Free play in final drive

[mcfroyce44]

I bought an 08 model from a dealer at the end of last year which still has used warranty on it. I've hardly ridden it and it's the first shaft drive bike I've owned. I notice there's a fair clunk putting it into first gear so put it on the centre stand (engine off ) and into first gear. There's free play moving the wheel forwards and backwards before I can feel the resistance as the wheel turns the gearbox cogs.  With shaft drive I expected none.

Can a couple of you please tell me if yours has similar free play?

If it's a fault I want to know before speaking to to the dealer to avoid any 'they all do that'

I've attached a video but am not sure if it's playable - this site won't accept mp4 files so I converted it to mpg which seems OK.

[nightrider]

Most bikes with a shaft can make a right clonk as they go in gear you would think the gearbox had fell out on the floor , yours sounds normal to me there is always some play if you rock it back and forwards ,,

[Burchy]

Yup, nine has about the same freeplay.  There's bound to be quite a bit of lash when you consider how many times the power changes direction from the crankshaft to the wheel

[Boomer]

Quite normal for a shaft drive Kawasaki.

[mcfroyce44]

Much appreciated,  folks. I did the same thing with my other bike which is chain drive and the play is about the same. As I said I just assumed there would be none with the shaft drive so am happy to hear it's all normal. Thinking about it,  there's going to a bit of play from the rubber bushings inside the rear wheel hub (I forget what they're called)

Once again,  thank you.

[BigAlan]

For peace of mind you can easily remove the rear diff and check everything, I used to pop mine off every 10k miles and apply new grease around the shaft and wheel connection, takes a couple of hours if you have the inclination.