Lubing the Shaft Drive Splines

On 04/22/03 Mark Johnson wrote the following regarding lubricating the Yamaha FJR1300's shaft drive splines. Former BMW owners know how important this maintenance procedure can be...

At 6k miles I did the first tire swap today. While in there I checked the splines to be sure. This is what the Yamaha assembly drones consider sufficient for the job. After initially writing about this, some other Feejer owners have e-mailed me and told me their's was just as "dry". It's not a good thing, folks. Check your splines each time you do a tire swap. It's quick and easy and can save you a load of heartache over the life of the bike.

Get a factory service manual. It's cheap insurance over the life of the bike.

Remove rear wheel (including brake caliper from rotor, etc.)

Remove the 4 acorn nuts to the front of the rear drive "pumpkin" where it bolts to the swing arm.

Carefully pull the assembly straight backward. The shaft will come with the pumpkin.

Clean and re-lube the front spline. I found that Mobile Super Syn grease was the exact same color and consistancy as that already on the spline. With BMW and others re-labeling Mobile synth products, my bet this is the same story with Yamaha's rear pumpkin "magic juice" they sell for $38 a pint. Clean/lube the rear hub splines while the tire is out too.

Reassemble in reverse order, being carelful to line up the splines so they slip right in without being forced. Be sure to also clean and grease the splines on the rear drive where they mate to the rear wheel.

Torque the 4 acorn nuts on the rear hub to 42 Nm (30 ft-lbs).

Go ahead and swap out rear drive ("pumpkin") lube while you're in there. You don't have to with the above expesnive Yamaha gear oil, but why not? It's fast and easy.