Rear wheel drive spline wear

backroadrider

Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
8
Location
Davidsonville, MD
Bike
'98 ST1100
This is my first ST. I got it last July with 88,000 miles on it. I replaced the rear tire Saturday and while I had it apart I took a photo of the drive splines.
ST_DrvSpln01.jpg

I figured this wasn't too bad for a bike with 93,000 miles but seeing as how this is my first ST, I was just curious if this looks like a normal amount of wear to you ST gurus.
 
Looks like it will go another 500,000 miles.
 
From a wear perspective, that doesnt look too bad. But from a maintenance and lubrication perspective you may have some issues. Is that rust? There appears to not be a hint of Moly 60 paste anywhere. The splines are the achilles heel of the ST and they have got to be maintained properly and regularly. They should be lubed with Moly 60 whenever the rear wheel comes off. Did the previous owner provide with the service history on the bike? There are 3 O-rings in conjuction with the final drive that need to be replaced periodically also. You can see one of them in your picture at the base of the splines. The O-rings need to be lubed with Moly 60 also.
 
Those splines look pretty good for 93K! As stated, keep them lubed and keep good O-rings o, n them.

BTW, some of the GL1500 rear hubs will work on the ST1100. They are alot easier to find, and usually cheaper, too.
 
They look good for 93,000 miles, but whatever was on before didn't do them any good as I see evidence of "cocoa powder" residue from fretting corrosion.
I would say you took it apart at just the right time to clean them up and get the Moly60 on there, they should do another couple of hundred thousand easily enough then!
 
ckhkjh said:
From a wear perspective, that doesnt look too bad. But from a maintenance and lubrication perspective you may have some issues. Is that rust? There appears to not be a hint of Moly 60 paste anywhere.
Click to expand...
I wiped it off before taking the photo. It had red wheel bearing grease on the inside of it. Couldn't tell what was actually on the splines. It's not rust but I believe maybe a little water may have gotten in there and turned it that color.

I cleaned it up better after taking the photo and lubed everything with Honda Moly60. New orings have been ordered and will be installed when they get here.

A photo from the ADV MD TOR game.

1695914201487.png
I added the Steed Sticks, tank bag, top box, and changed the shield.

Thanks for all the replies. :)
 
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It wouldn't have lasted 93,000 and looked that good if it was not greased regularly. Maybe he cleaned it so we could gauge the wear?
 
backroadrider said:
I wiped it off before taking the photo. It had red wheel bearing grease on the inside of it.
Click to expand...

And that is one of the reasons why many of us don't take it to the STealer.
Those splines look to be in pretty good condition. Moly and ride :)
 
There is some significant wear on that spline. I don't knonw if Honda induction hardens this component--if it is hardened, this amount of wear could be most of the useful life of the spline.

I sketched a black outline into the image below to roughly showing what the spline was like when new. Perhaps 20% of each spline's material is worn away...but that may be most of the useful life.

The issue now is that there likley is a lot more slop in the interface, and as such, stresses go up during normal riding. So, it will wear faster and faster as it wears, IMO.

It is not surprising to see the rust colored paste in there--the metal will oxidize as it is worn away. This can be the case even if it is properly lubed with Moly 60. But I do suspect that moly 60 was not used on this spline.

IMO, if the mating splines on the pumpkin are similarly worn, then ride it many 10's of thousands as is (with proper lube of course). But if the mating splines on the pumpkin are in good shape, it seems to me it would be a good idea to replace this part (the one shown in the picture).

HTH.
 

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Sunday Rider said:
Welcome to the site.
Those splines don't look too bad.

Here's a link to a good and not so good one later on in the post.

http://koczarski.com/ST1100/3rdO-ring/O-Ring.htm
Good luck.
Click to expand...

:eek:
Wow, that is ugly. Notice that as the splines wear down this far, that the face of the splines becomes more sloped. As they become more sloped, the driving spline (the one in the pumpkin) not only has the stress from the torque, but it also sees higher stresses from binding on the sloped spline faces (it imparts more radial load, which turns into hoop stress in the driving spline in the pumpkin).

I'm surprised that the driving spline doesn't look more worn. There must be a hardness [material] difference between the driven and driving splines.
:shrug1:
 
Look what I recently found when I pulled the rear wheel on a 91 that I had just picked up. Lovely...
 

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Whoa DeanR! :eek: What do the mating splines look like?

That one has the added problem of the spline taking a helical shape... as you punch the throttle, it would put forces along the axle direction (forces that would attempt to spread the swing arm if it weren't for the axle holding it together).
 
BakerBoy said:
There is some significant wear on that spline. I don't knonw if Honda induction hardens this component--if it is hardened, this amount of wear could be most of the useful life of the spline.

I sketched a black outline into the image below to roughly showing what the spline was like when new. Perhaps 20% of each spline's material is worn away...but that may be most of the useful life.

The issue now is that there likley is a lot more slop in the interface, and as such, stresses go up during normal riding. So, it will wear faster and faster as it wears, IMO.

It is not surprising to see the rust colored paste in there--the metal will oxidize as it is worn away. This can be the case even if it is properly lubed with Moly 60. But I do suspect that moly 60 was not used on this spline.

IMO, if the mating splines on the pumpkin are similarly worn, then ride it many 10's of thousands as is (with proper lube of course). But if the mating splines on the pumpkin are in good shape, it seems to me it would be a good idea to replace this part (the one shown in the picture).

HTH.
Click to expand...

Wow, you got better eyes than me.. they looked just fine to me at first glance... I still think they are good but thanks for making me look a little closer next time.
 
Molly 60,,,what is that?? ;) I used it like I had stock in Honda. those other ones looked suspect tho.
 
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