R1150RT drive shaft oil leaks............

[MikeS]

.....is it likely to be just the various seals have gone and need replacing or something more involved. Either way it's probably a job that's beyond me but it would be good to get an idea before getting it looked at.

 

[Riceburner]

I wouldn't even call that a leak, it's a very minor weep which id being made to look worse by the dirt build up.

Give it a good clean, ride it in clean conditions for a few hundred miles, if you still have oil smears in the same places, then there's possibly an issue.

It could even be just oil from the road clinging to the dirt build up in those locations (which are slightly sheltered).

 

[Homer]

I wouldn't even call that a leak, it's a very minor weep which id being made to look worse by the dirt build up.

Give it a good clean, ride it in clean conditions for a few hundred miles, if you still have oil smears in the same places, then there's possibly an issue.

It could even be just oil from the road clinging to the dirt build up in those locations (which are slightly sheltered).

Oil from the road?????

 

[Riceburner]

Oil from the road?????

You've never seen the amount of oil buses drop?

 

[DrFarkoff]

Oil from the road?????

Do you happen to have some funny low viscosity super dooper fully synthetic poop in the FD by any chance ??

I gave up on all that over priced schite and went with 85W140 GL5 in all my Final drives

 

[Steptoe]

When was that all last washed ?

My RT final drive/swingarm is the same, so is my 1150R , there are no leaks, both unwashed or cleaned in years (literally ), being unwashed doesn’t mean they aren’t maintained.

The final drive input seal has a habit of “breathing” if ridden on a long ride or in hot weather, on my morrocan dash rides, day one riding through France, day two through Spain, 1700 miles in 2 days, lots of the bikes had the oil residue around the final drive gaiter, but oil levels were fine.


Clean off the road dirt/oil, check the gearbox and final drive oil levels, then see if the oil residue returns, and over what period.
It helps if you remove the larger cable tie holding the gaiter onto the swingarm, pull it back and clean out any oil residue inside the gaiter then re-attach

 

[MikeS]

When was that all last washed ?

My RT final drive/swingarm is the same, so is my 1150R , there are no leaks, both unwashed or cleaned in years (literally ), being unwashed doesn’t mean they aren’t maintained.

The final drive input seal has a habit of “breathing” if ridden on a long ride or in hot weather, on my morrocan dash rides, day one riding through France, day two through Spain, 1700 miles in 2 days, lots of the bikes had the oil residue around the final drive gaiter, but oil levels were fine.


Clean off the road dirt/oil, check the gearbox and final drive oil levels, then see if the oil residue returns, and over what period.
It helps if you remove the larger cable tie holding the gaiter onto the swingarm, pull it back and clean out any oil residue inside the gaiter then re-attach

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. I will give it a clean and keep an eye on the levels for now then.

Most of that crud on the bike was from one recent 260 mile ride.

 

[Wrigsby1]

I get similar from the abs sensor seal... Looks worse with the dirt but that would probably account for two of the signs of around the breather and staining the join behind it... As said give it a clean and it'll probably be no worse each time but you'd really know if it was a stinky leak... Like around the wheel and tyre...