Heads Up on 07 Final Drive Oil

[Pilot]

I passed 600 miles a few days ago and changed the oil and filter today. Used Mobil 1 Clean 6000. The original Dino oil looked good and clean and I didn’t find much in the way of metal in it. The final drive oil was another matter. There was about half an inch of sludge that came out before the oil when I pulled the drain plug. There was a lot of metal on and around the magnet. This thing must have been sitting for 10 years. If you have a new RSV make sure you drain the final drive around 600 miles just to make your life a bit easier down the road. I plan on changing the oil and filter along with the final drive oil again at around 1200 miles just to be sure. I wonder if this is common with new bikes?

[Guest KitCarson]

James I have a new 2007 Venture, I changed the final drive at 200, 600, and 1500. I had lots of metal filings at the 200 and 600, lots!! I also has some at 1500. I plan to change it again at 2500......yes there is something going on with the rear drives................will it clear up and be good? Or start screaming........suppose time will tell.........

[BuddyRich]

I had the same thing until around 8k. Now its not much.

[Guest hank]

Get FJR1300 final drive oil.

[midnightventure]

I also had a lot of metal shavings at the first final drive oil change so I changed it more often than the schedule. It now has close to 60000 miles on it and seems to be fine.

[Snarley Bill]

these bikes have hypoid gears just like cars.they are the highest friction gears that there are.that is why they have to have a special high zinc content oil (a friction modifier).lots of break in metal particals are very normal.thats why they have the magnet. in a car they just settle out in the housing as metalic sludge.if you ever ran your finger through a car rearend housing with alot of miles on it, you would be shocked at the amount of metal that has settled in it.don't worry about it .it's normal and will never cause a problem.how often do you change the oil in the rearend of your car.

[Guest KitCarson]

Never thought about that.......makes perfect sense to me!! I have had some old trucks I bet I never ever even checked the rear end fluid!! I have decided to not be concerned, sometimes we have concern over something that does not warrant it..........for sure..........

[Mariner Fan]

Well it never hurts to change oil. I'd think once a year is fine.

[Rick Butler]

Guys,

 

Please don't fall for that old "how often do you change rear end fluid in your car" trick. Automobile final drives have much heavier bearing and races than the Venture has. Most of the bearings in this final drive are pretty heavy, but there is a set of needle bearings in the head of the pinion gear. If any heavy metal contaminated hypoid fluid make it's way to this set of bearings, they will be severily damaged.

 

I discovered this the hard way after loosing 2 rear drives to the fact that I didn't get the initial fluid changed out within the 1st 500 miles. In my 3rd drive, I changed the fluid out in 500 miles then again after the next 500 miles and used Mobil 1 synthetic Then I went with the most severe wear synthetic hypoid I could find which was Redline Heavy 75/240 weight. I have since started using AMSOIL 75/140 severe pressure gear lube. I have over 80K on this drive with no problems and I change it out with each rear tire change after I grease the drive shaft splines.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick

[Snarley Bill]

Guys,

 

Please don't fall for that old "how often do you change rear end fluid in your car" trick. Automobile final drives have much heavier bearing and races than the Venture has. Most of the bearings in this final drive are pretty heavy, but there is a set of needle bearings in the head of the pinion gear. If any heavy metal contaminated hypoid fluid make it's way to this set of bearings, they will be severily damaged.

 

I discovered this the hard way after loosing 2 rear drives to the fact that I didn't get the initial fluid changed out within the 1st 500 miles. In my 3rd drive, I changed the fluid out in 500 miles then again after the next 500 miles and used Mobil 1 synthetic Then I went with the most severe wear synthetic hypoid I could find which was Redline Heavy 75/240 weight. I have since started using AMSOIL 75/140 severe pressure gear lube. I have over 80K on this drive with no problems and I change it out with each rear tire change after I grease the drive shaft splines.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick

your right on rick,i did'nt mean forget changing it.i change mine every other oil change.i figure oil is cheap.although the magnet does pick up most of the metal.bill

[Guest KitCarson]

So we are going to continue to change the rear drive fluid, but not worry about all those little metal shavings.......they are quite a source of concern though........hope they stop this nonsense soon.

Hey do not want to take the thread in a wrong direction, but you know the photos on this site, showing the other end of the drive, and the lack of grease on the splines? There is an article on this site that addresses this......rear drive lube or something like this.......it is a great article......and has a lot of info in it.......actually I myself had not realized moly lube still works when all the base has melted away......so it looks dry, but hey it is not........

[Pilot]

It looks like this is a normal breakin function so I'm not going to be very concerned over it. I plan on changing the oil again at 1200 miles along with the oil and filter. I changed the final drive oil on my 03 every year as part of the spring maintenance thing and I will continue doing the same after the 1200 miles change on the 07. I had 73K miles on the 03 (bought it used with 9K miles on her) and I didn't see any metal on the magnet when I changed the oil so I will assume it will clean up in time. Oil is cheap insurance, thanks for you inputs.

[trandeod]

I too had a lot of metal on and around the magnet when I changed the final drive lube on my 06 RSV. I premixed some moly paste in the new oil and filled the final drive with that. There wasn't much metal the next change. I've changed each 1,000 miles and added the moly paste and all seems well so far. That Moly is some tough stuff...

[1BigDog]

I usually change my final drive oil every oil change. Its only a small amount of oil and it only takes a few minutes to do. Cheap insurance.

[GeorgeS]

Just a qustion.

I bought my 89 new. As I recall I did my first Engine, and Rear drive oil change at about 700 miles.

 

There was a very small amount of shaveings on the magnetic plug of the rear drive.

 

However nothing like what I'm hearing as to the 2nd gens.

 

Sounds like something went Downhill as far as Quality in those rear drive units.

 

Just a thought. Any comments?

[Guest hank]

USE THIS!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkooterG/FJR%20Maintenance/WhaleJizz.jpg

[Rick Butler]

Not really George,

 

It's always been an issue to replace the final drive fluids within the initial 500-1,000 miles. This is because of the fine metal shavings that come off the newly machined beveled gears. After a short period, the gears get smoothed out and this is not an issue.

 

In my case, I inadvertently didn't get this completed in time (took off on a long trip) and had to have 2 drives replaced because of the damage this contaminated fluid did to the inner needle bearings. This fuid not only lubricates the two main gears and their bearings, but also the inner bearings in the pinion.

 

I think the message of this post is:

 

1. Make sure you replace the final drive fluid in the 1st 500-1,000 miles (I would suggest 500 miles to be on the safe side).

2. On future refills, use a quality synthetic hypoid fluid, where I would suggest a higher pressure severe gear fluid. These fluids provide better lubrication and run cooler.

 

And I think changing this fluid on a more regular basis (like every rear tire change) than required is not a bad idea considering the amount of fuid that is involved. And there is some thought that I don't change this fuid that often in my car or truck, so why should I change it in my bike? Well one, our auto final drives are built with heavier duty bearings and two, maybe we should be considering changing it more often and with a good synthetic fluid in our autos?

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick

[dray]

i use amsoil in my 1100 Vstar and i have changed the oil and rearend every 3000 miles i dont get any pices of metal in it and i get 3 rearend changes to a quart of 75 90 GL4 amsoil so im going to stick to what i use

 

https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/fgr.aspx

[V7Goose]

Gee, I hate to be the only nay-sayer here, but I have to absolutely disagree with any statements that a lot of metal shavings in the rear oil are normal and should just be ignored! NO WAY. Maybe fine metal particles that kind of glisten in the sunlight and make a pasty coating on the magnet, but NOT anything that is big enough to recognize as a "shaving".

 

I did the initial 600 mile service on my 05, and there was NO evidence of metal in that oil, and the same the next time I changed it. My 07 already had 3000 miles on it when I bought it, so I cannot comment on the initial change on it. However, I must repeat, if you see any pieces of metal beyond the miniscule kind of particles that stay suspended easily and cause the oil to slightly glisten in the sunlight, you should consider your machine to have real problems.

Goose

[Guest KitCarson]

At 200 miles I could not see the magnet when I took out the drain plug, it was a ball of metal sludge. At 600 miles it was the same. At that point I took off the saddlebag and flushed the oil chamber out the best I could with kerosene I put in a bug sprayer.........and a section of small hose. Let it sit and drain for several hours and used 75/140 synthetic Hypoid Purple power gear lube.....At 1500 just a little bit.....not as much.......going to change it again at 3000. Then just do it each time I change the oil......hey does not cost much.......one quart will most likely do this four or five times.

[Rick Butler]

Goose,

 

I think when they say they see metal, it's really fine particles in the form of a metalic sludge that Kit spoke of. But saying that, I will suggest that if you did the initial final drive fluid change at say 2,000 or worse 5,000 miles, you would see a very heavy metalic laced sludge on the magnet. And from my experience, at this time you would have already permanetely damaged the needle bearings in the pinion gear.

 

Rick

[Brake Pad]

No its shavings, I have the 07. the shop said they changed the rear end oil, but at 11,000 miles, I changed the oil, and it was blacker then the ace of spades. and LOADED with metal, & yes the slug.

My shop just replaced the whole rear end.

Now here will be the test. I'm comming up on 800 miles. this weekend, I'll drop the rear end oil, and see what it looks like.

 

Buy the way. The bike sat in the shop for 16 days while the shaft was ordered from japan. there was NOT, ONE SHAFT ANYWHERE IN THE US.

you would think that someone would have a drive shaft as parts.

Noop.