ATTENTION ALL M50 OWNERS! My issue resolved! FIX YOURS NOW B4 IT'S TO LATE!

[tbone57]

Yeah, I see where you are coming from, however, honesty in actually doing what they said they did for you, may cause a breakdown if they didn't. Just ask them if they replaced the seal and you will know the answer as to their honesty. I was a auto mechanic for years, and if they actually replaced the seal, they would have the old one to show you, and a bill for the new one they installed, if not, buy the seal yourself and take it somewhere else.

[cchriste]

Ok, I have tried to keep up as much as possible and understand it all. The only question I have is:
Are these the only things that I have to do to CHECK mine?
1. disconnect break link from exhaust side (may or may not require taking pipes off - not hard to do anyway)
2. remove rear tire - looks easy enough
3. unbolt the fake swing arm (throw away since it's finally off ) and remove the three bolts from the shaft housing
4. pull out shaft assembly straight out the back
5. hit it and see if I'm screwed

Sound correct?

[taiguy]

Originally Posted by burnchassis

Take your final drive off ,and look.
You can have it apart ,and back together in 30 minutes.

This is assuming you know what you're doing

Lessons learned thus far:

• Have a breaker bar and some long open wrenches. Some of those bolts are torqued on pretty damn tight from the factory (WD-40 also helps here). The bolt on the rear brake arm in particular was retarded tight (see photo for what I'm talking about).
• In order to remove the damn rear axle, you need to support the weight of the tire. I tried for a solid 5 minutes to budge the damn thing and it wouldn't move. My roommate comes out and nudges it while I'm lifting the tire and it comes right out.
• After taking the tire off, find something other than concrete to rest it on. I have a bunch of new dings and scratches from where the drum brake and the driveway met. Black nail polish should help this out later.
• Try and remember what went where. I have a nice silver barrel nut floating around that I have no clue where it belongs right now.

Also I second the advice from burnchassis. There's no way the dealer could have reused the old oil seal. It's on there GOOD. That's actually where I stopped today. How the hell did you guys get it off anyways? Any tips? I've been trying to pry at it with a screwdriver and it feels like it's been glued on (see my photo).

Other than that, the splines facing the wheel and the rest of the hub internals look well greased. The engine side of the propeller shaft also looks greased (albeit lightly).

[burnchassis]

Originally Posted by cchriste

Ok, I have tried to keep up as much as possible and understand it all. The only question I have is:
Are these the only things that I have to do to CHECK mine?
1. disconnect break link from exhaust side (may or may not require taking pipes off - not hard to do anyway)
2. remove rear tire - looks easy enough
3. unbolt the fake swing arm (throw away since it's finally off ) and remove the three bolts from the shaft housing
4. pull out shaft assembly straight out the back
5. hit it and see if I'm screwed

Sound correct?

Your correct ,except you don't need to remove the fake swing arm,unless your taking it out for the U-JOINT.
Just the tire..brake support...brake linkage ,axle nut/bolt,and the 3 nuts for the final drive.

Originally Posted by taiguy

This is assuming you know what you're doing

Other than that, the splines facing the wheel and the rest of the hub internals look well greased. The engine side of the propeller shaft also looks greased (albeit lightly).

And Taiguy...yours looks 100% better then mine did ,I can just about promise you,yours is fine inside.
As far as taking that oil seal off..your almost there ...lol just keep ramming that screwdriver in there.
inside that seal ,there is a small spring that squeezes the shaft and making the seal.
That gear the seal is on is steel ,you cant hurt it.
Nice work too btw!
CS

[taiguy]

Addendum to my previous points

• The oil seal is retarded hard to get off unless you have one of those angled pry bars. I couldn't get it off with just a screw driver, I just kept digging into the rubber. I brought it over to my local suzuki dealer (8 blocks away) and they helped me out, as well as told me I was probably doing more harm than good.
• The oil seal is actually a piece of metal with a rubber coating. I didn't realize that at first. I was trying to peel all of the rubber off. You want to aim for the edge where the seal meets the shaft, it's metal on metal.

Also the circlip was impossible for me to get off. I tried wedging two screwdrivers into the edges and prying it out. No luck. Not sure how you got it out Burn. I left it in and did a visual inspection of the splines. They had grease coming out of the edges so I *sighed* and figured that was enough to put my mind at ease.

Putting the bike back together seemed a lot easier than taking it apart. In the end I guess I paid $10 (oil seal) for peace of mind that there was grease down there. I also learned a bit about my bike and found out how drum brakes work (adjusted it just shy of rubbing). In any case, mine is an 2007 model and it looked like it had adequate grease.

[Manuel]

Thank you for your hard work Taiguy. I'm sure everyone appreciates it as much as I do. This is good news.

[burnchassis]

great write up taiguy!
I could tell by looking at yours before you removed that oil seal,yours was in much better shape then mine was.
CS

[taiguy]

ok but seriously burn, how did you remove that circlip?

[burnchassis]

I tried for about 5 minutes,then went and bought a pair of spring clip pliers.
BUT They didn't work,so I ended up using 2 small screwdrivers...small for RC stuff.
Wanna know the best part? I did it twice,because I didnt grease it the 1st time,so I had to take it back off...grease it,then do it again.
It's a little easier to get it on then it is to get it off.
CS

[RED-M]

Taiguy,

I see you had the 'ol debaffle rig set up there... did you get the lower pipe done as well??

[taiguy]

Been lazy... It was a pain to just get the top one done. The 3" hole saw just dances around. I'll get to the lower pipe eventually

[vtbme]

Back to the dealer to question exactly what they greased...explaining that folks I've been talking to and per looking at the service manual, there was no way to evaluate whether or not the rear drive was adequately lubed. He talked to the service mgr and then the guy who did the job. He came back a needle looking tool explaining that they are able to lube that seal by using that tool without removing the seal. Hmm...

[Breeze]

Very interesting, I wonder how sticking a needle between the seal and the shaft will affect the actual sealing action of the rubber. Could it actually damage the seal? Or, is the rubber pliable enough to be able to take it and bounce back into shape?

[burnchassis]

It has to be a STRONG needle,because that seal is metal with a rubber outer coating.
CS

[gumshoe4]

Yikes! I thought shaft drive bikes were supposed to be reliable, requiring only a spline lube when rear tire is replaced and an annual drive unit oil change. So far, that's worked on my Vulcan 750. I like the M50 a lot, but I think I'm going with belt drive on the next bike...this seems like too much work...Yes, I am lazy...

Bob

[nikos11]

I know Burn said to remove quite a few things to get to the u joint, but is there a simpler way to just grease the inside of the joint without taking the frame apart ?

[The Dark Knight]

SUZUKI M50 BOULEVARD VZ800 REAR DRIVEN GEAR HUB:eBay Motors (item 380159389904 end time Oct-16-09 15:52:16 PDT)

[burnchassis]

Good deal..I would have bought it last month.
CS

[The Dark Knight]

yea i saw that and wishd you had

[meredog44]

Wonder if this would pertain to my Suzuki Trike ?