U-Joint Removal and Replacement
First let me say that there is lots of information on the site for this job. I read all that I could find as well as the manual before I attempted this. I decided in advance to try to take photos to document the process for any that might want to try this themselves as well as for me for the next one. Thanks to Raymond for helping me confirm my suspicions that the funny vibration in my pegs on deceleration was indeed my u-joint failing after only 134,500 miles. If I borrow your stuff and don't credit you, well…sorry.
Remove:
- Rear fender.
- Both mufflers.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel.
- Hang the rear brake caliper with a wire.
- Right middle cowl.
Detach:
- Right step holder, leave it hanging.
- Rear ABS sensor on swing arm.
- Brake lines on swing arm.
- Rear shock from swing arm.
- EVAP canister, remove the two upper hoses and leave it hanging.
- Right rear engine hangar bracket. Opening the “front windowâ€.
Remove:
- Final drive (pumpkin) and the drive shaft.
- Locking nut with special tool, this can be homemade or purchased from Dan at DHS racing
http://www.dhsracing.com/GL1800tools.htm .
- Swing arm pivot bolts using a 19 mm allen head.
Detach:
- Swing arm by pulling and wiggling rearward, watch the O2 sensor lines going to the exhaust. There is room to work with them still attached just be careful.
Remove:
- U-joint, mine stayed in the swing arm and I pushed it out with a long rod
- U-joint boot, mine just fell out
Both these can be removed in the space available from backing out the swing arm, once again be careful of the O2 sensor wires don't stretch or pull on them.
Clean:
- The internal portion of the swing arm with a magnet and cleaning rags.
“I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean.†Raymond
Remove:
- Drive shaft from the final drive, this can be done by pulling and turning back and forth, keep track of the spring that goes on the end of the drive shaft.
Lubricate:
- Output driven gear shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Drive shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Your new U-joint boot with silicon grease, makes installation easier.
Install: ( these next few steps are the hardest and may take a few manipulations from several different positions and angles, choice words helped me)
- U-joint boot on to the engine groove around the output gear shaft, the tab on this side of the boot needs to be up.
- The drive shaft into the swing arm.
- New U-joint on to the drive shaft, long end toward the rear of the bike. For me the U-joint had to be mostly inside the swing arm for me to get the swing arm back in place.
- U-joint on to the output gear shaft splines while slowly moving the swing arm forward.
- U-joint boot to the swing arm groove, this required pushing and pulling on the tabs from below, above and in front (through the engine hanger bracket window). Make sure it gets seated properly, it does not just seat itself by pushing the swing arm into position.
- swing arm pivot bolts, apply light oil to the threads before installation. I had to put these in before I could get the boot in position, these were installed loosely.
- Rear shock bolt and nut, easy to attach now. Torque 31 ft/lb.
- Torque right pivot bolt to 80 ft/lb.
- Torque left pivot bolt to 40 ft/lb, then back off and re-torque to 30 ft/lb.
- Locking nut, torque to 80 ft/lb.
- Spring on to drive shaft.
- Rear drive on to drive shaft and back of swing arm, turning the rear drive helps with this. Torque for these nuts 33 ft/lb.
- ABS cord and sensor.
- Brake lines to swing arm.
- Right step holder, torque 47 ft/lb on front bolts and 31 ft/lb on back bolts
- Rear engine hanger bracket, torque 29 ft/lb.
- EVAC canister.
- Right side middle cowl.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel, torque 80 ft/lb
- Brake caliper, torque 51 ft/lb
- Back fender.
Have a beer…
Remove:
- Rear fender.
.
Remove:
- Both mufflers.
Remove:
Right lower cowl.
Remove:
Rear wheel.
- Hang the rear brake caliper with a wire.
Remove:
- Right middle cowl.
Detach:
- Right step holder, leave it hanging.
And on the inside of the wheel well..
Detach:
- Rear ABS sensor on swing arm.
Detach:
- Brake lines on swing arm.
Detach:
- Rear shock from swing arm.
Detach:
- EVAP canister (from under the back of the middle cowl that you already removed), remove the two upper hoses and leave it hanging.
Detach:
- Right rear engine hangar bracket. Opening the ?front window? under this bracket. You can look in and see the u-joint boot.
Here is the u-joint boot.
Remove:
- Final drive (pumpkin) and the drive shaft. Here are two of the four nuts.
The drive shaft just pulls out with the final drive.
This photo is from Tom DeBoesser's notes.
Remove:
- Locking nut with special tool, this can be homemade (from a 1 1/4" socket and a Dremel tool or grinder) or purchased from Dan at DHS racing
http://www.dhsracing.com/GL1800tools.htm .
Remove:
- Swing arm pivot bolts using a 19 mm allen head. A 3/4" threaded coupling nut is a cheap tool for this.
Coupling nut.
Detach:
- Swing arm by pulling and wiggling rearward, watch the O2 sensor lines going to the exhaust. There is room to work with them still attached just be careful.
Here is the output drive gear shaft. Note the groove on the outside of it's housing.
Remove:
- U-joint, mine stayed in the swing arm and I pushed it out with a long rod.
Remove:
- U-joint boot, mine just fell out.
Both these can be removed in the space available from backing out the swing arm, once again be careful of the O2 sensor wires don?t stretch or pull on them.
Clean:
- The internal portion of the swing arm with a magnet and cleaning rags.
?I used a magnet and rags and cleaned all the old ujoint bits out of the swingarm inside which was nothing more then ground dust bits. I used a mirror to look inside and it was plenty clean.? Raymond
Remove:
- Drive shaft from the final drive, this can be done by pulling and turning back and forth, keep track of the spring that goes on the end of the drive shaft.
Lubricate:
- Output driven gear shaft splines using Moly grease.
- Drive shaft splines using Moly grease.
Lubricate:
- Your new U-joint boot with silicon grease, makes installation easier.
Install: ( these next few steps are the hardest and may take a few manipulations from several different positions and angles, choice words helped me)
- U-joint boot on to the engine groove around the output gear shaft, the tab on this side of the boot needs to be up.
Install:
- Put the new U-joint on to the drive shaft, long end toward the rear of the bike. The drive shaft needs to be inserted into the swing arm from behind to do this part. For me the U-joint had to be mostly inside the swing arm for me to get the swing arm back in place.
- Then put the U-joint on to the output gear shaft splines while slowly moving the swing arm forward.
Install:
- The U-joint boot to the swing arm groove, this required pushing and pulling on the tabs from below, above and in front (through the engine hanger bracket window). Make sure it gets seated properly, it does not just seat itself by pushing the swing arm into position. Here you can see it is not quite seated in the groove on the swing arm.
- Then install the swing arm pivot bolts, apply light oil to the threads before installation. I had to put these in before I could get the boot in position, these were installed loosely.
Now just reverse the process of taking everything off.
- Rear shock bolt and nut, easy to attach now. Torque 31 ft/lb.
- Torque right pivot bolt to 80 ft/lb.
- Torque left pivot bolt to 40 ft/lb, then back off and re-torque to 30 ft/lb.
- Locking nut, torque to 80 ft/lb.
- Spring on to drive shaft. Don't forget this, if you put it together without the spring in, the drive shaft locks into the rear drive and it has to be completely removed as a unit before you can pull it apart. Then you get to reinsert the drive shaft into the u-joint. Don't ask how I know this.
- Rear drive on to drive shaft and back of swing arm, turning the rear drive helps with this. Torque for these nuts 33 ft/lb.
- ABS cord and sensor.
- Brake lines to swing arm.
- Right step holder, torque 47 ft/lb on front bolts and 31 ft/lb on back bolts
- Rear engine hanger bracket, torque 29 ft/lb.
- EVAC canister.
- Right side middle cowl.
- Right lower cowl.
- Rear wheel, torque 80 ft/lb
- Brake caliper, torque 51 ft/lb
- Back fender.
Have a beer…
As usual this is one of the reasons I love this site and my ST. From others contributions I was able to get this repair done. A lot slower than Raymond's job of course, must of been all the time I took taking photos. Thanks to all that made useful comments on this repair and this is my contribution....
