaft onto the tranny output splines.

The entire service is documented at http://www.snafu.org/pics/r1200gs/2011/0122-service/

[pdxrmccgs]

Marc...Tremendous pictures and text on your Snafu sight. They show
clearly the beautiful quality that is built into the machine. And at
60K miles, oh my goodness.

[peter06gsa]

Marc;looks like the rubber cush is between the shaft portion(rear drive) and the tube end (transmission).
what were those little tabs sticking out where the the u-joint bearing caps are located?. good snapshots.
peter

[peter06gsa]

Marc:just looking again at the little tabs on the u-joint, looks like the factory when pressing the unit together deform the yoke slightly,perhaps to act as a retainer for the u-joint cap.
peter.

[marc]

Yes, I believe the tabs, as you call them, are where the U-joing bearing caps have been staked to hold them in place. Or maybe not exactly staked. Same purpose, though.

[peter06gsa]

Marc;do you know of any shop that will replace the u-joints,just wondering, mine is still fine. The drive shaft unit looks as if it only come's as a one piece and it's a throwaway.
peter.

[marc]

Yes, it is a one piece unit. There are folks who will change U-joints on the older bikes, don't know if they will do the same on the hexheads. http://www.brunos.us/ for example I'm only aware of one failed U-joint on an R1200GS and in that case the owner had an extended warranty which paid for a new drive shaft.