Driveshaft Lubrication

[pablo]

I noticed on Gadget's site in the maintenance tips section, it talks about lubricating the drive shaft every 7500 miles. This is not mentioned in the Nomad 1600 owners manual or in the maintenance schedule. Is this something that needs to be done? What are the rest of you doing for driveshaft maintenance? I usually do all my own maintenance, but have not done this item since it's not on the maintenance schedule.

[dank]

My dealer says they lube the splines when they change the tire and that should take care of it.

[01nomad]

Gadget quit reading too early.. It says to lube the drive shaft at 7500 miles and 15K there after. If you do it on every rear tire change should be fine unless your harder on your tire than normal. Than every other tire would work. I don't think these Nomads will burn a tire up that easy.

[flightdoc]

Good question. I just spoke with the dealer I get my tires from and they said they always lube the driveshaft on a tire change.....

[kawiman]

Wish I had read this earlier, I just got my tires changed, I'm sure the guy didnt lube the driveshaft. I've got 8200 miles on her. Can I wait til next change and be ok?

[pablo]

I had Kawasaki do my first rear tire change at about 6000 miles. American Iron Horse did my second at about 12500. I imagine that Kawasaki probably lubed the driveshaft, but I'm not sure about American Iron Horse. I'll have to make sure to mention it on my next tire change.

[jmorrow]

I never had lubed my drive shaft on my Nomad until 32,000 miles. I removed and lubed the drive shaft and the swing arm at the same time. Both the swing arm and the drive shaft were still lubed up and looked good when I disassembled them...After seeing how good they looked and how well I lubed them I don't think I'll lube them again until about 80,000 or 100,000 mile....But, that's just me... :-*

[dantama]

My dealer says they lube the splines when they change the tire and that should take care of it.

+1

[ringadingh]

I disassembled my driveshaft and swingarm after 33,000 miles and gave it a good cleaning and lube. I was planning on doing it sooner but was told by a Kawasaki mechanic that it isn't neccessary to do as often as the manual recomended, since all the ones they had seen still had plenty of grease in them. Mine was also in good shape when it was checked, with a fair amount of grease still covering all moving parts. If you find a torn rubber boot or if its leaking ,obviously something should be done regardless of mileage. I tend to go over my bike quite often while cleaning and if I notice something not right or wearing it gets attention right away.

[flightdoc]

Ringadingh makes a good point.........cleaning it on a regular basis shows any negative changes.

[donoller]

always lube when you change tires

[watchman]

Don't confuse greasing the drive splines with greasing the drive shaft. Greasing the drive shaft requires removing the final drive housing and then removal of the shaft. If you go that far it is not hard to remove the swing arm and grease it. I have installed the grease zirk in the swing arm and give it 1 shot of grease each spring. I have only cleaned and greased the drive shaft once in 39000 miles. And yes I grease the drive splines with every rear tire change.

[pablo]

Thanks for explaining the difference between greasing the splines and greasing the drive shaft. I have 17,000 + on my bike and will start thinking about doing the driveshaft/swingarm lubrication.

[rlfaubion]

Good info fella's! Thanks for posting....

I do the maintenance according to the owners manual. Every 15,000 miles for the steering stem bearings and the swingarm.