Basic Bike Knowledge

[Dry Martini]

Well I meant an implied ease of options available but yeah that's what I mean, I wish more and more manufacturers would switch to belt, chains is so archaic and nasty lol.



Shaft is cool too, but they are often much heavier than both chain and belt drives.

Not only that, but you lose more HP in a shaft system.

I don't know what maintenance is required on the FJR shaft, if any. I am well aware of BMW's shaft issues. Having owned two of them, I will never own another shaft drive bike. Chains last a long time and they are easy to inspect. Yes they are messy, but I can live with, given the present alternatives.


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[TownsendsFJR1300]

I don't know what maintenance is required on the FJR shaft, if any. I am well aware of BMW's shaft issues. Having owned two of them, I will never own another shaft drive bike. Chains last a long time and they are easy to inspect. Yes they are messy, but I can live with, given the present alternatives.

The FJR pumpkin is very, very robust.. An occasional oil change for the pumpkin and a servicing, drive shaft grease of the shaft/pumpkin is pretty much all that's needed.

After the rear wheel is removed, four nuts on 4 threaded studs and the pumpkin/shaft is removed...

That particular (similar if not the same) pumpkin has been on Yamaha V-stars (and most of their driveshaft bikes) has been on the roads for literally decades..

Very, very low problem rate. Most of the BMers had non-servicable units which sometimes was an issue..

 

[Dry Martini]

The FJR pumpkin is very, very robust.. An occasional oil change for the pumpkin and a servicing, drive shaft grease of the shaft/pumpkin is pretty much all that's needed.



After the rear wheel is removed, four nuts on 4 threaded studs and the pumpkin/shaft is removed...



That particular (similar if not the same) pumpkin has been on Yamaha V-stars (and most of their driveshaft bikes) has been on the roads for literally decades..



Very, very low problem rate. Most of the BMers had non-servicable units which sometimes was an issue..

BMWs were very serviceable and required plenty of it.

What is the interval for the shaft lube on the FJR? I never have the drive shaft on my cars lubed. Why should a motorcycle require this level of service?

Most owners don't put a lot of miles on vstars. I don't know that I would use them as DATA.


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[TownsendsFJR1300]

BMWs were very serviceable and required plenty of it.

What is the interval for the shaft lube on the FJR? I never have the drive shaft on my cars lubed. Why should a motorcycle require this level of service?

Most owners don't put a lot of miles on vstars. I don't know that I would use them as DATA.

The first Gen 03-05 FJR's were known to come from the factory with little lube on the drive splines (to the engine), same issue as the FZ with often little grease to the head bearings. Re-greasing the shaft bearing surface/splines was pretty easy, done maybe every 30,000 miles. I haven't read of the newer bikes coming with "dry splines".. The actual drive shaft is ENCLOSED, inside the swingarm. The forward end of the drive shaft, that goes into the engine is splined and goes into a splined yoke. Its NOT lubed by engine oil and would require drive shaft grease. Other bikes, its exposed.

Re the pumpkin, I don't remember the service interval but it was well over 10,000 miles easily. It didn't take 1/3 quart of differential lube. I changed it at every other oil change (way more than necessary)..

As I mentioned above, most Yamaha drive shaft bikes used this style pumpkin. The "Venture" (as I re-call a 1300cc, 4 banger, loaded, touring bike, shaft drive, cruise control, etc) used it.

Some had visable drive shafts(V-Star), the FJR drive shaft is inside the swingarm, not visable. The FJR is well known to go 200,000 miles before engines start wearing out, pumpkins still going strong at that time.

Its extremly rare to have a failure of these units..


Re the car drive shaft, most cars, FWD, have AXLE drive shafts with a splined yoke going into the transmission. The shaft itself is NOT inside a house, the yoke lubed by the transmission, universal joints on each end connect the shaft to the wheel/transmission.
Rear wheel drive vehicles, same thing, one shaft, universal joints, drive shaft out in the open. The shaft itself doesn't need service, the universals, with time/miles do wear out(very small needle bearings inside usually).

The MC drive shaft and automotive drive shafts do the same thing obviously but very different animals design wise.

An '04 FJR drive shaft/swingarm assembly;

 

[Dry Martini]

Yeah, I don't want another shaft drive bike. Shaft drive suffers the same as belt drive. You are stuck with an overweight bike with OEM final drive ratio, no thanks. A simple chain/sprocket swap and Bob's your uncle.

Even BMW dumped shaft drive for a chain on their flagship sport bike.

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[FinalImpact]

I think the term your looking for is a "slip yoke". A splined yoke that slides on splined shaft and they may be greased or oiled.
As for FWD vehicles, I've never seen a slip yoke used there. The 1/2 shaft is always mounted solid at the trans but uses whats called trunion joint on the inboard trans side which allows the drive shaft to move in/out. The outer joint is the constant velocity type and allows wide degree of freedom at fixed depth. i.e. there is no movement in or out.

The hypoid helical gear of a differential has too much frictional loss for small displacement engines while a well maintained chain has nearly no loss but a lot of rotational mass. They all have thier places.

 

[Andz]

My bike is almost 11 years old, has just over 51,000km on it and has had the oil changed 4 times. the original chain and sprockets were changed after ten years although they still looked fine and were cleaned and lubed when I was bored. I recently changed the coolant for the first time and despite my other thread I still haven't gotten round to changing the brake lines and the fluid, so it still has the original brake fluid.

Regular maintenance is good but I wouldn't get too hung up on the absolutes.