shaft drive greasing

[2kwacks]

when I replace my rear tyre, I will of course be re-greasing the rear wheel splines before the wheel is re-fitted. just wondering as anyone found they need to re-grease the rest of the shaftdrive, heard a few rumours of the shaft drive failing. theses may be just one off's or due to not replacing shaft oil when required. the Tetra-Lever shaft drive is supposed to be virtually maintenance free, with the exception of regular shaft oil changes.

[Kwikasfuki]

See this thread: http://www.gtr1400.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,77.0.html

[Mogster]

'shaft drive greasing' !!!!! another thread that is sure to get lots of hits.... mostly from people searching for 'Alternative interest' web-sites   

[Kwikasfuki]

 

Which reminds me, my bike needs the splines greasing. I'll probably do it in the next few months

[2kwacks]

  It appears I've opened a old "unwanted" wound I was not awear that this topic had been strangled to death. so is there a potential problem "looming" with the Tetra-Lever shaft drive or is it as good as kawasaki states and is virtually maintenance free.

[viper]

i took out my rear wheel when the bike had only done 2k miles, i was shocked to see that the spines were dry and void of anything greasy at all, i put some moly on them , very lightly

[Mogster]

i put some moly on them , very lightly

oooooooh  ......

[2kwacks]

i took out my rear wheel when the bike had only done 2k miles, i was shocked to see that the spines were dry and void of anything greasy at all, i put some moly on them , very lightly

you may as well re-grease the rear wheel splines while the wheel is off. just woundering if the rest of the shaft needed regular re-greasing, and at what time and mileage intervals "if needed" should this be done.

[Kwikasfuki]

There's no recommend interval and the manual doesn't list it as a serviceable item. Given that there have been reported issues in the US forums, it's probably wise to service them.

I tend to do it every 15 to 20k. The rear wheel spline is greased whenever the wheel is removed.

[2kwacks]

20,000 miles seems reasonable enough for full re-grease/mainteance, after all there are supposed be "virtually maintenance free" only asking because heard a few are failing, but not sure what the cause was. Mr kawasaki as always been a but tight when applying grease at the factory, so was concearned this may have been through "lack" of grease applied from assembly at the factory. would have thought the kawasaki would have applied sufficient grease to all the shaft internals to keep everything running smooth way past the warranty period.

[viper]

mine was bone dry at new .
just got back from a spirited ride and while i was putting the bike away I felt the rear hub that contains the splines, it was hot, so there is a fairbit of friction going on in there, surely it cant be a grease free zone as mr kawasaki planned ?

[2kwacks]

mine was bone dry at new .
just got back from a spirited ride and while i was putting the bike away I felt the rear hub that contains the splines, it was hot, so there is a fairbit of friction going on in there, surely it cant be a grease free zone as mr kawasaki planned ?

its normal for the rear hub to get very hot after a good long ride. I'm sure you allready know that I'm not suggesting kawasaki failed to grease the splines adequately that would not be in there interest one little bit! and I'm sure the shaft drive on the gtr will well last the life of the bike, if the main thing which is the gear oil is changed regularly with the correct oil specification which is heavy gear oil S.A.E EP80W/90 A.P.I GL5. sorry for any confusion or concearn caused, I had heard some had problems with the shaft drive failing. this could be many reasons all of which most likely have nothing to do with kawasaki workmanship or inadequate greasing at the factory. most likely the wrong gear oil as been used or as never been change, or as been allowed to run low. I change the gear oil when I change the engine oil and filter every year or 3,000 miles "which ever comes first" for the amount of gear oil it takes which is "approx 160ml" time involved to change and the cost of the gear oil, it's a no brainer as far I'm concearned.

[viper]

when i had my first service ( 600 i think ) i premarked the shaft oil cap and they failed to change it, when i challanged the service manager asertively , he admitted that as a kawasaki dealer he just wasnt used to changing shaft oil, he admitted to not looking at the schedule as the first service is usually oil and a general check over, me suspects this is part of the shaft drive failures. I now change my shaft oil every time i do a main oil change, easy and cheap to do.

[2kwacks]

when i had my first service ( 600 i think ) i premarked the shaft oil cap and they failed to change it, when i challanged the service manager asertively , he admitted that as a kawasaki dealer he just wasnt used to changing shaft oil, he admitted to not looking at the schedule as the first service is usually oil and a general check over, me suspects this is part of the shaft drive failures. I now change my shaft oil every time i do a main oil change, easy and cheap to do.

well thats dealers for you! I reluctantly gave my bike to the dealer for it's first service, and told them I wanted the shaft oil changing. they weren't even awear that kawasaki recommended the shaft oil to be replaced on the first service so was  when I collected my bike I wanted to buy GL5 gear oil to do my own future changes and was told they don't keep that grade in stock, so I asked what grade did they use? they said what they allways use which is GL4. well that went down like a lead balloon with me so ended up buying a bottle of putoline GL5 gear oil off ebay and changing the gear oil my-self. I don't trust dealers to do the job correctly, when you do it yourself you know it been done right!!

[viper]

well thats dealers for you! I reluctantly gave my bike to the dealer for it's first service, and told them I wanted the shaft oil changing. they weren't even awear that kawasaki recommended the shaft oil to be replaced on the first service so was  when I collected my bike I wanted to buy GL5 gear oil to do my own future changes and was told they don't keep that grade in stock, so I asked what grade did they use? they said what they allways use which is GL4. well that went down like a lead balloon with me so ended up buying a bottle of putoline GL5 gear oil off ebay and changing the gear oil my-self. I don't trust dealers to do the job correctly, when you do it yourself you know it been done right!!

too right, only use them to keep the warranty tickity tooboo, hell i even did my own valve shims on the 12 , simples