Drive shaft reinstallation

Hey All,

When removing my rear tire, I needlessly removed the drive gear and drive shaft. Now putting it all back and the damn Haynes doesn't address this procedure. My concerns are:

Regarding the C clip on the end of the shaft going into the U joint. Is this just to keep the shaft from sliding in too far? I was reading a thread on here today where someone was told you need to pull the boot back and remove the C clip to get the shaft out. (unless I mis read that) With mine, it just slid out easily and C clip was still on the end. Is this right?

The black inch long spring... does that go on the pumpkin side of the driveshaft between the shaft and the connecting gears in the pumpkin? Since I was just winging it with no manual... because Haynes obviously doesn't want you touching your own driveshaft... got it all together before I saw the spring laying in the parts.

 

The c-clip does not need to be removed. It is, as you suspected, for locating purposes.
Lubricate the splines with a waterproof high-pressure grease (I like to use a moly grease, but it's not absolutely necessary).
Slide the shaft into the u-joint.
Place the spring on the input side of the final drive.
Slide the final drive onto the driveshaft (taking care to line up the stud holes to the flange).
Install the nuts onto the studs and torque to spec.

 

Thanks Kmoe. Still slapping myself in the head for taking that drive unit off with the tire. How important is it to get the torque right on those nuts? Those two inside nuts look like they'd be really hard to get a torque wrench on.

 

After pulling the drive unit off again to put the spring in, after checking with an exploded diagram of the drive unit, it shows a gasket that goes between the pumpkin and the shaft housing on those 4 studs the acorn nuts go on. It's #7 on the parts diagram, part number 1J746127Y030 on Boats.net. They call it a "Shim, drive pinion". This wasn't there when I took it apart. First of all, does anyone know the purpose of this thing? Is it an oil seal? I had no prior leakage from the drive unit without it. Was wondering if I could just put a bit of silicone sealant on the face of one side for good measure and go with that? This is getting ridiculous. I set off changing my tires a week ago, should have taken an hour.

 

It's a shim to set the driveshaft spline to final drive spline depth. If you didn't have one it's because your bike didn't need any shimming. There is no need for a gasket or RTV in that location, and putting one/ any there serves no purpose.

I had no trouble getting a torque wrench onto all of the nuts. Remember that you'll have the wheel off. It's OK to use an extension with a torque wrench. If you find that you need to bring the torque wench out to the side of the swingarm, you can use a crowsfoot adapter at the same torque value so long as the adapter is kept 90º to the torque wrench handle.

 

Thank you sir.