Excessive play

[obewan]

Sorry, I know this was in another post but because of Mr Sod and his law I now can't find it.

The excessive final drive play in which plane/direction am i looking for this

Holding the wheel at 12and 6 O'Clock from the side of the bike should I be checking for movement;

Back and front (towards the engine and away from the engine, like taking up the slack on a chain drive)
Up and down (free play before the shock kicks in)
Side to side (of the bike) and should this be the whole wheel moving side to side or twist from top to bottom? of the wheel?

Thanks

 

[IanC]

I took mine to the dealer, because of excessive slop (like a slack chain).

However, it turns out this is actually being caused by the gearbox (they're now gonna fit a new one sometime). But they did discover that it had developed the "final drive problem", which is a wearing of the splines, resulting in side-to-side movement.

I can hardly believe it, but I hadn't really noticed a problem, except with hindsight perhaps an excessive "wiggle" when downshifting. The mechanic told me the other week it had had approx. 1" side-to-side movement!! And to think I'd just ridden to the dealer's at 80-90mph. I did read one report where (Dutchman?) there was as much as 4" (!) side-to-side. Hard to believe I know.

So, the thing to look out for is the side-to-side play. Especially if it's over an inch! Seriously, it's not nearly as obvious to detect by riding as you'd think. I shall be keeping an eye on mine from now on, by grasping the wheel when on the centre stand.