Where's the Wear in a Shaft-drive?

[Speedo-cop]

Specifically, for people with experience with the long-term maintenance of a shaft-drive, can you tell me what areas/parts tend to wear/ break the most?

Logic suggests a few particulars, but I'm hoping for a bit more real-world-biker experience - as opposed to theory and car experience

As a note, while I've never used one, I like the theory, and was thinking of putting something together with the aim of more car-like life-span - however, I suspect the main contributor to that life-span has to do with bulk/weight, so

[Brian d marge]

Splines wear , esp pinions , use multidysufied grease UV joints on some types of bikes ..

Gold wings do big mileages if you keep em greased

Stephen

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

me old XJ was shaft drive and when I sold her it had 120,000 k's on the clock. I just changed the oil maybe three or four times in the period and kept it greesed up. had no problems and is still going today...

[one-speed]

had a uv joint go on me old xj750,got 200.000kms out of it.
but not much you can do when it goes.
keep the maintance up and check every now and then.
and if the uv is gonna go it should till ya.
thats the only prob i had.

[Paul in NZ]

Depends.... Its not a differential like a car and sometimes its a worm drive.

Wear happens in the crown wheel pinion set, U/J's, carrier bearings and sliding joint in the shaft. (required because the swing arm length varies slightly as the suspenion moves). If you wanna be real clever -why not lash up a CV joint instead of a U/J?

Belt drive might be the go...

[tri boy]

As Paul says, Crown wheel/Pinion can suffer wear,(lack of oil change, hard accel/riding etc).
Once any support bearings start to wear/become contaminated with crap oil, all sorts of wear problems show. Leaking seals, heal/toe wear on gears, hard facing etc.
Change gear oil on a regular basis, and don't flog the thing, and a shaft drive should be good for at least 100000kms.

[Paul in NZ]

On a 'old' Moto Guzzi big block the UJ goes at between 50,000 and 100,000km and the carrier bearing should be replaced at the same time. It's not a big drama to do the job once you know how. Once you feel the weird harold vide in the r/h foot peg it's time to replace it. Letting it go until it dies (especially in small blocks) is a really bad idea as it can bust out the rear of the box.

Peeling back the rubber boot and squirting a bit of oil in every decade or so helps.

If you are looking at building / upgrading something I'd think really carefully and look at the modern BMW / Guzzi systems. With a big ole bevel box in the rear wheel you will always be limited in suspension performance. OK for a normal bike or tourer but less desireable for a sporting m/c.

[Speedo-cop]

Hmmm, I wonder if a cv joint is a good improvement - if I can rely upon my toyota unit lasting up-to-and-over 200 thousand - even with all the turning pressure...

But with the added complexity of a CV, I'd far rather hack together a new UV joint on the road - still, could chop out the cv and replace with a UV if that happens...

Any opinions?

[FROSTY:Me]

My opinion dude--and I ride shaft drive bikes a lot-- wear wise what Paul said
Ive had a Uj go bang on a very high mile XJ900 and on a xj650 the rear spline mounting bolts worked loose which was pretty ugly (not reccomended unless you have clean dacs with ya)
Personally Id suggest you look at the fully enclosed chain case system on the XV750 (first model)
A good freind of mine has NEVER fitted a new chain in 130000km and 15 years of ownership.He's tensioned the chain about 5 times The secret is to use a quality NON o ring type chain and by having it fully enclosed with a quality lubricant.

[xwhatsit]

My opinion dude--and I ride shaft drive bikes a lot-- wear wise what Paul said
Ive had a Uj go bang on a very high mile XJ900 and on a xj650 the rear spline mounting bolts worked loose which was pretty ugly (not reccomended unless you have clean dacs with ya)
Personally Id suggest you look at the fully enclosed chain case system on the XV750 (first model)
A good freind of mine has NEVER fitted a new chain in 130000km and 15 years of ownership.He's tensioned the chain about 5 times The secret is to use a quality NON o ring type chain and by having it fully enclosed with a quality lubricant.

Why oh why aren't bikes still manufactured with fully enclosed chains? Does anybody make aftermarket chain enclosures? My bike loves chewing through chains, no matter how much care I take of it. Thump thump thump stretch stretch stretch...

[FROSTY:Me]

Why oh why aren't bikes still manufactured with fully enclosed chains? Does anybody make aftermarket chain enclosures? My bike loves chewing through chains, no matter how much care I take of it. Thump thump thump stretch stretch stretch...

dude Imbetting you havent gotthe right chain for your bike --cheap isn'tgood

[Speedo-cop]

My opinion dude--and I ride shaft drive bikes a lot-- wear wise what Paul said
Ive had a Uj go bang on a very high mile XJ900 and on a xj650 the rear spline mounting bolts worked loose which was pretty ugly (not reccomended unless you have clean dacs with ya)
Personally Id suggest you look at the fully enclosed chain case system on the XV750 (first model)
A good freind of mine has NEVER fitted a new chain in 130000km and 15 years of ownership.He's tensioned the chain about 5 times The secret is to use a quality NON o ring type chain and by having it fully enclosed with a quality lubricant.

I don't know what to make of that - all the experience I have is of wearing chains - admittedly exposed...

Still, in theory, it seems to me a shaft would be better - more robust, and fewer components to wear...

[doc]

Personally Id suggest you look at the fully enclosed chain case system )
A good freind of mine has NEVER fitted a new chain in 130000km and 15 years of ownership.He's tensioned the chain about 5 times The secret is to use a quality NON o ring type chain and by having it fully enclosed with a quality lubricant.

Yep good advice , things sort of got lost with style over the years. They are ugly but work.

[pete376403]

The splines of the join between the wheel hub and final drive failed on my GS1100G at around 80,000k, mostly due to lack of maintenance by previous owners plus it is exposed to dirt (I greased them but they were already pretty far gone by the time I got it). I replaced it with a part from a GS650 Katana, it appears the shaft final drive is pretty much the same right across the Suzuki range.
With 90,000 on the bike thats the only failure in the final drive and the U/J and the sliding splines are still fine.

[xwhatsit]

dude Imbetting you havent gotthe right chain for your bike --cheap isn'tgood

I use a decent quality O-ring chain, which is lubed every 500kms. Chain wear is about normal for a single-cylinder bike, but in my book it's still piss poor when you compare the sort of mileage I'd be getting if it had a chain enclosure. And that would allow me to use non-O-ring chains; about half the cost.