Gear Oil @ 9400 miles

[jasonc32amg]

I've put 1,000 miles on the Nomad since picking her up before the holidays. I'm starting all of the maintenance that should be done on a bike with more years than miles. It's an 05 but only had 8400 miles on her. The gear oil was black thick sludge. Before the final fill up I ran some new stuff in there just to clean it out. I'll be changing it every other oil change.

Next up will be brake, clutch, and radiator fluids along with a new battery. Dealers these days consider an oil change a full service when they are selling you a used bike.

[redjay]

Hi, I usually change my final drive oil at every engine oil change, around 5,000 kms. There is so little oil in the final drive that a litre lasts me a while. Fill the final drive to the level with the bike sidestand on a 2 by 4 laid flat or you will be overfilling the final drive. My final drive oil hardly changes colour between changes. If yours was like sludge I doubt it has ever been changed.

[jasonc32amg]

Originally Posted by redjay

Hi, I usually change my final drive oil at every engine oil change, around 5,000 kms. There is so little oil in the final drive that a litre lasts me a while. Fill the final drive to the level with the bike sidestand on a 2 by 4 laid flat or you will be overfilling the final drive. My final drive oil hardly changes colour between changes. If yours was like sludge I doubt it has ever been changed.

Yes, I suspect this was "classic" fluid. I put a brick under the kick stand to avoid an overfill. As easy and cheap as it is to change there's no excuse to let it go. I would think the dealer would have done it just as CYA.

[ringadingh]

I think youll find that from now on the gear oil won't be as bad. The first few thousand miles on a new bike is where everything is seating itself and wearing in. I change mine about twice a season
and it still retains a fair amount of its original colour. After a couple changes Im sure you will notice that it remains clean a lot longer.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Every oil change which is 3,000 miles or less and I change the final drive oil. Not that big a deal since you are changing the oil. I use full synthetic 75W-90.

[dogdoc]

I chg my final drive gear oil once a yr with what Gene uses and its still clear as when it went in, not black.

[coacha]

Usually change mine every oil change. Cheap to do and not that difficult to spend an extra couple minutes doing it.

[macmac]

Now thar's some nasty mung!

When you do a engine oil change do it from the side mounted oil screen strainer, and not the supposed real drain plug. Watch out for the order of that screen washer and spring too.

Once you have changed the oil that way enough, you can skip total removal, as the plug is slotted. But for now pull it and clean the screen. it is located on the engine pan left side rear low, but not stright out the bottom.

Most of us have never once pulled the supposed real drain, since the screen drain gets more old oil out.

[jasonc32amg]

Originally Posted by macmac

Now thar's some nasty mung!

When you do a engine oil change do it from the side mounted oil screen strainer, and not the supposed real drain plug. Watch out for the order of that screen washer and spring too.

Once you have changed the oil that way enough, you can skip total removal, as the plug is slotted. But for now pull it and clean the screen. it is located on the engine pan left side rear low, but not stright out the bottom.

Most of us have never once pulled the supposed real drain, since the screen drain gets more old oil out.

Thanks for the tip; I saw that on one of the FAQ's. I'm sure that drain has never been checked. I can't wait ti see what is lurking in there.

[macmac]

If it ain't neva' been outta thar before it will have all sorts' of fun gook and gasket materials to play with.

That bike should have had a swing arm service at 8,000 miles and I don't care what any book says. You will want to go in there and do that too. There is a write up in the Maint Section.


Most everything I think you need is lsted there except maybe a new drive shaft rubber boot. At the time I did mine I thought these boots would last better than 10 years. I was wrong, and my 06 needs one right now.

I might buy 3 rubber boots, and treat them to some rubber lube inside and out to assist them from aging so fast. Of course that depends on the cost.

I might dink around and see if I can fit a 'screw on CV Joint boot' in some reasonable mannor.

It's kinda dumb to have that boot set up so you just can't remove it easy.

That 05 year is the first year to have needle bearing shock uppers too. You want some moly lube on those needles, and rubber lube on the lower shock mounts. No rubber lube there allows the rubber to break down and stick to the frame mounts.

That will make the shocks squeek, and cause it to be hard to pull the shocks off in time.

Oh! That year is the first year of no gasket under the plate mount. The blasted plate mount sits directly on paint. I'ld like to scalp that bean counter, since the vibs crack the paint in a place you can't see, but water don't know that.

It's too late for me, but never the bless I added a gob of car wax and didn't remove any, then slapped a home made rubber gasket there right over the goober ball of wax, and laid the plate down before cleaning the wax that gooshed out. No water in there fer thisn' heya' chil'. Nope.

That salty air you got is a Royal sin trapped under that paint too, as bad as ol' salt belt New Hampsta USA

[macmac]

LOL ifn' you think yer dealing with a Fool, well, that's what all these other guys think too.

Ain't that Right Boys?

[fltekdiver]

I JUST CHANGED mine tonight, and it was the same color as oil, outta the bottle, just thicker.

Mine looked the same way, 8K miles, just bought my bike as well neighbor :)