Shaft Drive Gear Maintenance
There are two types of maintenance you must do on a shaft drive bike. At your rear wheel there are pinion gears where the spinning drive shaft motion is turned 90 degrees into the rear wheel motion. These gears are bathed in oil which much be changed after break in, and about every 10,000 miles thereafter. Honda says this gets done the first time at 12,000 miles. Don't believe it. Do it at about 1,000, and when you see what comes out you'll decide to do it again in about 250 miles to flush the rest of the garbage out.
Also, a shaft drive bike will have splines on each end of the drive shaft, and on a large ring which transmits the power to the rear wheel. These splines must be lubricated. This is a rather tricky subject, as the lubrication requirements of splines are very different from gears or bearings.
Gear Oil
- AMSOil AGL sae 75w-90 synthetic gear oil, about $8 / quart.
- Mobil-1 75w-90 synthetic gear oil, about $8 / quart at Autozone.
- Valvoline 75w-90 synthetic gear oil, about $8 / quart at Autozone.
Change Gear Oil
Put the bike on the center stand. Place a large flat metal pan under the real wheel, like a cookie sheet. This process is a bit messy. Remove the 17mm bolt on the bottom of the rear wheel hub. Next, remove the inspection plug, 17mm large bolt at the rear of the hub. If your drain plug is magnetic, make sure to clean it completely. Replace the drain plug. To fill, get 70 or 80 weight gear oil, and put it into the inspection hole until it comes back out. About 160cc, about 1/6 quart. You may as well buy good synthetic oil, a quart is good for 5 changes.