Noise when decelerating

[OscarV]

I ride a 2008 RSTD with a Hannigan side car. I had the final drive swapped out (RMSportmax using VMAX gearing), and a Kumho rear tire installed last week. Went for my first ride Saturday. The bike rides great, but I'm now hearing a noise from the rear of the bike. It sounds like a tire noise but I'm not sure.....I want to make sure it's not the final drive.

 

Question for those that have Kumho rear tires installed, do they sound different than standard tires? Secondly, for those that have swapped out final drives, anybody had a similar issue?

 

Thanks,

 

OscarV

[skydoc_17]

Hey Oscar,

If in fact it is NOT tire noise, then here is what I have run across when installing a VMAX/FJR1300 Final Drive in a V4 Yamaha bike.

There are two things that cause misalignment in the final drive when a VMAX final drive is installed in a RSTD. The first is a spacing bushing that passes thru the final drive and the rear axle passes thru the bushing. If the bushing is too short, the rear axle bolt is over tightened and causes the final drive to whine. The second issue is the "nose of the final drive could be short, and needs to be shimmed to keep the rear axle bolt perpendicular to the drive shaft axis. Here is a link to pics of the final drive shim.

http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=2718&title=vmax-final-drive-shim-21&cat=22

When a VMAX final drive is installed in a RSTD, it needs to be "set up" (checked for bushing length, and the final drive mounted "static" (without the final drive nose bolts tightened) to verify that it doesn't need the final drive shim) If you just "slap it in there", you could have final drive noise and final drive damage. The easy check is take your bike for a 20 mile ride, get down and put your hand on the left side of the final drive. It should be warm, but not to hot to touch. If it is to hot to touch, you have a misalignment problem. If it is just warm, it is most likely tire noise. Try changing the air pressure in the rear tire and see if the sound changes.

Earl