rear wheel hub

I had one of those 'what was I thinking' moments yesterday. I was cleaning and re greasing the rear wheel splines on my 100RT and used gasoline on a toothbrush to remove the old grease. ( no ignition sources in my work area, so I won't be reporting a burn down).

I usually use parts cleaner or similar so as not to leave residue, but I had some gas from my recently emptied float bowls, so...

Question. In using gaso with about a 5 minute dry time before applying moly lube, have I risked degrading the grease?

Should I just take it apart and re do, or do I have some miles before I pull it apart again ?

Thanks,
Steve

154048 said:

Question. In using gaso with about a 5 minute dry time before applying moly lube, have I risked degrading the grease?

Should I just take it apart and re do, or do I have some miles before I pull it apart again ?

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I would definitely take it apart and redo it. Gasoline is great as undoing all the good that we use grease for on these bikes. Its cheaper to do it now, than discover the horrors that could develop over a few hundred miles or no lube.

What, precisely, is it about gasoline after it has dried that would cause harm in the hub ?

It dilutes the grease when it is wet...and the grease stays diluted...I agree, if gasoline or any other solvent has gotten into your lubricant, redo the lubricant.

I would think that after 5 minutes of drying, there would be no gas residue to deal with. Seems like it would be OK to me.

It may not cause any problems, but its worth doing it right and having confidence in it. Besides, it's not really that difficult. Would you assume its all gone if you did the same to your input spline? I wouldn't, but that's just my opinion. We all have them.

I'd be willing to bet though, that if you spill gasoline, wipe it up and wait 5 minutes it'll still smell like gasoline--for a good reason. There is still some there.

So, my response to the OP's question: "In using gaso with about a 5 minute dry time before applying moly lube, have I risked degrading the grease?" ...is yes. To what extent is not relevant to me, I'd just redo it right.

To each their own.

I think it is best to err towards caution. It is not a hard project and it is too cold to do any riding. She comes apart tomorrow.

(I did have presence of mind to use evaporating parts cleaner on the clutch splines...whew.)

For stuff like this, I make the last step a spray of carb choke cleaner...for sure that stuff evaporates quickly, and it cleans uncommonly well...will also remove paint, so be careful about that...use it regularly for parts and paint gun cleaning...

I took it apart today and re did the rear hub lube. I did the whole job using only the tools from the factory kit, which gave me good practice on pulling the rear wheel, in training for 'by the side of the road flat repair.

When it gets a bit warmer I will actually try to break down the tire/ wheel to see how that works....

I must report, however, that today it was 50 degrees with warm New Mexico sun, so I took the old gal out for a 30 miler....Ahh joy.

154048 said:

I took it apart today and re did the rear hub lube.

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The priceless feeling of peace-of-mind.