Drive shaft / gearbox rumble

[Paul P]

Hi

I have owned a 22,000 mile, 2006 1200 adventure for a couple of months now and, since the beginning, have noted a vibration on the foot pegs between (approx) 40 – 80 mph. The vibration feels to me like something is out of balance around the gearbox / driveshaft area (i.e. front right peg mainly).

Last night I decided to put the bike on the centre stand and try running it through the gears. It appeared to have, what I thought, a definite rumble from around the area of the output shaft on the gearbox. To investigate this I removed the drive shaft this morning and, whilst it was out, ran the bike through the gears on the stand again; the gearbox sounded smooth with no signs of the previous rumble.

As this was the case, I then checked the drive shaft. I have found a couple of areas that I’m not sure of. There is a very small amount of side to side movement on the front CV joint (photo 1) and, the rubber cushion inside the shaft looks as if it may have moved at some point (photo 2).





I would be extremely grateful for any input or ideas .

Thanks in anticipation.

P

 

[autogs]

do not put the bike on the center stand and run it through the gears,unlike a chain driven bike you will run the driveshaft at the wrong angles,by all means remove the drive shaft and check uj s.put your hand on the final drive and rotate rear wheel any roughness should be felt,also consider dropping the fd oil and checking for metal particles.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Generally considered not a good idea to run it in gear while on the stand. The shaft is at its extreme angle and will always sound rough, even more so on a GSA.
That said you shouldn't have play in the UJ while twisting. If you mean you can slide it side to side it's fine.
From the outside your shaft looks to be in good nick. A lot of them are covered in rust especially the FD end.
Vibration, what tyres are you using? Anything that is even semi off road (tourance, anakee) give vibration and noise. Maybe, maybe not what your feeling.

 

[Bendy toy]

Ive had an intermittent transmission rumble for ages but its never got any worse so Ive stopped worrying. It will get looked at next time the suspension links are lubed.

 

[Paul P]

Dohhh I didn’t think about the ‘angle of the dangle’ when I had it on the stand – that probably explains most of the rumble.

As suggested I changed the FD oil and, fortunately there were no metal particles. The bike has a pair of Tourance on it so, as Marki says, this may be a contributing to my paranoia.

I’ve now put it back together and been for a ride, all seems ok. I think maybe I just need to chill and stop thinking the worst! After all this is my first BM and although I love it, I do need to get used to it.

Thanks for the comments

P

 

[RSavage]

I'm on my second 12GSA after 10 years with an 1150GS. I have been convinced that the FD is about to explode/collapse or otherwise fail on every one of those three. I paid (!) SLM to pull the back end of the 1150 to bits and found slight damage to the rubber seals around the UJs in the prop shaft- which I replaced with no change in the symptoms.

My first 12GSA absolutely howled (audibly) and rumbled at 50 and 100mph and felt dreadful when banked at 50mph. SLM could find no fault. My current 12GSA was also noisy (but less so) at those speeds. It is much quieter now that it is running Road Pilot 3 tyres.

All I can say is that you are riding an inherently noisy bag of bolts like the rest of us and it is probably better to worry when it is silent rather than when it is noisy and keep well away from those lovely, multi-cylinder, smooth-running machines that your less enlightened friends ride. At least that is the conclusion I am coming to.

Richard :-(

 

[Bendy toy]

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