I give up on the front u-joint

[Lex]

I'd be very interested to hear more about whether or not having grease come past the seals is a problem or not. Any experienced (like professional) folks have a comment? Please?

 

Al, I gave up on getting the super slim grease fitting to get to the front nipple. The first time I decided to grease the swing arm I already had the wheel removed so it only took a couple of minutes to loosen the big, chrome nuts that lock the swing arm pins in place, remove the pins and remove the rear shock mount bolt. Once you do that any old grease gun will fit on the nipple without problem. As long as you have the swing arm semi-off you can also check the swing arm bearings and since the rear wheel is off you can check the wheel bearings. I guess I'm saying I started to think of the project as "inspect and grease the bearings, etc. in the rear of the bike" rather than just "grease the swing arm". You don't need to do it that often (I've been told ever time you change the rear tire) so you might as well make one big project out of it and check the rear wheel bearings and swing arm bearings at the same time.

 

JMO,

 

Lex

[Guest IanJ]

It was the end-cap on the shaft that leaked grease. Since I didn't know where to look for bulging seals, I didn't see it until it actually splorted out some grease. I assume that, since greasing appears to be an operation carried out with very little indication of "enough" and "too much," a certain amount of slop in technique is allowed. Presumably if there were some danger of breaking things by over-greasing, there would be at least a word of warning in one of the manuals, or something other than just:

 

"The greasing operation... should be made every 20,000 km or at least once every 2 years..."

[leafman60]

I just greased my Scura driveshaft. Took maybe 10 minutes. All anyone needs is an extension for the grease gun with about a 45 degree bend at the coupler. You fish it from behind the bike, through the swingarm tunnel through which passes the driveshaft, and "click" onto the fitting of the front joint. Just turn the joint to position the grease fitting at the top beforehand. A flexible couple works great. As indicated here earlier, Sears has one. Lubrimatic also makes the best one (which is carried by stores such as Ace). The Lubrimatic is a jointed coupler that you can bend to virtually any angle. It has a locking collar for holding the coupler straight but I removed this to provide an even slimmer profile. I put a 1/8 pipe coupling and a grease fitting on the threaded end of mine instead of attaching it directly to mu gun. I then click the extension onto my joint fitting as described above and then click my gun fitting onto the extension fitting.

 

Nooo, I do not think the squish around the seals hurts anything. Ive done similar joints many times before. The main problem with too much squish is that it will sling off onto everything once spinning.

 

By the way, my joints at 2500 miles were already full of grease anyway. I guess Giuseppi was back from lunch when they assembled mine.

[Steve G.]

At least you have a greasable u-joint. The front u-joint on my 01 V11 has one of those 'sealed for life' joints. The rear one has a grease nipple.

Ciao, Steve G.

[dlaing]

Leafman, did you have to remove the rear wheel?

[leafman60]

I removed nothing. Just roll the bike to the point where the fitting is on top. This is very simple. If you have a small telescopic mirror, you can use it to see the fitting. Otherwise , stick your finger behind the shield and feel for it. Look at the rear universal joint to get an idea of how the grease fitting is situated in the joint. I would highly recommend the Lubrimatic brand adjustable grease coupler. Also, take the head off of it and slip the little locking sleeve and spring off to make it slimmer. When you get one, you'll see what I'm talking about. This grease job onlyl takes maybe 2-3 minutes and you don't remove anything.

[emry]

When greasing bearings covered by seals grease should exit out the seal lip. This is normally accompanied by a popping noise. The reason this is done is so that the fresh grease can push out any containimantion, such as moisture or debris. Just be sure and wipe off as much excess as you can.

[Guest geezerx]

[al_roethlisberger]

So here's a dumb question

 

 

With all this talk about lubricating the u-joints, intervals, capacity, etc... it got me thinking and wondering.

 

What I am wondering is practically how long do the u-joints and shaft... regularly lubricated or not ... really last?

 

 

1) Why I wonder is that in my experience with automotive u-joints, some very abused and never ever lubricated.... they last FOREVER . If the Guzzi u-joints give up the ghost any sooner than that, I ask.... why? I'm no certified mechanic, nor a mechanical engineer, but I like to think that I am relatively well versed with basic concepts and what to expect out of components of this kind. So I find it surprising that these joints give out at all during a normal life of a motorcycle(

 

 

2) And, second question, could someone conceivably have their shaft/joints once worn out... rebuilt with a better unit? I see ads in auto racing/hot-rod catalogs all the time for "needle bearing" lifetime sealed units that "never need lubrication". Thoughts?

 

 

Anyway, bottom line, just curious at what mileage with minimal maintenance a modern Guzzi owner should expect their u-joints to need replacement. After all, the whole point is to have higher reliability and less maintenance than a chain

 

Since this is my first shaft bike, and my bike is still very young.... I just wonder what to expect in regard to shaft/joint longevity. Perhaps those with a longer term of ownership can offer their experience.

 

 

al

[TX REDNECK (R.I.P.)]

.

 

 

2)  And, second question, could someone conceivably have their shaft/joints once worn out... rebuilt with a better unit?  I see ads in auto racing/hot-rod catalogs all the time for "needle bearing" lifetime sealed units that "never need lubrication".  Thoughts?

 

 

 

Alright Grasshopper, let me see if I can help . At one time the Haven boyz talked about sending my old shaft to the guy that rebuilds the shafts for Guzzi with hanging tits :-)'s. I dunno what became of that. Let your search begin there.

[callison]

Bill Doll has over 80,000 miles on the shaft in his 97 Sport. I have 57,000 on mine. No problems yet. Regularly greased, they'll probably exceed 100,000 miles.

[dlaing]

I suspect Guzzi's shaft is well made.

It has needle bearings but is not sealed for life.

They could have made it heavier and it would last longer but at expense to unsprung weight.

Ball joints might make more sense than U-joints. What do you think? Are they too bulky?

Ball joints on front wheel drive cars are the lemon factor for many cars that were made by the legend of reliability, Honda. But they do seem to be making them better now days.

The six speed has a longer shaft than the five speed, so we may see better longevity even than the numbers Carl quoted.

That being said, don't push it, as shaft failure can prove fatal.

[twhitaker]

bump

[Guest WildJackal]

BTW Sears tools does not sell NLGI 2 lithium but Sears automotive does sell the smaller cartridges. I found a large cartridge at Home Depot.

[GuzziEagle]

Friends!

My personal experience with the front U-joint was that it was impossible to get a grease gun on the Zerk without tilting the drive shaft down at the maximum angle.

 

There was a lump of weld on the other U that made the fit too tight even after grinding the Sears swivel tip down some.

 

So, after examining the diagrams of the drive shaft, I removed the rear wheel and supporting the rear drive so it didn't put weight on the drive shaft, I slid the rear drive back, without unbolting and still supported, until the front half of the driveshaft was free of the splines and would tilt down and rests on the swing-arm hole.

 

Then with the Sears angled tip it was easy enough come from the back, through the hole in the swing arm, attach to the Zerk positioned at the top, then grease away to my hearts content. That is, until the discolored old grease is followed out of the ring seal by clean fresh grease. That is how I was taught to grease U-joints.

 

Then with a stip of cloth and a chop stick I clean up. I findle the 36" x3" rag back and forth through the joint in various directions picking up as much proto-fling as possible - go for a short ride and clean up the rest.

 

I will do this each time I replace the rear tire 3-6,000 Miles (Sometimes I buy sport-touring tires).

 

I hope this helps others who, like me, shudder at the thought of removing a perfectly good swing-arm.

 

Craig