[jpieper]

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Recently, I had my rear tire replaced on my 1985 gl1200 aspencade. The mechanic told me my final drive flange is about 50 to 60% worn. Any ideas on what this means? My bike has 55,000 miles on it. Do I have another 55000 to go before it starts slipping or should I be concerned now.Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. John

 

[jobe05]

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I would start looking now, the next 50% will wear much quicker due to the slop you have in the gears now.

I see good sets on EBay all the time. Wheel flange itself can go for as little as $10 or $15, final drives a little more...... around $100. Make sure you can get a good look at the splines before you buy, if not, ask the seller for better pics, or don't buy as there are a lot of warn out ones on there as well.

 

[satan]

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It'd be tough to "guess" at what his "guess" of 50-60% means ...

.. In my world, it'd mean that I'd start shopping for a workable replacement, after chatting with the mechanic to see if both the final drive and wheel flange are worn (I'd imagine so, as they do tend to wear as a pair).

If your guy ensured that the o-rings are in good shape to protect the new lube tht he applied to the splies, then I would imagine that you'd have time to shop and plan on replacing the final drive, and drive flange at your next tire interval... with the caveat that I'd be guessing on what 50%-60% worn actually means to your mechanic.

 

[escogold]

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Best guess is you've lost about half the surface area off the teeth most likely from lack of maintenance. I pulled the rear wheel off one of my 12's and the drive gear was dry as a bone and I'd estimate the teeth were worn over 50 percent and the bike only had 35k miles on it.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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jpieper wrote:

Recently, I had my rear tire replaced on my 1985 gl1200 aspencade. The mechanic told me my final drive flange is about 50 to 60% worn. Any ideas on what this means? My bike has 55,000 miles on it. Do I have another 55000 to go before it starts slipping or should I be concerned now.Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. John

Get a good one as soon as possible. You've lost 1/2 the strength in the spline and with the slack it will be hammering on those weaked splines.

 

[rgbeard]

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Sooner to replace, better. You might save/prevent replacing the whole final drive.

Be sure he knows to use the Moly60 grease to slow down wear.

 

[rgbeard]

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Sorry but embedded images isn't working for me at the moment.......

Flange worn to the point that it began "skipping". This one's junk.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GXt6rM0Q_ec/S6GOpt_nGSI/AAAAAAAABvY/QmkrvBSpFKY/s512/s800/DSC02900.JPG

Flange new from the box, coated with Moly60:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAAAABvc/3sZc7O7U1k0/s512/s800/DSC02901.JPG

 

[jpieper]

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Thanks for all the helpful info, next problem, I've been watching ebay but can't find any 1985 goldwing final drive flanges. Any help with what other years or models will fit? John

 

[Ken Bergen]

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jpieper wrote:

Thanks for all the helpful info, next problem, I've been watching ebay but can't find any 1985 goldwing final drive flanges. Any help with what other years or models will fit? John

Only 84-85 but check the final drive splines.
A good driven flange in a worn final drive will not last.

 

[escogold]

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Sad but true. I recall looking at finding a suitable final drive unit to swap out. Very likely the flange and drive splines are equally worn. There were a few here that suggested greasin' 'er up and slappin' 'em back together but I don't share that view. GL1500 hubs will swap with minor modification and it's a nice upgrade.

 

[walkabout]

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ride the parts you have until they are worn out. then switch, install a flange and wheel from a 1986 or 1987. if you use moly on the old wheel and flange they should last a number of miles yet, its hard to tell sometimes. walkabout:smiler:

 

[jpieper]

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hey rgbeard--Just got a replacement final drive flange for my 1200. Any chance you could resend those pictures? I like to compare what I got with your photos in this post, but for some reason I can't access them. Thanks!

 

[JerryH]

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If the final drive flange on the wheel is worn, then the splines on the final drive gearcase are probably about the same. Replacing just the wheel flange with a really good one will tighten things up a little and probably give you a little more life out of it, and more time to search for a replacement gearcase.

There is more. If the final drive flange is worn that bad at 55,000 miles, it is a definite indication of a serious lack of maintenance. Pull the final drive gearcase, pull back the rubber swingarm boot, and check the splines on the front end of the driveshaft, both sides of the U jount, and most of all, on the output shaft of the transmission. A worn out output shaft is bad news. And if nobody could even put grease on the wheel flange, I doubt the pulled the entire final drive apart. I lucked out in that department, all my splines looked new on my '85 at 93,000 miles, and I was all happy about that. Until the right rear wheel bearing fell out of the wheel. Some '83,'84, and '85 models had defective rear wheels and the bearings did not fit tight enough. It would eventually spin in the wheel, wearing the recess in the hub out even bigger. These wheels can be repaired, but only if you can find a machine shop willing to do it. I couldn't. But I got lucky again. A local member of this forum donated me a rear wheel and the driven flange. This flange was also in perfect condition. As it turned out, this wheel was an '86 or '87. The hub is much larger in diameter than the '85 wheel, and the flanges are not interchangeable.

So if you take it apart, also check your wheel bearing on the right side (flange side).

 

[SuperSkypilot]

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walkabout wrote:

ride the parts you have until they are worn out. then switch, install a flange and wheel from a 1986 or 1987. if you use moly on the old wheel and flange they should last a number of miles yet, its hard to tell sometimes. walkabout:smiler:

Remember that they won't fail when the bike is parked. They will fail when they're under stress, when you pulling out from a stop sign and trying to get across the road before that big 18 wheeler runs you down, for instance.

Steve

 

[neoracer]

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here is an ebay auction with pics with what appears to be good splines

http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-85-GL120...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2eb8e0cb8a

pm sent

 

[BobbydSp]

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Kind of dispells the rumor that these flanges are cheap, huh? I bought one in perfect condition for $65 a year ago. They won't get cheaper as time goes by.
Bobby

 

[JerryH]

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SuperSkypilot wrote:

walkabout wrote:

ride the parts you have until they are worn out. then switch, install a flange and wheel from a 1986 or 1987. if you use moly on the old wheel and flange they should last a number of miles yet, its hard to tell sometimes. walkabout:smiler:

Remember that they won't fail when the bike is parked. They will fail when they're under stress, when you pulling out from a stop sign and trying to get across the road before that big 18 wheeler runs you down, for instance.

Steve

Not only is that an issue, but they could also fail far from home, and leave you stranded. Better to fix it at home.

To anybody who might need one, I have a flange for an '83-'85 rear wheel that you can have for the cost of shipping. A local member was nice enough to give me a newer wheel complete with flange. My '85 wheel is in need of repair, but the flange is still good.

 

[CrystalPistol]

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Mine has under 80K and splines are great, but I do all service work and she get's greased properly.Don't know the mechanic so when he says "50% gone", it's really just saying "looks worn". If you trust him, good chance that if you aren't heavy handed on the throttle a lot, if you know he lubed it well, if the bearing on the right side of the rear wheel isn't wobbling out it's mounting thus side loading the splines .... likely you'll get to wear that tire some yet.

Good 1200 rears that don't have a bike attached are scarce. Those for a 1500 ....arenot so scarce due to many more 1500 Trikes. The 1500's rear gear ratio is the same. I think it's the earliest 1500s that the rear can be swapped in and the 1500 adapter used with the 1200 wheel. I forget the cut off year when they changed the drive pins.

Or you could swap the whole deal. The 1500's rim diameter is 1" larger but a shorter 150/80-16 rear tire (in place of 1500 size 160/80-16) is said to bring overall diameter back down to near the same as the stock 1200's rear tire (a 150/90-15), use the 150/80-16 "Venom X". The tire is actually slightly narrower that the OEM 160/80-16 Dunlop, but has a load rating of 908 lbs.
A 160/80-16 is near 26.07" OA Diameter (stock 1500 size)
A 150/80-16 is near 25.44" OA Diameter
A 150/90-15 is near 25.62" OA Diameter (a 1200 size)
A 150/85-15 is near 25.04" OA Diameter (also a 1200 size)
Note the aspect ratios.


The 1500 rear wheel has a double race main weight carrying bearing in a muchmore solid mounting than the single row one in the 1200 wheel that tends to wobble out the weakly reinforced mounting ring in the 1200 wheel (It's not the 1200 bearing that spins, it's the pounding of the heavy bike and the fact that the rear bearing is carrying most of the weight on this one bearing nearest the center of the wheel that pounds out the weakly re-inforced aluminum area where the bearing mounts in the wheel).
The 1500 rear wheel arangement comes with a larger diameter rear brake rotor which greatly increases rear braking, even though pad and caliper is the same as effective leverage is increased.
The 1500 rear uses slightly larger bolts to attach to the swingarm.

I have acouple 1500 final drives with brake, axle, caliper mount, wheel,etc ... all ready to go in my 1200 next tire change myself just for these reasons.

Just food for thought!
:?





.

 

[exavid]

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I don't know if any of you remember Sly. He was the young fellow who took the 35,000 mile summer trip about four or five years ago. He was riding a 1200. His trek took him over most of the Canadian Provinces, Alaska and a lot of the lower 48. On his return from Alaska he stopped by my place for a couple days and we went over his bike. He'd shipped a pair of Progressive shocks to my place ahead of time so we changed the, after washing down his gray bike to find out what color it was and pulled his rear wheel off. His final drive splines were pretty well gone, about 75% shot or worseand dry. I cleaned the splines up and lubed them with 65% moly paste and told him I thought he might make it back to the East coast if he babied the bike. He left and covered another 5 or 7 thousand miles working his back East on the most roundabout route you could do. I got a note from him much laster saying that his splines were still holding up and he figured they'd hold up for another year or so.

The point of this digression is that if you have pretty well shot splines, a good cleaning and lubing with moly paste (60% moly or better) they will still last quite a few mile. Honda 60 or Loctite Moly Paste will do the job.

One of the best ways to repair the final drive on a 1200 is to replace the final drive and rear wheel with one from a 1500. It's not a difficult modification. 1500 rear ends are usually easier to find in good condition than the 1200s. Also the rubber isolators in the 1500 rear wheel are replaceable while the 1200's are not. 1500 finals are pretty common eBay.

 

[CrystalPistol]

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Oh, here's a pair of new GL1500 wheel bearings for the rear.