I'm getting a new tire installed on my 81. I removed the rear wheel and took it into my local Honda shop. They had to order me in a tire and when it arrives they will mount it. While I have the rear drive apart I thought I would clean out the old grease from the drive splines. The splines all look good with no signes of rounding or wear. The old grease looks OK but it's hard to get out of all the little grooves. Can anyone suggest a remover that would be safe? I saw on another site someone mentioned disk brake cleaner but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. I do have the recommended Moly grease to repack. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Rear Drive Grease Removal?
- Thread starter Jcol
- Start date
Help Support Classic Goldwings:
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- Dec 3, 2009
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- Duncanville, Texas
- My Bike Models
- 1981 GL1100 Innerstate("The Turd")SOLD!!, 1996 GL1500 Innerstate
Brake cleaner, and an old toothbrush should get it cleaned up pretty well, without harming anything. :good:
Thanks - I wasn't sure about the brake cleaner as I had read it somewhere but wasn't sure if they meant to clean the splines or just the brake rotor. Since I have a can of brake cleaner I thought I would ask to be sure. I picked up the wheel last night and I hope to reassemble tonight.
Well it's all back together. Cleaned the splines with the brake cleaner I had on hand and regreased. I was not looking forward to removing the back wheel but all in all it was fairly straight forward. Very impressed with the engineering in these old bikes. That rear drive unit is one heavy and well built piece of equipment. It also had never dawned on me that the drive shaft was also the second swing arm. I know it's obvious but until you get everything off the bike and can see the frame componets it had never really crossed my mind. As a test I started the engine and put the bike in gear while it was still on the center stand. The wheel runs perfectly true by eye anyway - no side to side movement what so ever. New tire feels good as well. Now we just need the weather to warm up a little bit.
