GS driveline angle

[RandyB]

I've searched this and ADVRider. My 89 R100GS has an aftermarket, rebuildable shaft with greaseable u-joints. It has a "click" or what I have heard described as "notchiness" at one point in its rotation. AFAIK, it's in the rear u-joint, near the final drive. It has a Works shock, it that's important.

I've read that heavily loaded and two up riders suffer fewer problems with the u-joints. My question is, would it be

necessary
desireable
or even possible

to change the driveline angle, short of adding ballast? About 80% on road riding, 20% on trails and fire roads. The closest to Paris Dakar I'll get is Paris, AR.

I'm fairly tall, but wouldn't mind lowering the bike a bit, in conjunction with a solution.

Am I obsessing? I suspect I should just put gas in it and ride. Thanks.

[RandyB]

Test ride:

Pull in the clutch and shut off motor, clicking noise heard.

Pop into neutral, release clutch, noise goes away. NOT u-joints. Any vibration while riding is from the engine, doing the normal pull in cluch and rev until it returns. No sign trans is vibrating, just clicking.

Trans was rebuilt in 2001 by Big Twin in Boise. Seals and bearings, no paperwork indicating circlip added.

80-90 semi synthetic oil in trans. Improvement in shifting noticed. I'm just gonna ride it.

[YoeFriday]

I've searched this and ADVRider. My 89 R100GS has an aftermarket, rebuildable shaft with greaseable u-joints. It has a "click" or what I have heard described as "notchiness" at one point in its rotation. AFAIK, it's in the rear u-joint, near the final drive. It has a Works shock, it that's important.

I've read that heavily loaded and two up riders suffer fewer problems with the u-joints. My question is, would it be

necessary
desireable
or even possible

to change the driveline angle, short of adding ballast? About 80% on road riding, 20% on trails and fire roads. The closest to Paris Dakar I'll get is Paris, AR.

I'm fairly tall, but wouldn't mind lowering the bike a bit, in conjunction with a solution.

Am I obsessing? I suspect I should just put gas in it and ride. Thanks.

ALAAAARM!
Hold onto the gas card 4 just a second. Put the bike up onto the center stand and turn the rear wheel backward. If you hear and feel a distinct popping, your driveline is done. If you continue on with it, its gonna self destruct and take your output shaft bearing with it and posibly split your rear trany cover. Your after market DL is good for a little more than the average 25 K if you service it every 10 K. You probably could extend the life of your new DL by going to a shorter rear shock but you would loose valuable ground clearance and that way cool, macho GS look.

[RandyB]

I did the rear spin test and everything was fine. The bike has a Works shock.

The final drive is coming off tonight for a look at the driveshaft rear joint. I installed a low zerk in the front u joint and pumped it FULL of grease, so with luck, I'll get the rear one today.

The trans noise is gone. Now it sounds like the rear ujoint again. I'm wondering if it's out of phase.

I've put about 600 miles on it since the last post. The bike sat for about six months before I got it. I think it just needed some love. I changed the trans and final drive oil 500 miles ago. I'm going to do it again this week and replace it with 90W synthetic.

[MICHIGANMIKE]

I purchased my GS a 93, this past spring with 22K. Rode the bike for a couple months and took it down to Rocket City Rally in May, no indication of problem before that trip. On my return I could here the dreaded "clunk" as I rolled it into the pole barn. Replaced the shaft with stock part at about 27K.
So, mine went from no sound to couldn't miss in the 1200 mile return trip.
The original shaft dosen't seem that bad when you put it in a vise and try and
see movement. I will be sending it off for rebuild and have it on the shelf for
the next event. Just wouldn't want to start a long important trip with close to the same mileage again.

[RandyB]

Similar to what happened with me. I pulled the final drive and shot the ujoint full of grease. Blessed silence. It's a solid driveshaft too. I'll dig through the records and see if I can find out who made it.

I'm going to add this to the 5000 mile maint list, until I find out otherwise. Takes about an hour to grease them, now that I have figured out how to drop the final drive.